22 - How Bishops Should Teach Catholic Social Doctrine

Summary

The Church’s pastors are obliged to teach social doctrine because it is part of their duty to preach the integral gospel, and that substantially includes moral truths which bear upon, and shape, social life and political affairs. Most prominently included in this grave responsibility are the tasks of instructing and supporting the laity in their vocation to redeem the temporal order. This lay apostolate is an important limitation upon bishops’ competence to teach CST authoritatively. Respecting this limit preserves another crucial limitation upon episcopal competence, namely, the proper separation of church and state: pastors preach moral truth, and the laity apply it prudently to contingent practical affairs. The heart of CST is the unicity of morality taught with special clarity by Pope John Paul II in Veritatis splendor: “When it is a matter of the moral norms prohibiting intrinsic evil, there are no privileges or exceptions for anyone. It makes no difference whether one is the master of the world or the ‘poorest of the poor’ on the face of the earth. Before the demands of morality we are all absolutely equal.” This chapter concludes with some concrete proposals about the proper form of authoritative episcopal teaching.