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The new social encyclical

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2024

J. M. Jackson
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Three times in the last seventy years, a major encyclical has been devoted primarily to economic and social questions. Each has made its contribution to the social doctrine of the Church, setting forth the moral principles which should govern economic and social relationships, drawing attention to the chief social evils of the day, and suggesting the general lines of reform. The latest of these encyclicals, Mater et Magistra, makes important contributions to the social teaching of the Church in four areas. First, there is a clear and authoritative re-statement of the principle of subsidiary function at a time when the provision of social services has been and is being greatly extended in many countries, and when the proper role of the state in this field is a subject of considerable controversy. Secondly, in its discussion of wages, profits and the status of the worker, the new encyclical clarifies the Church’s teaching, and also shows that despite the reforms that have already come about, in some measure in response to the earlier encyclicals, much still remains to be done. Thirdly, it calls attention to the depressed state of agriculture relatively to industry, and sees in this an evil to be remedied. Finally, far greater attention is paid in this latest encyclical to international economic questions than in Rerum Novarum or even Quadragesimo Anno.

One Catholic M.P. appears to have found in the new encyclical support for the Welfare State as it exists in Britain to-day, whilst a correspondent writing to one of the Catholic papers has suggested that countries wishing to put the social encyclicals into practice would do well to copy our National Health Service.

Type
Research Article
Information
Blackfriars , Volume 42 , Issue 497 , November 1961 , pp. 459 - 468
Copyright
Copyright © 1961 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

References

1 my italics

2 The opponents of intervention in economic affairs were quick enough to condemn trade unions as an interference with the free working of the market, but they were less ready to condemn the informal agreements among employers which served to keep wages down. The error was not made, however, by the Classical Economists, and Adam Smith is particularly aware and critical of the tendency for employers to get together in this way.

5 This pattern is distorted at the present time by inflation. If a man lends money to a company, he will receive back at the end of the period the sum he originally lent. If prices have risen, this sum is worth less than it was when he lent it. Ordinary shares, on the other hand, are likely to appreciate in value during a period of rising prices. Therefore, the lender may expect a rate of interest under such conditions that is higher than the yield on primary shares.

6 Where such reinvestment of profits is accompanied by an issue of bonus shares to exist‘ shareholders, the maintenance in the future of the same rate of dividend on the increased nominal share capital means that the absolute sum distributed has increased.

7 The probable necessity of changing our system of supporting British agriculture if we enter the European Common Market has been one reason for opposition to the idea of joining.