From: kriz@skat.usc.edu (KRIZ)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Cath. Christianity 101 - Gaudium et spes 3 - "Community of Man"
Date: 8 Apr 1992 22:27:58 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: skat.usc.edu


posted to talk.religion.misc

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Gaudium et spes  Part 1, Chpt 2.

Note: Gaudium et spes is the Pastoral Constitution on the Church
      in the Modern World, authored/approved by the Second Vatican
      Council.


Part I. The Church and Man's Calling (cont).


				Chapter 2 

			 The Community of Mankind


  23. One of the salient features of the modern world is the growing
interdependence of men one on the other, a bevelopment propoted
chiefly by modern technical advances.  Nevertheless brotherly dialogue
among men does not reach its perfection on the level of technical
progress, but on the deeper level of interpersonal relationships.
These demand a mutal respect for the full spiritual dignity of the
person.  Christian revelation contributes greatly to the promotion of
this communion between persons, and at the same time leads us to a
deeper understanding of the laws of social life which the Creator has
written into man's moral and spiritual nature.

  Since rather recent documents of the Church's teaching authority
have dealt at considerable length with Christian doctrine about human
society [1], this COuncil is merely going to call to mind some of the
more basic truths, treating their foundations under the light of
revelation.  Then it will dwell more at length on certain of their
implications having special significance for our day.

  24. God, Who has fatherly concern for everyone, has willed that all
men should constitute one family and treat one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.  For having been created in the image of God, Who "from
one man has created the whole human race and made them live all over
the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26), all men are called to one and the
same goal, namely God Himself.

  For this reason, love for God and neighbor is the first and greatset
commandment.  Sacred Scripture, however, teaches us that the love of
God cannot be separated from love of neighbor: "If there is any other
commandment, it is summed up in this saying: Thous shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself ... Love therfore is the fulfillment of the Law"
(Rom. 13:9, 10; cf. I John 4:20).  To men growing daily more dependent
on one another, and to a world becoming more unified every day, this
truth proves to be of paramount importance.

  Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when He prayed to the Father, "that all may
be one ... as we are one" (John 17:21, 22) opened up vistas closed to
human reason, for He implied a certain likeness between the union of
the divine persons, and the unity of God's sons in truth and charity.
This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth
which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through
a sincere gift of himself [2].

  25. Man's social nature makes it evident that the progress of the
human person and the advance of society itself hinge on one another.
For the beginning, the subject and the goal of all social institutions
is and must be the human person, which for its part and by its very
nature stands completely in need of social life [3].  Since this
social life is not something added on to man, through his dealings
with others, through reciprocal duties, and through fraternal dialogue
he develops all his gifts and is able to rise to his destiny.

  Among those social ties which man needs for his development some,
like the family and political community, relate with greater immediacy
to his innermost nature: others originate rather from his free
decision.  In our era, for various reasons, reciprocal ties and mutual
dependencies increase day by day and give rise to a variety of
associations and organizations, both public and private.  This
development, which is called socialization, while certainly not
without its dangers, brings with it many advantages with respect to
consolidating and creasing the qualities of the human person, and
safeguarding his rights [4].

  But if by this social life the human person is greatly aided in
responding to his destiny, even in its religious dimensions, it cannot
be denied that men are often diverted from doing good and spurred
toward evil by the social circumstances in which they live and are
immersed from their birth.  To be sure the disturbances which so
frequently occur in the social order result in part from the natural
tensions of economic, political and social forms.  But at a deeper
level they from from man's pride and selfishness, which contaminate
even the social sphere.  When the structure of affairs is flawed by
the consequences of sin, man, already born with a bent toward evil,
finds there new inducements to sin, which cannot be overcome without
strenuous efforts and the assistance of grace.

  26. Every day human interdependence tightens and spreads by degrees
over the whole world.  As a result the common good, that is, the sum
of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their
individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own
fulfillment, today takes on an increasingly universal complexion and
consequently involves rights and duties with respect to the whole
human race.  Every social group must take account of the needs and
legitimate aspirations of other groups, and even of the general
welfare of the entire human family [5].

  At the same time, however, there is a growing awareness of the
exalted dignity proper to the human person, since he stands above all
things, and his rights and duties are universal and inviolable.
Therefore, there must be made available to all men everything
necessary for leading a life truly human, such as food, clothing and
shelter; the right to choose a state of life freely and to found a
family, the right to education, to employment, to a good reputation,
to respect, to appropriate information, to activity in accord with the
upright norm of one's own conscience, to protection of privacy and to
rightful freedom, even in matters religious.

  Hence, the social order and its development must always work to the
benefit of the human person if the disposition of affirs is to be
subordinate to the personal realm and not contrariwise, as the Lord
indicated when He said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man
for the Sabbath [6].

  This social order requires constant improvement.  It must be founded
on truth, built on justice and animated by love; in freedom it should
grow every day toward a more humane balance [7].  An improvement in
attitudes and numerous changes in society will ahve to take place if
these objectvies are to be gained.

  God's Spirit, WHo with a marvelous providence directs the unfolding
of time and renews the face of the earth, is not absent from this
developemnt.  The ferment of the Gospel too has aroused and continues
to arouse in man's heart the irrestible requirements of his dignity.

  27. COming down to practical and particularly urgent consequences,
this COuncil lays stress on reverence for man; everyone must consider
his every neighbor without exception as another self, taking into
account first of all his life and the means necessary to lifing it
with dignity [8], so as not to imitate the rich man who had no concern
for the poor man Lazarus [9].

  In our times a special obligation binds us to make ourselves the
meighbor of every person without exception, and of actively helping
him when he comes across our path, whether he be an old person
abandoned by all, a foreign laborer unjustly looked down upon, a
refugee, a child born of an unlawful union and wrongly suffering for a
sin he did not commit, or a hungry person who disturbs our conscience
by recalling the voice of the Lord, "As long as you did it for one of
these the least of my brethren, you did it for me" (Matt. 25:40).

  Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of
murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or wilful selfdestruction,
whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as
mutliation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attemps to coerce the
will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living
conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery,
prostitution, the sellign fo women and children; as well as
disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools
for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these
things and others of the like are infamies indeed.  They poison human
society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those
who suffer from the injury.  Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to
the Creator.

  28. Respect and love ought to be extended also to those who think or
act differently than we do in social, political and even religious
matters.  In fact, the more deeply we come to understand their ways of
thinking through such courtesy and love, the mroe easily will we be
able to enter into dialogue with them.

  This love and good will, to be sure, must in no way render us
indifferent to truth and goodness.  Indeed love itself impels the
disciples of Christ to speak the saving truth to all men.  But it is
necessary to distinguish between error, which always merits
repudiation, and the person in error, who never loses the dignity of
being a person even when he is flawed by false or inadequate religious
notions [10].  God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts; for that
reason He forbids us to make judgments about the internal guilt of
anyone [11].

  The teaching of Christ even requires that we forgive injuries [12],
and extends the law of love to include every enemy, according to the
command of the New Law: "You have heard it was said: Thou shalt love
thy neighbor and hate thy enemy.  But I say to you: love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and
calumniate you" (Matt. 5:43, 44).

  29. Since all men possess a rational soul and are created in God's
likeness, since they have the same nature and origin, have been
redeemed by Christ and enjoy the same divine calling and destiny, the
basic equality of all must receive increasingly greater recognition.

  Ture, all men are not alike from the point of view of varying
physical power and the diversity of intellectual and moral resources.
Nevertheless, with respect to the fundamental rights of the person,
every type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether
based on sex, race, color, social condition, language or religion, is
to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God's intent.  For in
truth it must still be regretted that fundamental personal rights are
not yet being universally honored.  Such is the case of a woman who is
denied the right to choose a husband freely, to embrace a state of
life or to acquire an education or cultural benefits equal to those
recognized for men.

  Therefore, although rightful differences exist betwen men, the equal
dignity of persons demands that more humane and a just condition of
life be brought about.  For excessive economic and social differences
between the members of the one human family or population groups cause
scandal, and miltate against social justice, equity, the dignity of
the human person, as well as social and international peace.

  Human institutions, both private and public, must labor to minister
to the dignity and purpose of man.  At the same time let them put up a
stubborn fight against any kind of slavery, whether social or
political, and safeguard the basic rights of man under every political
system.  Indeed human institutions themselves must be accommodated by
degrees to the highest of all realities, spiritual ones, even though
meanwhile, a long enough time will be required before they arrive at
the desired goal.

  30. PRofound and rapid changes make it more necessary that no one
ignoring the trend of events or drugged by laziness, content himself
with a merely individualistic morality.  It becomes increasingly true
that the obligations of justice and love are fulfilled only if each
person, contributing to the common good, according to his own
abilities and the needs of others, also promotes and assists the
public and private institutions dedicated to bettering the conditions
of human life.  Yet there are those who, while professing grand and
rather noble sentiments, nevertheless in reality life always as if
they cared nothing for the needs of society.  Many in various places
even make light of social laws and precepts, and do not hesitate to
resort to various frauds and deceptions in avoiding just taxes or
other debt due to society.  OThers think little of certain norms of
social life, for example those designed for the protection of health,
or laws stablishing speed limits; they do not even avert to the fact
that by such indifference they imperil their own life and that of
others.   Let everyone consider it his sacred obligation to esteem and
observe social necessities as being among the primary duties of modern
man.  For the more unified the world becomes, teh more plainly do the
offices of men extend beyond particular groups and spread by degrees
to teh whole world.  But this development cannot occur unless
individual men and their associates cultivate in themselves the moral
and social virtues, and promote them in society; thus, with the needed
help of divine grace men who are truly new and artisans of a new
humanity can be forthcoming.

  31. Individual men, in order to discharge with greater exactness the
obligations of their conscience toward themselves and the various
groups to which they belong, must be carefully educated to a higher
degree of culture through the use of the immense resources available
today to the human race.  Above all the education of youth from every
social backround has to be undertaken, so taht there can be produced
not only men and women fo refined talents, but those great-souled
persons who are so desperately required by our times.

  Now a man can scaresly arrive at the needed sense of responsibility,
unless his living conditions allow him to become conscious of his
dignity, and to rise to his destiny by spending himself for God by
spending himself for God and for others.  But human freedom is often
cripplred when a man encounters extreme poverty, just as it whithers
when he indulges in too many of life's comforts and imprisons himself
in a kind of splendid isolation.  Freedom acquires new strength, by
contrast, when a man consents to the unavoidable requirements of
social life, takes on the manifold demands of human partnership, and
commits himself to the service of the human community.

  Hence, the will to play one's role in common endeavors should be
everywhere encouraged.  Praise is due to those national processes
which allow the greatest possible number of citizens to participate in
public affairs with genuine freedom.  Account must be taken to be
sure, of the actual conditions of each people and the firmness
required by public authority.  If every citizen is to feel inclined to
take part in the activites of the various groups which make up the
social body, these must offer advantages which will attract members
and dispose them to serve others.  We can justly consider that the
future of humanity lies in the hands of those who are strong enough to
provide coming generations with reasons for living and hoping.

  32. As God did not create man for life in siolation, but for the
fomration of social unity, so also "it has pleased God to make men
holy and save them not merely as individuals, without bond or link
between them, but by making them into a single people, a people which
acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness" [13].  So from
the beginning of salvation history He has chosen men not just as
individuals but as members of a certain community.  Revealing His mind
to them, God called these chosen ones "His people" (Ex. 3:7, 12), and
even made a covenant with them on Sinai [14].

  This communitarian character is developed and consummated in the
work of Jesus CHrist.  For the very Word made flesh willed to share in
the human fellowship.  He was present at the wedding of Cana, visited
the house of Zachaeus, ate with publicans and sinners.  He revealed
the love of the Father and the sublime vocation of man in terms of the
most common of social realities and by making use of the speech and
the imagery of plain everyday life.  Willingly obeying the laws of His
country, He sanctified those human ties, especially family ones, which
are the foundation of social structures.  He chose to lead the life
proper to an artisan of His time and place.

  In preaching He clearly taught sons of God to treat one another as
brothers.  In His prayers He pleaded that all His disciples might be
"one."  Indeed as the Redeemer of all, He offered Himself for all even
to thte point of death. "Greater love than this no one has, that one
lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).  He commanded His Apostles to preach to all peoples the Gospel's
message that the human race was to become the Family of God, in which
teh fullness of the Law would be love.

  As the firstborn of many brethren and by the giving of His Spirit,
He founded after His death and resurrection a new brotherly community
composed of all those who receive Him in faith and in love.  This He
did through His Body, which is the Church.  There everyone, as members
of the other, would render mutual service according to the different
gifts bestowed on each.

  This solidarity must be constantly increased until that day on which
it will be brought to perfection.  Then, saved by grace, men will
offer flawless glory to God as a family beloved of God and of Christ
their Brother.

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[1] Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra, May 15, 1961:
AAS 53 (1961), pp. 401-464, and Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris,
April 11, 1963: AAS 55 (1963), pp. 257-304; Paul VI, Encyclical Letter
Ecclesiam Suam, Aug. 6, 1964: AAS 54 (1964), pp. 609-659.

[2] Cf. Luke 17:33.

[3] Cf. St. Thomas, 1 Ethica Lect. 1.

[4] Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53
(1961), p. 418. Cf. also Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno:
AAS 23 (1931), p. 222ff.

[5] Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53
(1961).

[6] Cf. Mark 2:27.

[7] Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963),
p. 266.

[8] Cf. Jas. 2:15-16.

[9] Cf. Luke 16:19-31.

[10] Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963),
p. 299 and 300.

[11] Cf. Luke 6:37-38; Matt. 7:1-2; Rom. 2:1-11; 14:10; 14:10-12

[12] Cf. Matt. 5:43-47.

[13] Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter II, n. 9: AAS 57
(1965). pp 12-13.

[14] Cf. Exodus 24:1-8.

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