Section 4
THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN ERA (PP. 159-203)
Section 4, Part 1:
THE CHURCH IN THE AGE OF REASON
AND REVOLUTION (PP. 160-171)
Introduction (p. 160)
• Medieval Period—Church, faith, and God were first in people’s lives
• Renaissance—human abilities & contributions began to be valued as sources of
goodness under humanism; slowly process began of replacing God as source
• Age of Reason (Enlightenment)—17th and 18th centuries (focus of Part 1) during
which God is marginalized especially through philosophy brought lasting changes
to Europe, some positive but at great costs, especially the French Revolution
• 3 articles
• (A. 35) – The Age of Reason (pp. 161-164)
• (A. 36) – The French Revolution (pp. 164-168)
• (A. 37) – Effects of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution (pp. 168-170)
Article 35: The Age of Reason (pp. 161-164)
•Renaissance, Protestant and Catholic Reformations, and nationalism made possible a new way of
thinking about religion, monarchy, and individual rights known as the Age of Reason or
Enlightenment
•Two main fruits of the Enlightenment
• Rationalism
• Rise of learning through science and mathematics in the 17th and 18th centuries
• E.g. Blaise Paschal and Isaac Newton—the concrete was exalted because observable and quantifiable
• Scientific explanations of the universe based on reason began to replace ones based on faith and mystery
• Led to the idea that all truth is determined by human reason (definition) even human laws (natural law
too?)
• If God existed, only as the Creator not personally—deism—so natural rights became topic of focus
• Voltaire’s (Candide)—religious satire
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s (On the Social Contract)—political treatise on democracy and empowerment
• Rene Descartes’ (Passions of the Soul; Principles of Philosophy--“Cogito ergo sum”)—human emotions &
doubt
Article 35 cont.: The Age of Reason (pp.
161-164)
• Empiricism
• Logical conclusion of rationalism—all knowledge comes through experience, especially through the
senses (defn.)
• Like rationalists, split on existence of God but not on the essence of God—deism
• John Locke’s (An Essay Concerning Human Understanding) & Isaac Newton’s (Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy)
• David Hume’s (A Treatise of Human Nature & Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion)
•CCC 50 on the relationship between Natural and Divine Revelation
• Corollaries: relationship between faith and reason; as well as experience, science, philosophy, &
theology
• The Case of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)—Italian astronomer who agreed with Copernicus (1473-1543)
that the earth rotated around the sun not vice versa; excommunicated by Pope Urban VIII (1628-1644)
but pardoned by Pope John Paul II in 1992
Homework
•Read pp. 164-170 (AA. 36-37) in your History of the Catholic Church
e-Book for discussion tomorrow
•p. 171; 1-2 (Section 4, Part 1 Homework)
Article 36: The French Revolution (pp. 164-168)
•Medieval belief that monarchs were endowed with divine authority to rule was toppled during the
Enlightenment & replaced with Rousseau’s ideas—governed empower government to protect rights
•Meant revolution in France where Church-monarchy stronghold was holding on
• King Louis XVI called the French Parliament (Three Estates) to Versailles in May of 1789 to solve economic crisis
• Commoners who composed the Third Estate called for reforms of the monarchy and first two Estates (clergy and
nobility)
• June 19 clergy sided with the peasants in giving up tithes and tax free status; king asked Estates to leave but didn’t
• King hired mercenaries to defend absolutism; July 14 Bastille was stormed beginning French Revolution
• In August the National Assembly was formed and passed Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
• Individual and collective rights are universal so religious toleration
• Strangely (2 reasons) but understandably revolution turned against the Church
• In November, Church property was confiscated & sold, clergy & religious were exiled, vows and orders suppressed
• In July 1790 Civil Constitution of the Clergy was passed—subordinated Church to French government
• In November 1791, National Assembly require French clergy to take oath recognizing constitution
• Pope Pius VI (1775-1799) condemned the constitution & the revolutionary principles in 1791 in Quod
aliquantum—2 churches in France
Article 36 cont.: The French Revolution (pp. 164-168)
•In January of 1793 the king was beheaded and the Reign of Terror ensued—mass executions,
new calendar (feast days replaced with holidays of reason and liberty), new dogma (immortality
of the soul), new moral (do ones duty), new god in Notre Dame (goddess of reason)
•Revolution leaders killed one another off by 1795 and Directory set up & reversed some of the
anti-Christian laws until 1799 when Napoleon Bonaparte took power through a military coup—
restored Church rights for selfish reasons
•Concordat with Pope Pius VII (1800-1823)—pope appoints French bishops but no property
returned
•In 1808 Napoleon imprisoned Pius VII and confiscated Papal States
•European conglomeration defeated him in 1814, freed pope, returned Papal States, and briefly
restored a limited form of the French monarchy
Article 37: The Effects of the Enlightenment
and the French Revolution (pp. 168-170)
•Obvious conclusion is that no good could possibly come from Enlightenment or French Revolution
•If Christopher Dawson was right that the Enlightenment was “the last great European heresy” then we should
find some fruit like earlier heresies bore—clarify & strengthen doctrine & discipline
•St. John Paul II said it bore not only revolution but liberty, equality, fraternity, human rights, national
existence, political sovereignty, and the abolition of feudalism too
• Direct implication for American war for independence, U.S. Constitution, and Catholic Social Doctrine
•19th century renewal of the Church in France due to the persecutions of the 17th and 18th centuries
•New and renewed forms of piety, devotion, worship, art, architecture, and music to glorify God
•Rise in vocations to the clerical and religious life
•Reestablishment of suppressed religious orders
• Jesuits in 1814 (since 1773) under Pius VII and doubled under Pius IX (1846-1878)
• Sisters of St. Joseph in 1807 after being founded in the 17th & suppressed in the 18th—to St. Louis in 1830
•Establishment of new religious orders
• Marists (Society of Mary) in 1816 and The Congregation of Our Lady of Zion in 1843
•Saints who lived lives of personal holiness that inspired others
• St. John Vianney (1786-1859) diocesan pastor in Ars, France
• St. Catherine Laboure (1806-1876) religious Daughters of Charity; visions of Mary led to the Miraculous Medal
• St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897) Carmelite who developed the little way of love in Story of a Soul; doctor/missionary
Homework
•Read pp. 172-180 (Intro. 4.2 and AA. 38-39) in your History of the
Catholic Church e-Book for discussion tomorrow
•p. 171; 3-6 (Section 4, Part 1 Homework)
Section 4, Part 1 Homework due tomorrow (p. 171; 1-6)
Section 4
THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN ERA (PP. 159-203)
Section 4, Part 2:
POPE PIUS IX AND VATICAN I (PP. 172180)
Introduction (p. 172)
• Despite the renewal that followed in the wake of the Enlightenment & French
Revolution the Church faced challenges from modernist thought & ideologies
• Pope Pius IX worked hard to protect the Church from modernism and to reaffirm
the place of the Church in the modern world
• Lay spirituality, renewed devotion, & an ecumencial council
• Vatican I promulgated constitutions on papal infallibility & the relations between faith
and reason
• Two articles
• (A. 38) – Pope Pius IX and Religious Renewal (pp. 173-175)
• (A. 39) – Vatican Council I (pp. 176-180)
Article 38: Pope Pius IX and Religious Renewal
(pp. 173-175)
•Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) defended the Church against modernism, not modernity, for 32 years
(longest papacy in history) during a very turbulent religious, political, and social time
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He clarified the role of the Church in the modern world and condemned modernism as erroneous
He lived a personal life of deep faith, prayer, and service—beatified in 2000 by John Paul II
As lost the Papal States & temporal power they brought he strengthened the spiritual power of the pope
Defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 (Catherine Laboure and the Miraculous Medal)
Attached the Syllabus of Errors to the encyclical Quantra cura in 1864—80 “liberal” propositions condemned
• Modernism, rationalsim, fideism, pantheism, socialism, liberal capitalism, state authority over the Church,
religious pluralism (sort of), progress and modern liberal civilization, …
• Best of intentions but misinterpreted so put him at odds with a lot of people and movements of the time—
e.g. European and American Catholics and Protestants
Approved or reestablished many of the religious orders mentioned in A. 37 as well as the Salesians under St.
John Bosco in Turin, Italy
Promoted more frequent reception of the Sacraments
Devotion to Mary (Lourdes, France ; St. Bernadette Soubirous: 1844-1858-1879; National Rosary Pilgrimage)
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (medieval but feast in 1856) & St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)
Convoked Vatican I in 1868 to address the threats ecumenically and formally
Article 39: Vatican Council I (pp. 176-180)
•Pope Pius XI announced desire for council in 1864 and convoked in 1868
•700+ bishops (46 from US) met on 12.8.1869 for 20th Ecumencial Council & first since
Trent in 1563
•Met in Vatican due to size requirements so called Vatican I (1869-1870)
•Dei Filius
• Promulgated unanimously on 24 April 1870 in response to modernism, rationalism, fideism, &
pantheism
• God exists personally and can be known through both divine Revelation and human reason
• There is no inherent contradiction between faith and reason
• Church has authority in matters of faith since God reveals himself through the Church; the Church is
an expert on humanity and therefore on human reason
Article 39 cont.: Vatican Council I (pp. 176-180)
•Pastor Aeternus (CCC 891)
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Promulgated 18 July 1870
Papal infallibility was not originally a topic for discussion but called for by a majority & confirmed in March
Affirmation of papal primacy and infallibility; affirmed it as an early Church doctrine which developed
Two cases of extraordinary magisterium (pope & bishops with pope) and ordinary magisterium (pope
w/out 4 criteria & bishops w/out pope)
• 4 Criteria: pope to whole Church; ex cathedra; intending to speak infallibly; matter of faith or morals
•Council adjourned abruptly in July 1870 after 7 months without finishing topic list
• Revolutionaries occupied Rome after Napoleon III withdrew as war broke out between France & Prussia
• Officially closed by St. John XXIII in 1960 since it never reconvened; opened Vatican II in 1962
•Canon law?—laws or canons distinct from civil law that govern the Church and her members
• Collections made 5th through 12th century; Benedictine monk Gratian systematized in 1139 with Concord of
Discordant Canons or Decretals; it and supplements were compiled in 1500’s in Body of Canon Law (1580);
it and later law was systematized in 1917 in Code of Canon Law; revised in 1983 to reflect Vatican II
Homework
•Read pp. 181-193 (Intro. 4.3 and AA. 40-42) in your History of the
Catholic Church e-Book for discussion tomorrow
•p. 180; 1-6 (Section 4, Part 2 Homework)
•Section 4, Part 2 Homework due tomorrow (p. 180; 1-6)
Section 4
THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN ERA (PP. 159-203)
Section 4, Part 3:
CATHOLICS IN AMERICA (PP. 181-193)
Introduction (p. 181)
• Catholics in England faced persecution, especially under Elizabeth I, after the
Protestant Reformation and the formation of the Anglican Church
• Colony in Maryland promised religious freedom so a small group of Catholics left
• Seed was sewn and later nourished by John Carroll and holy clergy, religious, & laity
• Church thrived and multiplied with 19th century European immigration
• Church organized and sustained by later holy clergy, religious, and laity
• Church contributed deeply to the formation of the United States
• 3 articles
• (A. 40) – The Church in America (pp. 182-185)
• (A. 41) – An Immigrant Church (pp. 186-189)
• (A. 42) – American Missionaries and Saints (pp. 190-193)
Article 40: The Church in America (pp. 182-185)
•Catholics seized opportunity to escape English/Anglican persecution under Elizabeth I (1533-1603
•)
• Opportunity came when King James I (1566-1625) granted Catholic Lord Baltimore land for an American
settlement in Maryland (1634)
• Welcomed all and offered religious freedom but by 1704 non-Catholics outnumbered Catholics
• Catholics were deprived of rights to build churches and hold public office
•Revolutionary War brought the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution which protected rights and
created separation of Church and state
•Climate improved but it took some time for prejudices to disappear
•Catholics faced practical challenges—handful of priests to serve 30K & too poor to support or grow
•Lay people organized the Church until John Carroll came on the scene and dramatically changed it
Article 40 cont.: The Church in America (pp. 182-185)
•U.S. Catholics wanted a native bishop to avoid suspicion from the new republic so petitioned Pius VI
(1775-1799) in March of 1788 to elect own bishop—pope approved in July but reserved ratification
•Gathered in May of 1789 to celebrate mass; elected John Carroll first bishop of Baltimore (chose too)
•Vatican approved in November of 1789 and he began to work to organize the American Church
•Challenge was to retain Catholic support & gain control while satisfying desire for democratic Church
•Language was also a difficulty—English and immigrant languages
•Succeeded b/c adopted an American style (democracy & separation) while remaining loyal to pope
•Catholic population grew from 30K in 1775 to 200K in 1815 when Carroll died; also branched out from
Baltimore & Philadelphia; priests increase 6x but still shortage
•Women religious grew dramatically—both new native and European
• Convents, schools, orphanages, and hospitals
•Building the Church through education—Jesuit spirituality of John Carroll
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To secure Church’s mission and adapt to American culture; to nationalize and educate clergy and laypersons
Georgetown Academy planned in 1786 and opened in 1791
Sulpicians (4 priest and 5 seminarians) founded St. Mary’s Seminary (first one) in a bar in 1791
Today over 240 catholic colleges/universities in the U.S. (20% of the world)—Catholic upper and middle class
Article 41: An Immigrant Church (pp. 186-189)
•Immigrants flooded into the U.S. mid 19th century in hopes of escaping poverty & bettering life
• 1830-1860—Irish (Catholic population 500K to 3 million)
• 1860-1890—German (about 250K)
• 1890-1920—Italian and Eastern European (less but significant amount)
•Naturally banded together in new world forming ethnic neighborhoods (often slums)
•Widespread immigration inspire widespread anti-Catholic sentiments and action starting in 1830
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Protestants called nativists developed into a political party in 1850 called the Know-Nothings
Evaded questions about their organization--“I don’t know”
Started rumors that Vatican and American Catholics were conspiring to take over the U.S.
Incited riots, fixed elections, and harassed convents, monasteries, rectories, schools, hospitals, orphanages, …
•Influence of Know-Nothings waned by 1900 but bigotry continued into the 20th century—John F. Kennedy’s
campaign for Presidency as a Catholic (conspiring with pope)—and continues still today
•Catholics who fought on both sides of the Civil War helped answer the question of Catholic patriotism
•Immigrants desired to worship in their own native language and resented other ethnicities
•Formed ethnic parishes starting in 1830 with Irish & 1860 with German & 1890 with Italians (continues
today on a small scale in some places with some ethnicities)
• Offered opportunity to worship in their native language; center of social life; community and continuity from old
world
• Every major city had German, Polish, Italian, and Irish churches within a few blocks of each other downtown
Article 41 cont.: An Immigrant Church (pp. 186-189)
•Late 19th century Eastern Europeans began to arrive and form their own ethnic churches (Ukraine, Slovakia,
Romania, Czechoslovakia, & other former Soviet countries)
• Many of these immigrants were Eastern Catholics (two ways) with their own eparchies, patriarchs, customs, & laws
(Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches--1990)
•Roman Catholics (Latin or Western), Eastern Catholics (Byzantine; 21 rites; full union under pope), &
Orthodox Christians (11th century schism; majority Greek Orthodox; earlier & later ones as well)
• Today working to unite via ecumenical dialogue
•U.S. is called the “nation of immigrants” and every immigrant has a story to tell
• What is your family story; how is faith a part of that story?
•Catholic education has been a very important part of America’s story of faith
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Public schools in the 19th and 20th centuries were not secular but Protestant surprisingly enough—bible & prayers
Catholic immigrant parishes sacrificed tremendously to build parochial schools despite poverty
Male and especially female religious sacrificed to run those schools—means of protecting & passing on faith
Over time, Catholic education system became excellent and therefore respected
Council of Baltimore in 1884 mandated that every parish had a school by 1886 and commissioned a catechism that
we know as the Baltimore Catechism (standard U.S. religious text until 1960)
• System today?
Article 42: American Missionaries and Saints (pp. 190-193)
•Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821)
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First American born saint—14 September 1975; remembered for this but let’s not forget her life
Episcopalian from New York City; married at 20 to wealthy merchant William Seton; widowed by 30 with 5 kids
Opened an academy in the city to support herself & kids; converted to Catholicism by late husband’s partners
Invited by John Carroll in 1809 to open a school in Baltimore for girls—St. Joseph’s Academy and Free School
Founded Sisters of Charity (1st religious order from the U.S.) to open and run schools esp. on frontier
Model for U.S. parochial school system; continued to raise her children by special provisions
•Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852)
• French member of Religious of the Sacred Heart; founded first convent in America in 1818 in Louisiana Territory
• Established a mission and school for Native Americans and dedicated her life to their service
•Augustus Tolton (1854-1897)--“Good Father Gus”
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First black priest for America; refused admittance to U.S. seminary so went to Rome to study and be ordained
Returned to Quincy, IL to organize a black parish but white Catholics and Protestants prevented
Reassigned to Chicago where he opened St. Monica’s black “national parish”—quickly grew to 600 members
Eloquent sermons and beautiful singing voice
Previously the position of Americans on black Catholics had been split since their arrival in the 16th century colonial
days through slavery and then conversion through missionary work; Vatican condemned in 1839 but what about
existing slaves; discrimination amidst split; Oblate Sisters of Providence & Holy Family Sisters (black religious) fought
Article 42 cont.: American Missionaries and Saints (pp. 190-193)
•Francis Cabrini (1850-1917)
• Italian immigrant to America in 1889 & founder of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Italy
• Established schools and hospitals to care for the poor; came to New York at urging of Leo XIII (1878-1903)
• Along with six sisters, established schools, hospitals, & orphanages in Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans, NYC, …
•Theodora Guerin (1798-1856)
• French missionary; Sisters of Providence; Indiana in 1841; Academy of St. Mary of the Woods; first women’s
liberal arts college in the U.S.; dedicated to education; in Indiana and Illinois
•John Neumann (1811-1860)
• From Bohemia in Czechoslovakia; Redemptorist missionary; 4th bishop of Philadelphia; 1st U.S. bishop canonized
• First U.S. bishop to organize a diocesan Catholic school system; facility with languages; immigrants (esp. German)
•Katharine Drexel (1858-1955)
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From wealthy family in Philadelphia
Founded Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
Dedicated her life and large family inheritance to service African and Native Americans
Founded over sixty missions and schools in the U.S.
Most notably, Xavier University in Louisiana for African Americns
Homework
•Read pp. 194-203 (Intro. 4.4 and AA. 43-44) in your History of the
Catholic Church e-Book for discussion Monday [Last reading
assignment of the semester!]
•p. 193; 1-6 (Section 4, Part 3)
•Section 4, Part 3 Homework due Monday (p. 193; 1-6)
Section 4
THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN ERA (PP. 159-203)
Section 4, Part 4:
INDUSTRIALIZATION, INJUSTICE, AND THE
CHURCH’S RESPONSE (PP. 194-203)
Introduction (p. 194)
• Mid to late 19th century—Industrial Revolution in Europe and America
• Rapid changes in manufacturing, agriculture, mining, and transportation
• Leading to rapid social, cultural, & economic changes overnight—decades to correct
• Possible because of and spurred technological advances
• Church responded to industrialization & capitalism with series of social encyclicals
• First was Rerum novarum (On the Condition of Labor) by Pope Leo XIII
• 2 articles
• (A. 43) – The Effects of Industrialization and Capitalism (pp. 195-197)
• (A. 44) – The Birth of the Social Doctrine on the Church (pp. 198-203)
Article 43: The Effects of Industrialization and Capitalism
(pp. 190-193)
•Industrial Revolution—began in Europe & spread to America in mid to late 19th century
•Had positive and negative outcomes in almost ever aspect of life
•Driven by capitalism & technological advances
•Capitalism was driven by desire to grow business and personal wealth
•Widening gap between rich (capital) & poor (labor) as well as human and material resources
•Social Darwinism was a theoretical justification for practical injustices of radical capitalism
•Immigrant labor was often poor & uneducated so exploitation followed
• Low wages, poor & dangerous working conditions (sweatshops), long hours, no sick leave or pensions, child
labor as young as four for even lower wages (10-20% of adult), no vacation, seven days a week, not allowed
to unionize or strike, …
•Work is supposed to be a source of dignity and discipline that facilitates one’s spiritual growth and
maturity as well as society as a whole—co-creation with God
•Church responded with modern Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
• Right to work, work to live with dignity, form unions, strike when for sake of common good, …
• Later—wages, hours, conditions, genders, economic theories, capital, labor, resources, private property, …
•Cardinal Manning of Britain (1st bishop to speak out)—1872 farmers & 1889 dock workers
•Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore—1886 Knights of Labor (700K + members) against Vatican (in 5 years)
Article 44: The Birth of the Social Doctrine of the Church (pp. 198-203)
•Rerum novarum (On the Condition of Labor) by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 was the 1st modern social encyclical
•Ground breaking document—addressed new problems, made judgments, & suggested how to respond
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Flaws in Marxism—private property is a natural and Divine right (7th Commandment)
Workers rights—dignity, wage, hours, conditions, child labor, holidays & Sundays, organize & associate
Governments must serve common good
Universal destination of goods
•Spurred a series of anniversary documents from 1891 until the present time
•Quadragesimo anno (The Reconstruction of the Social Order)—Pope Pius XI in 1931
• Criticize capitalism and socialism; widening gap between rich & poor; introduce subsidiarity principle
•Mater et magistra (Christianity and Social Progress)—Pope John XXIII in 1961
• Concern for workers esp. women; gap between rich & poor nations; excessive spending on weapons hurts society
•Pacem et terris (Peace on Earth)—Pope John XXIII in 1963
• Warns against modern warfare esp. nuclear weapons; peace = just social order; list of human rights necessary for
•Gaudium et spes (The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World)—Vatican II in 1965
• Church must serve the world and promote the common good through collaboration; condemns weapons of mass
destruction; peace is justice which is more than the absence of war
Article 44: The Birth of the Social Doctrine of the Church (pp. 198-203)
•Popularum progressio (The Development of Peoples)—Pope Paul VI in 1967
• True progress is economic, social, cultural, & spiritual; economic development of poor and moral of rich are linked;
criticizes radical capitalism (profit & private ownership are absolute motives and rights)
•Octogesima adveniens (A Call to Action)—Pope Paul VI in 1971
• Encourage Christians and all people of good will to continue; awareness; analysis of appropriate responses
•Laborem exercens (On Human Work)—Pope John Paul II in 1991
• Work is center of social issues; right and duty to work for those able; workers have rights above profits and products
•Centesimus annus (The Hundredth Year)—Pope John Paul II in 1981
• Communism flawed b/c treated humans as objects; capitalism is efficient but flawed if not for common good; right to
private property is not absolute & must be checked by just distribution of goods
•Caritatis in veritate (Charity in Truth)—Pope Benedict XVI in 2009
• Justice in all aspects of economic life; fundamentalism & religious exclusion are obstacles; technology not drive society
•The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response—USCCB in 1983
• Peace is more than deterrence; $ spent on arms is $ not spent on poor; nuclear arms race must end
•Economic Justice for All: A Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy—USCCB in 1986
• Economic decisions made in reference to human dignity; all obligated to help poor; Church example in economics
•The 7th Commandment is at the heart of social justice—requires charity and justice—virtue of religion too
•Subsidiarity—God; Church (universal, national, local, parish); State (global, federal, state, local); family;
established organizations; individuals
Homework
•p. 203; 1-6 (Section 4, Part 4) [Last homework assignment of the
semester!]
•Section 4, Part 4 Homework due tomorrow (p. 203; 1-6)
•Study for the Section 4, Parts 1-4 Quiz tomorrow (pp. 160-203; AA.
35-43) [100 points!] [Last quiz of the semester!]