Catholic Social Teaching on Peace

Catholic Social Teaching on Peace Introduction We all want peace, but how do we achieve it? We know how to defend our borders and our liberties, but how do we build the peace? Pope John XXIII and Pacem in terris Pope John XXIII was a great man of peace. Everybody loved this man, who obviously loved people whole-heartedly. His last great gift to mankind was an encyclical on peace, Pacem in terris (Peace on Earth, 1963). In it he lays down a blueprint for peace. If you want peace in the world, he says in effect, then there is a certain order, a moral order, which all of us must pursue. He speaks of four levels in human relationships: 1) person to person; 2) person to his society and government; 3) country to country; and 4) person and country to the rest of the world. Here is a beautiful summary statement of his: "The order which prevails in society is by nature moral. Grounded as it is in truth, it must function according to the norms of justice, it should be inspired and perfected by mutual love, and finally it should be brought to an ever more refined and human balance in freedom" (PT 37). "Now an order of this kind, whose principles are universal, absolute and unchangeable, has its ultimate source in the one true God, Who is personal and transcends human nature. Inasmuch as God is the first Truth and the highest Good, He alone is that deepest source from which human society can draw its vitality, if that society is to be well ordered, beneficial, and in keeping with human dignity" (PT 38). Building the peace is a day by day process. It follows the law of gradualism. It is like rearing a child to maturity. It requires patient fostering, guidance, love and self-sacrifice. Peace and Justice Peace demands the rooting out of injustice wherever it exists: between individuals, between social classes, or between nations. It is, in the words of Pope Paul VI, "the fruit of order;" an order shaped "by the values of justice, truth, freedom and love." Pius XII emphasized throughout his pontificate - that bore the motto Opus justitiae pax ("peace is the work of justice") - the necessary connection between the attainment of justice and the attainment of peace. How well the Pope of Peace anticipated the spirit of Vatican II which declared that peace is "an enterprise of justice." In his address to the General Assembly of the United Nations and again in his "World Day of Peace Message in 1982." John Paul II underscored the need to sow peace with the seeds of justice: "Unconditional and effective respect for each one's unprescriptible and inalienable rights is the necessary condition in order that peace may reign in a society." There can be no peace without justice. This notion is eloquently expressed by Cardinal O'Connor in his introduction to the American Bishops' Pastoral on Peace: There can be no true peace for the world as long as there is political oppression or deprivation of human rights. There can be no true peace unless every individual is free to worship God and exercise a religious faith. There can be no true peace while millions of human beings starve or go homeless, or are victimized by economic systems that deny workers the right to ownership and the fruit of their labors, or that grind them into ever deepening poverty. There can be no true peace for those who must live in daily fear of their lives, potential victims of terrorism. There can be no true peace for those who live under the constant threat of war, the blackmail of potential destruction. Paul VI and Populorum Progressio In 1967, Pope Paul VI wrote an encyclical on "Development," called Populorum Progressio. He was pointing to the reality of the unnecessary gap between the rich and the poor in the world, and developed and the underdeveloped, or, using the language of the New Testament, between Dives and Lazarus. "Development is the new name for peace." What does this mean? One of the greatest causes of war and hostilities in the world is the presence of gross injustices, disparities of opportunities, suppression of human rights and freedoms. When 3rd and 4th world countries, then anger, resentment, and jealousy smolder and eventually will burst into flames. Peace and Development Building the peace means pursuing development. This means pursuing justice for all peoples and nations. It means recognizing a moral order at work in the human universe, and guiding our choices and actions accordingly. It means that citizens of the most affluent nation in the history of the world must use effectively their most important tool, which is their citizenship. We are to give good direction to our national policy for foreign aid, for overseas development, for world hunger, for the availability and management of loans, for trade and terms of trade. Development is not just a matter of economic and material goods. It involves the whole person: economics, culture, politics, religion: economic needs, cultural needs, political needs, and religious needs. There are many things we, you and I, can do to promote peace and development. When financial and material resources are freed up by a reduction of the military budget, as a result of perestroika, how will they be used? For world development? For the world's poor? Will we provide scholarships to qualified students in developing nations to study in our colleges and universities? Will our college and university graduates delay their personal careers a few years and donate several years to PAVLA and the Peace Corps, or even to our home missions. Will we as a nation insist upon our national compliance with the United Nations' recommendation that every 1st world nation contribute 1 percent of its GNP for world development purposes? Will we ask our legislators to press for greater reciprocal dependency upon developing nations to supply some of our basic needs, and open our markets to them, e. g., for such things as shoes, clothing, fabrics? Pope Paul VI teaches in Populorum progressio that "Peace is something that is built up day after day, in the pursuit of an order intended by God, which implies a more perfect form of justice among men" (pp 76). Is "Peace on Earth" the same as the "Kingdom of God"? (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis #48) The Church knows that no temporal achievement is to be identified with the Kingdom of God. Rather, all such achievements simply reflect and in a sense anticipate the glory of the Kingdom, which will be fully realized only at the end of history, when the Lord will come again. Earthly progress is of vital concern to the Kingdom of God, insofar as it can contribute to a better ordering of human society (cf. GS 39). However imperfect and temporary are all our efforts to make people's lives "more human," nothing will be lost or will have been in vain. "When we have spread on earth the fruits of our nature and our enterprise -- human dignity, fraternal communion, and freedom -- according to the command of the Lord in his Spirit, we will find them once again, cleansed this time from the stain of sin, illumined and transfigured, when Christ presents to His Father an eternal and universal kingdom... Here on earth that Kingdom is already present in mystery" (GS 39). The Kingdom of God becomes present above all in the celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. In that celebration the fruits of the earth and work of human hands are transformed really and substantially, into the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The goods of this world and the work of our hands - the bread and wine - serve for the coming of the definitive Kingdom, since the Lord associates them with himself in an offering to the Father. His one Sacrifice anticipates God's Kingdom and proclaims its final coming. The Lord unites us with Himself and with one another by a bond stronger than any natural union. He sends us into the whole world to bear witness, through faith and works, to God's love. All of us are called to discover, through this Sacrament, the profound meaning of our actions in the world in favor of development and peace. We receive from the Eucharist the strength to commit ourselves ever more generously to the tasks before us. United with Christ, our personal commitment will not be in vain but certainly fruitful. Pope John Paul II's Remarks After Pope John II's meeting on Dec. 1, 1989, with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, he gave a public statement, and made this remark: To be sure, mankind today awaits new forms of cooperation and mutual assistance. The tragedy of the Second World War has taught us, however, that if fundamental ethical values are forgotten, fearful consequences for the fate of peoples can result and even the greatest of enterprises can end in failure. Hence, in my apostolic letter commemorating the outbreak of the Second World War, I felt the need to remind all peoples that "there can be no peace if man and law are held in contempt" and "if the rights of all peoples - particularly the most vulnerable - are not respected" (no. 8). What is more, I expressed to statesmen and the leaders of nations my profound conviction "that respect for God and respect for man go hand in hand. They make up the absolute principles which allows states and political blocs to overcome their hostilities" (no. 12) (Origins Dec. 14, 1989, p. 456). Every New Year's day the Holy Father writes a World Day of Peace message. In his January 1, 1990 message he wrote: Theology, philosophy and science all speak of a harmonious universe, of a "cosmos" endowed with its own integrity, its own internal, dynamic balance. This order must be respected. The human race is called to explore this order, to examine it with due care and to make use of it while safeguarding its integrity. On the other hand, the earth is ultimately a common heritage, the fruits of which are for the benefit of all. In the words of the Second Vatican Council, "God destined the earth and all it contains for the use of every individual and all peoples" (GS 69). This has direct consequences for the problem at hand. It is manifestly unjust that a privileged few should continue to accumulate excess goods, squandering available resources, while masses of people are living in conditions of misery at the very lowest level of subsistence. Today the dramatic threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent of which greed and selfishness - both individual and collective - are contrary to the order of creation, an order which is characterized by mutual interdependence (Origins Dec. 14, 1989, pp. 465-8). Conclusion Everyone wants peace. Peace is possible. We have a responsibility to do what is in our power to build the peace. We also need to know clearly what destroys the peace, what offends against the peace. In the Beatitudes, Jesus assures us: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" (Mt 5:9). Sources: 1) Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth, 1963) Daughters of St. Paul, Boston, Mass.: 1963. 2) Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples, 1967) Daughters of St. Paul, Boston, Mass.: 1967. 3) Pope John Paul II's Address to President Mikhail Gorbachev, Origins, Dec. 14, 1989, p. 456. 4) Pope John Paul II's World Day of Peace Message: "Peace with God the Creator, Peace with All of Creation," Origins Dec. 14, 1989, pp. 465-8.