Church, State, and Society: An Introduction to Catholic Social Doctrine

6. Civil Society and the Church

215 chapter 6 Civil Society and the Church A healthy civil society makes an enormous contribution to the common good of the nation. It reaches into those areas of life that the law cannot or will not reach. The three most important agents of civil society are the Church, the family, and the university. The next two chapters will, accordingly , discuss these three pillars of society. The first section of this chapter , The Role of the Bishops, will explain how the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has chosen to make its contribution to the political community, and then offer some reflections on its mode of engagement in the light of Catholic social doctrine. The second section will explain the role of the laity in the political and social order according to Vatican Council II and various papal documents. I will not specifically address how individual bishops might contribute to the common good, but will indirectly address their proper role by my reflections on the USCCB. The most important contribution that individual priests can make to the common good is to preach the fullness of the Catholic faith, including its countercultural aspects. As things stand, not a few priests in the United States are failing to give the laity a complete explanation of the faith from the pulpit. This is a quiet crisis in the Church. As one priest vocation director said to me, “It is hard to persuade young men to join a presbyterate that is reluctant to bear witness to the fullness of Catholic truth.” The Role of the Bishops The ultimate end of the Church is the salvation of human beings, “which is to be achieved by faith in Christ and by his grace,”1 and ful1 . Vatican Council II, Apostolicam actuositatem (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity), no. 6; for all documents of Vatican Council II, see Walter M.Abbott, The Documents of Vatican II (New York: Guild Press, America Press, and Association Press, 1966), modified translation . 216 Civil Society and the Common Good ly attained only in the afterlife.2 Therefore, all the works of the Church have as their goal “the sanctification of men and women and the glorification of God in Christ.”3 The specific mission that Christ entrusted to his Church, according to Gaudium et spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), is not in “the political, economic, or social order. The purpose which he set before her is a religious one.”4 Although the Church’s mission is salvation through sanctification, it nevertheless has much to offer life in the city. Men and women receiving the message of salvation have the duty to imbue all temporal things with a Christian spirit. Out of the Church’s religious mission, says Gaudium et spes, “comes a duty, a light, and forces which can serve to structure and consolidate the human community according to divine law.”5 “The mission of the Church in its full range,” Avery Cardinal Dulles concludes, “may therefore be said to include not only the directly religious apostolate but also the penetration of the temporal sphere with the spirit of the Gospel.”6 As the Catholic Church has an obligation to foster peace and justice in the world, so popes and bishops rightfully and regularly address political, economic, and social matters, but not just like lay people. At first glance it may seem that Vatican II is saying that the Church does and does not have a proper mission in the political, social, and economic order. Cardinal Dulles explains the apparent contradiction: To preach faith in Christ and to administer the sacraments are...proper to the Church. The Church was established precisely in order that these activities might be performed. But to erect a just and prosperous society is not...the proper business of the Church. To contribute to such a society is, however, a responsibility of Christians insofar as they are citizens of the earthly community . Unless they live up to their civic obligations they will be guilty in the sight of God. All Christians whether clergy or laity, have duties as members of the human community, but to penetrate secular professions and organiza2 . Vatican Council II, Gaudium et spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), no. 40. 3. Vatican Council II, Sacrosanctum concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), no. 10, modified translation. 4. Gaudium et spes, no. 42. 5. Ibid., no. 42, modified translation. 6. Avery Dulles, The Reshaping of...