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218 On Behalf of Workers: Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression 27 0These early encyclicals voice a strong concern for the well-being of workers and justice in the face of exploitation and great disparities in the distribution of wealth. These themes are prominent in the tradition of Catholic social teaching. Selection 1: Leo III, Rerum Novarum, May 15, 1891 Rerum Novarum comes at the time of the Industrial Revolution and the problems of inequity workers faced in the extremes of the capitalist enterprise under the name “liberalism.” Though rejecting the socialist alternative and upholding the right to private property, the encyclical calls for solidarity among the classes rather than class warfare and emphasizes the duty of Christian charity to provide for the poor and to protect the rights of all. That the spirit of revolutionary change, which has long been disturbing the nations of the world, should have passed beyond the sphere of politics and made its influence felt in the cognate sphere of practical economics is not surprising. The elements of the conflict now raging are unmistakable, in the vast expansion of industrial pursuits and the marvelous discoveries of science; in the changed relations between masters and workmen; in the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses; the increased self reliance and closer mutual combination of the working classes; as also, finally, in the prevailing moral degeneracy. The momentous gravity of the state of things now obtaining fills every mind with painful apprehension; wise men are discussing it; practical men are proposing schemes; popular meetings, legislatures , and rulers of nations are all busied with it—actually there is no question which has taken deeper hold on the public mind. 22. Therefore, those whom fortune favors are warned that riches do not bring freedom from sorrow and are of no avail for eternal happiness, but rather are obstacles ; that the rich should tremble at the threatenings of Jesus Christ—threatenings so unwonted in the mouth of our Lord—and that a most strict account must be given to the Supreme Judge for all we possess. The chief and most excellent rule for the right use of money is one the heathen philosophers hinted at, but which the Church has Chapter 27: Selection 1 # 219 traced out clearly, and has not only made known to men’s minds, but has impressed upon their lives. It rests on the principle that it is one thing to have a right to the possession of money and another to have a right to use money as one wills. Private ownership, as we have seen, is the natural right of man, and to exercise that right, especially as members of society, is not only lawful, but absolutely necessary. “It is lawful,” says St. Thomas Aquinas, “for a man to hold private property; and it is also necessary for the carrying on of human existence.”” But if the question be asked: How must one’s possessions be used?—the Church replies without hesitation in the words of the same holy Doctor: “Man should not consider his material possessions as his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need. Whence the Apostle with, ‘Command the rich of this world . . . to offer with no stint, to apportion largely.’” True, no one is commanded to distribute to others that which is required for his own needs and those of his household; nor even to give away what is reasonably required to keep up becomingly his condition in life, “for no one ought to live other than becomingly.” But, when what necessity demands has been supplied, and one’s standing fairly taken thought for, it becomes a duty to give to the indigent out of what remains over. “Of that which remaineth, give alms.” It is a duty, not of justice (save in extreme cases), but of Christian charity—a duty not enforced by human law. But the laws and judgments of men must yield place to the laws and judgments of Christ the true God, who in many ways urges on His followers the practice of almsgiving—’It is more blessed to give than to receive”; and who will count a kindness done or refused to the poor as done or refused to Himself—”As long as you did it to one of My least brethren you did it to Me.” To sum up, then, what has been said: Whoever has received...

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