Social Doctrine Session 3 (CSDC 105-159)
The next section of the compendium is foundational. In Chapter three (“The Human Person and Human Rights”) the theological anthropology of the human person is explored. This section begins with the affirmation that every person is the living “image of God.” The centrality of the human person in every sector and expression of society is noted since the origin of social life is found in the human person. In fact, the whole of the Church’s social doctrine develops from the principle that affirms the centrality of the human person and the defense of the dignity of the human person. “The human being is a personal being created by God to be in relationship with him; man finds life and self-expression only in relationship, and tends naturally to God.” (CSDC 109) The relational and social dimension of human nature reflects the relationship between God and man. Humans are created in the image of God thus indicating profound relationship with God and this is reflected in the relational and social dimension of human nature. The Church affirms that man and women are of equal dignity. This is because they are both created in the image of God, but also because the dynamic of reciprocity which gives life to the “we “in the human couple, is a reflection of image of God as a relationship of mutual communion. Relationship with God requires that the life of man be considered sacred and inviolable. The vocation to life which man and women enjoy further implies responsibility for the stewardship of creation which is “good.”
The image of God in man also implies an interior life or heart indicating spiritual faculties reflecting the image of the Creator: reason, the discernment of good and evil, free will. Humankind’s original vision, however, has been darkened through sin. Although all sin is inherently “social,” it is also committed by an individual and, therefore, implies an individual who sins. “Social sin is every sin committed against the justice due in relations between individuals, between the individual and the community, and also between the community and the individual.” (CSDC118) Individual sins can product consequences which perpetuate structures of sin (CCC 1869). The compendium notes the universality of sin, but also the universality of salvation and hope in Jesus Christ.
The compendium then moves on to discuss various aspects of the human person. Against the reductionist views of certain modern ideologies the Church affirms the mystery of man’s existence in relation to God both at a personal and communal level. Man is a unity of body and soul such that the “person is the subject of his own moral acts” (CSDC 127). Man unites in himself elements of the material world, through his corporeality and, therefore, regards his bodily life as honorable and good—though wounded by sin. Through spiritual vision man overcomes a purely earthly view of mere things and seeks to enter through his own heart the inner most structures of reality. Linked to this world by his body, man is a material being, yet he is also a spiritual being, open to transcendence. The human person is open to transcendence to the infinite- God- and to all created beings. “Man exists as a unique and unrepeatable being, he exists as an “I” capable of self-understanding, self-possession and self-determination” (CSDC 131). The reality of a just society can only come into being when it is based on the respect of the transcendent dignity of the human person (CSDC 132). Respect for human dignity implies that the human person cannot be manipulated or become a means for carrying out economic, social or political projects imposed by some authority (CSDC 132). “All this, once more, is based on the vision of man as a person, that is to say, as an active and responsible subject of his own growth process, together with the community to which he belongs” (CSDC 133). Effective change requires a personal moral dimension. This personal dimension requires freedom. Man’s dependence on God to determine good and evil does not hinder his freedom. The proper exercise of freedom requires that injustices of the economic, social, juridic, political and cultural order be resolved. Freedom must be obedient to truth and situated in the context of this truth to be authentic, it is not absolute. “The truth concerning good and evil is recognized in a practical and concrete manner by the judgment of conscience, which leads to the acceptance of responsibility for the good accomplished and the evil committed” (CSDC 139). Natural moral law has a universal character which proceeds and unites all rights and duties implied in the exercise of freedom (CSDC 140).
The Church also affirms the equal dignity of all people created in the image and likeness of God and further demonstrated through the incarnation. This radical equality transcends race, nation, sex, origin, culture, or class (CSDC 145). “Male” and “female” differentiate two individuals of equal dignity, which does not however reflect a static equality, because the specificity of the female is different from the specificity of the male, and this difference in equality is enriching and indispensable for the harmony of life in society . . .” (CSDC 146). Man and women are mutually complimentary physically, psychologically and ontologically. Persons with disabilities are full human subjects. The human person is essentially a social being, and community life is a sign of our humanness. Communion among persons is not automatic but is a vocation in relation to others. The social nature of man is expressed in different ways.
With regard to human rights it is affirmed that; “. . the movement towards the identification and proclamation of human rights is one of the most significant attempts to respond effectively to the inescapable demands of human dignity” (CSDC 152). The foundations of human rights are to be found in the dignity that belongs to each human being and in God his creator (CSDC 153). These rights are universal, inviolable, and inalienable. The right to life is a pre-condition to all other rights and the right to religious freedom is of paramount importance.
Balancing the notion of rights is that of responsibilities or duties. “The Magisterium underlines the contradiction inherent in affirming rights without acknowledging corresponding responsibilities” (CSDC 156). It is also true that the notion of rights has been expanded to include the rights of people and nations. The Church also notes the painful reality of wide spread violations and contradictions to human rights, including the mere formal recognition of rights in which one claims his own rights without wishing to be answerable for the common good. The pastoral role of the Church is two fold: “ . . . the proclamation of the Christian foundations of human rights and in the denunciation of the violations of these rights” (CSDC 158).
© Office of Human Rights, and Bishop Helmsing Institute, Diocese of Kansas City~St. Joseph, 2009
