Catholic Social Teaching: What is Really meant by Justice?

12/29/2011

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other criteria such as utility, autonomy, ownership, or egalitarianism.

Particularly prevalent in our relativist, materialist and secular society is the notion that justice is not an objective reality, but a conventional reality. For conventionalists, justice is something determined by social agreement, by social contract. They mimic the teachings of the ancient philosopher Epicurus (341-270 B.C.) who stated that "absolute justice does not exist." Epicurus taught that "[t]here are only mutual agreements among men, made at various times and places, not to inflict nor allow harm."

Epicurus and his disciples are to be rejected. "Justice, in fact, is not merely a simple human convention, because it is not first determined by the law but by the profound identity of the human being." (Compendium, No. 202)

As important as it is, of itself the virtue of justice is not sufficient to structure communal life. The virtue of justice can be merciless, cold-blooded, even cruel. It tends to separate, cause rifts, and it is not adept at reconciliation. It is susceptible to capture, to corruption, to hypocrisy, resulting in many complaints such as the one the French writer Anatole France who in his book Crainquebille cynically stated through his character President Bourriche that "justice is the sanction of established injustice."

It is this susceptibility to failure, self-interest, and blindness in a justice whose quality is--in Shakespeare's words in the Merchant of Venice--"strain'd" or restrained to look at itself and no other external source that can make justice "even betray itself." (Compendium, No. 174).

Justice needs more than justice to be justice.

Justice must be open to, informed by, tempered through, and supplemented with such things as solidarity, love, mercy, and forgiveness, all of whose qualities are "not strain'd." There are no bounds to solidarity, love, mercy, and forgiveness, and justice is not their master.

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Andrew M. Greenwell is an attorney licensed to practice law in Texas, practicing in Corpus Christi, Texas. He is married with three children. He maintains a blog entirely devoted to the natural law, called Lex Christianorum. You can contact Andrew at agreenwell@harris-greenwell.com.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Social justice, justice, solidarity, mercy, freedom, social solidarity, Andrew Greenwell, Esq.

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1 - 8 of 8 Comments

rosie
1 year ago
this is great! Very helpful for us religion teachers.
Vance
1 year ago
Great article. This article well articulates the difference between Catholic Social Justice and the co-opted term used by the Communist Party to deceive the masses. Social Justice according to the Communists is that all are 'Equally' poor, miserable, and surfs of the Communist Ruling Class. Communist China, Communist Vietnam, Communist Cuba, Communist Venezuela,Communist North Korea anyone??? Each and everyone of these Communist tyrannies persecute the Catholic Church. Anyone who opposes the Communist Ruling Class is either imprisoned or executed. Kim Jong Il's Social Justice is to starve his people in favor of building a military power. This is same for the other tyrannies. The Marxist Democrat Party's Social Justice is to confiscate money from the productive to give crumbs to the unproductive while feeding a massive oppressive government. Social Justice as articulated in this article needs to be preached to the faithful via pulpit.
Judy
1 year ago
Interesting viewpoints. I thought this article Excellent. The modern Catholic will pick up the basics he/she needs to know...hopefully it will be read by many. I am in agreement w/the article, as well as, the necessity for Pope Benedict to clarify the term: "social justice", to his Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and Laity. It is a word that can be misused and misinterpreted. Jesus certainly did not have it in His day. Blessings...
Andrew
1 year ago
@R. Paolucci. I agree the term "social justice," which has a impeccable Catholic and Thomistic genealogy, has been co-opted, misunderstood, perhaps in ignorance, perhaps intentionally, perhaps for partisan reasons. Like any broad concept--freedom, liberty, justice, truth--it can be abused and misunderstood. Like the word Madonna--co-opted by the popular singer--we ought not abandon the word, but take it back.
There is also a tremendous confusion between first principles (which bind always) and prudential decisions or application of first principles to contingent circumstances (which may or may not bind, depending on the circumstances).
That is one benefit of the Compendium, it presents a thoughtful, sober, and non-tendentious view of the Catholic social doctrine.
Theologians have classified truths based upon grades of certainty: fides divina, fides ecclesiastica, sententia fide proxima, setentia theologice certa, sententia communis, and so on. I have often thought that such a classification would be valuable in the Church's social doctrine so that the faithful would know which doctrines must be fastly held, and which have a lesser degree of bindingness. It is particularly important since the Church herself recognizes the largely prudential character of social doctrine.
Andrew
1 year ago
I certainly don't think the Church is asking us to be sycophants to the bourgeoisie, but I would take umbrage at the statement that Jesus was not a friend of the rich but only of the exploited. Jesus did not seem to have an animus against the rich, though he did demand more of them, and he also warned of the dangers associated with too much reliance on wealth and a failure to be poor in spirit. He certainly took the side of the just or exploited not against the rich, but against the unjust. And those who became rich through unjust means, such as Zacheus, he readily accepted their repentance.
I think there is a danger that those who own the means of production could exploit the laborer, but this is not necessarily or institutionally so. But there is also the danger that the laborer, especially if unified, could exploit the person who owns the means of production. The point is that we ought not to pit capital against labor, but that both, in charity, justice, and solidarity, ought to work toward the common good, and not to their own private good exclusive of the common good.
R. Paolucci, D.Ed.
1 year ago
Unfortunately, the traditional and fundamental meaning and use of "social justice" has been co-opted by many in the Catholic church leadership. These individuals (cardinals, bishops and priests, as well as "elite" laity) are mostly socialists, communists, and Marxists, who used to embrace and champion "liberation theology", until they got in trouble with Blessed John Paul II. I strongly urge the Church and Pope Benedict XVI to clarify and reclaim the true meaning of "social justice", as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will see many true and faithful Catholics leave the church.

http://www.christianfaithculture.org
abey
1 year ago
In the truth, the word Justice is aligned with Righteousness, the eternal Righteousness of GOD (For everything of GOD is eternal in eternity), but when Justice, instead of being blind is blinded, then the essence of Righteousness is lost in it, in which case all that is associated with it is stated to be corrupted. This is called Manipulations or human accommodations, typically fleshy & carnal in nature.
Lawrence
1 year ago
In capitalism the bourgeoisie becomes the ruling class—which means it also owns the bulk of the means of production (land, factories, offices, capital, resources) and controls the means of coercion (armed forces, police, court and prison systems). Ownership of the means of production enables the bourgeoisie to exploit the work of a large mass of wage workers (the working class), who have no other means of livelihood than to sell their labor to property owners; while control over the means of coercion allows intervention and protection of the status quo during challenges or revolution from the people below.

I certainly hope neither you nor the Church are asking us to be sycophants to the bourgeoisie, as we all know that our Lord Jesus was not a friend of the rich but of the exploited.

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