[On the respective roles of Church and State in the lives of citizens]
[26]The Church’s role is not merely to teach what is right, but to influence
the hearts and minds of men so that they willingly act according to their duty,
control their passions and appetites, love God and their fellow man, and
cultivate virtue. [27] History shows many examples of civil society being
revived and restored by Christian institutions, restoring all things in Christ.
If society today is to be healed, this can happen only by a return to Christian
life and the principles upon which it was built. [28] The Church is
not so preoccupied with men’s spiritual well-being that she has no concern for
his material good; on the contrary, she deeply desires that the poor may better
themselves and, by urging Christian morality, she helps men avoid the greed of
possession and the thirst for pleasure, resulting in social equity and
temporal prosperity that are pleasing to God. [29] The Church does not merely
teach virtue, but also acts directly to alleviate the suffering of the poor,
which even her enemies have praised throughout her history. [30] Yet now there
are those who blame, rather than praise, the Church for her care of the poor
and the suffering, claiming that this is not the Church’s job, but the job of
the State. But the State will never display the heroic devotion and
self-sacrifice of Christian charity, a virtue which can be nurtured only in the
Church and drawn from the Sacred Hear of Jesus Christ.
[31] Nonetheless, the agencies of the Church and those of civil society
should be united in their common concern, so that the greatest good can be
achieved. Therefore we should consider what role the State can justly play in
providing relief. [32] The State, properly speaking, refers not to any
particular form of government but to any government conformable to right reason,
natural law, and the dictates of Divine law, as set out in the encyclical
On the Christian Constitution of the State [see also
Catholic Encyclopedia online].
Its chief duty is to make sure that its laws and institutions promote and protect public well-being and private prosperity; this being so, it should
promote everything that makes its citizens better and happier, including public
morality, well-ordered family life, respect for religion and justice, moderate
taxation, productive use of land, etc. If these things are seen to, there will
be fewer poor and less need for public relief.
[33] The State should recognize that all parts of society must be well
regulated and well served, and therefore should not favor the rich over the
poor, but provide distributive justice toward each and every social class
alike. [34] Although it is right to honor those who directly serve the State,
public servants engaged in legislation and administration of the government,
nonetheless it must be recognized that the commonwealth could not prosper
without the contributions of the laboring class, through whose efforts the
State prospers. Therefore, whatever promotes the welfare of workers is good for
the society as a whole, and should be favored.
[35] While, as we have said, the State must not absorb the individual or the
family, nonetheless it should show a paternal interest in the well-being of its
individual members, just as it should safeguard the commonwealth as a whole.
[36] Since the State’s responsibility is to secure the public good, it may
intervene in public or private affairs when that general good is threatened by
circumstances or events; for instance, when workers are not afforded time to
carry out familial or religious duties, or if they are required to work in
unhealthy or immoral conditions, or if a threatened labor strike would endanger
the public peace. In such cases, the law may intervene, provided that it do no
more than required to remedy the situation.
[37] While all legitimate human
rights must be protected by law, the poor and the needy should be especially
protected, since they have no resources to fall back on as the rich do, aside
from the State’s assistance. [38]
Nonetheless,
the right to private property must be protected by law, nor should private
property be seized and redistributed under pretext of justice. [39] The State
should ensure humane working conditions and reasonable pay, in order to forestall
workers' strikes, because the disruptions caused by strikes are injurious to
the public peace.
[40] The State should also protect the working man’s
spiritual good, for his duty to God is sacred. To interfere with a man’s duty
toward God is to violate God’s rights, not just man’s. [41] Therefore, Sundays
and holy days should be days of rest, which allow man to turn his attention
from mundane concerns to the worship he owes to God.
[42] The human condition of workers should be respected, in such a way that they are not used simply as tools to create profit for their greedy employers. Therefore,
the hours and conditions of work should not be so taxing as to work men beyond
their endurance, nor should women and children be required to work as long or
as hard as grown men, and all workers should be given enough time off to
recuperate from their labors. Even if workers and employers should agree on
conditions that would make no allowance for man’s duty to God and himself,
doing so would be wrong.
