Catholic Social Teaching Reframed: One Fruit of a Culture of Encounter

Rowe, Gareth L. M.

Abstract

Catholic social thought and teaching is sometimes conceptualised using an historical or principles-based approach. This paper proposes an alternative framing, construing Catholic social teaching (CST) as a multi-layered phenomenon that can be grouped into three broad tiers, each with a distinctive role. This framing is not intended to supercede the others, nor is it inconsistent with them. The proposal emerges out of a series of discussions hosted by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, a Catholic UK-based development agency, member of Caritas Internationalis, and an official agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. The paper operates on two levels simultaneously: it attempts a distinctive reframing of CST using a distinctive source, and it attempts an enactment of CST methodologically and structurally. Construing CST as a multi-layered phenomenon that can be grouped into three broad tiers provides a clarity that empowers us in two ways. First, it clarifies the distinctive role of CST at each level. Second, it makes clear that CST is a work of the Spirit rather than a human phenomenon. Such an understanding of CST brings out with particular clarity a vision of the role, purpose, and even the agency of Catholic social thought in relation to a troubled world.

Citation

Rowe, G. L. M. (2024). Catholic Social Teaching Reframed: One Fruit of a Culture of Encounter. New Blackfriars, 105(1), 77-91. https://doi.org/10.1017/nbf.2023.16

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 8, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jan 31, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-01
• Deposit Date: Apr 2, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 2, 2024
• Journal: New Blackfriars
• Print ISSN: 0028-4289
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-2005
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 105
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 77-91
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/nbf.2023.16
• Keywords: General Medicine
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2367592