Abstract
The original text by Donal Dorr, Option for the Poor, was first published in 1983 and reprinted several times. It has stood the test of time and is still widely used by students of theology and all those interested in the content and development of Catholic social teaching. Its enduring popularity and relevance can be attributed to its clear and concise style and its informative and sharply analytical content.
This current publication is an updated, revised and expanded version of the original. It contains five new chapters and most of the original chapters have been extensively reworked. The new chapters engage with the encyclicals and thought of Pope Benedict XVI (chapters 15, 16, and 17), the equality of women (chapter 14), and ecology (chapter 18). This new publication retains the accessibility and clarity of the original work with many new and deeper insights into the nature, content, and future direction of Catholic social teaching. At the end of each chapter Dorr sets out a summary and a range of questions for review, reflection, and further study. The questions posed are sharp and engaging and the recommendations he gives for further study are helpful and open up for the reader a rich canvas of writers and topics.
Dorr brings this fine book to a fitting end in his final chapter, entitled Evaluation, in which he draws together the key insights of Catholic social teaching and identifies both the strengths of that tradition and areas of possible further development and clarification. In his balanced evaluation he identifies both continuity and elements of change in the direction of Catholic social teaching. He identifies continuity in the core values that underpin the evolving corpus of Catholic teaching. These values, flowing from fundamental truths about the human person, the nature of society, and the role of the Church include the importance of human community and solidarity, the notion of the common good, the value of the person as a worker, and the importance of ‘subsidiary’ levels of organization.
His identifying of the strengths of Catholic social teaching is insightful and useful. These strengths, according to Dorr, include its ability to appeal to Christians and people of good will because of what he terms its ‘humanistic’ roots; its promotion of the values of participation and solidarity as key criteria with which to evaluate concrete situations; its ability to cope with a level of pluralism as its key insights are applied to differing and complex social, political, and economic contexts; its prophetic nature that has the ability to challenge and inspire; and its more recent promotion in Caritas in veritate of an ‘economy of communion’ as a contribution to a more humane model of economics.
Dorr’s assessment of the weaknesses of Catholic social teaching and his identification of possible avenues of further development make compelling reading. In his judgment, the social tradition, despite its embracing of ecology as a significant moral issue in Caritas in veritate and elsewhere, is still unduly anthropocentric. He suggests that the Church’s social teaching needs to be situated within a renewed theology of creation that recognizes the intrinsic value of every level of being in creation. A dimension of this renewed theology of creation would include the development of criteria to discern what level of manipulation of creation is acceptable. The tradition also needs to develop more concrete alternatives to the present model of development which it severely critiques because of its emphasis on economic growth alone. Furthermore, the call for a change of lifestyle, addressed especially to those of us who live in the First World, needs to be unpacked to reveal practical ways in which people can live more simply, less exploitatively, and more in partnership with nature. For Dorr, one of the most serious weaknesses of the social teaching tradition is its failure to provide an adequate treatment of the issue of justice for women, particularly in the workplace. He suggests that the experience of women in the workplace has, by and large, been ignored and suggests that as a first step the Church set up a mixed commission, as recommended by the Synod of Bishops in 1971, to examine the role of women in society and Church. Another area identified as open to development and clarification was the role of the Church and Catholic agencies in advocacy or lobbying in relation to specific justice issues within a society. There needs to be more discussion and consistency, he argues, on what constitutes unacceptable ‘political activity’ on behalf of the Church or her agencies. Finally, he identified the question of justice within the Church and the formulation of social teaching as two areas in need of development. The former issue, so clearly identified by the Synod of Bishops in 1971, has received little attention in recent years even though the credibility of the Church as a proclaimer of justice rests on its clear witness to justice within its own structures, lifestyles, and procedures. The formulation of social teaching, though now frequently achieved in consultation with lay experts, is still, in Dorr’s analysis, not adequately engaged with the experiences and insights of lay Catholics. The current methodology for the formulation of teaching still does not give serious attention to the presence and gifts of the Holy Spirit, including the gifts of wisdom and discernment, within the Church.
This is a book which should be read by everyone interested in the Church’s engagement with justice issues over the past 130 years. It is informative, analytical, inspiring, and challenging. The reader is, furthermore, left in no doubt of the commitment and passion of the author to bring the ethos of the Gospel into contact with the political, economic, and social realities of our day.