"Catholic Social Thought": THE PROPHETIC VALUE OF RERUM NOVARUM

• 267.
• “The course of history is marked by the profound transformation and the exhilarating conquests of work, but also by the exploitation of so many workers and an offence to their dignity.  The Industrial Revolution presented for the Church a critical challenge to which her social Magisterium responded forcefully and prophetically, affirming universally valid and perennially relevant principles in support of workers and their rights.”
• 268.
• “Rerum Novarum is above all a heartfelt defence of the inalienable dignity of workers.”
• “The orientation of ideas expressed in the Encyclical strengthened the commitment to vitalize Christian social life, which was seen in the birth and consolidation of numerous initiatives of high civic profile.”
• 269.
• “Starting with Rerum Novarum, the Church has never stopped considering the problems of workers within the context of a social question which has progressively taken on worldwide dimensions.”
• John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 2: AAS 73 (1981), 580-583.
• John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 1: AAS 73 (1981), 579.
• John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 3: AAS 73 (1981), 584.

Laborem Exercens

"Exhorting Christians everywhere to be involved in the transformation of existing socio-economic systems, John Paul II presents work as a fundamental dimension of human existence through which the "social question" must be viewed. The meaning of work can only be properly understood when the dignity of labor is taken as an underlying premise."  - http://www.cctwincities.org/CatholicSocialTeachingMajorDocuments