"Catholic Social Thought": THE "NEW THINGS" OF THE WORLD OF WORK

• 310.
• “The phenomenon of globalization is one of the most important causes of the current change in the organization of work.  This phenomenon brings about new forms of production where plants are located away from where strategies are decided and far from the markets where the goods are consumed.”
• John Paul II, Address to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (27 April 2001), 2: AAS 93 (2001), 599.
• 311.
• “One of the most significant characteristics of the new organization of work is the physical fragmentation of the cycle of production, promoted in order to obtain greater efficiency and greater profits.”
• 312.
• “The globalization of the economy, with the liberalization of markets, the stiffening of competition, the icnrease of specialized businesses in providing goods and services, requires greater flexibility in the labor market and in organizing and managing production processes.”
• 313.
• “Work, above all within the economic systems of the more developed countries, is going through a phase that marks the passage from an industrial-type economy to an economy essentially built on services and technological innovations.”
• “Thanks to technological innovations, the world of work is being enriched with new professions while others are disappearing.”
• 314.
• “The transition currently underway signals the move from dependent work with no prescribed time limit, understood as a stable job, to a series of jobs characterized by many kinds of work activities.”
• 315.
• “The decentralization of production, which assigns to smaller companies several tasks previously undertaken by larger production interests, gives vitality and new energy to the area of small and medium-sized businesses.”
• “Work in small and medium-sized businesses, the work of artisans and independent work can represent an occasion to make the actual work experience more human.”
• 316.
• “In developing countries, moreover, there has been an expansion in recent years of ‘informal’ and ‘hidden’ economic activities.  This represents a promising sign of economic growth and development, but it raises many ethical and legal problems.”

• 317.
• “Given these impressive ‘new things’ in the world of work, the Church’s social doctrine recommends first of all to avoid the error of insisting that the current changes take place in a deterministic manner.”
• John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 10: AAS 73 (1981), 600-602.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2427.
• 318.
• “Mechanistic and economistic interpretations of the activity of production, however prevalent and influential they may be, have been outdated by scientific analysis of the problems connected with work.”
• Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 35: AAS 58 (1966), 1053.
• Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 19: AAS 59 (1967), 266-267.
• John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 20: AAS 73 (1981), 629-632.
• John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 28: AAS 80 (1988), 548-550.
• 319.
• “The historical forms in which human work is expressed change, but not its permanent requirements, which are summed up in the respect of the inalienable human rights of workers.
• 320.
• “Men and women of science and culture are called to make their particular contribution to solving the vast and complex problems connected with work, which is some areas take on dramatic proportions.  This contribution is very important for coming up with the proper solutions.”
• John Paul II, Message to the Participants in the International Symposium on Work (14 September 2001), 5: L’Osservatore Romano, English edition, 17 October 2001, p. 3.
• 321.
• “The present scenarios of profound transformation of human work call even more urgently for an authentically global development in solidarity that is capable of involving every region of the world including those less advantaged.”
• John Paul II, Greeting after the Mass for the Jubilee of Workers (1 May 2000), 2: L’Osservatore Romano, English edition, 10 May 2000, p.4.
• “Economic and social imbalances in the world of work must be addressed by restoring a just hierarchy of values and placing the human dignity of workers before all else.”
• John Paul II, Homily at the Mass for the Jubilee of Workers (1 May 2000), 3: L’Osservatore Romano, English edition, 10 May 2000, p. 5.
• 322.
• “There is an ever greater need for a careful consideration of the new situation of work in the present-day context of globalization, in a perspective that values people’s natural tendency to establish relationships.”

Address to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (27 April 2001)

Catechism of the Catholic Church

"For more than a decade bishops, theologians, and other experts worked on a 'compendium of all Catholic doctrine regarding both faith and morals.' The fruit of their work was the catechism, an organized presentation of the essential teachings of the Catholic Church in regards to both faith and morals, 'in the light of the Second Vatican Council and the whole of the church’s tradition.'”  - USCatholic.org

Gaudium et Spes

"Calling for a new sense of service by the Church in a rapidly changing world, the Council presents the ethical framework of the Church's commitment to pastoral work in the world. This servant Church addresses itself to the real concerns and problems faced by Christians living in the modern age and calls for a development based on an unqualified accceptance of the inherent dignity of the human person."  - http://www.cctwincities.org/CatholicSocialTeachingMajorDocuments

Greeting after the Mass for the Jubilee of Workers (1 May 2000)

Homily at the Mass for the Jubilee of Workers (1 May 2000)

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

Message to the Participants in the International Symposium on Work (14 September 2001)

Populorum Progressio

"Calling attention to the worsening marginalization of the poor, Paul VI presents the various dimensions of an integral human development and the necessary conditions for growth in the solidarity of peoples. Only with an accompanying theological reflection on liberation from injustice and genuine human values can there be true development towards a more human condition."  - http://www.cctwincities.org/CatholicSocialTeachingMajorDocuments

Sollicitudo Rei Socialis

"Expanding on the notion of development in Populorum Progressio, John Paul II reviews the state of world development in the past two decades. The moral nature of development leading humanity to the "fullness of being" is emphasized."  - http://www.cctwincities.org/CatholicSocialTeachingMajorDocuments