Gospel of Joy, part Six, an Interlude

Some minor right-wing thought-celebrities are stirring up controversy on this article and I offered to debate one over what he claims it says.  The reply I got back said the fact I offered to debate proved it was controversial.  (Well, no, I said I would debate his reading, not what it says.)  and the fellow does not know me but added an ad hominem attack as well.  Tense, much?  Why so anxious?

He also said this was in the tradition of the damage done by Paul VI and his encyclical Populorum Progressio.  Yes, that has some things in it that frighten this anarchist:

As We told the United Nations General Assembly in New York: "Your vocation is to bring not just some peoples but all peoples together as brothers. . . Who can fail to see the need and importance of thus gradually coming to the establishment of a world authority capable of taking effective action on the juridical and political planes?" (66)

and

It is for the public authorities to establish and lay down the desired goals, the plans to be followed, and the methods to be used in fulfilling them; and it is also their task to stimulate the efforts of those involved in this common activity. But they must also see to it that private initiative and intermediary organizations are involved in this work. In this way they will avoid total collectivization and the dangers of a planned economy which might threaten human liberty and obstruct the exercise of man's basic human rights.

I sure don't want any of that.  But consider the time, the place and the audience.  The big boys had taken over the UN with their "Security Council" that left all of these smaller emerging countries out in the cold.  They were banding together in the non-aligned group, and countries were all under the impression that the government did God's work and the work of government was policy.

So what keeps happening is the Vatican seems to take the world the way it is and then embraces it and then extends in another direction, or at least points one out.

Here is a paragraph on population control, after citing classic malthusianism, that in retrospect stuns:

There is no doubt that public authorities can intervene in this matter, within the bounds of their competence. They can instruct citizens on this subject and adopt appropriate measures, 

Wow... like a China one-child policy?  And then it goes on....

so long as these are in conformity with the dictates of the moral law and the rightful freedom of married couples is preserved completely intact.

That second part rather makes the first part impossible. Now remember, this was before Humanae Vitae.  And Humanae Vitae certainly limited State action to no more than "save yourself for marriage" campaigns or promoting NFP.

With the Vatican talking about what everyone else was talking about, in their terms, and then introducing breaks makes it hard to blame the Vatican farm economic harm done, wherein the Vatican was advising breaks, more than approving actions.

This document also has some splendid sections:

Endowed with intellect and free will, each man is responsible for his self-fulfillment even as he is for his salvation. He is helped, and sometimes hindered, by his teachers and those around him; yet whatever be the outside influences exerted on him, he is the chief architect of his own success or failure. Utilizing only his talent and willpower, each man can grow in humanity, enhance his personal worth, and perfect himself.

And

God gave man intelligence, sensitivity and the power of thought—tools with which to finish and perfect the work He began. Every worker is, to some extent, a creator—be he artist, craftsman, executive, laborer or farmer.
Bent over a material that resists his efforts, the worker leaves his imprint on it, at the same time developing his own powers of persistence, inventiveness and concentration. Further, when work is done in common—when hope, hardship, ambition and joy are shared—it brings together and firmly unites the wills, minds and hearts of men. In its accomplishment, men find themselves to be brothers.

Exactly right.

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