THE P
RTAL
Catholic Social Teaching
Solidarity
Fr Ashley Beck continues his series
August 2018 Page 9
Some of you will remember that in the early 1980s the first effective opposition to rule by Communist parties in Eastern Europe was led by an independent trade union in Poland know as Solidarność , the Polish word meaning ‘ Solidarity ’. Something which ex-Anglicans in the Catholic community need to be aware of is how much the Catholic community in this country has been enriched by the presence of Polish Catholics since the Second World War and the admission of Poland to membership of the European Union in 2004 . One of the reasons why it is so clear that the ‘ Brexit ’ referendum result was a successful attack on the Catholic community in this country was because of the depth of hatred against our people made real in the way the ‘ Leave ’ campaign used the issue of immigration , which secured their victory .
When Solidarność was founded , trade unions in the Communist bloc had been for many years directly controlled by the Communist parties . The idea of a free trade union with authority to negotiate for its members was anathema , but also grounded in Catholic Social Teaching - the Church has affirmed with increasing vigour the place of trade unions since the first social teaching encyclical in 1891 , Rerum Novarum by Leo XIII ( yes , you ’ ve heard of him : the pope who declared Anglican orders null and void ). The name ‘ Solidarity ’ was chosen to stress that the union was inspired by this basic principle in Catholic social teaching . Later in the 1980s St John Paul II ( whose first visit to Poland as Pope in June 1979 had helped to stir things up ) defined this principle in an encyclical he wrote called Sollicitudo Rei Socialis :
On the path toward the desired conversion , toward the overcoming of the moral obstacles to development , it is already possible to point to the positive and moral value of the growing awareness of interdependence among individuals and nations . The fact that men and women in various parts of the world feel personally affected by the injustices and violations of human rights committed in distant countries , countries which perhaps they will never visit , is a further sign of a reality transformed into awareness , thus acquiring a moral connotation . It is above all a question of interdependence , sensed as a system determining relationships in the contemporary world , in its economic , cultural , political and religious elements , and accepted as a moral category . When interdependence becomes recognised in this way , the correlative response as a moral and social attitude , as a “ virtue ,” is solidarity . This then is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people , both near and far . On the contrary , it is a firm and persevering determination to commit
oneself to the common good ; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual , because we are all really responsible for all . This determination is based on the solid conviction that what is hindering full development is that desire for profit and that thirst for power already mentioned . These attitudes and “ structures of sin ” are only conquered - presupposing the help of divine grace - by a diametrically opposed attitude : a commitment to the good of one ’ s neighbour with the readiness , in the gospel sense , to “ lose oneself ” for the sake of the other instead of exploiting him , and to “ serve him ” instead of oppressing him for one ’ s own advantage . The exercise of solidarity within each society is valid when its members recognise one another as persons . Those who are more influential , because they have a greater share of goods and common services , should feel responsible for the weaker and be ready to share with them all they possess . Those who are weaker , for their part , in the same spirit of solidarity , should not adopt a purely passive attitude or one that is destructive of the social fabric , but , while claiming their legitimate rights , should do what they can for the good of all . The intermediate groups , in their turn , should not selfishly insist on their particular interests , but respect the interests of others .
Sections 38-39 ; the whole letter can be downloaded from www . vatican . va
What the Holy Father identified over thirty years ago was a problem : people often do see solidarity as nothing more than ‘ a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress .’ It is very easy for all of us to have such feelings - they seldom cost us anything . He points out that what the idea means is that practical charitable work to alleviate the sufferings of the poor always has to be joined
... continued at the foot of the next page ‣