All the topics of the social encyclicals of Pope John Paul II focused on the human being, the human person and their destiny. Thus, he confirmed a logical and consistent unity between Christian anthropology and the correction of the ‘anthropological error’ of the contemporary trends of the social thought. The overthrow of communism was not so much the abolition of one of the totalitarian systems as it was a universal ‘lesson in humanity’. Questions about the human condition turned out to be important; without them, the contemporary dispute on man would remain unresolved. The communist doctrine wrought permanent damage in the spiritual life of man, particularly by distorting human relationship with their own vocation, and the relationship between them and the community. Other roots of the ‘anthropological error’ can be identified by analyzing the development of modern ideologies of the West. They are primarily associated with the reductive approach towards the understanding of the human person and in the emphasis solely on the purely economic aspects. In a consumer society, people see themselves as products. Pluralism of ideas resulted in the blurring of the truth, confusion, and in making people easily opt for choosing illusions. The lack of a reference point in the form of the absolute (i.e. God) is becoming increasingly noticeable in the culture of the modern world. Humanistic values and ideas have to stand on their own merit – a dangerous situation, since it exposes the social order to the risk of straying from its rightful path, and to selfdegradation. The crisis of truth, expressed in the crisis of science, ideology, and faith, has caused existential emptiness and anxiety. John Paul II’s response was to promote an integrated, full vision of man, including the human being’s relation to God.
Awaiting the meeting with God is connected with the person’s faith. This is faith, in the strict sense of the word, in life “after” the earthly life, life in the “future world.” Such life, which is not merely an extension of the familiar existence, is hard to imagine. This existence is different in its essence. Life on earth continues as an endless sequence of successive moments. Eternity is a new dimension of existence, a new quality, continuous “now.” In all contacts with God – in the sacraments, prayer, and meditation – we learn to see Him properly. It is a way of life in eternity already “now,” today. Present and eternity do not oppose each other, they do not separate from each other, but they are entangled with each other. Eternal life grows in strength within the time that is given to us. Entire religious care over the dying person is of equally important significance. Every sick person has a right to receive this care, which is also a way of evangelizing illness, a discovery of the redeeming significance of the suffering and pain of passing away. It involves giving a testimony of love through diaconia (service) and canonia (community formation).
PL
Religijność w kontekście końca życia Oczekiwanie na spotkanie z Bogiem łączy się z osobistą wiarą. Jest to wiara – w ścisłym tego słowa znaczeniu – w życie pozagrobowe, życie w „przyszłym świecie”. Taka egzystencja, nie będąc jedynie przedłużeniem tego co znamy na ziemi, jest trudna do wyobrażenia, bo jej istota jest inna. Życie na ziemi to niekończący się ciąg następujących po sobie chwil, natomiast wieczność jest nowym wymiarem istnienia, nową jakością, ciągłym „teraz”. W każdorazowym kontakcie z Bogiem, odbywającym się w sakramentach, modlitwie i medytacji, uczymy się właściwego spojrzenia na Niego. Jest to życie wieczne, które ma miejsce już „teraz”. Teraźniejszość i wieczność nie stoją w sprzeczności, nie są od siebie odrębne, ale przeplatają się. Życie wieczne umacnia się w czasie, który został nam dany. Ogół wsparcia religijnego udzielanego osobie umierającej jest równie ważny. Każda chora osoba ma prawo do takiej opieki, która jest sposobem ewangelizowania choroby, odkrywaniem odkupieńczego znaczenia cierpienia i bólu przemijania. Wsparcie religijne polega na dawaniu świadectwa miłości poprzez diakonię (służenie) i kanonię (tworzenie wspólnoty).
Article focuses on the issues of work and payment. The payment is discussed both from an economic perspective as well as theological one. Throughout the article a moral aspect of work and payment for it was underlined. Currently noteworthy and underscores is the fact that man is the subject of work.
A standard of decency, which is not necessarily reflected in legislation, is present in social awareness. It is often forgotten, but felt in harmful actions of administration toward the development of an individual. Invoking the right to justify the legality and fairness of such behavior when the law is used as a moral alibi – this jurisdictive treatment of morality, or stepping too far into the ethical areas with the standards of the law should be considered a dangerous attitude. The author justifies a thesis that the ethical dimension of the law must be sought in its humanizing, rather than surrendering to its totalitarian interpretation.
Can the sins of others be mine? The problem of so called others’ sins. In many situations a sin could not possibly have taken place had it not been for a prohibition, an encouragement of others, inappropriate advice, others’ praise or even aid followed by silence, lack of punishment or even acquittal of the sins of others. The mystery of sins of others is the fact that the architects of immense evil may be those who have not previously shown any predisposition or inclination to such atrocities. „The death of man” is the most tragic consequence of sins of others. The present study is an attempt to analyze his phenomenon.
The article is an attempt of an analytical look at the basic elements of economic order such as work and wages, from the perspective of Church social teaching. The author tries to show and justify personalistic reasoning with regard to work. The basic theses of this reasoning are: the primacy of man and his work over capital, the man is the subject of work, the man has the right to work and fair pay for it, work is also in the normal way to meet people’s needs, spiritual as well as material.
The world of young people very often confuses the concept of authority with a new, media-conditioned idol phenomenon. There is a fundamental difference between idol and authority. Authority is connected with respect and recognition for the person’s talents and abilities. Authority has a certain position, is worked out and achieved by effort, has a positive meaning in the development of the recipient’s personality, always leads to good (sometimes despite harsh truths and strict requirements), and in his opinion should be counted. The position of the idol is based on fascination, it concerns not only the person, what her position (she wants to be in her place), do not consider the effort and dedication to achieve success comparable to the achievements idol, who enjoys easy applause gained by seducing the audience.
The governing group, along with the wealthy, educated and famous elites of the social elites. They combine their common institutions, standards of conduct, social bond and awareness of group membership. The elites are unstable – they collapse as a result of wars, revolutions, but also as a result of degeneration. The elites remain at the top of the social pyramid only when they have developed the ability to get rid of the degenerate elements and the inflow of fresh qualities that are useful in the next epoch of social development. At the same time degeneration is ongoing and continuous. Degeneration accelerates with the elimination of the elite for exchange with the environment. In the 20th century, the process of degeneration of the elite intensified through its participation in the lie of communism and in the system of fascist crimes. The rebirth of the elite requires education of conscience and increased responsibility for all social activities undertaken.
Marxist ideology, and later the practice of the communist state, denied the essential goals of education, making it an important tool for indoctrination. Man ceased to be the highest value, and was replaced by other values that were lower than him.The communist program of raising children and youth in atheism, without God, was an attack on all believers, because it impacted the future of any religion in Russia.The pontificate of John Paul II, the first Pope from a communist country, was important in determining the threat of Marxism. In the encyclical „Laborem Exercens” the Pope stated that “by the use of various kinds of influence, including revolutionary pressure, it aims to win a monopoly of power in each society.” (LE, 11). The fundamental assessment of Marxism was made by John Paul II in response to social issues posed by the so-called theology of liberation. This power reaches deep and is vast, because it affects the whole person, in all dimensions of his existence.
One of the forms of escape from accepting responsibility for others is so called political passiveness or indifference, selfenclosure within issues of one’s own, within household and family problems, and leaving common issues and interests off the margin even if they can be decisive in ethically significant issues of an entire state. More and more anxiety is shown when citizens’ passiveness and indifference are mentioned to social issue of their own country. Cooperation in democracy has to meet certain conditions so as to be morally acceptable. A very important role in democracy, following what the Church has so often emphasized, is performed by representatives of the whole society, that is, most frequently, the parliament. The democracy that was proposed to the contemporary world by John Paul II, is the democracy of Christian personalism. It refers to the basic values of good and the truth of existence, which – in the case of believers – fully manifest themselves by means of faith, and in the case of non-believers can be discovered via rational cognition. Such a democracy connects believers and non-believers, requires faithfulness to specific values which are designated with the use of the objective criterion of good and evil.
One of the obstacles in the dialogue in marriage is ignoring the existence of mental distinction between man and woman. Each of them experiences his or her own value otherwise. Self-esteem is the foundation of well mental being. Interest and value to your partner and to other people are depended on this basic mood. Observing the behavior of some men, we can say that the male way of thinking is typical for people affected by autism. According to the psychology knowledge, autism is a disorder manifested by serious limitation in intellectual and emotional functioning. This term is used because it describes the isolation of a person against accepted social behavior. This term is used because it describes the isolation of a person against accepted social behavior. This is important in shaping the communication between spouses, because it forces the wife to understand and accept the male understanding of dialogue. The husband speaks to denounce some kind of content, pass it on, communicate, when a woman expresses a bond with others by the mere fact of conversation. This difference requires the knowledge and mutual understanding of the two concepts of dialogue: female and male.
According to researches the participants of an omnipresent popular culture experience two kinds of pleasure: direct, sensual and ecstatic pleasure and a distanced one, which is discursive in character and is available to people with sophisticated tastes. Popular culture is now becoming a way of fulfilling the needs and desires of individuals. Its unique feature is its mass scale. Various stimulants are a factor that enhances entertaining lifestyle for women. Modern woman is seen as independent and integral. She has been perceived in an almost complete isolation from man since the beginning of the twentieth century. She seeks to obtain the rights that were previously only available to him. Femininity has gained new features of a different quality than in previous centuries. The woman discovers that she is strong, determined and free from weaknesses. Strength is her asset. She becomes aware of her desires and aspirations, which is also revealed in her choice of entertainment. The models of femininity propagated by the media are schematic and simplistic. They do not allow individual desires, aspirations and beliefs.
The paper shows a socially significant problem of poverty that results from injustice and hidden exploitation. A response to the threat of the sin of social injustice and economic exploitation of the weaker is the postulate to build a supportive society in which the richer and the stronger – being aware of the bonds that tie one human family – take responsibility for the poorer and the weaker. The postulate of tolerance is not sufficient as tolerance is merely a postulate that is enough for justice to occur; tolerance does not cause justice, though, nor does it assure it. It is not until the emergence of solidarity that the suffering and hardship of other people are recognised as a matter of one’s own responsibility, and their mitigation, or even elimination, becomes acknowledged as one’s duty. At a time of crisis, shortages and lacks human attitudes are verified; characters and maturity run the test of responsibility for all members of a community, especially those members who have been harmed by social injustice.
In the social teaching of the Church there is still a growing trend towards global recognition of social problems as well as a call for the global cooperation. Globalization is treated as a tool to enhance the well-being of humanity. At the same time the social teaching indicates that in the control of the global market cannot participate only national authorities or international ones, but also social forces. This is consistent with the principle of subsidiarity, which emphasizes the role of intermediate strength between the individual and the state and international centers. For the defense of the common good of humanity, it is necessary to take into account the analysis of the ethical aspect of integration processes. It points to respect the va-lues of dignity and human rights, justice, solidarity, kindness, non-violence, peace among people and nations. Ethics goes beyond the pragmatic calculations, which are focused on values and universal norms.
Among the Council’s documents, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World speaks several times of women. It reminds us about the equality of women and men as individuals, also in marriage. It calls us to overcome social and cultural discrimination and emphasizes the legitimacy to demand legal and factual equality of women with men. It declares that the woman should have the right to choose a state of life, access to equal education and upbringing. It was stressed that trafficking in women is a shameful practice, which offends their dignity. It was also noted that women already work in almost all fields of social life, so it is only right that they are able to participate in the work according to their abilities. John Paul II from the beginning of his pontificate prepared the faithful to get to know that „feminine genius”. An important trend in the teaching of the Pope about the woman is a reflection on love. The genius of the woman is also expressed in the fact that the man gets to knows himself, discovers who he is and who he ought to be, only with the woman. This is done when they become engaged, but also in marriage.
The word “democracy” is one of the most popular words used in the contemporary world of politics. However, nowhere except for Anglo-Saxon countries did it gain full clarity and practical unambiguity. It served to describe a form of government and a ruling body, mechanisms for realizing the ruling body and participation of society in the ruling body. It was also often used as a synonym for civil rights. Almost all political systems want to be presented under the banner of democracy no matter what their ideological interpretations are. The aim of the article is to clarify a discourse on democracy pointing at the problem of types, value as well as the definition of democracy. When it comes to the title question, the article pays attention to some of the problems and difficulties of democracy in practice.
Church about the possibilities of technology. In the context of the development of new technologies, the Church points to the need to discover the truth about man and his role in the world of technology. In modern technology analyzes, the so-called service technique and promethean technique. In this approach of technology there is a certain duality of its understanding. In new technical solutions, there may be an attempt on the place of a man in the world, a rebellion against God’s laws, or a servile use of God’s gifts, in accordance with God’s plan. Criticism of transhumanism amounts to objections regarding the possibility of achieving set goals and ethical reservations. These are the objections of the general nature, which has been long sought for the spontaneous development of technology and new technologies.
The article concerns the nature of interpersonal relationship, that are taking place in the world of the internet (the internet meaning here the electronic crowd). The author describes the phenomenon of the exponential growth of data. The article compiles electronic crowd with a loneliness of a network user. Contained in the text reflections are related to quality as well as specific contacts mediated by electronic media.
The relationship with God allows man to find the sense of life. Christianity is a humanism – it positions man in the very centre of the world according him the highest place – of the being created after God’s image. The revelation of God’s Love endows man with a new way of enriching himself and others. Thus the desire for happiness gains a new perspective of the divine longing for good.Happiness which Christ promises exceeds the limits of our imagination. It is inconceivable and incomprehensible to those living on earth. Heaven is beyond every word, beyond our conception for it bears the meaning which man cannot fully understand. It is the most supreme happiness, absolutely perfect and complete which no one has ever known.A Christian has to achieve in his life something more than the worldly aims. Whoever limits their life to the earth, focuses only on enjoying and using this life to the full; squeezing from it the last drop heedless of the needs of others.
The author examines the issue of human exploitation, which often results from unrestrained urge to make profits. The extreme, though all too real, instance of this in the 20th century were practices employed in the concentration camp in Auschwitz. Reification, or objectification of a human being, made it possible to treat him as if he was a thing, a commodity. Similarly, globalization and subordination of life to the dictates of the market creates modern forms of human exploitation, like human trafficking, organ trafficking, buying and selling one’s work or creative output – everything is for sale. Unrestrained urge to make profits equals to economic and human exploitation which is totally at odds with the ethics and the Catholic Social Teaching.
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