AHRC :: Atlantic Human Rights Centre

The Social Gospel and Human Rights

Maurice Cardinal Roy(1)

While working for the Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace, I was privileged to have as collaborators people distinguished for their scientific knowledge and admirable for their dedication. I want to call your attention to the fact that one third of the members of this Commission were women - a record rarely equalled in international organizations, or even universities.

I remember with gratitude the friendly collaboration of three secretaries of the World of Churches, Dr. Visser t'Hoft, Dr. Blake and Dr. Potter, both in Geneva and Rome, and I am determined to continue working with the heads of the Churches of Canada who, more than once, have acted together for the defence of human rights.

You have asked me to speak on the implications of the Social Gospel and human rights. I would like to state first of all that the Gospel surpasses the International Declaration of the Rights of Man, while clarifying and supporting it.

Popes Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI supported all policies based on human rights; John Paul II reiterated this support at the United Nations General Assembly. For some excessively scrupulous people, the Declaration of the Rights of Man is essentially irreligious because of its connection with the French Revolution and the American Declaration of Independence. In fact, the Declaration is only an updated, better worded expression of a whole heritage of rights, some of whole elements can be traced back to man's most ancient cultures. Classic Greco-Roman thought enriched this heritage as did the prophets of the Bible, including the Messiah himself. The work was continued by St. Paul, the Church Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas and, in the 16th century, especially by Bartolome de La Casas and Francisco de Victoria. Grotius, a Protestant, made an important contribution to the establishment of the rights of people.

In fact, human rights have their roots in natural law, that is to say in the very nature of man, and it is this that provides the basis for their legitimacy and for the duty of all people to respect them.

But that is not all. The dignity of the individual, the sacred charter of natural law, the inherent moral obligation for the respect of rights, the law of brotherly love, the principle of the equality of all men before God, the freedom of man, all this is present in the Gospel as well as in secular thought; add to this the perfection of the broadness of outlook founded on the revelation of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

What Jesus Christ contributes to the knowledge of the rights of man is not only a support but a renewal. It is at this point that the church intervenes in the question. Its action does not duplicate that of the secular world. Even while agreeing with it, the Church remains profoundly itself, because it gives that which the world cannot give, the light of revelation.

Christ is the essence of creation. There is not Christ on the one hand the creator on the other. Christ is not some sort of extra piece, accidentally added to the world. John Paul emphasized this when he said "Christ, the Saviour of the world, is the one who penetrates the mystery of man in a unique and absolutely unparalleled manner, and goes to the very heart of it". It is therefore rightly that the Vatican II teaches the following:

" The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of him that was to come (cf. Rom. 5:14), namely, Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear"(2).

With this doctrine we are at the very heart of the relationship between the Gospel and the rights of man. The theological anthropology indicated in that relationship an on which the social doctrine of the Church is based, arrives at the centre of our faith; the truth of man cannot be adequately attained except through Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the origin and model of human perfection.

It is this vision that explains in depth the attitude of the Church to the rights of man. The Church approves them, recognizes them, promotes them, defends them. The Church allies itself with anyone who is an honest and courageous champion of human rights. The Church endeavours to promote acceptance of the richest and the strictest meaning of human rights as seen in the light of the Gospel.

On the other hand, it is interesting to note that even a secular study of the rights of man can contribute greatly to the Church in its study of the Bible.

Christians cannot always find in their faith a common ground for dialogue with all men, since that faith is not shared by all. The meeting ground must therefore be man, the person, natural law, the declaration of the rights of man given to us by the United Nations and various individual countries.

Furthermore, it is absolutely certain that the Church has learned much from the great lay-prophets and secular thinkers who developed the philosophy of human rights. It is much indebted to those who formulated the principles of natural law, the rights of people and positive law. The Church owes much to the theoreticans of national and international law and order. The Church is aware of what it owes to those who provided it with the elements of political humanism. History has taught us that very high values can emerge from the ambiguity and error, and the Church is indebted even to those movements with a revolutionary past. Moreover, it has been enriched by contact with diverse civilizations and cultures. There is a French method of approaching the law and rights, an English method, a German, a Slac, ect. Each method allows the Church to perceive more fully the richness of human nature. The great texts of Popes Pius XI, Pius XII and John XXIII, of the Vatican II, of Pope Paul VI and the present Pope of these questions would not have been possible without the great efforts of eminent jurists, the perseverance of politicians and the testimony of countless citizens who have fought stubbornly for the rights of man.

The study of the rights of man has therefore been - and will continue to be - useful to the Church. And the opposite is true: the action of the Church has been - and will continue to be - beneficial to human rights.

The Gospel cannot be reduced to a theory or a list of personal rights. However, by virtue of its very eminence it provides an inexhaustible source of knowledge of these rights. I will give just a few examples.

Reading from Genesis - "God created man to his own image"(3) or "male and female he created them to be"(4). These two passages are still echoing in the history of mankind. If man was created in the image of God, he is endowed with a spirit and destined to move towards God. And if humanity was created both man and woman, it is as a whole that it must develop this creation. These two texts that come to us from God are infinitely meaningful. If one misses their meaning, it is man that is the loser.

Allow me to cite two other examples: "...God is not a respecter of persons"(5). This is a maxim of divine government already written in the oldest books of the Bible(6) and repeated in the New Testament(7). Clearly this text means that if all men are sons of God, how can any discrimination exist, whether open or subtle, in the Church or in the world?

And here is another example: "...we ought to obey God rather than men"(8). This principle, which rests on the rights of conscience in its most intimate relationship with God, has led, since the beginning of Christianity, to radical stands against power. It has lost none of its value or effectiveness.

In closing, I would like to sketch the portrait of the new men and women that our time requires. Both as citizens and Christians, you are the heirs to two great well springs of humanity: reason and divine faith. The new man spoken of by St. Paul and the new man needed for our time are one and the same. It is difficult to draw a portrait in advance, but it is at least possible to indicate the values and on which you must build.

In contrast to the old humanism whose concern was for individual excellence, the new man, the new woman, should emphasize a sense of fraternity and of joint responsibility. Justice and Peace will be the focal point of their lives and their vision of the world. They will be free beings, capable of making independent judgements of society and its values. Because they love life, they will gladly accept pluralism and diversity, not as a threat of division, but as a means of enrichment. Trained to direct and discipline their hearts - since it is from the heart that spring both good and evil thoughts, as the Gospel says(9) they will be able to base the respect of all rights on grace and love. We see these young people as beings always striving toward a goal, open to the infinite, who favour "being" rather than "having", men and women who endeavour, in the image of their Maker "to make all things new"(10).

In abundance and in need, in adversity and in success, in sadness and in joy, always giving proof of being a new type of man, such young people will achieve in their lives the link between the Gospel and the rights of man.

I would like to quote one of the most brilliant members of the Justice and Peace Commission, Lady Jackson (Barbara Ward):

"There is no inherent reason why the Christian community, stretching as it does from one end to the other of our planetary society, should not be, in developed and developing societies alike, a catalyst of energy, devotion and reform. Christian citizens could take a lead in supporting and publicising the proposals for reform, in demanding from the rich a sense of justice and equality, from the poor a readiness for forgiveness and constructive cooperation, from all men of goodwill a vision of planetary community in which development and justice are sought together and man's vast resources set to work for the building of the common good. If this seems a utopian vision, it must be said that the Christian faith is visionary. It dares to pray 'Thy kingdom come'. It dares to dream of a time when the Lord shall say 'Behold, I make all things new'"(11).

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Footnotes

1. 1 Most Reverend Maurice Cardinal Roy is Roman Catholic Archbishop of Quebec and formerly President of the Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace.

2. . The Documents of the Vatican II, p. 220.

3. Genesis 1:27.

4. Genesis 1:27.

5. Acts 10:34.

6. Lev. 19:15, Deut. 1:17, Prov., Eccl. 35:10.

7. Matt. 22:16, Galat. 2:6, Rom. 2:11, Eph. 6:9, Col. 3:25, I Peter 1:17, James 2:9.

8. Acts 5:29.

9. Matthew 15:18 and Mark 7:21.

10. Apoc. 21:5.

11. Barbara Ward. The Angry Seventies, Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace, Rome, 1970.

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