I searched on the term “Catholic Theology of Work” and received a return of a number of very old academic essays, and books but nothing practical for the business person to sink their teeth into and apply in their place of work.
I have in my possession, as you should too, a copy of “The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church” published by the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace. The creation of the compendium was at the request of the Holy Father, now Pope Saint John Paul II.
In the text of the presentation of this book, Cardinal Renata Raffaele Martino states that “the reading of these pages is suggested above all in order to sustain and foster the activity of Christians in the social sector, especially the activity of the lay faithful to whom this area belongs in a particular way; The whole of their lives must be seen as a work of evangelization that produces fruit.”
Indeed, the Compendium covers all aspects of life including weighing in on the matters of Human Work (Chapter Six) and Economic Life (Chapter Seven). Here’s where you can grab your own copy of the The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:
Yet, despite the strength of her very beautiful and detailed social teaching, the Catholic Church has yet to develop common terms Catholic business leaders can use to more easily connect and thus understand how their work should be seen through the lens of their Catholic faith. If Catholic business leaders understood the importance of living an integrated life, I believe the world would look and operate vastly different than it does today.
The CATHOLIC DMZ
It’s my experience in my years developing Attollo that for most Catholics the topic of work and faith is a kind of theological demilitarized zone. Clergy, business leaders, and academia seem not to dare discuss the intersection of faith and work at least not in the same room. If they do get together, nothing ever seems gets past a high level, theoretical discussion. The reason is that each group doesn’t understand nor care to understand the others’ perspective of faith and work.
This great awkward and acceptable silence is, in my view, a great failure for the entirety of the Church. It’s a squandered opportunity to understand, define and teach the universal call to holiness in the world of work to clergy, to academia and most importantly to business leaders who are in a position to positively impact many more lives through employment and evangelization to citizens of a very broken world through example of virtuous leadership. Think about it, not everyone goes to college and fewer people go to weekly Mass these days. The great untapped mission field is the world of business.
Business success and sanctity are not mutually exclusive.
A revived Catholic Theology of Work would help business leaders appreciate how their Catholic faith can make a positive difference in the world and their business and that the tenants of their faith should extend past the narthex of their church on Sunday into Monday and the rest of the week and be integrated in all parts of their life including their businesses. A main tenant of the Catholic theology of work would be that business success and sanctity are not mutually exclusive.
If anyone is interested in helping with this project you know where to find me. It’s not going to write itself!
