US bishops call for ‘new social contract’
based on the Pope’s third encyclical
August 25, 2010
In their annual Labor Day statement, issued on August 24, the bishops of the United States said that the time is ripe for a new social contract, with Pope Benedict’s 2009 encyclical
Caritas in Veritate providing needed guidance.
Much as Pope Leo XIII brought the light of the Gospel to bear upon the new economic realities of his day, Pope Benedict has done the same in our time, writes Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Citing passages from the encyclical, Bishop Murphy reflected upon work, workers, and the economy; the market, the state, and civil society; and wage fairness and a new social contract.
“While it is not the role of the Church to propose a concrete economic blueprint for the future,” he writes, “the words of Pope Benedict should remind us that a key, perhaps the key, to overcoming the current economic situation is to unleash the creative forces of men and women.”
The complete text of the USCCB statement can be found on
www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/labor_day_2010.pdf