Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis
Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis
claims on the basis of statutory provisions without the payment of contributions having been made. This trend is encouraged by the fact that today broad circles in all strata of the population are filled with the conspicuous desire for state welfare. The application of the welfare principle is justified with respect to those who have fallen into hardship, not through the consequences of industrial development, but through political catastrophes. Objections are to be raised, however, against the application of this principle to normal risks (sickness, old age, etc.). If, as in l895, a fifth of the population was liable to disability insurance, a reapportionment of income, which was socio-politically justified at that time, could take place to the benefit of pensioners and to the burden of the remaining four- fifths of the population. However, the higher the number of those entitled to expect funds rises with respect to the entire population, and the more the liability to insurance is extended, the less do contributions from general tax monies represent assistance on the part of the whole for a socially weaker minority, and the more are monies raised by the insured themselves, not least through indirect taxation. This is not meant to dispute the fact that even today a vertical equalization between rich and poor as well as a horizontal equalization between the socially weaker and the socially stronger within the community of the insured is still possible through state subsidies from tax monies. This is an equalization that can be justified if it remains within bounds and does not lead to a general leveling. The fact that the immense redistribution process is more and more determining the state economically is not, however, without harm, for this implies a constriction of the meaning of the state. The immense extent of the redistribution of the national income in the Federal Republic of Germany is hardly noticed by the neo-Marxist system critics. If, in the year l98l, of a gross national product of l,552 billion DM, 63l billion DM were collected in taxes and social contributions, and if 492 billion DM were to be raised for social services, and if, further, the living standard of the working person was considerably higher than that in communist states, only malice could assert that the social market economy of the Federal Republic of Germany was capitalistic exploitation. What Pope John Paul II points out certainly applies to the conditions in the Federal Republic of Germany: „Worker solidarity, together with a clearer and more committed realization by others of workers’ rights, has in many cases brought about profound changes...Workers can often share in running businesses and in controlling their productivity...(and)...exercise influence over conditions of work and pay, and also over social legislation“ (Laborem exercens,8). 4. Towards a Societal Policy In advanced industrial societies, structural changes have taken place in a gradual development which allow a transition to be recognized from a social policy (Sozialpolitik) of the older style to a societal policy (Gesellschaftspolitik). Urgent soci-political tasks are the broad dissemination of wealth, the creation and securing of a sufficient number of jobs, the formulation of family and health policies, the fostering of a system of education, training, and continued education as well as environmental protection, and the modern area planning policy. SECTION FOUR: THE STATE Preliminary Remarks The religious and cultural philosopher, Ernst Troeltsch (l865-l923), reported the deep impression that the lectures of the high-spirited Heinrich von Treitschke (l834-l896) had made upon him and the other students in Berlin. Politics, Treitschke explained, occupies itself, not with morality, but with the „mysteries of the art of creating power, consolidating it, and extending it.“ „How our hearts beat as young students when Heinrich von Treitschke described the state to us thus with his glowing rhetoric; he did not mind what derision he poured upon the ethical 128
and juridical doctrinarians!“ 77 In the year l943, Munich students, the Scholl siblings and their circle, and two of their professors were executed because they had demonstrated against the National Socialist totalitarian state. The relationship of man to the state as the embodiment of power has always been filled with tension. It thus seems understandable that the question about the state and its meaning should have played an important role in Christian thought from the beginning. The word ‘„state’ did indeed first appear at the beginning of the sixteenth century in the Renaissance states of upper Italy to designate the political commonwealth, but later became established in all European languages. The term ‘nation’, which means the people rooted in the inherited traditions as bearer of a particular cultural idea, is older. In the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas called Western Christianity a grandis natio (Opusculum 57). ‘Fatherland’ signifies a common homeland, descent, language, culture, and history. Love of one’s fatherland was shamefully abused by National Socialism and has fallen into disrepute. For decades it was almost taboo to speak of the fatherland. To a large extent, chiding of fatherland took the place of love of fatherland. The time has probably come to reflect anew on the Christian message concerning the relationship of man to the fatherland. The Second Vatican Council summons us to a „generous and loyal devotion“ to our fatherland (Gaudium et spes, 75). Love of fatherland is not a mere feeling, and even less chauvinism. It is more than obedience and loyalty. It is lively participation in the weal and woe of the people and is embedded in love for all peoples, which means being open to the „whole human family“ „without any narrowing of mind“ (Gaudium et spes, 75). Led by the goal of grounding the moral idea of the state, Christian social teaching discusses questions concerning the origin and tasks of the state, governmental authority and forms of the state, as well as the particular relationship of the Christian and the Church to the state. 77 E. Troeltsch, Politische Ethik und Christentum (Berlin, 1904), 5f. 129
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and juridical doctrinarians!“ 77 In the year l943, Munich students, the Scholl siblings and their<br />
circle, and two of their professors were executed because they had demonstrated against the<br />
National <strong>Socialis</strong>t totalitarian state.<br />
The relationship of man to the state as the embodiment of power has always been filled with<br />
tension. It thus seems understandable that the question about the state and its meaning should<br />
have played an important role in Christian thought from the beginning. The word ‘„state’ did<br />
indeed first appear at the beginning of the sixteenth century in the Renaissance states of upper<br />
Italy to designate the political commonwealth, but later became established in all European<br />
languages. The term ‘nation’, which means the people rooted in the inherited traditions as<br />
bearer of a particular cultural idea, is older. In the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas called<br />
Western Christianity a grandis natio (Opusculum 57). ‘Fatherland’ signifies a common homeland,<br />
descent, language, culture, and history. Love of one’s fatherland was shamefully abused<br />
by National <strong>Socialis</strong>m and has fallen into disrepute. For decades it was almost taboo to speak<br />
of the fatherland. To a large extent, chiding of fatherland took the place of love of fatherland.<br />
The time has probably come to reflect anew on the Christian message concerning the relationship<br />
of man to the fatherland. The Second Vatican Council summons us to a „generous and<br />
loyal devotion“ to our fatherland (Gaudium et spes, 75). Love of fatherland is not a mere feeling,<br />
and even less chauvinism. It is more than obedience and loyalty. It is lively participation<br />
in the weal and woe of the people and is embedded in love for all peoples, which means being<br />
open to the „whole human family“ „without any narrowing of mind“ (Gaudium et spes, 75).<br />
Led by the goal of grounding the moral idea of the state, Christian social teaching discusses<br />
questions concerning the origin and tasks of the state, governmental authority and forms of<br />
the state, as well as the particular relationship of the Christian and the Church to the state.<br />
77 E. Troeltsch, Politische Ethik und Christentum (Berlin, 1904), 5f.<br />
129
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