The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 315: The Church’s Social Doctrine (2025)

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Together, with Fr. Mike, we examine both our respect for the integrity of creation as well as the Church’s broader social doctrine. Fr. Mike emphasizes that we owe animals kindness because they have been entrusted to our stewardship, but also that we must have a balanced relationship with them. He then goes on to examine the Church’s Social Doctrine in our postmodern world, focusing on capitalism, socialism, and communism. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2415-2425. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture, and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in New Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is Day 315. We're reading paragraph 2415 to 2425, as always. I am using it. the Ascension edition of the catechism, which is amazing, and also includes the foundations of faith approach. But you can follow along with any recent version of the catechism of the Catholic

Church. You can also download your own catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash CIY. And you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates, daily notifications. After 315 days, I just want to say thank you. Thank you again for your support. Thank you for your prayers. Oh, my gosh. In these last days, I've been longer days. I don't know if maybe we edit all these things down and make them a shorter. But man, oh, man, they have been so long. Thank you so much for your faithfulness or your prayers for all those who supported the production of this podcast with your financial gifts. We couldn't do it without you. Here we go. As we launch into day 315, we recognize that we're going to talk about the respect

for the integrity of creation, right? So the goodness of the earth. We recognize that just like we looked at our own lives and say, okay, here are the gifts I have, here are the things I worked for, here are my material goods. I'm a steward of my material goods, just like I'm called to be a steward, not an owner of the earth. We're also going to look at, in a unique way, the social doctrine of the church, which developed basically, well, in the 19th century, when the gospel encountered modern industrial society. Because, you know, up until then, the world was relatively stable. And I say stable, I don't mean like there was no wars, there's no famine, there's no, there's a lot of stuff that went on. But things radically changed with the introduction of the

industrial society. They even called it the Industrial Revolution. Remember, that from class. So the church basically encounters this kind of whole new world and so creates this social doctrine of the church in the 19th century. So we're to look at that and also dive into just this how is it that God is calling us through his church to engage in this world. So that's what we're looking at today. Paragraphs 2415 to 2425 as we begin. Let us call upon the name of the Lord and enter into prayer. Father in heaven, we praise your name and we give you glory. We thank you. We thank you for continuing to teach us, especially to continuing to teach us through your church, our God, we realize that without the living magisterium, the living teaching office of the church,

we would find ourselves lost in so many ways in this postmodern world. But you continue to speak to us through your church. You continue to unpack your revelation to the world through your church. And so we thank you. We thank you for your church. We thank you for this truth. And we ask that you please help us to be stewards of all of our, resources to be stewards of the world and to engage in this world in a wise, compassionate,

just and loving way the way you would engage this world. If you came now, Lord God, and lived with us. Help us to live like that right now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is Day 315. We're reading paragraphs, as I said, four times now, 2415 to 2425. Respect for the integrity of creation. The Seventh Commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect

for moral imperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the creator is not absolute. It is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come. It requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation. Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence, they bless him and give him glory. Thus, men owe them kindness.

We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals. God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image. Hence, it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. They may be domesticated to help men in his work and leisure. Medical and scientific experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice if it remains within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives. It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly.

It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should, as a priority, go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals. One should not direct to them the affection due only to persons. The social doctrine of the church. Christian revelation promotes deeper understanding of the laws of social living. The church receives from the gospel the full revelation of the truth about man. When she fulfills her mission of proclaiming the gospel, she bears witness to man in the name of Christ to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of persons. She teaches him the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom. The church makes a moral judgment about economic and social matters when the fundamental

rights of the person or the salvation of souls requires it. In the moral order, she bears a mission distinct from that of political authorities. The church is concerned with the temporal aspects of the common good because they are ordered to the sovereign good, our ultimate end. She strives to inspire right attitudes with respect to earthly goods and in socioeconomic relationships. The social doctrine of the church developed in the 19th century when the gospel encountered modern industrial society with its new structures for the production of consumer goods, its new concept of society, the state and authority, and its new forms of labor and

ownership. The development of the doctrine of the church on economic and social matters attests the permanent value of the church's teaching at the same time as it attests the true meaning of her tradition, always living and active. The church's social teaching, prizes a body of doctrine, which is articulated as the church interprets events in the course of history, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, in the light of the whole of what has been revealed by Jesus Christ. This teaching can be more easily accepted by men of goodwill, the more the faithful let themselves be guided by it. The church's social teaching proposes principles for reflection. It provides criteria for judgment. It gives guidelines for

action. Any system in which social relationships are determined entirely by economic factors is contrary to the nature of the human person and his acts. A theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic activity is morally unacceptable. The disordered desire for money cannot but produce perverse effects. It is one of the causes of the many conflicts which disturb the social order. A system that subordinates the basic rights of individuals and of groups to the collective organization of production is contrary to human dignity. Every practice that reduces persons to nothing more than a means of profit enslaves man, leads to idolizing money, and contributes to the spread of atheism. As Jesus said,

you cannot serve God and Mammon. The church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modern times with communism or socialism. She has likewise refused to accept in the practice of capitalism, individualism, and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor. Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social bonds. Regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace fails social justice, for there are many human needs which cannot be satisfied by the market. Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended.

All right there we have it paragraphs 2415 to 2425. Let's go all the way back to the beginning here of 2415 to 2418 on the respect for the integrity, the goodness of creation. This obviously comes from the story of creation that God makes this world and he makes this world good, right? And then he places his human beings in a place a posture, position of dominion over the earth. Now, when it comes to dominion, I remember as a kid thinking that, okay, dominion means, yeah, it's ours.

So just do with it whatever you want. And then, of course, my sensibilities, I was taught better than that. And I came to realize that dominion is the kind of dominion of a steward, right? The keyword we've been using so many times over the last couple days, not an owner where I can say, I can do whatever I want with my stuff, but a steward where I recognize that this not only belongs to God, this earth belongs to God. It also belongs to each other. And so here, very, very clearly, it says in 2415, it says that,

Animals like plants and inanimate beings are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. And so anytime we use the animals and plants and inanimate beings, resources of the earth, they cannot be divorced from respect from moral imperatives because our, it goes on to say, our dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by God himself is not absolute. It's limited by what? It's limited by our concern for the quality of life of our neighbor, including generations to come, people who don't even exist yet. And so we have to keep that in mind. And this requires

a religious respect for the integrity of creation. This is serious. We have to realize that the church actually is kind of green, which is a good thing. Because why? Because we respect the fact that when I say green, right, I mean, we are concerned with the environment. Because we recognized, yes, at the top of the environment, at the top of the food chain, belongs human beings, mating God's image and likeness, but not as masters as stewards. And so going on to say, when we are good stewards of creation, we are acting as the Lord in the world, right? We're acting on behalf of God himself, whose world it belongs to, right? Does that make sense?

So let's apply this 2416. Let's look at animals. Animals are God's creatures. They have a goodness. And I remember thinking about this in college, just you're reflecting on the fact that an animal's mere existence glorifies God. I think it even says this in the catacism by their mere existence. they bless him and give him glory and therefore we owe animals kindness that's just such a what a word

from the church we owe animals kindness at the same time 2417 explains this and says okay here's what this means it means since god has entrusted animals to our stewardship it's legitimate to use animals for food and for clothing they also it says they can be pets you know it says they can be domesticated to help man in his work and leisure. So we have, you know, cats or dogs or birds, although there's a comedian once back in the day who says, oh, how mean do you have to be to have a bird as a pet? Like, you keep this bird that's like, I have the gift of flight and I'm locked in this cage. At the same time, there is something good about having these animals as pets or as help us with our work, right? You have an ox, you have donkeys. Going on to say, medical and scientific experimentation on animals is morally

acceptable if it remains within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives. Now, and this is the thing that's so good because we owe animals kindness, right? To take care of the earth is a religious act because it belongs to God. And so when we're doing that, we are being good stewards. And so paragraph 2418 says, it is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or died needlessly. Now remember what paragraph 2417 says. It says it's legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. So here's what the church is doing. The church is giving us a good sense of order. That animals are good. They, their very existence, blesses God, gives God glory. We owe them kindness. When we do that, it is a form of, it's a form of,

it's a religious work, it's a religious act. We can also use them for food, have them as pets. We can use them for clothing. It's also contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. Let's focus on that for one second. It doesn't say it's contrary to the dignity of the animals, although that could be, the case could be made for that, absolutely. I mean, to cause animals to needlessly suffer and die. That's, yeah, that's contrary to the dignity, although it's animal dignity of the animals, of course. But it's actually contrary to human nature. It's contrary to the dignity of the human person to cause animals, these creatures that we owe as a kindness, these creatures that, yes, are under our care and in our stewardship, and that, yes, we can use

for food and domesticate and all those things, but it's contrary to human dignity, to your dignity in mind, to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. And so we're placing ourselves in this position of, yes, we are below God, we are below, we are under God, and the animals, and this earth is under us. That doesn't mean that we simply dominate abuse and cause to suffer needlessly those things that are in our care. Of course, we'd care for them and we'd use them wisely at the same time. Again, here's the next hedge that the church gives us. It's likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals, but one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons. And that's, again,

again, that just seems so wise. In these few short four paragraphs, we have a vision of the earth and a vision of the world that the church gives us that is just so wise, right? It's balanced. It's not, animals are the best things in the world and you can never like eat them or use them. It's not also do whatever you want with them. They're just trash. Like, no, animals are a good and but we have a proper use of that good. And that's where temperance comes in, of course, and wisdom comes in, of course, prudence comes in. Now, as we move on to the last paragraph we're looking at 2419 to 2425, this is remarkable. As I said in the intro, in the, in the industrial revolution, this world we live in right now, there are new socioeconomic situations

that came up. I mean, think about if you live back in the day, the way in which the industrial revolution has reshaped society. Paragraph 2421 even says this. It's new concept of society, the production of consumer goods, the state, authority, the new forms of labor and ownership. All of those things were in a massive upheaval with the introduction of the industrial revolution. So what did the church have to do? The church had to say, okay, So labor has always been seen as a good. Remember, that's the three things God made us for, for leisure, for love, and for labor. He put human beings in the Garden of Eden, go, cultivate this garden, care for it,

go to work, be fruitful, multiply. And yet, the Industrial Revolution reshaped all of that, where now work can become dehumanizing. And this was the temptation, of course, of industry, right? temptation of factories and also not only dehumanizing, but you'd find yourself essentially the slave of whoever owned the company because they could just make you do whatever they wanted you to do. And so in response to this real problem, people came up with some things they thought would be solutions. But some of those solutions are morally unacceptable. And so let's look at some of these. Paragraph 2423 begins by saying the church's social teaching proposes principles for

reflection. It provides criteria for judgment and guidelines for action. So the first one is any system in which social relationships are determined entirely by economic factors are contrary to the nature of the human person and his acts. So any system where all these relationships are simply based off of money or economic factors that eliminates the good of the dignity of the human person who is good on their own independent of anything else, including economic factors. Number two, paragraph 2424. It says, theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic activity is morally unacceptable. So people say like, I've just, just making money. That's all we, that's the whole

point. The whole point is to make money. That is not the whole point. If that's the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic activity, then it's morally unacceptable. Why? Because this involves human beings. Yes, there's money. Yes, there's economics. Yes, there's a given exchange, all these things that are necessary. But they can't be, that can't be the exclusive norm. And the ultimate end. People have to be a factor in this. Goes on to say, the disordered desire for money cannot but produce perverse effects. Remember what scripture says, the love of money is the root of all evil. Goes on to say, it's one of the causes of the many conflicts which disturb the social order. The next second half of paragraph 2424 is just incredible. It's just, it highlights what's happened over the

last couple hundred years. It says, a system that subordinates the basic rights of individuals and of groups to the collective organization of production is contrary to human dignity. Remember that human beings, persons, individuals, and groups of individuals is vastly more important than any collective organization or production. Goes on to say, every practice that reduces persons to nothing more than a means of profit enslaves man leads to idolizing money and contributes to the spread of atheism. We recognize that that actually happens. Now, paragraph 24, 25, names, names. And here's what the church done. The church has to name names. In terms of these, these are the three names that get named, communism, socialism, and capitalism. So it goes on to say, the church has rejected the totalitarian

and atheistic ideologies associated in modern times with communism or socialism. So keep that in mind that the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated with communism and socialism are absolutely rejected. Now going on to say, the church has likewise refused to accept in the practice of capitalism, individualism, and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor. So keep that in mind. So communism, socialism, rejected. Capitalism has to have limits. Capitalism itself must, must always keep in mind the individual and may never rely on the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over the value of human beings and over the value of human labor. It's so important for us to understand that because there are limits.

obviously limits with communism socialism there are limits with capitalism as well and the church is just being so again so wise when it comes to this now this last sentence in paragraph 2425 is very important it says reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives in keeping with the just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good is to be commended so to have to have of reasonable regulation is good. Reasonable regulation that would keep the, you know, we know this. We know that there are governments that can crush individuals. And there's ideologies, right, in government that can crush individuals. There are also businesses. There are also industries that can crush individuals. I mean, go back to, I don't know, remember APU.S. history.

In APU.S. history, we read The Jungle. Was it by Upton Sinclair? Was that what it was? And how this description of what was life like in the factories, what was life like in, I think, the slaughterhouse, what was life like in that time? And it opened people's eyes to like, this is not good. This is not a way for human beings to live. And so there had to be some kind of reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives in keeping with the just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good. That is a good thing. And so we recognize, right, when something gets too big, a lot of times, whether that be big government or big business, whatever the thing is, it has a tendency to crush individualism, has a tendency to subordinate individuals to making money.

And the church says, reasonable regulation of this with an eye to just hierarchy and a common good is a good thing, if that's to be commended. Now, I hope, hopefully all this made sense. You know, we find ourselves in this really complex world. And yet the church is a voice of clarity. And I think it's so important for us to realize, yeah, in this complex world, I need to have a voice of clarity. And that voice is scripture, but we also need the living voice of the church to continue to teach us here and now, because we live in this world here and now. Right now, I want to let you know that I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.