The Church Can Help Tackle Inequalities

Two leading economics of our era, Joseph E Stiglitz and Thomas Picketty ,have, more than any others, put discussion about inequality back at the centre of public discourse.

Likewise, the esteemed Catholic journalist Clifford Longley argues in a short study, “Just Money: How Catholic Social Teachings Can Redeem Capitalism”, that just about the only thing that can help the Western system of capitalism is to inject moral fibre back into it.

Growing inequality is obviously the big question of our times, one our Church taken seriously. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus promises eternal damnation for those who did not look after the interests of the poor.

Just a few weeks ago, a leading cardinal made that point. “It is important for the Church to be in the great questions of social justice,” said Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, head of the German bishops’ conference and part of the nine-member Council of Cardinals that advises Pope Francis on Church governance.

Christianity must be more active in the political scene in the West, he said, and be part of the development that “gives the poor a chance”, he said in a lecture at the US Stanford University.

The economists tell us that the observed rise of inequalities is driven by governmental policies. Stiglitz says that inequality “did not arise spontaneously from abstract market forces but was shaped and enhanced by politics”.

The politics of our era is a game of manipulation by the elite under the guise of democracy. The US has quietly slid into becoming an oligarchy—a system in which a small group of people assume control—dragging the rest of the world with it.

In our country, the cross-pollination between the political and economic elites is confusing. It disguises the fact that our liberators have been coopted by what they liberated us from, making ours a Pyrrhic victory for the majority.

Where does the Catholic Church feature in all of this? Suggestions are for the Church to upgrade and use its resources in order to bring to prominence its Social Teachings.

The Catholic Social Teachings forge a meaningful social policy. They are extremely critical of vested corporate interests that act with little regard for a sustainable development which is based on investments in human capital, skills, and life-learning. The Church warns that sizable and ever growing inequalities are likely to cause social conflicts with damaging economic and political implications.

According to both Stiglitz and Picketty, giving more power and resources for social policies to government spheres allows for a more rational redistribution, but that is not resistant to global and local partisan pressures.

The election of Pope Francis has brought to our attention the influence the Church still holds in world affairs. Dioceses and parishes extend this influence into regional and local spheres.

A major problem in this country is that we have a corruptible and incompetent government that lacks strength to fulfil its mandate. With the exception of many on the left, much of the intellectual wealth resides with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its bias towards the “Washington Consensus”. Hence redistributive policy discussions are not prominent in our media, itself coopted and bought by the elites for their own agendas. Every effort to turn the tide has been futile because of this.

Strengthening the powers of our parliament is crucial for systems of governance, but what is needed most is a system of meaningful democratic participation, representation and contestation that is robust enough to cope with contentious redistributive decisions and their effects. Our parliament does not fulfil this mandate.

Ask yourself these simple questions: Why has the ANC government never proposed a plausible solution for reconciling the interests of “insiders” and “outsiders” with respect to labour market reform that looks after the interests of local low-skilled workers while also combining the goal of competitiveness with that of social cohesion?

Why does the National Development Plan for 2030 not even mention South Africa’s major crisis, inequality, except as a passing comment? Why is the ANC’s economic policy basically indistinguishable from that of the neo-liberal DA?

Because both their interests are served by the continuation of the status quo.

The Church’s role in social issues is in creating an informed citizenry capable of fulfilling its democratic mandate for the benefit of all. The Church, more than any institution, has the capacity to create things like vocational training and life-long learning for our marginalised masses.

Most specialists on welfare development agree that education has an important impact on social inclusion/exclusion. The Church can play a crucial role here — after all, it already has the infrastructure. It might create a specialised agency targeting those most affected by the economic crisis and inequalities. (This group increasingly includes university graduates).

If the government had any sense, it would gladly hand over to the Church the running of the proposed community colleges — or risk these being just another failed good intention. After all, the Church has been educating black masses in this country for more than a century. These colleges are designed to train the marginalised in soft skills that would surely be a first step towards entering the job market.

Another tangible, but modest project proposal concerns poverty reduction. Through its Justice and Peace structures and its various welfare agencies, the Church can create an agency for combating extreme cases of poverty that envisages active participation of municipalities, regions, NGOs, and companies.

In the final analysis, however, social justice is not only a matter of institutional engineering, but also of political and social struggle. Citizens must demand certain actions from their governments—national, provincial and local—as their visions of Social South Africa 2030 to keep accountable the already floundering National Development Plan.