I think there will be a burst of energy on this side. That will be very, very important for the whole debate. Chairman LAFALCE. I think that is very good, Mr. Novak. As you do, too. However, since you mentioned that, let me express my concern to you. Let me go to the prepared remarks of Bishop Malone. If you and your write-ins emphasize what Bishop Malone said conservatives could look to, the affirmation of the market, I do not know how much good you would accomplish to those who traditionally read you and follow you. I would hope that you could emphasize the other part of Bishop Malone's remarks. The responsibility to address needs not met by the market. For liberals who have a passionate priority for the poor rather than spend all their time getting vindication from the papal encyclical on that point. I would hope that they would emphasize the warnings about bureaucratic excesses of some responses. If each side would look, not as much to how the papal encyclical has vindicated them, even more to the lessons that they need to learn, I think we will get the maximum good from the papal encyclical. Mr. NOVAK. I did not mean, Congressman, that this should be used as a vindication or a one-sided approach, at all. But I do think that the conservative sense of initiative has been included for the first time. There is a kind of invitation here to undertake the sorts of reforms and changes that conservatives also enthusiastically applaud. I do not think that this letter by any means comes down on the conservative side, but conservatives were included in the debate in a very potent way. Chairman LAFALCE. I remember two seminars I had on the importance of cooperation between labor and management in order to make the American work force more productive and competitive. In the first seminar, I got together with the person from management and I said, "Your job is to tell management how they have to shape up." I got together with the labor union later and I said, "Your job is to tell labor how they have to shape up." They did it. We had a magnificent conference with I think tremendous results. Then I had another conference. Same subject, same issue. I said the same thing to both. This time a fellow from management told labor what they had to do to shape up, and the fellow from labor told management what they had to do to shape up, and it was disastrous. So, that is what I was getting at. [Whereupon, at 12:10 p.m., the committee was adjourned, subject to the call of the Chair.] APPENDIX COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS HEARING ON CENTESIMUS ANNUS Tuesday, June 18, 1991 10:00 a.m. The Committee on Small Business will come to order. This morning the Committee on Small Business is pleased to hold a hearing on Pope John Paul II's new social encyclical Centesimus Annus, "The Hundredth Year". The encyclical commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the first social encyclical, which was issued in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII and entitled Rerum Novarum, "Of New Things". The new papal letter has generated a great deal of comment and discussion worldwide, not as a religious document in the sectarian sense of the word, but as a document which examines the entire range of economic systems from the viewpoint and perspective of fundamental human social values. As the recent U.S. Bishops' Pastoral letter on the U.S. economy stated "the dignity of the human person, realized in community with others, is the criterion against which all aspects of economic life must be measured". In short, the economy exists to serve people, not the other way around, a sentiment with which I am in wholehearted agreement. Most Committees of the Congress, including this Committee, are normally concerned only with the day-to-day nuts and bolts of budget deficits, trade balances, unemployment statistics, capital availability, stock market prices, interest rates -- and the whole range of practical everyday economics. So it is good every once in a while to step back from the trees of these everyday concerns to examine the forest the philosophical, moral and social policy assumptions which underlie the West's economic systems and those which underlie systems in other areas of the world. This is particularly true today when American businesses must increasingly deal with a very rapidly evolving world economy which, over the next decade or two, may alter economic institutions world-wide on a basis more profound than all that has happened in the last 100 years. The importance of economic and social theory should not be underestimated. Pope Leo's 1891 encyclical, for example, had an enormous influence on 20th Century economic and social policy. He called for the legalization of labor unions and the recognition of the right to strike. He called for a system of social security, worker compensation and unemployment assistance. He called for wage and hour laws and child labor laws. He also wrote a scathing analysis of socialism and resolutely defended the institution of private property at a time when socialism and Marxism were only intellectual fancies. And he set forth his views in the context of centuries of Judaeo-Christian beliefs and values. His encyclical soon became the "philosophy of action" for the new Christian Democratic parties of Western Europe and Latin America. And he anticipated by 40 years the program of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. It remains to be seen whether the new social encyclical will have the same impact over the next 100 years. But, as Harvard University acknowledged in handing him an honorary doctorate prior to his election as Pope, John Paul II is a world class social philosopher in his own right -- and his views will be carefully studied throughout the world. His principled endorsement of the free enterprise system as best suited to the ideals of human liberty underscores American values, and will be especially important in Central and Eastern Europe and in Latin America as nations in these areas plot their way in the postMarxist world order. So, it is well to take a little time to make ourselves aware, and to help make America's business community aware, of some of the currents now shaping the world's economic future. It is hoped that today's hearing will assist in this effort. To testify on the encyclical we have The Most Reverend James Malone, Chairman, Domestic Policy Committee, U.S. Catholic Conference; Michael Novak, George Federick Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy, American Enterprise Institute; and John Steinbruner, Director, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution. We will first hear from Bishop Malone. Thank you for this opportunity to offer some reflections on the challenges of the most recent encyclical of Pope John Paul II. As a former President of the United States Bishops' Conference and as the Chairman of its Domestic Policy Committee, I am honored by your invitation and pleased that a Committee of the U.S. Congress has chosen to examine this encyclical's themes and values. ELEMENTS OF THE ENCYLCICAL For Catholics, an encyclical is religious teaching of the highest order. For others it is a statement that merits discussion because of the important topics it addresses, the fundamental questions it poses and the vital challenges it raises. Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) has received a remarkable, response. Its sweeping moral analysis of the economic and global challenges of our time has drawn considerable coverage and commentary. Taking the 100 year old encyclical Rerum Novarum as his starting point and the dramatic changes of 1989 as an historic turning point, Pope John Paul II affirms and advances traditional teaching on work and workers rights, on morality and markets, and on global justice and peace. The document is long, complex and nuanced. I offer for the record a summary of its principal themes. The encyclical: 1. Strengthens the Church's social teaching as an essential part of the gospel message and as a basis for action by the Church; |