JUST OVER forty-two years ago in March 1967, as Jamaica was emerging out of colonialism, a landmark treatise on human development was published which influenced the thinking of millions of people throughout the world, including in Jamaica. I became very familiar with that treatise, and looking back, I realise how much it influenced me.
For example, it stated: "Those nations which have recently gained independence find that political freedom is not enough. They must also acquire the social and economic structures and processes that accord with man's nature and activity, if their citizens are to achieve personal growth and if their country is to take its rightful place in the international community."
And again: "It is true that colonising nations were sometimes concerned with nothing save their own interests, their own power and their own prestige; their departure left the economy of these countries in precarious imbalance - the one-crop economy, for example, which is at the mercy of sudden, wide-ranging fluctuations in market prices. Certain types of colonialism surely caused harm and paved the way for further troubles."
The document I am citing - 'On the Development of Peoples' by Pope Paul VI - was state-of-the-art Roman Catholic social doctrine based on her interpretation of sacred scripture and other aspects of her sacred tradition.
Well rounded
It went on: "The development we speak of here cannot be restricted to economic growth alone. To be authentic, it must be well rounded; it must foster the development of each man and of the whole man." Authentic development must involve everyone (especially those in the bottom), and must touch humanity in all its facets: body, soul and spirit. Using increases in per capita GDP as the index of development is grossly inadequate: "Thus, the exclusive pursuit of material possessions prevents man's growth as a human being and stands in opposition to his true grandeur," according to the treatise of Pope Paul VI.
The document profoundly challenged the dominant economic ideology with statements like these: "The recent council reiterated this truth: 'God intended the earth and everything in it for the use of all human beings and peoples. Thus, under the leadership of justice and in the company of charity, created goods should flow fairly to all.' All other rights, whatever they may be, including the rights of property and free trade, are to be subordinated to this principle. They should in no way hinder it; in fact, they should actively facilitate its implementation."
"Everyone knows that the Fathers of the Church laid down the duty of the rich toward the poor in no uncertain terms. As St Ambrose put it: 'You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be for the common use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich'. These words indicate that the right to private property is not absolute and unconditional."
"No one may appropriate surplus goods solely for his own private use when others lack the bare necessities of life. In short, 'as the Fathers of the Church and other eminent theologians tell us, the right of private property may never be exercised to the detriment of the common good'."
Much disquiet
These words resounded through the Church in the heady days of the 1970s, and caused much disquiet, as they might still do now.
As Jamaica sought to find her way as a unique nation in the world, the Catholic Church sought to become incarnate in Jamaica, to become authentically Jamaican while remaining authentically Roman Catholic. The Church herself appreciated the need to decolonise itself. The document also stated: "The missionaries sometimes intermingled the thought patterns and behaviour patterns of their native land with the authentic message of Christ." Our task then became to distinguish between the "authentic message of Christ" and the cultural trappings and wrappings often unconsciously brought along by foreign missionaries.
You can imagine how these and many other ideas influenced many young Jamaican Catholic minds in the 1960s, promoting profound introspection, and setting up the social and cultural programmes so characteristic of the Roman Catholic Church in recent decades.
To mark the 40th anniversary of this landmark encyclical, last week Pope Benedict XVI issued a new treatise - 'On Integral Human Development in Charity and Truth' - the current state-of-the-art social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, which I will begin to tell you about next week.
Peter Espeut is a development sociologist and a Roman Catholic Deacon.