Social Weeks

SOCIAL WEEKS. - A characteristic type of conference for the study and diffusion of social Catholicism, first realized in 1903 in France, through the merit of Eugène Duthoit and the initiative of Marius Gonin and Adéodat Boissard, serving excellently to bring together and fuse the various, and often discordant, social tendencies of French Catholics (Christian democrats, social Catholics, Christian socialists, etc.). The declared purpose was in fact to substitute a unified teaching inspired by the Gospel, by Catholic doctrine and by the Leonine encyclicals, for the various currents of Christian social thought.

The technique of the Social Weeks consisted in an annual cycle of conferences and lectures, lasting seven days, held by eminent personalities of social Catholicism, mostly professors of universities, public schools, private institutes and seminaries, with the intent of developing in its various aspects and from different points of view a given social topic. The seat of the Social Weeks was changed each time in order to visit all the French cities, rigorously preserving the character of a traveling higher chair. At the end of each conference or lecture, only objections and requests for clarification from the listeners were admitted, to which the lecturers would respond.

1. THE FRENCH SOCIAL WEEKS

The 1st Semaine had as its theme: La sociologie chrétienne (Lyons 1904); the 2nd: Travail et salariat (Orléans 1905); the 3rd: Famille, profession, cité (Dijon 1906); the 4th: L'économie chrétienne (Amiens 1907); the 5th: Justice et économie sociale (Marseille 1908); the 6th: La grève et le droit (Bordeaux 1909); the 7th: Le travail et la famille (Rouen 1910); the 8th: La personne humaine en régime économique (St-Etienne 1911); the 9th: La société familiale et la doctrine coth. (Limoges 1912); the 10th: L'idée de la responsabilité en sociologie (Versailles 1913). Because of the European war there was an interruption of six years and the Semaine resumed with the 11th: Famille, profession, cité (Metz 1919); the 12th: La crise de la probité publique (Toulouse 1920); the 13th: La crise de la production et la sociologie catholique (Caen 1921); the 14th: Le rôle économique de l'état (Strasbourg 1922); the 15th: Le problème de la population (Grenoble 1923); the 16th: Les problèmes agricoles et l'économie chrétienne (Rennes 1924); the 17th: La crise de l'autorité (Lyons 1925); the 18th: Le problème de la vie internationale (Le Havre 1926); the 19th: La femme dans la sociologie chrétienne (Nancy 1927); the 20th: La loi de la charité, principe de vie sociale (Paris 1928); the 21st: Nouvelles conditions de la vie industrielle (Besançon 1929); the 22nd: Le problème social aux colonies (Marseille 1930); the 23rd: La morale chrétienne et les affaires (Mulhouse 1931); the 24th: Le désordre international et la pensée chrétienne (Lille 1932); the 25th: La société politique et la pensée chrétienne (Reims 1933); the 26th: Ordre social et éducation (Nice 1934); the 27th: L'organisation corporative (Angers 1935); the 28th: Les conflits de civilisation (Versailles 1936); the 29th: La personne humaine en péril (Clermont Ferrand 1937); the 30th: La liberté et les libertés dans la vie sociale (Rouen 1938); the 31st: Le problème des classes (Bordeaux 1939).

Suspended once again for the second European war, they were resumed in 1948 at Lyons with the theme Peuples d'outre-mer et civilisation occidentale. There followed the weeks of Lille on Réalisme économique et progrès social (1949): of Nantes on Le monde rural dans l'économie moderne (1950): of Montpellier on Santé et société (1951): of Dijon on Richesse et misère (1952).

II. THE ITALIAN SOCIAL WEEKS

Soon and happily imitated in almost all the Christian nations of Europe and America, the s. s. followed in Italy upon the reorganization of Catholic Action, set in motion by Bl. Pius X with the encyclical Il fermo proposito (1906) on the initiative of the Unione popolare (v.), which had precisely the task of providing for the works of propaganda and culture.

Unlike the French Semaines, however, the Italian ones (called at first Congressi di studi sociali) had the character of Relazioni on various themes, oriented toward a central idea: there followed free discussions, often very lively, after which the speaker summarized, replied and concluded. As a final result there were solemn declarations (ordini del giorno, voti, mozioni, etc.), in which the opinions prevailing among the weeklies on the various subjects discussed were condensed and ordered. Subsequently the s. s. gradually drew closer to the French type, after the reform of Catholic Action willed by Pius XI.

Begun in Italy in 1907, eighteen were held up to 1935: the first ten organized by the Unione popolare, and the others by the Giunta centrale dell'Azione Cattolica. This was the golden age of social Catholicism, in which there shone the intellects and beat the hearts of masters such as Giuseppe Toniolo, Vico Necchi, Filippo Crispolti, Angelo Mauri, Nicolò Rezzara, Giuseppe Dalla Torre, Mario Chiri, Msgr. Pottier, Msgr. F. Olgiati, Fr. Gemelli, Fr. Cordovani, Fr. Brucculeri, Fr. Oddone, and many others. The 1st s. s. in Italy, held at Pistoia (1907), was presided over by Card. Maffi and ranged over various subjects: cooperation, labor leagues, professional organization, emigration, social legislation, etc.; the 2nd followed at Brescia (1908) and, presided over by Giorgio Montini and Rezzara, treated the historical genesis of agrarian contracts, workers' housing, the social action of the clergy, freedom of teaching and the technical problems of the school, the Catholic woman and her tasks; the 3rd took place at Palermo (1909), presided over by Antonio Boggiano, on the Sicilian problems, occupational diseases, religion among the people, State and Church, Society and State; the 4th (1910) at Florence, presided over by Gennaro De Simone, likewise with various themes, from the mezzadria contract to women's home work, and from the problem of morality in Italy to school mutual aid and the popular press.

The unity of theme then became more pronounced starting from the 5th, presided over by Luigi Caisotti di Chiusano (Naples 1911): La famiglia e la questione operaia; this was followed by the 6th at Assisi, president Boggiano, on L'organizzazione professionale; the 7th at Venice, pres. Filippo Sassoli, on the Problema della scuola; the 8th at Milan, pres. Paolo Pericoli, in 1913, on Le libertà civili dei cattolici, in celebration of the Constantinian 14th centenary. The 9th and 10th passed almost unnoticed because of the First World War.

After a period of suspension, the s. s. were resumed, president Minoretti, with the 11th at Turin in 1924: on the theme Autorità sociale. There followed: the 12th at Naples (1925) on Problemi sociali, economici e scolastici; the 13th at Genoa (1926), pres. Minoretti, on the Famiglia cristiana; the 14th at Florence (1927), pres. G. Dalla Torre, on L'educazione; the 15th at Milan, pres. G. Dalla Torre (1928) on L'unità della Chiesa; the 16th at Rome (1929), pres. G. Dalla Torre, to illustrate L'opera di Pio X; the 17th s. s. resumed at Rome, pres. Adriano Bernareggi, in 1933, on the subject La carità; then followed the 18th at Padua (1934) with the theme: La professione; but the one announced for 1935 on: Il valore etico del lavoro had to be suspended once again because of the Ethiopian war. After an interruption of a decade, due to political causes and then to the Second World War, the weeks resumed with the 19th at Florence, in 1945, pres. A. Bernareggi, with the theme Costituzione e Costituente (1945); the 20th at Venice, under the presidency of the same A. Bernareggi, with the theme Il lavoro (1946); the 21st at Naples, pres. Antonio Lanza, with the theme I problemi della vita rurale (1947); the 22nd at Milan, pres. A. Bernareggi, on the theme: La comunità internazionale (1948); the 23rd at Bologna, pres. A. Bernareggi, on the theme Sicurezza sociale (1949); the 24th at Genoa, on the theme L'organizzazione professionale (1951), pres. A. Siri; the 25th at Turin, pres. Msgr. Giuseppe Siri, on the theme: L'impresa nell'economia contemporanea (1952).

There are very numerous reduced editions of the s. s.: provincial, regional, or even diocesan (the prevailing type being the so-called "tre giorni"), which bring together with notable profit scholars, leaders and militants of Catholic Action, very young people, and even the indifferent. From the now long experience a Catholic social culture has been born that is fairly unified and continually brought up to date which, although still affected by a doctrinarianism that is, moreover, conscious and accepted, is permeating in depth the active strata and the inert mass of Christian society. The results could be even better when the s. s. succeed in setting themselves aims and attitudes of more evident concreteness, striking out along original paths, and calling to teach, alongside the chosen names of the organizational, university, political and trade-union life of Catholics, also the experts of economic, entrepreneurial and labor reality. Full and fruitful success cannot but follow, as always, the happy integration of academic culture with applied science and living experience.

The declared present purpose of the s. s. is not to act directly upon institutions, but upon the interiority of minds in order to delineate objectives there, to arouse or consolidate convictions, to give rise to resolutions regarding the social problems of greatest current relevance and widest scope. At present the s. s. in Italy are arranged by a special permanent Committee in Rome, presided over by Card. Giuseppe Siri, archbishop of Genoa, and of which Msgr. Pietro Pavan is secretary.

III. THE SOCIAL WEEKS ABROAD

Abroad the initiative developed and still develops with great success and resonance in the cultural world, especially in Belgium and Canada, where however the s. s. do not follow precise initiatives, rules and periodicity as in France and in Italy.

Mario Baronci