| The term: ORDO SOCIALIS | "ORDO SOCIALIS (Latin for: social
order) is a leading concept for Christian Social Teaching. Under this title a number of important publications by academics and practitioners have been published. They investigate the basic rules of social life concerning man, family, associations, enterprises, the state and the international community. Thereby, ORDO SOCIALIS is clearly positioned in relation to other social teachings, specially the Marxism. Much is deduced from the Natural Right and from centuries of experience and thinking, primarily of the Christian western world. Important works can be downloaded under www.ordosocialis.de/authors for example by Joseph Cardinal Höffner (Professor und Bishop) and P.H. Werhahn (entrepreneur)." Translation from Wikipedia: http://www.dewiki.net/ordosocialis.html: The team of Ordo Socialis, 2007 The term ORDO SOCIALIS goes back to Carl Sonnenschein, the socially engaged priest from Berlin in the thirties of the last century. After his death the BKU purchased the title in the eighties of the last century and had it registered as brand name. Thus ORDO SOCIALIS is an academic subsidiary of the BKU (Bund Katholischer Unternehmer - Association of Catholic Entrepreneurs). The initiative for founding the association was taken at the international congress held in Rome in 1985 dealing with the subject "Church and Economy in Responsibility for the Future of World Economy" (see our publication with the same title under http://www.ordosocialis.de/authors.htm). 400 entrepreneurs and representatives of the Church from all over the world attended this congress. The name of the speakers included besides of those of the cardinals Ratzinger, Casaroli and Pope John Paul II also that of the archbishop of Cologne, Joseph Cardinal Höffner, at the time chairman of the German Episcopal Conference and for many years consultant to the BKU (1949-1962). "The Global Economy in the Light of the Catholic Social Teaching" was the subject of his address. Especially the addresses of Cardinal Höffner and Cardinal Ratzinger on the contribution of the Catholic Social Teaching to the structuring of the Social Market Economy in Germany generated a continuous discussion on fundamental questions of business ethics also in the German public. Today the discussion is focussed on the contribution of the Catholic Social Teaching to the structuring of globalization and the worldwide common wealth. Initially the developing countries were the concern of ORDO SOCIALIS with publications in English, Spanish and French. They focussed on groups such as politicians, journalists, teachers and professors, priests and entrepreneurs/managers. The propagation of these publications was also realized in cooperation of partner associations of the BKU within the framework of UNIAPAC ,the International Association of Christian Entrepreneurs in Brussels and in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation. After the collapse of communism in 1989, a new area of highest urgency was open. Since then the OS-publications have been circulated in nearly all languages of Middle and Eastern Europe and partially also been printed there (see experience reports under: Events/News, Experience Reports with OS-Writings).
The main publication of the Catholic Social Teaching in
German language, the "Christian Social Teaching" by Joseph Cardinal Höffner (first published in 1963)
has been newly edited in 2002 by Prof. Dr. Lothar Roos in a revised and extended version. Meanwhile it has
been translated in 10 languages. The publications of OS are intended to give impulses for judging and forming in the countries concerned the socio-political developments in the light of the experience of the Catholic Social Teaching. Up to the end of 2007 the publications were exclusively printed as booklets/paperbacks in the different countries. In the meantime the texts are globally offered on our Website. This is intended as a deliberate contribution to globalization. The headquarters of ORDO SOCIALIS e. V. are in Cologne We make out receipts for donation and membership fees ORDO SOCIALIS: www.ordosocialis.de
Cologne, January 2010 / Contact: gf@ordosocialis.de / pdf |