3. POSING THE PROBLEM

Except for notable exceptions, in general there is not a great deal of official activity of the Church for Catholics and other persons of good will working in the sectors indicated. Perhaps this is because the Church recognises the autonomy of these temporal spheres but perhaps also becasue it has not found the way to be present, other than with its teaching.

In these times the Church finds its official opportunities very limited in these fields. And its teaching, though very valid, reaches very few. Its documents remain unread and not brought to the life of society. At times it gives the impression that it is satisfied with having proclaimed the doctrine, leaving it to others to seek the ways to apply that doctrine in the specific situation. Therefore we have formulated a first appreciation of the problem in this way: The official Church expects that the Catholics engaged in the various social spheres should apply the moral principles and criteria of the Church but it does not feel obliged to help them to carry out their role in society in accordance with the Gospel.