ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter we considered some of the major obstacles facing the implementation of Catholic social justice in accordance with the teachings of Vatican II. In particular there were reasonable doubts concerning the progressive role of the new middle class as an agent of social activism and democratic politics. In this chapter, however, I would like to qualify this statement by examining those cases in which some of the Macau Catholics were working out novel forms of social and political participation. In contrast to the pessimistic and critical judgments of Catholic democrats like Patrick, these believers were far from materialistic and politically apathetic. But their pursuits of social justice and engagements in civic action did not revolve around institutional politics either. Their approaches should be more properly characterized as “pre-political,” in the sense that their quest for positive social change did not necessarily invoke formal political methods such as election campaigns and interest groups. While in some instances open confrontation with the government did occur, the participants by and large limited themselves to the domain of civil society.
