Enrique Shaw, Christian humanism made life

Abstract

The life of Enrique Ernesto Shaw (1921-1962) was crossed by the most significant destinies in Argentine and world history of the 20th century. This study will try to present Shaw's action as a passionate protagonist of a personal and collective itinerary that is undoubtedly part of the destiny of Argentina, since Enrique Shaw from his family environment and his social networks (as part of a business elite) was called to influence the national future. And although the cradle does not mark the possible horizon in a man's life, Shaw knew he was responsible from a young age for a vocation, for a “must be” which he never denied. We will divide this presentation into three parts: in the first section entitled The world and Argentina traveled by Enrique Shaw, we will explain those situations in the world and Argentine context that marked Shaw's life and business management, since the coup d'état of 1930, the irruption of Peronism and the challenges of developmentalism In the second section, The business history furrowed by the management of Enrique Shaw will be pondered – in light of academic studies on the history of companies and entrepreneurs in Argentina – Shaw's imprint as an entrepreneur, especially from his position as Managing Director of Rigolleau glassworks. In a third moment, the Catholic Church and the actions of Catholics will be analyzed, marked by the complexity around defining "the Catholic", in a context where the Social-Christian tradition born from the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum, the disputes arising from the identification of the so-called "Catholic nation", the distrust of certain liberal positions and mass democracy and the "new signs of the times" at the dawn of the Vatican Council II.