An Astounding Validation of Catholic Teachings
"Greed says: 'I snatch all things to myself. I hug all things to my breast; the more I have gathered the more I have … When I have whatever I need, I have no worries about needing anything from someone else.' Simple sufficiency replies: 'You are harsh and devoid of mercy because you do not care for the advancement of others. Nothing is sufficient to satisfy you. I, however, sit above the stars, for all of God's good things are sufficient for me … Why should I desire more than I need?'" - Hildegard of Bingen.
The financial meltdown of the past weeks is an astounding validation of the truth of Catholic teachings regarding the seventh commandment. Arthur Jones in a recent NCR article has well-characterized the practices that led to the current crisis, "Americans mindlessly emptied their vast natural resource chest, and then lived off accumulated fat, not income (and that’s not capitalism). Trade went into the red as imports exceeded exports (though U.S. arms sales accelerated). Incredibly, Americans began borrowing while increasing their consumption of goods they no longer produced and couldn’t – and can’t -- afford to pay for." Arthur Jones, "America the Perplexed: The Economic Reality Show", NCR, Sept. 19, 2008.
Though I’m as worried about my 401K as anyone, I wanted to understand the moral breakdown that I felt sure was hidden behind this economic crisis, so I turned to St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Thomas demonstrates that the goal of a society should be to create a field of virtue in which its members can pursue their salvation in solidarity. Well-being arises from two factors according to St. Thomas: "For the well-being of the individual two things are necessary: the first and most essential is to act virtuously (it is through virtue, in fact, that we live a good life); the other, and secondary, requirement is rather a means, and lies in a sufficiency of material goods, such as are necessary to virtuous action." St. Thomas Aquinas, De Regimine Principum, chap. XV. From this we see that the goal of economics is to provide sufficient material goods to form the basis for the life of virtue. Rather than making security or survival or the constant expansion of material goods the goal of economic policy, Christian economics must be centered in promoting the exercise of those virtues which lead to salvation.
What did the Fathers of the Church say about how the goods of the earth were to be distributed? St. Ambrose, mentor to St. Augustine, said, "God has ordered all things to be produced so that there should be food in common for all, and that the earth should be the common possession of all. Nature, therefore, has produced a common right for all, but greed has made it a right for few." St. Ambrose, Duties of the Clergy, 1. 132. To reassure myself that this was not an outmoded teaching, I turned to the most recent edition of the Catechism, where I found the following: "In the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind to take care of them, master them by labor, and enjoy their fruits ... The right to private property, acquired or received in a just way, does not do away with the original gift of the earth to the whole of mankind. The universal destination of goods remains primordial, even if the promotion of the common good requires respect for the right to private property and its exercise." Catechism 2402, 2403.
The Fathers were quite explicit about what the universal destination of goods implied for economic practice. St. Basil said, "Though you have not killed, like you say, nor committed adultery, nor stolen, nor borne false witness, you make all of this useless unless you add the only thing which can allow you to enter the kingdom ... whoever loves his neighbor owns no more than his neighbor does. But you have a great fortune. How can this be, unless you have put your own interests before those others." - St. Basil, Homilia VII. Notice that the emphasis is on production for sharing rather than survival and security. Of course, these are very important values, but the teaching implies that if we produce in order to share, then survival, security and many other such goods will be ours in abundance.
The current measures by the U.S. government are obviously the result of desperation, the desperation that always afflicts those who violate the moral law. "The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion." - Proverbs 28:1. The Catechism tells us: "The following are also morally illicit: speculation in which one contrives to manipulate the price of goods artificially in order to gain an advantage to the detriment of others; corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make decisions according to law; appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of an enterprise; work poorly done; tax evasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessive expenses and waste." Catechism 2409. Though all of these apply to the current culprits of uninhibited neoliberal practice, the most pertinent one for the most massive transfer of wealth in U.S. history is "appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of an enterprise", the "enterprise" in this case being the United States of America. AIG, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, and those yet to come, have all pleaded to those in charge of the public treasury to absolve them of the consequences of their greed. And corrupt officials have gladly agreed.
What is blatantly obvious, though few in the Church seem willing to state it openly, is that the current economic system, far from creating the conditions for virtuous action, promotes and rewards precisely those economic vices that the Church explicitly condemns. In fact, we have been systematically blinded to the consequences of neoliberal economic practice by a system of corporate propaganda that has rarely been challenged from American pulpits. Instead, the Church has been glad to share in the bounty of these practices as long as they were successful. Now that it is too late, so let the denunciations begin.
If you would like to further pursue an understanding of Christian economic principles, please take a look at the Nonviolent Jesus at http://nonviolentjesus.blogspot.com
What is amazing to me is the
What is amazing to me is the paucity of impact those teachings have had on the specific (Catholic) and general (all Christian and others) behaviors. I tend to associate 'teaching' with pedagogy, i.e., the real transfer of knowledge, the inculcation of learning. Under this perspective, church teaching can be more accurately defined as rhetoric (given credence to the thread).
The economic miracle that we concieve as 'America' and emulated by the world, is based upon conspicuous consumption, greed and power elites. Most, not just these power elites, have bought into it.
I would suggest that Dr.Martin Luther King's impact can be significantly attributed to the fact that he not only talked but he walked.
Dennis! Once again, I'm late
Dennis!
Once again, I'm late on this one too. I've found that there is an attitude, having been about for as long as I can, now, remember, that says, "Don't take it personally! It's just business!" It's got my name on it! It affects ME! I always feel like I have been used! But "It's just business!" So what does that mean?
Am I paranoid, dense, confused, old,(oh yeah I am old, I remember now!) or just not too sophisticated?
God loves us all! And I take that very personally!
James Edward
James~ ...or maybe
James~ ...or maybe apethetic, like most of us. We all know that we are being used; just look at the Thursday newspaper, wadded with several trees worth of 'junk' mail- ads, promos, sales,and other 'can't do withouts'. If it didn't work they wouldn't do it. We are bombarded by the media, charities, not-so-much charities, church for donations to this and that that many of us toss. But if it didn't work they wouldn't do it. The media analyzes results and reports 'win' or 'lost'. The truth more often than not is that they all won, except us because we and/or government fed them all oodles of money, one just made a bit more than the other.
"It's just business", you are right, that justifies waste, trash the other guy, robbery, dirty dealing and then they all meet at the Shriners, KofC, CofC or whatever as best of friends. Look at your election, trashing, innuendo, outright slander and afterwards: "Ah, it's only politics". If he was an ultra-left-wing-communist/socialist-buddy-of-terrorists on November 3, how can we all rally behind him on November 5.
...and we haven't even mentioned the hierarchy! Bless you.
Dennis! It would seem
Dennis!
It would seem that our apathy is based in our comfort! What ever happens we feel, of course, "It's only business/politics!" And to perpetuate that apathy we are given a very minute part of the pie. Somtimes that part is relatively abstract, but our conditioning provokes a lot of "expectant hypnosis." We see that which we expect to see and not that which really exists! The ominous "they" can beat Charlie Whiffendoppler down the street, til he can't move, but as long as me and mine are only hit once! "It works for me!" And I feel like I got my "piece" of pie! Combine "It works for me!" with "It's only business!" and you get " A total lack of integrety.
As a dance instructor, I am known to be very "Anal about "Basics!" I see a definite corolary here. Is it my
paranoia or my myopia that sees it as so?
I really see it less as apathy, as I see conditioning. "nothing in politics and big money, which obviously are synonomous, EVER JUST HAPPENS!" We are conditioned to believe that both are existant for the common good. Those who don't do too well are prob'ly just "intrinsically flawed!"
Apathy engendered by frank hoplessness!
God loves us all, Dennis! Especially you!
James Edward
James~ Just for the sake of
James~ Just for the sake of conversation, "conditioning" would apply to Skinnerian rats and such who have not much choice in their learning. Humans who succumb to "conditioning" ultimately do have a choice, that's why I chose "apathy". Be well.
Boyd R. Collins, Pax Christi
Boyd R. Collins, Pax Christi member
Thanks for the comment, Dennis. You have hit on a point that never ceases to amaze me. In the entire debate about the Wall Street bailout, I haven't seen one reference to Catholic teachings or Christian values. No one seems to be able to treat economic decisions as moral decisions which can be judged according to the social teachings of the Church. Yet the Catechism has many passages, especially in the section on the 7th commandment, which are directly relevant to the current crisis. Yet I have heard no sermons or articles in religious magazines which confront this issue. What could be the explanation?
Boyd, you forgot to ask one
Boyd, you forgot to ask one pointed question:
How many of those who are responsible for this fiasco are catholics?
Our bishopic is so quick to condemn over the abortion issue, where were they when the violations of basic catholic principles were occuring? Why were they so silent then? What if even one had chosen to speak out?
We all know, it only takes one voice to change the world. Where was the voice of our leadership when it REALLY could have made a difference?
So whose idea is it that
So whose idea is it that there should be no real consequences for those who brought about this crisis? I would like to see individuals who perpetrated the mess, through greed and lies, to personally pay. I’m not asking that they be put out on the street, but at least they shouldn’t be allowed to retire with millions of dollars. I would like to see each of them be put in contact with some of the people whose lives have been so negatively affected, and have them make restitution on a personal level. This would include not just those who took on debt they had no hope of paying back (I’m somewhat ambivalent about that – how culpable are they for believing the lies?), but also those whose businesses are suffering in the fallout.
Boyd R. Collins, Pax Christi
Boyd R. Collins, Pax Christi member
In the spirit of my posting, I would like to say that I wish no evil on those who perpetrated this mess. What I would like to see is first of all, the application of Catholic social teachings to the solution of the crisis. In other words, our tradition is very rich in correct principles that could be applied to this situation, starting with the 7th commandment. Why are there so few references to Catholic teachings in the discussions about this crisis, even in the Catholic press?
Boyd R. Collins, Pax Christi
Boyd R. Collins, Pax Christi member
I was quite moved by your comments because they reflect the change of heart I hear from so many these days. As a Catholic, I believe that the economy should pave the road to glory by allowing us to share the goods of the earth with each other, and thus build the bonds that make us human. Our first instinct should not be to defend the rights of property, but to defend the rights of humanity to a decent life, a world where human beings come first and profits second, third or fourth.
Like many, I can say,
"I once put faith in false gods,
the idols of the land.
Now I make no offering to them,
nor invoke their names.
Those who chase after them
add grief upon grief."
-Psalm 16
Why have we forgotten the words of the popes, one of whom who said, "The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of the workers over the maximization of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion; production to meet social needs over production for military purposes." - Holy Father John Paul II
Thanks for your post. This
Thanks for your post. This moral breakdown and desperate need for the public to bail out corporations is not really a "transfer of wealth." It is the transfer of debt to the public via the Federal Reserve that got us into this mess in the first place. Apparently they really do think we have endless pockets filled with money. The government is supposed to represent "the people." Since when should we bail out corporations who failed?
These are also the same people who didn't want welfare for the poor and made them work at low wages for their measly checks. The same people of greed who wanted to privatize social security and put the money in the stock market. The same people who threaten with ending the social security program, despite our years of contributions into it, but no second thoughts of reengineering our economy for corporate interest only. These are the same people who greedily don't want to increase the minimum wage, or care about rising health care costs, but now want us to bail them out. These are the same people who if you can't pay your mortgage will have a sheriff come to your house to throw you out of it. If you can't pay the insurance premium do you think they'll extend your policy until you can get back on your feet financially? They are the same people who changed the bankruptcy laws for individuals.
I have been thinking about this economic meltdown all day, reading your post, listening to the news reports last night and was considering backing a bailout reluctantly at first. I thought, well, what can we do? And, Obama was backing a bail out. And they, Bernanke, have given us such an ultimatum that this must be done immediately or else we’ll experience disaster. He created the disaster. Then my son and I were talking at dinner and he showed me Ron Paul's website and he explains how bailing these companies out will get us deeper into debt, will cause more inflation and a longer time to recover and will be an even bigger disaster with more bailouts to follow. And why should we count on Bernanke of the Federal Reserve Board, who was responsible for manipulating the real estate market to get us out of a recession, and who lowered the interest rates that caused the real estate bubble, housing prices increased to where they are no longer affordable? That was the Federal Reserve, Bernanke's doing with the approval of GW Bush.
Please read the link to see and hear another side to this that is probably the better course to take: http://www.ronpaul.com/
If there is any bail out it should be for families that got caught in the middle of this. There could be a renegotiation of their mortgage to a 30 year fixed and relief for those who lost their Retirement funds. But, in my view, there should be no bail out of private corporations. With no bail out we would see the housing market level off to their true value and it will be more affordable for people to buy. The prices got too inflated too fast thanks to the Federal Reserve. Losses could be deducted from taxes.
I have stated in other posts that a system that favors corporations and a free market with no regulation or oversight is irresponsible and greedy. It is a form of capitalism with no restrictions, oversight or regulation. This group of people is called "free traders" that don't want any regulation or restrictions on their greedy appetite for wealth at all. They have insisted it is sound policy, but we now see no regulation is not sound policy.
Send an email to your elected representatives and tell them NO BAILOUT.
Boyd R. Collins, Pax Christi
Boyd R. Collins, Pax Christi member
Thanks much for your comment, butterfly. Of course, I fully endorse your call for NO BAILOUT, but I think there is a lot in the Catholic Catechism that we can draw on to make this call. As I indicate in an upcoming article, the basic crime is an unwillingness to respect the common good, to share the fruits of increased productivity with those who actually realized the increase - the workers. If this sharing had taken place, then the workers would not have had to go into debt to sustain their lifestyle and the housing bubble probably would not have taken place.
We must begin by acknowledging God as the owner of the earth and its goods. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, “God has sovereign dominion over all things: and He, according to His providence, directed certain things to the sustenance of man's body. For this reason man has a natural dominion over things, as regards the power to make use of them.� - Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIa, IIae, q. 66. We are not the owners, but the stewards of creation. We owe our being to God, yet this is not disempowering. Property can never actually be private because it is bounty of the earth in which all share. This definition of private property is far different than the one that currently reigns in the U.S. According to this definition, man has the power of use, but God is the ultimate owner. As with the Fathers of the Church, St. Thomas chides the wealthy for acquiescing in the illusion of absolute ownership, which is the source of false freedom, “The rich man is reproved for deeming external things to belong to him principally, as though he had not received them from another, namely from God.� - Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIa, IIae, q. 66. Everything that we “own� is a loan from God meant to help bring about the Kingdom of God on earth.
Ah, but the Church has
Ah, but the Church has something to say about the financial crisis, too. An article appeared recently in "L'Osservatore Romano", Vatican's official newspaper. It was written by Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, an Italian economist and professor of financial ethics at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy. This is an excerpt of Tedeschi's article:
"The U.S. financial meltdown has been blamed on 'the greed of managers and lack of regulations'. But curiously, no one ever refers to the indirect responsibility of the government's economic polity which tried to cover the lack of any real economic development with a booming Wall Street."
Tedeschi states the the U.S. government's proposed bailout may stave off any worst-case scnario for its troubled financial markets, but it will not repair the root causes of the crisis.
"Despite various attempts, the Western world does not know how to map aout a model of development that is capable of guaranteeing stable wealth," the article states.
The West has "not succeeded with its new economy project. It did not succeed with accelerating growth in Asia by transferrring low-cost production (there), and it did not succeed after inventing a boom in the GNP through risky financial models that were poorly conceived and badly regulated," the article said.
"In order to maintain the sham GNP, the banks financed things that were not guaranteed" and that should not have been financed, like the subprime loans. Financial institutions created an "economic growth out of debt and, therefore, (created something) very risky," it added.
The article pointly stated that the lesson to be learned is that nations cannot build a healthy economy or experience real development if it is not based on "balanced demographic growth." Finally the article stated that world economy also needs to be run responsibly and transparently with precise rules.
----------------------------------------------------
It is true that church leaders don't often, if ever, state anything about any financial crisis. But Dr. Tedeschi offers positive correctives that are worth close examination.
Boyd R. Collins, Pax Christi
Boyd R. Collins, Pax Christi member
Tedeschi has his eye on the target, which is the root cause of the crisis, though he does not reveal this to us. The Catholic Catechism tells us: "The following are also morally illicit: speculation in which one contrives to manipulate the price of goods artificially in order to gain an advantage to the detriment of others; corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make decisions according to law; appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of an enterprise; work poorly done; tax evasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessive expenses and waste." - Catechism 2409. Though all of these apply to the current culprits of uninhibited neoliberal practice, the most pertinent one for the most massive transfer of wealth in U.S. history is "appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of an enterprise", the "enterprise" in this case being the United States of America. AIG, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, and those yet to come, have all pleaded to those in charge of the public treasury to absolve them of the consequences of their greed. And corrupt officials have gladly agreed.
Again I will say, it is not
Again I will say, it is not a "transfer of wealth." It is a transfer of debt from corporations to the backs of the American people.
Why do you call it neo-liberal?
Thank you! You and others
Thank you!
You and others constantly amaze me by illuminating my ignorance.
Considering your current "lesson(for me!), perhaps you will indulge me a disagreement.
"the Church has been glad to share in the bounty of these practices as long as they were successful."
I would question the term successful and insert profitable. I aslo question your portrayal of the church as sitting on the sidelines "coaching."I have more grown to see the church as a "player" albeit not majorly so. Nevertheless I see a typical corporate structure and response to things catholic and non!
I agree with Thomas, put it in a book!
God bless you and yours!
Ed
Yes, brcoll! Thank you for
Yes, brcoll! Thank you for naming capitalism as the evil thing it is.
The Rev. Dr. E. McCoy
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you... (Jn13:34)
So very true. Thank you for
So very true. Thank you for this post! I appreciate your strength and clarity, and the content is True.
I am sad to agree with you also that the Church has failed to proclaim the social implications of our Faith with the depth and clarity that you so forcefully proclaim. Please consider writing a book!
Thomas
The election of Caligula was
The election of Caligula was the first time that the good of the Empire was placed second to the desires of a few in the Senate. The last election may have been the beginning of the end for the US. We are now a nation of traders-traders of goods and services,money and slave labor. Real wealth is created by the sweat of one's own brow or maybe the sweat of the slave state's brow.We are at the mercy of those slaves. Without them we can not wake up in the morning,They can lock us out of oil, they can poison us and our children, and we have not the right conscience to stand up for ourselves. They can call our notes any day and we are at their beck and call. China did not do this to us . We did it under the banner of greed.