Catholic Roundtable Discussion
“Catholicism, Economics and Social Justice”

prepared and presented by Joshua Grant
for Roundtable Discussion on Nov. 9th, 2005

Overview:

Here, my main concern is the view of the Catholic church as well as popular catholic opinions on issues of social justice and economic issues. I’d like to see this from both formal, theological perspectives and more simple mainstream Catholic perspectives. For example, it was pointed out that the Vatican is responsible for 25% of all aid to African nations in battling HIV/AIDS. Why is this, and what are the motives behind it? When Jesus said, “If a man asks for your shirt, give him your cloak as well”, how does this translate to modern living for Catholics, or any Christians for that matter?

How generous is generous, and where does enterprise fit into all this. The underlying factor behind most business these days is the “bottom line”: increased revenues and profits. Although there are many businesses that are perfectly ethical, some are clearly not, but are still successful and prominent. What are the Christian/Catholic views on this dilemma?

Sources:

• Catholic Catechism
• Holy Bible
• “From Corporate Greed to Common Good”, MacAdam   

Conclusions/Rough Ideas:

• As Catholics, we are called to live in the spirit of Christ through our faith, professing it in various ways, such as the sacraments, prayer, and Eucharist. A central part of the Christian faith is the Beatitudes that Jesus himself said.
• A basic teaching of Jesus was “Do unto other as you yourself would do for yourself”. This teaching is also a very basic economic philosophy: when determining what is fair in a free marketplace, consider treating everyone equally first.
• However, this is not always the philosophy in place. For example, due to lower wages overseas, offshoring has caused factory conditions in some developing economies to be less than acceptable. Such conditions would not be tolerated in developed countries. Another example is the complex trade regulations that persist in some areas, such as NAFTA. Under one set of laws a company can be seen as unethical, while under another set the company is within the law. Or even union/management disputes in the US and elsewhere.
• With this in mind, what is a Catholic perspective on all this? How do these perspectives fit into the world of commerce and social justice?
• According to the Catechism, a human “pursues his perfection in seeking and loving what is true and good” (1711) as well as being “obliged to follow the moral law, which urges him to do what is good and avoid what is evil” through conscience (1713).
• As well as this, the Beatitudes give guidance to finding the Kingdom of Heaven. Some of them are:
• Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
• Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God

• These beatitudes give some instruction on daily living, as well as a business philosophy. (At least I think so)
• Here, by being poor in spirit, meaning to not live lavish lifestyles or to have the spirit of minimalists, you can find Heaven. This is a holy reward for such a spirit, and so it is good to do. In fact, by Catechism 1718, “The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire to for happiness…we all want to live happily, even before it is fully articulated.”
• So we want to be happy, and the Beatitudes reflect that. Indeed, they even go as far as to say that man is a rational being, with free will much like God (1730), but what about business and profits? According to modern social science, humans attempt to maximise utility (happiness) through self-interested rational thought. This brings the problem of whether it is ethical to increase our happiness at the expense of another person’s (the question of fairness). 

Wealth:

• Catechism 1723: “The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement – however beneficial it may be – such as science, technology and art, or indeed any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and evil.” => Yep, that’s a source of discussion right there.
• Enter wealth: what does it mean to have wealth and to be wealthy? By our everyday definition, wealth is cash, assets, anything worth a monetary value. By the catechism above, wealth is none of these things. It is more of how much connection we have spiritually to God. Does this mean our views are incompatible? What’s wrong with the picture?
• Material things can bring some goodness to our lives, as long as they do not become the source of happiness. In the capitalist economy, a productive class produces these things. In Adam Smith’s view, “it is not the benevolence of the butcher, the baker or the brewer that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for their own interest.”
• This makes for a good capitalist economy. After all, specialization is good economic practice. But what does this mean morally?