Can your soul survive capitalism?

LOS ANGELES, CA (The Tidings) - Is it immoral to purchase a lottery ticket? It certainly could be.

An honest examination of underlying intentions and attitudes is in order here. If one had even the unconscious but nevertheless real hope that "winning the lottery would solve all my problems," he or she might well be on the verge of a form of idolatry. Why?

Because money can never be the means of salvation every Christian disciple should carry in their heart and live their life with a sure hope in Christ. Every Christian lives with the knowledge that Jesus already bought salvation for all people by his death on the Cross. The death of Jesus has redeemed us from our sins and his resurrection gives us knowledge of our future destiny. Winning the lottery can't provide any spiritual grace at all.

Unfortunately, under the stress of survival in the daily grind of life, with many responsibilities (not the least of which are economic), it's very easy, even for Christians struggling to be authentic in their faith, to look to increased income as the ultimate solution to life's problems and challenges. Nevertheless, every Christian, through their baptism, has already been privileged to be graced with an existence that is beyond what worldly goods can provide and has brought a redemption from sin that no amount of money could have purchased.

Jesus (in Luke 16: 13) warns us directly about the dangers inherent in the unbridled pursuit of money: "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or be attentive to the one and despise the other. You cannot give yourself to God and money."

Indirectly, he tells us (in Matthew's Gospel) about how wealth was an obstacle in the path to righteousness of the young man who asked what he must do to possess everlasting life:

"'If you wish to enter into life,' Jesus answered, 'keep the commandments.' The young man responded, 'I have kept all these; what do I need to do further?' Jesus told him, 'If you seek perfection, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor. You will then have treasure in heaven. Afterward, come back and follow me.' Hearing these words, the young man went away sad, for his possessions were many" (Mt 19:16-22).

Economic issues and moral challenges

In 1891, Pope Leo XIII published a groundbreaking encyclical, Rerum Novarum. This began a string of 12 magisterial documents dealing with social justice that extended through a century and concluded with Pope John Paul II's Centesimus Annus in 1991. These encyclicals analyzed the moral implications of the Gospel in the social, political and economic aspects of Christians' lives.

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What is interesting to note is that the first, Rerum Novarum, was not primarily a critique of communism or socialism, although these ideologies are certainly critically addressed. However, when we remember that the Russian Revolution didn't happen until 1917, it's easy to recognize why the first of the Church's social encyclicals sets its critical sights directly on the excesses and evils of capitalism as practiced in countries that were economically benefiting from the industrial revolution.

Concerns about a living wage, labor unions, health, retirement and disability benefits, child labor and the impact of capitalist practices on the family were addressed in this early social encyclical. And unfortunately, too many of these same issues remain as problems and concerns today.

There is little doubt that many contemporary Christians continue to live, work and even thrive as disciples of Christ in challenging economic situations. Authentic disciples can be found throughout the economic spectrum. They are numbered among the majority who share the very bottom of the economic ladder throughout the world and among those of the small majority of economic elite who have found a way to manage great wealth while being authentically Christian.

However, one of the challenges to all Christians who live in a capitalist context is to place the "pursuit of wealth" in a framework that does not blind them to the meaning of their baptismal vocation. One has to ask if the unbridled and unnecessary pursuit of wealth has added a burden to those who recently speculated in the residential housing market or mortgage companies that provided loans to people with the sure foreknowledge that many of these folks did not have the means to repay those loans according to the terms that were offered.

A review of some of the basic Catholic moral principles that govern economic ethics might be valuable for all of us. After all, we cannot give ourselves to both God and money.

In December 2006 the New York Times reported that "income inequality has reached near record levels in many countries," and that "the distribution of the world's wealth has become even more narrowly concentrated."

Statistics quoted in the article indicate that the bottom 50% of the world's population share 1.1% of the world's wealth. At the same time, the worth of the typical person even in the top 50% was under $2,200.

According to the report, in 2000 the United States accounted for 4.7% of the world's population but 32.6% of the world's wealth. Nearly 4 out of 10 people in the wealthiest 1% of the global population were American.

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The moral analysis

Is it a sin to be rich? Of course not -- or at least, not in itself. The bigger question is how Christians are affected by their wealth and/or, more commonly, their pursuit of wealth. What does the Church teach us about the interpretation of Jesus' moral challenges to the rich so clearly found in Scripture?

We are God's creatures. We are not God! Our lives, our universe itself, are gifts from God. In the end we really don't own anything. Everything belongs to God and has been given to us for the common good of God's family and for our use.

Thomas Aquinas said that all theology could be summed up in only two words, exitus and reditus. In other words, everything comes from God and has only one destiny, to return to God:

"God destined the earth and all it contains for all peoples so that all created things would be shared fairly by all under the guidance of justice tempered by charity" (Gaudium et Spes, n. 69).

Property rights conditional

Private property can never be an absolute right; rather it is conditional. For the Christian there is no question for example that "the right to life supersedes the right to property." This is made very clear in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2408).

We are stewards of creation with a primary responsibility for all our sisters and brothers. In the book of Genesis we find God looking for Abel after he has been killed by his brother Cain. Cain asks God, "Am I my brother's keeper?" For Christians, there is only one response: "Absolutely."

Christians must be careful about the temptations to individualism and unfair competition that can be hidden in capitalism. The pursuit of wealth can overshadow any Christian's responsibility for the common good which lies at the foundation of Christ's moral vision. The words of Pope John Paul II, in his final social encyclical, Centesimus Annus, bring this truth home:

"The original source of all that is good is the very act of God, who created both the earth and us, and who gave the earth to us so that we might have dominion over it by our work and enjoy its fruits. God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favoring anyone. This is the foundation of the universal destination of the earth's goods. The earth, by reason of its fruitfulness and its capacity to satisfy human needs, is God's first gift for the sustenance of human life" (CA, n. 41).

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People over profits

People have priority over profit. Every economic system, and every employer, is called to recognize that the economy, indeed, society itself, is at the service of the person. The economy serves people as its ultimate purpose, not the other way around.

Under the ideology of communism, people are reduced to being objects. They are enslaved in a social and economic system which makes them cogs in the wheel of the state. Capitalism has to ensure itself that people are not reduced in another way, where profit takes precedence over all. Let's not forget the moral lessons that can be learned from the recent Enron meltdown or the even more tragic event in Bhopal, India, where Union Carbide's plant poisoned thousands of citizens.

In the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984, methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant in Bhopal, India. According to the state government of Madhya Pradesh, approximately 3,800 people died and several thousand other individuals experienced permanent or partial disabilities. In 1989 Union Carbide, in a partial settlement with the Indian government, agreed to pay out some $470 million in compensation, which provided $300-$500 per victim.

The Catechism challenges those responsible for business enterprises that "they are responsible to society for the economic and ecological effects of their operations. They have an obligation to consider the good of persons and not only the increase of profits" (CCC, 2432). The unbridled pursuit of profit can undermine any Christian vision, as Jesus himself has pointed out.

Economy, justice and the Church

Is it possible to reconcile the market economy with the Church's teaching on social justice?

This question was posed by Pope John Paul II in Centesimus Annus. He gave two responses:

"If by 'capitalism' is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative.

"But if by 'capitalism' is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it as the service of human freedom in its totality, and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative" (CA, n. 42).

These words can serve as a guide to the Christian path that aims for economic justice and also as a reasonable reminder to Christians who live and work in the market economy.

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(Vincentian Father Richard Benson is academic dean and professor of moral theology at St. John's Seminary, Camarillo.)

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This story was made available to Catholic Online by permission of The Tidings (www.the-tidings.com), official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.