Mater Si, Magister Si! 'Charity in Truth' Calls for a Truly Human Economic Order

Giving and receiving as the way to build a truly just economic order.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - I finished my first reading of 'Caritas in Veritate' on Friday, July 9, 2009. It was a brilliantly sunny day. I was enjoying the fresh air outside of Finaghty's Irish Pub and Restaurant in Snowqualmie Ridge, Washington where I was surrounded by a breathtaking, panoramic view of the mountains. All I could think of was the gratuitous goodness of God. I was finishing a week away with my best friend, my wife of 33 years. We had traveled across the country to meet our 6th grandchild, little Sofia Elizabeth. I sat there realizing that everything in life is a pure gift!

After having read this letter again, along with comments on it both good and bad, I believe that this scholarly yet pastoral and prophetic encyclical letter can be summarized in one word, Gift! It proposes a way out of the current economic crisis by truly considering its source. That way calls us to rediscover that any fruitful reflection on the economic order must not begin with commodities but with human persons in relationship. The Professor occupying the Chair of Peter has offered to the world a framework for the building of an economy of gift and communion. If the ideas, insights and principles contained within this letter are seriously considered and used they could lead to tremendous advances in building a more just and hopeful economic order.

In the Pope's words: "Charity in truth places man before the astonishing experience of gift. Gratuitousness is present in our lives in many different forms, which often go unrecognized because of a purely consumerist and utilitarian view of life. The human being is made for gift, which expresses and makes present his transcendent dimension. Sometimes modern man is wrongly convinced that he is the sole author of himself, his life and society. This is a presumption that follows from being selfishly closed in upon himself, and it is a consequence - to express it in faith terms - of original sin.'" (#34)

That understanding of the root of the problem is a critical polestar for navigating through this letter and deriving its insights as an aid in the task of building a better way. He continues ".In the list of areas where the pernicious effects of sin are evident, the economy has been included for some time now. We have a clear proof of this at the present time. The conviction that man is self-sufficient and can successfully eliminate the evil present in history by his own action alone has led him to confuse happiness and salvation with immanent forms of material prosperity and social action. Then, the conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from "influences" of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way."

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This encyclical letter reminds the reader that the market does not exist in "the pure state. It is shaped by the cultural configurations which define it and give it direction. Economy and finance, as instruments, can be used badly when those at the helm are motivated by purely selfish ends. Instruments that are good in themselves can thereby be transformed into harmful ones. But it is man's darkened reason that produces these consequences, not the instrument per se. Therefore it is not the instrument that must be called to account, but individuals, their moral conscience and their personal and social responsibility".

The Church's social doctrine holds that authentically human social relationships of friendship, solidarity and reciprocity can also be conducted within economic activity, and not only outside it or "after" it. The economic sphere is neither ethically neutral, nor inherently inhuman and opposed to society. It is part and parcel of human activity and precisely because it is human, it must be structured and governed in an ethical manner."

Contrary to what some have written, this encyclical letter neither endorses nor rejects "capitalism." As the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church consistently has done in the past it simply does not use the term, preferring the term "market economy." That is because the market is made for man and not man for the market. Freedom is a good of the person and a free market must be one which is moral. Catholic Social thought needs to be rescued from those who seek to use it as a kind of "proof text" to legitimize any political theory or economic system that fails to spring from its' fundamental view of the dignity of the human person, solidarity, authentic human freedom, economic and social justice as well as matters of war and peace.

Our task as Catholic citizens is not to put literal or figurative proof texts from Catholic Social Teaching around political, social or economic theories that are rooted in a flawed or limited notion of the person, the primacy of the family, solidarity, and a proper application of the principle of subsidiarity. This has gone on for too long. We must start with Catholic teaching and then inform our thought and our action. Starting with a political, an economic or a pet social theory and then building a "catholic" proof text for it too often ends up betraying our prophetic call. It also does a serious injustice to the beauty of Catholic Social Teaching as a unified whole.

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That approach sometimes fails to recognize that the Church is both a mother and a teacher. I chose my title to this article in order to undo an expression wrongly attributed to the late conservative scholar, William F. Buckley, "Mater Si, Magister No." The fact, Mr. Buckley never wrote an essay by that title. However, the notion has taken root on both the "left" and the "right" with disastrous results. How often have we heard that the Church has no "competency" to speak on issues such as war and peace or, in this instance, economic theory and practice? While it may be true that the Church respects a rightful autonomy in economic, social and political thought, she has much to offer to inform that thought and contribute to the building of a truly human society and economy. She is an "expert in humanity" and continues the redemptive mission of the Risen Lord as His Body. The Lord certainly has competency to address every sphere of human life!

During the encounter referred to as the "feeding of the 5,000" we see one of the clearest examples of a misguided notion of the Church not having competency manifested in the behavior of the earliest disciples. How quickly they wanted to send the hungry away facing the apparent scarcity of their resources! Yet, Jesus showed them another way. He told them "You give them something to eat". He drew them into the miracle by asking them "What do you have?" and inviting them to participate in His provision through giving. He mediated their gift and multiplied it as God always does because he can never be outgiven! They operated out of a misguided form of economism in their analysis and in their initial behavior. He invited them to experience how an economy of gratuity and communion can function and that experience forever changed them. (See,e.g.Mark 6).

This extraordinary encyclical letter will take years to unpack. It has the potential to do the same as the feeding of the 5000 did for many in our age. Building on previous Social Teaching it brilliantly analyzes the underlying malady behind the symptoms of our economic crisis and offers a way forward, an economy of communion and gratuity. The universe did not begin with a transaction; it began with a gift and was re-created through gift in the Incarnation, saving life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord. "God so loved the world that He gave." (John 3:16). Giving and receiving was the order of creation. It is the way of redemption. It is also the way to build a truly just economic order.

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"Charity in Truth" provides the foundation for an economy of gift and communion which places the person in relationship at it's center. Its treatment of the causes of our economic crisis and the principles which it offers as a path forward are nothing short of brilliant. What is needed now are the fresh thinkers willing to unpack this brilliant letter and get about the work of building a truly human economic order.

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