Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Humble, Yes: Delusional, No

I'm supposed to be humble, which isn't the same as being delusional. Not according to the Catholic Church, anyway.

Avoiding Inordinate Ambition or Pride

"HUMILITY: The virtue by which a Christian acknowledges that God is the author of all good. Humility avoids inordinate ambition or pride, and provides the foundation for turning to God in prayer (2559). Voluntary humility can be described as 'poverty of spirit' (2546)."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary)
An important word there is "inordinate ambition." We're not supposed to have no ambition at all, or go out of our way to become poor. Some Saints were poor: but some, like Louis IX of France and Sir Thomas More, were anything but. It isn't being poor, or rich, that makes Saints. (July 28, 2013)

It's their heroic virtue, living in fidelity to God's grace, that makes Saints special. (Catechism, 826)

Working With What I've Got

There's a tendency in my native culture to see "humility" as a sort of make-believe: denying that our strengths are real. That's crazy.

If I tried being that sort of "humble," I'd pretend that I can't write, or apologize profusely for being such a lousy writer. That seems like a waste of time, and would probably be annoying.

I've got something close to the gift called "the expression of knowledge" in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10. That isn't bragging. The package I was born with includes an intense interest in language, with a knack for reading and writing.

I didn't have anything to do with that, any more than I'm responsible for the color of my eyes. My contribution to the mix was deciding, as a child, that I wanted to write: and following through on that decision by working at developing my skills.

Beggars, Choosers, and Me

As far as I can tell, being humble is acknowledging that God is large and in charge. God doesn't owe me anything.

As St. Augustine said, "Man is a beggar before God."

Applying the beggars can't be choosers principle, I think accepting what I get from God also makes sense. For whatever reason, I was born a cripple, with freakishly enhanced language abilities. On the whole, I'm content with what I have: and hope that I'm making good use of these gifts.

Beggars can't be choosers, but we can ask for good things. What I get is up to God, and that's okay with me. What's important is having "a humble and contrite heart." (Catechism, 2559)

"Poor in Spirit," Not "Despondent"

Matthew's Beatitudes start with the familiar "poor in spirit" promise.
"3 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, 4 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
(Matthew 5:3)
So, what does "poor in spirit" mean?

I've heard "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" sung as if it's a dirge. Some folks seem to think Matthew 5:3 says "blessed are the despondent...." Others seem convinced that poverty, by itself, is a virtue; that the physical world is evil; and that's another topic. Topics. (June 3, 2012; May 7, 2012)

If being poor in the financial sense is needed for virtue, folks like St. Louis and St. Thomas More are hard to explain.

I think being "poor in spirit" has more to do with attitude than how much someone has in the bank.

Detachment from Riches

Having few worldly resources may give us more opportunities for realizing that we're dependent on God, but anyone can choose that sort of awareness. The trick isn't being poor: it's being detached from wealth.
"Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them 'renounce all that [they have]' for his sake and that of the Gospel.335 Shortly before his passion he gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.336 The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven."
" 'Blessed are the poor in spirit.'337 The Beatitudes reveal an order of happiness and grace, of beauty and peace. Jesus celebrates the joy of the poor, to whom the Kingdom already belongs:338
"The Word speaks of voluntary humility as 'poverty in spirit'; the Apostle gives an example of God's poverty when he says: 'For your sakes he became poor.'339"
(Catechism, 2544, 2546 [emphasis mine])
The summary of that section says it pretty well:
"Detachment from riches is necessary for entering the Kingdom of heaven. 'Blessed are the poor in spirit.' "
(Catechism, 2556)
Apparently being poor is okay, being rich is okay: but being attached to wealth is a bad idea. So, I think, is flaunting wealth. That seems to be one of the points of this morning's first reading:
"2 My son, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.

"Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.

"What is too sublime for you, seek not, into things beyond your strength search not.

"The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs, and an attentive ear is the wise man's joy.

"4 Water quenches a flaming fire, and alms atone for sins."
(Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29)

(From Zentralbibliothek Zürich, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
" 'Alle Weissheit ist bey Gott dem Herrn...' ("All wisdom comes from the LORD....")
(Sirach, first chapter, German translation), anonymous artist 1654."

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Saturday, August 17, 2013

'Religious Art:' Kitsch, Schlock, and Masterpieces


Guido Reni's Assumption of Mary, oil on silk, 642, currently in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

On my way to becoming a Catholic, I ran into treasures like Michelangelo's Pietà and Caravaggio's Crucifixion of St. Peter.

I also ran into some truly dreadful mass-produced kitsch and schlock.

'Our Lady of the Cosh?'

One particularly egregious example showed Mary with her arms stretched out, head back, eyes pointing in different directions: apparently just after she'd been coshed: or possibly after one too many margaritas.

Decades later, I recognized Guido Reni's Assumption of the Virgin as the original of that appalling image. My guess is that someone with mediocre skill made a line drawing based on the painting, distributing printed copies: which in turn served as samples for even lower quality printings.

Eventually, I learned to distinguish between unattractive devotional aids and the devotions themselves. As a young man, I had trouble distinguishing between the medium and the message: and I still won't buy some of the junk that passes for 'religious art.'

Art and Faith

Like science and technology, creating art is part of being human. It isn't, or shouldn't be, an end in itself: but creating art can be a good thing. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2293, 2501)

As for 'religious art,' I don't think that folks who can afford original paintings framed in gold with pearl inlay are more 'spiritual' than folks at my end of the socioeconomic scale. My household decorations are more along the lines of Currier and Ives: mass-produced pictures; plus a few hand-crafted items.


By the front door: a sort of crucifix.

I've been over this sort of thing before. Fairly often:
More about Guido Reni's work:
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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Getting a Grip About Unpleasant Realities

A 'reform school' in Florida finally closed in 2011. Survivors say it that kids were physically and sexually abused there, but it can't have been all that bad.

In a century of operation, only two adults and 96 kids are buried in marked graves on the school grounds: that we know of, anyway.

Dead and Ignored: Until Now

Some folks in Florida are digging up the bodies, trying to identify the people buried there. Maybe we can learn who they were, how they died, and maybe return the bodies to their families for a more conventional burial or cremation.

I think that's a good idea. Kids in reform schools are people, and may have families who a rip about them. That might be why they're in a reform school.

Identifying the bodies so that they can be returned to those families makes sense: to me.

Not everybody sees it that way. Some folks are afraid that they'll make less money if what other people did in a previous century gets reviewed.

Death, Justice, and "Negative Publicity"

They may be right. I don't have a problem with folks wanting to make money. I wouldn't mind doing that myself. I do, however, have a problem with trying to keep anonymous crime victims from receiving at least a measure of posthumous justice - to make a few extra bucks.

'Pillars of the community' like that are part of the reason that I never tried - or wanted - to be 'successful' in the conventional sense.

Here's part of what got me started on this topic:


(from Reuters, via FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)
"White metal crosses mark graves at the cemetery of the former Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. (Reuters)"
"...Sid Riley, the managing editor of the weekly Jackson County Times, wrote to state officials in July, calling the plans a 'terrible project.'

" 'We have an active industrial development program and a tourist development program here. If they proceed with this terrible project, our community will be exposed to over a year of negative publicity, 'Riley wrote...

""...Jackson County Commissioner Jeremy Branch said the project would continue to blemish the county and Marianna, where the school is located. He said he was confused as to what the exhumation of the bodies would discover.

" 'Are we trying to determine if bad things happened 100 years ago in America?' Branch said. 'We know bad things happened in America.'..."
(FoxNews.com)

Make-Believe Virtue?

I sympathize, a little, with folks who fear "negative publicity." It's possible that Jackson County's industrial and tourist development programs will have to deal with unpleasant realities.

But, obvious as this may seem, reality is real. I think dealing with it makes more sense than trying to live in a make-believe world.

On the other hand, maybe Deadwood South Dakota would be more prosperous if city leaders had re-named it 'Happy Grove,' and made an effort to cover up Deadwood's colorful past. Or maybe not:

Dead Babies in Central Minnesota

Acknowledging Jackson County's unpleasant past, identifying the anonymous dead, and telling families where their sons are buried, is a good idea.

The 'dark past' of my adopted home town isn't quite the same as Jackson County's. Our abandoned cemetery holds the unmarked graves of quite a few babies and a maybe some young mothers. Folks with the local Knights of Columbus council are reconstructing burial records, and maintaining the cemetery.

As far as I know, there wasn't abuse involved in those deaths. Not at the institution where they died, anyway.

At the time, a few generations back, unwed mothers were pariahs. Those with wealthy parents might get sent abroad and later repackaged as virgins suitable for marriage to some promising young man from another 'good' family. The rest had very few options other than suicide or descent to the bottom of society's ladder.

The state of Minnesota ran a few places where young women who were pregnant but not married could go to have their babies without being molested. Giving birth wasn't an entirely easy or safe process. Sometimes the baby died, sometimes both mother and baby didn't survive.

One of these 'schools' was the Sauk Centre Home School for Girls, on the north side of town. When one of the inmates died, locals buried them in a place called Brookdale Cemetery. We think somewhere between one and three adults are buried there, and maybe 20 babies.
"...The reformatory school for girls opened in 1911. Pregnant girls were often brought in by train so they could give birth at the reformatory with the agreement that the baby would become property of the state and then put up for adoption...."
(Bryan Zollman, Sauk Centre Herald (June 19, 2013))
Someone charitably described record keeping from the Home School as "fairly poor." Figuring out who is buried at Brookdale, or even how many graves we have, is hard: when the State of Minnesota cut funding for that 'home school,' they also removed the grave markers.

Giving credit where credit is due, though: the state government at least allowed locals to bury the kids; and isn't trying to stop volunteers from maintaining the cemetery.

Dealing With Death and Life

Don't expect a rant about God killing wretched sinners, by the way. Two of our six children died before birth, we nearly lost my wife with the last one, but I'm pretty sure that God didn't kill those kids to 'get even' with me.

I'm Catholic. We've got more sense than that:
We're expected to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, help the poor: and bury the dead. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2447)

It's 'the right thing to do,' and personally important in the long run. (Matthew 25:31-46)

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In the news:
This post might look familiar, if you know me on Google Plus. It's based very closely on something I wrote there earlier today.
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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Getting a Grip About Poverty, Wealth, and Amos

Depending on who you listen to, 'those Christians' are nutjobs who hate booze and Bingo; or wackadoos who believe that God is a sort of sugar daddy.

Prudes, Poverty, and Profit Prophets

I've run into folks who seem convinced that physical pleasures are naughty.

The way some carry on about 'the world, the flesh, and the devil,' I get the impression that they don't approve of the visible world in general. Lust is a bad idea, by the way, and another topic. (1 John 2:16)

They also generally insist that God made this world, but I have no idea how they'd explain how God made a creation that's basically bad: and not notice. Unless maybe Genesis 1:31 isn't 'Biblical?!' Our current situation, by the way, involves free will and original sin, which doesn't mean what you may have heard.

Since wealth often brings some measure of physical comfort, this lot tends to see affluence as a sin.

Others seem equally convinced that God is obliged to heap wealth on folks who support a particular church or ministry. I haven't heard anyone call it a 'pay for prayer' program, but that's what it amounts to. I've discussed the prosperity gospel before, and it's a bad idea.1

I think folks who equate poverty and virtue, or who expect God to make 'good people' rich, are sincere.

I'm also quite sure that they're wrong.

'My Way or the Highway?'

Deciding that being wealthy is a bad idea can, for an individual, be a milestone on the way to Sainthood. But that doesn't mean that everybody needs to be poor.

Some Saints were extremely wealthy, and didn't let that get in the way of doing what's right. That doesn't mean that everyone should have the biggest house in town.

'My way or the highway' isn't, I think, a particularly good way to run a business: or anything else. Believing that everyone in the world should be just like me? That's silly, at best. 1 Corinthians 12 says differently, and that's almost another topic. (August 26, 2010)

Then there's the notion that burying a statue in your yard will magically increase the value of your house. That's wrong on several levels:

Rich, Poor, and Saintly

I think it's easy for Americans to look at folks like Saints Francis and Claire, both of Assisi, and assume that all Catholics should be Italians who live in poverty.

It doesn't work that way.

Saint Louis was king of France. He was not poverty-stricken. At all.

Sir Thomas More, former Chancellor of England, made sainthood because he decided that execution was preferable to going along with a king's plan to start a private little national church. He wasn't in the 'I own a nation' economic class, but he was far from poor.

They became Saints because they "practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 826)

Personal wealth or poverty don't matter, apart from providing different opportunities and obstacles. What matters is how we decide to use what we've got.

Snakes and Fish, Scorpions and Eggs

I can see how someone could cherry pick support for 'prosperity gospel' ideas from the Bible.

For example, today's Gospel reading, Luke 11:1-13, includes this:
" 'And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

"For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

"What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?

"Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?

"If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit 5 to those who ask him?' "
(Luke 11:9-13)
Assuming that money, and the stuff money can buy, is all there is to life - - - that's a flawed assumption, in my considered opinion. I don't mind having money, at all: and I've never turned down a fee, even when I'd have done a job for nothing.

But I grew up in an era when too many Americans had given their kids everything money could buy, and little else. We're still doing disaster cleanup from that sociopolitical debacle. On the other hand, my generation helped correct some long-standing errors:
And that's yet another topic.

Amos and Ephas

Sometimes it's easy to tell who's the bad guy: he's the one with a top hat and narrow mustache.

Fall Production, McQuaid Jesuit, November 18-21, 2009
(from Arts, McQuaid Jesuit, used w/o permission)
" 'Adrift in New York or Her First False Step'
"An old fashioned melodrama"

Real life is a bit more complicated.

Amos was a shepherd who denounced the "hollow prosperity of the northern kingdom," which got him kicked out of Bethel.
"Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!

"1 'When will the new moon be over,' you ask, 'that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat? We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating!

"We will buy the lowly man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!'

"2 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!"
(Amos 8:4-7)
I could select bits and pieces from Amos, and claim that being rich is a sin. That kind of trouble I don't need. Jeremiah 28:12-17, and all that.

It looks like being rich wasn't the problem. Trampling the needy, unjust meddling with commerce, and using wealth as a club: that was a problem. Sometimes it still is.

Speaking of prophecy for fun and profit, I won't contribute to America's perennial 'End Times Biblical prophecies!' - read all about it, just $19.95, or whatever mass-market paperbacks go for these days. For one thing, I couldn't do that sort of writing with a straight face; and for another, there's Revelation 22:18-19.

We've been on 'standby alert' for two millennia and counting, and that's yet again topic. (Matthew 24:3-4: Matthew 28:16-20; John 14:1-21; and particularly Mark 13:32-37; for starters)
If this post seems a little disjointed, I'm not surprised. It's been a hectic week, and I'm still catching up on sleep. Still, it could be worse. I finished another blog's post at about 4:00 a.m., Friday morning:
Getting a grip about:
1 I've discussed the prosperity gospel and other bad ideas before. (May 17, 2013) Here's some background:
"...The Renaissance and the Reformation have shaped the modern western individual, who is not weighed down by external burdens like merely extrinsic authority and tradition; people feel the need to 'belong' to institutions less and less (and yet loneliness is very much a scourge of modern life), and are not inclined to rank 'official' judgements above their own. With this cult of humanity, religion is internalised in a way which prepares the ground for a celebration of the sacredness of the self. This is why New Age shares many of the values espoused by enterprise culture and the 'prosperity Gospel' (of which more will be said later: section 2.4), ..."
("Jesus Christ The Bearer Of The Water Of Life," 1.1) [emphasis mine]

"...In a New Age perspective, illness and suffering come from working against nature; when one is in tune with nature, one can expect a much healthier life, and even material prosperity; for some New Age healers, there should actually be no need for us to die...."
("Jesus Christ The Bearer Of The Water Of Life," 2.2.3)

"...New Age training courses (what used to be known as 'Erhard seminar trainings' [EST] etc.) marry counter-cultural values with the mainstream need to succeed, inner satisfaction with outer success; ... some New Age devotees are involved not only to become more authentic and spontaneous, but also in order to become more prosperous (through magic etc.). 'What makes things even more appealing to the enterprise-minded businessperson is that New Age trainings also resonate with somewhat more humanistic ideas abroad in the world of business....they are likely to appeal to those businesspeople who have already been involved with more (secular) humanistic trainings and who want to take things further: at one and the same time for the sake of personal growth, happiness and enthusiasm, as well as for commercial productivity.(46)"
("Jesus Christ The Bearer Of The Water Of Life," 2.4) [emphasis mine]
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Saturday, April 13, 2013

Malignant Virtue and the Monkees

As a youth, frightfully 'religious' radio preachers helped me learn to love rock and roll. They also encouraged me to take a long, hard look at Christianity, and religion in general.

Eventually, I decided that religion wasn't necessarily a psychiatric disorder, and became a Catholic.

Malignant virtue of the 'kill a commie for Christ' variety may have inspired songs like this:
"...Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...."
John Lennon, "Imagine" (1971)
(posted oldielyrics.com) (March 12, 2011)

Status Symbol Land

Many in my generation realized that something had gone horribly wrong with the 'American dream.' I was one of those who decided that 'success' wasn't worth the tradeoffs. I like living here, and that's another topic. (January 12, 2010, July 4, 2011)

Songs like 1967's "Pleasant Valley Sunday" reflected an impression that unswerving dedication to getting more stuff was a bad idea.



It's not the money that gets us in trouble: it's love of money. 1 Timothy 6:10 and all that.

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Monday, August 6, 2012

Rights, Duties, and Ideas: Good & Otherwise

More posts about "Caritas in Veritate" (Charity in Truth)
"Caritas in Veritate"
I've started another chapter in "Caritas in Veritate." The chapter heading says it'll be about the development of people; rights and duties; and the environment. I got started in this morning's post, along with an explanation for why I'm writing 'in installments' this time:

'Rights,' Real and Otherwise

Benedict XVI points out one of the disconnects we've got these days. He calls this an "inconsistency," and I think he's right:
  • Alleged rights get taken seriously, even though they're arbitrary and non-essential.
  • Elementary and basic rights are violated, or remain unacknowledged, in much of the world.
    ("Caritas in Veritate," 43)
My native land, America, isn't at the bottom of the heap in terms of violated rights. But we could do a lot better: particularly now that the national government has sanctions against the practice of my faith. 1

Affluence, Excess, and Ethics

My household has never lacked food, clothing, or shelter: but we've been in the lower half of America's 'wealth spectrum' for decades. No complaints: it's the result of decisions I made as a youth. I knew what I was doing then, and have seldom regretted my choices since.

For a long time we were in the 'lower middle class,' at best: by contemporary American standards. On the other hand, by the standards of my forebears we've been insanely wealthy. I've heard that for a very long time "wealthy" meant that a household had more than one day's rations on hand. That we have had, many times over, and in abundance.

What got me started on wealth and reminiscences was this bit:
"...A link has often been noted between claims to a 'right to excess', and even to transgression and vice, within affluent societies, and the lack of food, drinkable water, basic instruction and elementary health care in areas of the underdeveloped world and on the outskirts of large metropolitan centres...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 43)
I'm not going to dump the contents of the freezer because it's 'too much wealth.' For one thing, my wife wouldn't like that. For another, poverty isn't virtue. Neither is wealth, and I've been over that before. (August 4, 2011)

Attitudes, New and Old

Taken by itself, that excerpt from "Caritas in Veritate" looks like conventional anguish over:
  • New style
    • 'The decadent West'
    • 'Bloated capitalists'
  • Old style
    • Ill-gotten worldly riches
    • Honest poverty
Wealth, money, isn't the problem. What gets us in trouble is loving money:
"For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains."
(1 Timothy 6:10)

"Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never forsake you or abandon you.'"
(Hebrews 13:5)
The issue is idolatry: which is a very bad idea. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2112-2114, for starters)

Breaking Links: Bad Idea

If affluence, by itself, isn't bad: why do some affluent societies act badly?

Benedict XVI says that:
"...The link consists in this: individual rights, when detached from a framework of duties which grants them their full meaning, can run wild, leading to an escalation of demands which is effectively unlimited and indiscriminate...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 43)
Basically, breaking links between rights and duties makes about as much sense as bypassing circuit breakers. It may save a few trips to the breaker panel in the short run: but there will be consequences.

Balance and Limits

People having rights isn't wrong: it's what folks do with that basic truth.
  • Rights
    • May be overemphasized
    • Overemphasized rights lead to disregard for duties
    • Are part of a "framework"
      • Anthropological
      • Ethical
  • Duties
    • Set a limit on rights
    • Point to the framework which includes rights
    • Prevent rights from becoming excuses to do something wrong
    ("Caritas in Veritate," 43)

Rights: and Duties

Duties aren't opposed to rights. Without duties, rights are in trouble:
"...Duties ... reinforce rights and call for their defence and promotion as a task to be undertaken in the service of the common good. Otherwise, if the only basis of human rights is to be found in the deliberations of an assembly of citizens, those rights can be changed at any time, and so the duty to respect and pursue them fades from the common consciousness...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 43)
No, Benedict XVI isn't against democracy or freedom. He's just pointing out what happens when folks forget that we don't control the ethical underpinnings of reality. I've posted about natural law before.

No Objectivity: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

There's an appeal of sorts to the notion that we can decide what's ethical and what isn't. The problem is that natural law, the ethical rules woven into this creation, are just that: basic laws.

An act of Congress can no more change natural law, than the Supreme Court could declare the law of gravity "unconstitutional."

Actually, the Supreme Court could do something like that. Or Congress could add a 'no gravity' amendment to the Constitution.

But their actions wouldn't have a practical effect on that facet of reality.

When governments and other institutions lose track of objective reality, bad things happen.
"...the authentic development of peoples is endangered[108]. Such a way of thinking and acting compromises the authority of international bodies, especially in the eyes of those countries most in need of development. Indeed, the latter demand that the international community take up the duty of helping them to be 'artisans of their own destiny'[109], that is, to take up duties of their own...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 43)
I've harangued about old and new notions about 'natives' before. In the interests of your patience and my blood pressure, I'll just put links at the end of "Related posts."

Incentive!

"...The sharing of reciprocal duties is a more powerful incentive to action than the mere assertion of rights."
("Caritas in Veritate," 43)
I agree. Emphatically.

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1 The current administration's rules which force employers to support a legal sort of murder is a serious violation of religious liberty, at least for practicing Catholics:
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Sunday, July 1, 2012

Reach Youth Ministry: Looks Like a Good Idea

Kristiana Lahr is a college student with roots here in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. She's also Catholic, and involved in something called Reach Youth Ministry:
I found out about her connection with Reach Youth Ministries this morning, when she spoke to the parish after Mass. The outfit's been around since the late '70s, helping folks who are around college age get reacquainted with their Catholic faith: or learn it.

It sounds like a good idea. This sort of activity also takes money, which is where Kristiana Lahr's talk came in. She's raising money for Reach Youth Ministry: and asking for our prayers.

That's where this post comes in. I think Reach Youth Ministry is a good idea, so I'm passing along her request: prayer; and, if possible, financial support.

Reach Youth Ministry website has a Donate page, which is useful if you've got a PayPal account. You may have to be patient, though: their website was a trifle sluggish when I checked this afternoon. My guess is that lots of folks were doing the same thing: seeing what reachym.org looked like.

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Monday, June 4, 2012

"Neither Ethically Neutral, nor Inherently Inhuman"

More posts about "Caritas in Veritate" (Charity in Truth)
"Caritas in Veritate"

Economics and Reality: 'It Looked Good on Paper'

I'd like to believe that most of the world's ills could be solved by letting folks earn a living: and then letting us decide how we want to spend our money.

Even if that meant that one of my neighbors decided to spend it on hiring more folks, and another decided that re-siding his house was a good idea. And both made more than I did.

That sort of approach has been tried.

Laissez-faire economics looked good on paper, but didn't work as advertized, several 'good old days' back.

Economics, Ideology, and Me

I don't think dropping all government control of an economy is a good idea. But I don't think the 'regulate and tax everything' approach is a good idea, either.

It's been tried: in a variety of flavors, sometimes with disastrous results. I think Russia and other parts of the Soviet Union will recover: but they've got a mess to clean up. My opinion.

'Obviously,' I'm a conservative. Other opinions and preferences of mine make it 'obvious' that I'm a liberal. Happily, nobody's accused me of being 'moderate,' and that's almost another topic.

I'm 'none of the above.' I'm a practicing Catholic. Some folks - conservative and otherwise - seem convinced that "conservative" and "Catholic" are equivalent terms. I've posted about that before:
As a Catholic who is serious about my faith I have to find out what the Church says about issues. That's more work than 'going with the flow,' and letting an attractive set of cultural assumptions determine my beliefs. But I think the effort's worth it.

Commercial Logic, the Common Good, and Redistribution

The first paragraph in section 36 of "Caritas in Veritate" starts by saying what won't solve social problems, and ends with a word I don't particularly like:
"Economic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. This needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that grave imbalances are produced when economic action, conceived merely as an engine for wealth creation, is detached from political action, conceived as a means for pursuing justice through redistribution...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 36)
I have no trouble with the idea that all social problems can't be solved by using "commercial logic." Maybe "commercial logic" would be all it takes to solve social issues - if we didn't have original sin. That's not the way it is, so there's no practical reason for speculating what human beings would be like if what happened - hadn't.

I don't like the word "redistribution" in an economic context. Sure, there's unjust distribution of wealth. That, I think, is fairly obvious.

But solutions to that problem should not include the sort of "redistribution" that was popular for much of the 20th century. The idea of killing capitalistic oppressors until bourgeois blood flows in the streets seems a trifle lacking in love.

There I go, sounding "conservative" again.

"Redistribution?!"

Here's the last sentence of that paragraph, again:
"...Therefore, it must be borne in mind that grave imbalances are produced when economic action, conceived merely as an engine for wealth creation, is detached from political action, conceived as a means for pursuing justice through redistribution...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 36)
Like I've said before, documents on the Holy See's website tend to be sincerely other than light reading. Let's pry that sentence apart, and see what it says.
  • Grave imbalances are produced when
    • Economic action
      • Conceived as an engine for wealth creation
        • Merely
    • Is detached from political action
      • Conceived as a means for pursuing justice
        • Through redistribution
That one sentence doesn't look like a ringing endorsement for either no-holds-barred capitalism, or down-with-the-oppressors socialism. Turns out, the Catholic Church says:
No wonder the fellow said "Caritas in Veritate" was "purposefully vague."

I don't see it that way: but I'm a practicing Catholic, and realize that there's more to the world than two contemporary political philosophies.

The Market: Permitting Encounter Between Persons

The word "market" gets used a lot in this part of "Caritas in Veritate." The term was defined in section 35:
"...the market is the economic institution that permits encounter between persons, inasmuch as they are economic subjects who make use of contracts to regulate their relations as they exchange goods and services of equivalent value between them, in order to satisfy their needs and desires...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 35)
Moving on.

Economy and Finance, Personal and Social Responsibility

I think I've got the gist of the second paragraph of "Caritas in Veritate," 36:

Economic action isn't the enemy of society.

The market, by itself, isn't a place where the strong subdue the weak: and mustn't turn into something like that.

Society doesn't have to protect itself from the market. The market doesn't involve or lead to the death of "authentically human relations."

The market can hurt folks: but the problem isn't the market, it's people. Specifically, "a certain ideology can make it so."

There's no such thing as a pure market - the market is shaped and given direction by cultural structures.

Economy and finance can be used badly when leaders are motivated by purely selfish ends.

Here's how the second paragraph 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...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 36) [emphasis mine]

Ethics Matter

Economic activity isn't bad, and it isn't an ethics-free zone:
"...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...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 36) [emphasis mine]
The idea that economic activity isn't "ethically neutral" reminds me of what the Church says about science and moral behavior. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2294) Anything a human being decides to do involves morality. (Catechism, 1749) That's "morality" meaning "ethics." As I've said before, there's more to morality than "morality."

"The Principle of Gratuitousness"

In the last paragraph of section 36, Benedict XVI says these are vital:
  • Traditional social ethics
    • Transparency
    • Honesty
    • Responsibility
  • In commercial relationships
    • The principle of gratuitousness
    • The logic of gift
      • As an expression of fraternity
I ran into "gratuitousness," the state of costing nothing or being unnecessary and unwarranted, earlier in "Caritas in Veritate." (May 21, 2012, January 24, 2010) In this case, I figure it's the "costing nothing" definition that applies.

Economic Logic and the Pope

Even if it wasn't the Pope saying that transparency, honesty, and responsibility, "cannot be ignored or attenuated," I'd agree.

Even the "principle of gratuitousness," applied to economic situations, makes sense to me. I've been in situations where, technically and legally, a merchant didn't have to 'give something away,' but did. In the short term, that's a loss for the merchant. In the long term, that sort of behavior often leads to 'repeat customers.'

Maybe this sounds corny, but 'treating folks right' pays off.

Here's how Benedict XVI wrote, after saying that we need transparency, honesty, responsibility, and the principle of gratuitousness:
"...This is a human demand at the present time, but it is also demanded by economic logic. It is a demand both of charity and of truth."
("Caritas in Veritate," 36)

Economics and Justice

I think the idea of justice is implied in ethical principles like honesty and responsibility. Last week I ran into several sorts of justice:
  • Commutative justice
    • Regulates exchanges between persons and between institutions
      • In accordance with a strict respect for their rights
    • Without commutative justice, no other form of justice is possible
  • Legal justice
    • What the citizen owes in fairness to the community
  • Distributive justice
    • Regulates what the community owes its citizens
      • In proportion to their contributions and needs
    (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2411)
  • Social justice
    • Provides the conditions which allow associations and individuals to obtain their due
    • Involves respect for the human person
    • Recognizes
      • Equality
      • Differences among individuals
    (Catechism, 1928-1944)
Next week, I'll be going through part of "Caritas in Veritate" that's about justice, economic activity, and moral consequences. It looks like I can't take the attitude of "politics stink," and not get involved.

And that's, naturally, yet another topic.

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Monday, February 27, 2012

"The Scandal of Glaring Inequalities"

Like I said last week 'it's complicated.' Or, as Pope Benedict XVI put it:
"Today the picture of development has many overlapping layers...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 22)

2,700 Pairs of Shoes; and Getting a Grip

I think 'equality' is a good idea. I have to think that, since I'm a practicing Catholic and that's what the Church says.

But I do not think it makes sense to try making everybody 'equal.' Not if it's the sort of 'equality' where everybody has to pretend to be just like everybody else. I've been over this before. (August 4, 2011)
  • Human beings are equal
    (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1934, 1935)
  • But we're not all alike
    (Catechism, 1936)
  • And this is okay
    (Catechism, 1937)
Because of my beliefs, I don't expect everybody to be pretty much just like me. Take footwear, for example.

I don't particularly like shoes. From spring, through autumn, I wear flip-flops, and like to have the pair that I'm wearing: and another pair as a backup, when the 'in use' pair wears out. Maybe that seems like an extravagance: but here in Minnesota, most stores have a 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' policy. I 'need' that second pair to get inside and buy the next backup.

I have no idea why someone would want to own 2,700 pairs of shoes. I understand that fashion-conscious folks want different styles of shoes for different outfits: but 2,700? That seems extravagant: and it's how many Imelda Marcos is supposed to have had.

Oddly, I don't have a problem with someone owning that many shoes. I don't understand why someone would want to: but I don't think it's wrong. If, as seems to have been the case, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos got their wealth by hurting other people - that, I have a problem with.

Wealth, Waste, and Woe

"...As John Paul II has already observed, the demarcation line between rich and poor countries is no longer as clear as it was at the time of Populorum Progressio[55]. The world's wealth is growing in absolute terms, but inequalities are on the increase. In rich countries, new sectors of society are succumbing to poverty and new forms of poverty are emerging. In poorer areas some groups enjoy a sort of 'superdevelopment' of a wasteful and consumerist kind which forms an unacceptable contrast with the ongoing situations of dehumanizing deprivation...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 22)
Back in my 'good old days,' I'd expect to hear something about the oppressed proletariat and capitalistic warmongers after someone mentioned that some folks are getting richer: and others poorer. That's one reason I don't miss the 'good old days.' And that's another topic.

Here's what came before that observation about "superdevelopment" and "dehumanizing deprivation:"
"...This fact should prompt us to liberate ourselves from ideologies, which often oversimplify reality in artificial ways, and it should lead us to examine objectively the full human dimension of the problems...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 22)
Based on what Western civilization tried, during the 19th and 20th centuries: I don't think full-bore laissez faire capitalism or the various flavors of socialism and communism make sense. 'All of the above' look good on paper - or can be made to do so. In the real world? Not so much.

Looking at the Problems

Like Benedict XVI wrote:
"...'The scandal of glaring inequalities'[56] continues...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 22)
We're looking at:
  • Corruption and illegality in
    • Rich countries
      • 'Old rich'
      • 'New rich'
    • Poor countries
  • Sometimes human rights of workers aren't respected by
    • Large multinational companies
    • Local producers
  • International aid often gets sent to the wrong folks, by
    • The chain of donors
    • Folks at the receiving end
  • Cultural factors
    • Rich countries
      • Excessive protection of intellectual property rights
        • Particularly health care
    • Some poor countries
      • Cultural models and social norms of behavior
The issue of excess zeal in intellectual property rights enforcement in health care fields is new to me. Maybe there'll be more discussion of that later in "Caritas in Veritate," or maybe I'll find background elsewhere.

I don't think the message here is that companies - big or small - are bad. Or that rich countries are warmonger oppressors. Or that poor countries are guilty of not being Americans.

What Benedict XVI seems to be doing is identifying what sort of issues we can look for - anywhere.

No Micromanagement Here

As for solutions? There aren't any in this paragraph. Maybe there's a detailed 'how to' somewhere in the remaining 57 paragraphs.

Or - more likely, I think - what I'll find is that we're being given guidance for how we're supposed to go about making things better. Which makes sense, since folks at the grassroots level are more likely to know what the local or regional problems are: and what solutions are more likely to work.

Cherished Cultural Traditions

When someone suggests a change in routine, someone else is likely to say, "we've never done it that way!" It's one reason that it's hard for many companies to adjust to new conditions: and why so many countries can't seem to adjust to living in today's world. My opinion.

"Cultural models and social norms of behavior," the last item in that 'issues' list, covers a lot of territory. I'm going to focus on literacy: the ability to read and write. It's a fairly basic skill today.

Apart from being able to understand warning signs like "Caution - Liquid Nitrogen - Gloves and Face Shield Required," someone who is literate can read newspapers, books, magazines: and blogs like this one.

Reading is a very effective way to learn what folks around the world have been thinking. Someone who can write can add to that storehouse of knowledge: and I'm getting off-topic.

But not by much.

I live in America: which, for all its faults, is a remarkably prosperous nation. It's also the only country that I'm familiar with 'from the inside.' I'm going to use America, and a few other countries, to illustrate how literacy connects with other aspects of life.

Literacy (percent of people age 15 and over can read and write) in:
I'm not happy that American literacy isn't 100% - but 99% isn't bad, for a country this size. And that's yet another topic.

Countries like America and Japan aren't perfect. But hordes of citizens living in grinding poverty isn't among our problems. And - I think this is important - for all our similarities, America and Japan aren't alike. Even our robots tend to look different - and that's yet another topic.

I'd have to do some serious number-crunching to confirm this, but I think countries with high literacy rates aren't quite as likely to have radical inequalities of wealth.

Then there's the matter of keeping women from learning how to read - and that's more than I want to get started with in this post.

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Monday, February 6, 2012

Charity in Truth: "Urgent" Plus 44 Years and Counting

So far, Pope Benedict XVI has said that
  • Development is okay
    • Provided that we're ethical about it
  • Technology
    • Is okay
      • Provided that we're ethical about how we use it
    • Won't
      • Solve all our problems
      • Destroy us all
I think that makes a lot more sense than the unthinking optimism of the Victorian era and early 20th century, and the equally unthinking pessimism that's been fashionable every since.

Another point the Pope makes is that development can be a vocation. That's where charity comes in.

Development: Why the Delay?

It's pretty clear that not everybody enjoys the comparative wealth and security that many Americans do. "Caritas in Veritate" says there's a reason for that.

Benedict XVI points to Paul VI's "Populorum Progressio," where Paul VI said that explanations for lack of human development are in:
  1. The will
    • Neglecting the duties of solidarity
  2. Thinking
    • not always giving proper direction to the will
  3. "The lack of brotherhood among individuals and peoples"
That second point is about deep thought:
"...in the pursuit of development, there is a need for 'the deep thought and reflection of wise men in search of a new humanism which will enable modern man to find himself anew[51]...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 19)

"Urgent Need for Reform"

"These perspectives, which Populorum Progressio opens up, remain fundamental for giving breathing-space and direction to our commitment for the development of peoples. Moreover, Populorum Progressio repeatedly underlines the urgent need for reform...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 20)
I checked out "Populorum Progressio," and sure enough: Paul VI said some things were "urgent." That's how it's translated into English. "Urgent" means "compelling immediate action." (Princeton's WordNet)

Paul VI reminded the world's wealthier nations of three obligations:
  1. Mutual solidarity
    • Aid that the richer nations must give to developing nations
  2. Social justice
    • Correcting trade relations between strong and weak nations
  3. Universal charity
    • Trying to build a more humane world community, where
      • All can give and receive
      • The progress of some is not bought at the expense of others

"Urgent?" Here's Why

Paul VI also said why this sort of practical charity was important:
"...This duty concerns first and foremost the wealthier nations.... The matter is urgent, for on it depends the future of world civilization...."

"...This task might seem impossible in those regions where the daily struggle for subsistence absorbs the attention of the family, where people are at a loss to find work that might improve their lot during their remaining days on earth.... But let there be no doubt about it, it is an urgent task. The very life of needy nations, civil peace in the developing countries, and world peace itself are at stake...."
("Populorum Progressio" [emphasis mine])
Recapping, Paul VI wrote that the world's wealthier nations need to get our act together because this is at stake:
  • "The future of world civilization"
  • "The very life of needy nations
  • "Civil peace in the developing countries"
  • "World peace itself"
But hey: no pressure, right?

Still "Urgent"

Here's when "Populorum Progressio" was published: March 26, 1967.

That's 44 years, 10 months, 11 days ago.

I posted about 'love God, love your neighbor,' and acting as if that mattered, yesterday:I think that some progress got made over the last 44 years. I also think there's a lot more to do, and I've been over that before:One more excerpt from "Caritas in Veritate:"
"...The urgency is inscribed not only in things, it is not derived solely from the rapid succession of events and problems, but also from the very matter that is at stake: the establishment of authentic fraternity.

"The importance of this goal is such as to demand our openness to understand it in depth and to mobilize ourselves at the level of the 'heart', so as to ensure that current economic and social processes evolve towards fully human outcomes...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 20)

Development, the Status Quo, and Getting a Grip

I'm about as sure as I can be about anything, that the status quo won't change unless something's altered. Frightfully obvious, when the idea's put that way.

Development means change: and change often hurts.

If growing crops the old-fashioned way doesn't produce enough to feed a family: maybe it's time to look at another way of growing crops. Even if it's 'not traditional.' The solution isn't - mustn't be - making the family smaller. Even if 'it's for their own good.'

And that's almost another topic.

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Marian Apparition: Champion, Wisconsin

Background:Posts in this blog: In the news:

What's That Doing in a Nice Catholic Blog?

From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.