Many people are not aware that the Catholic Church also opposes socialism and mandated wealth redistribution for 3 main reasons:
1. It robs the lawful posessor of the wealth (stealing) 2. It hurts the recipient in the end (they should be entitled to hope for and to keep whatever wealth they acquire too) 3. It distorts the role of the state
On the last point, the Church teaches the principle of subsidiarity, which is that higher levels of community, such as the state, should only perform functions not better performed by lower levels of community, such as families and charities.
The church teaches that the wealthy have an obligation to the poor, but that this is a PERSONAL DUTY, not something the state should mandate or control. Furthermore, the oblication should be personal in nature (ie, get involved), whereas state programs separate the giver from the receiver.
The church discourages class welfare and contends that envy of the rich is a violation of the 9th commandment.
Furthermore, the poor are told “to have nothing to do with men of evil principles, who work upon the people with artful promises of great results, and excite foolish hopes which usually end in useless regrets and grievous loss.”
Don’t beleive me, read “Rerum Novarum”, which is the papal encyclical that lays these positions out. Think it is irrelevant to today, know that John Paul II wrote an encyclical in 1991 affirming Rerum Novarum and went on to explicitly condemn the “Social Assistance State”.
Now if only the entire clergy would pay attention.
More on Catholic teachings against socialism.
“Here again the principle of subsidiarity must be respected….By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending. In fact, it would appear that needs are best understood
and satisfied by people who are closest to them and who act as neighbours to those in need.”
John Paul II, From Centesimus Annus, Encyclical on 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, 1991
Thank-you for the article. Bookmarked.
Well said. Communism is nothing more than equality at the lowest common denominator.
The RCC has been very impressive this election. A lot of Bishops have come out and basically said you can’t vote for a Rat and be a good Catholic and now this. I can only hope this message reaches their members as I hope and pray all Baptists realize you can’t support a candidate the believes in infanticide and call yourself a Christian.
BTTT for later read. Thank you for posting this.
I hope you don’t mind my using your words in an argument elsewhere. This is too good to waste.
Good post.
>>The church discourages class welfare and contends that envy of the rich is a violation of the 9th commandment.<<
Covetousness is the basis for class envy and coerced wealth redistribution. Socialism/marxism is founded in sin.
This should be required reading for many parish priests.
Tired of having the fruits of their labors confiscated by an overpowering British government, America's Founders declared themselves free and independent.
Most American schoolchildren can recite their claim that ". all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ... to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Less familiar, however, are these lines from their Declaration of Independence:
"He ( King George III ) has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance .... He has combined with others to subject us, ... imposing taxes on us without our consent."
What, then, did the Founders consider to be the real cornerstone of man's liberty and happiness? On what basic premise did they devise their Constitution? Let them speak for themselves:
| John Adams |
"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God ... anarchy and tyranny commence. PROPERTY MUST BE SECURED OR LIBERTY CANNOT EXIST"
|
| James Madison |
"Government is instituted to protect property of every sort .... This being the end of government, that is NOT a just government,... nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has ... is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest." |
Their guiding principle was that people come together to form governments in order to SECURE their rights to property - not to create an entity which wilt, itself, "take from the mouths of labor the bread it has earned." What was wrong for individual citizens to do to one another, they believed, was equally wrong for government to do to them.
The right to own property and to keep the rewards of individual labor opened the floodgates of progress for the benefit of the entire human race. Millions have fled other countries to participate in the Miracle of America.
The Catholic Church has condemned communism explicitly, but many of the positions of the Catholic Church on social justice and economic rights (excluding abortion) would have, and had have them mislabeled as “socialist” by many of the more anti-catholic posters on FR. For example, the USCCB are strongly in favor of universal, nationalized healthcare. They are also strongly supportive of raising the minimum wage, and comprehensive immigration reform.
The Church strongly condemns the current global capitalist system too, so this is just cherry picking Catholic teaching.
So, Jesus was NOT a socialist.
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They totally support Chavez and the new communist leader of Bolivia, and everything they do. If a proposed law is out there that punishes businesses, they have the petition, and are collecting signatures.They are totally against private property of any kind, and all the "greedy corporations".It's been pretty shocking, really.
I love a lot of things about the Catholic church, and Father Keating, who teaches centering prayer; but there are just too many Catholics like this for me to join. I just figured that it came from the top. Since it obviously doesn't, where does it come from ?
This is of course limited to my areas of travel to South American, Central America and parts of Indonesia.
Bookmarked
Ping
If the Catholic Church is so opposed to socialism, then why hasn’t Father Pfleger been excommunicated?
Excellent post and thanks!!