How do you think we are doing?

 

I came across a quote stressing that capitalism and philanthropy are connected, that one cannot exist without the other.

If you think about it, it is true that capitalism and philanthropy must go hand in hand. It is great that we have the freedom to create and acquire money and possessions from our own labor, but just imagine if we universally agreed to share it!

I know this is a complex issue, but we do need to do a better job of connecting the ability to grow and accumulate personal wealth with the responsibility of sharing it.

Let's teach our kids not to pursue money for the sake of money: "work hard so you can have a big house (or an extra house) and live the good life."  How about teaching them that no matter how hard they work, no matter how much they accumulate, it doesn't actually belong to them so long as there are so many vulnerable, under-served people living among us? 

Let's teach them that their very ability to work, and the circumstances in which they find themselves, is purely a gift from God.  That those personal talents that got them where they are today come from God.  That the whole goal of their labor is to help provide for others (and their family, of course.)  We have a personal responsibility to take care of each other.

Remember, people who are vulnerable do not have to deserve, appreciate or even want our help, and that's okay, because rather than looking at it as charity, we look at it as providing what one is due. 

The Social Justice expressed by the Catholic Church has some powerful language in regards to this subject. It can be found HERE.

 

More specifically, jump to the section on the "Option for the Poor and Vulnerable" to read the breadth of this teaching.

 

Here's a sampling:

 

"A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46)  and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first."

 

"In teaching us charity, the Gospel instructs us in the preferential respect due to the poor and the special situation they have in society: the more fortunate should renounce some of their rights so as to place their goods more generously at the service of others." (St. Paul VI, A Call to Action [Octogesima Adveniens], no. 23)"

 

Gulp.  There's more:

 

"The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of workers over the maximization of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion; the production to meet social needs over production for military purposes." (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All, no. 94 citing St. John Paul II's Address September 14, 1984)"

 

How do YOU think we are doing?  What more should we be doing?

 

Thanks for reading, and caring about this.

 

Have a blessed day!

 

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.com
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