The Catholic Sun :: Phoenix Diocesan Newspaper

‘Thou shalt not steal’

Part Two

One of the first things that we teach our children is not to take what isn’t ours. Not only Christians teach this wisdom to the next generation but also all people of good will do the same. Respect for persons and their possessions is both a personal virtue and a public virtue. It contributes to the common good.

In this second part of our consideration of the Seventh Commandment, we build on this widely accepted precept against theft by looking at some aspects of it that are easily overlooked today, or at least not put into practice. Let us keep in mind that “Thou shalt not…” is a language of love. “God forbids only those things which are against our own good,” as St. Thomas Aquinas writes.

The virtue of justice

Justice is the constant intention to give each person what he or she has a right to expect. This is what St. Paul is talking about when he writes to the Romans (13:7-8), “Pay to all their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, toll to whom toll is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another.”

Sins against justice that are prominent today include unfair wages, price fixing, tax evasion, business fraud and over-billing. Temptations towards these sins occur especially among the more affluent members of society. Ironically, the more we have, the more tempted we are to cheat to obtain still more. The religious vow of poverty makes great sense in light of this reality. The temptation to such white-collar crimes is perhaps greater for us in America today because great economic focus and prosperity easily blind us to personal covetousness and these forms of stealing.

Other prominent sins against justice that we must guard against in our lives include laziness on the job, stealing from one’s employer, not putting in a full day’s work for a full day’s pay, and deliberately damaging public or private property.

Gambling, too, can easily lead to injustice. In this regard, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states (#2413), “Games of chance or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement.” Even when gambling doesn’t deprive a person’s own family of food or other basic needs, excessive gambling is an offense against the poor, for whom those blest with resources have an obligation in justice, not only in charity.

A Living Wage

At a time when a great many people work for companies or institutions or other employers at some determined wage, it is good to think seriously about the ethical principles that govern just wages.

Services, like things, can be bought and sold. However, the persons who perform the services, the workers themselves, cannot be bought and sold. Workers are not to be treated as property (which is of course what’s wrong with slavery). Their human dignity and their rights must be respected in determining a fair price for services rendered. This fair price is often referred to as a “living wage.”

Concern for a living wage reaches far back in history. Already in the Old Testament, we find strong language condemning unjust wages. For example, in the Book of Sirach, the Lord says that failing to pay a worker what is his due could amount to murder (Sir 34:22), “He slays his neighbor who deprives him of his living; he sheds blood who denies the laborer his wages.”

What is a living wage? The criteria for a living wage need to include more than merely the law of supply and demand. Wages should be sufficient for workers to support themselves and their families. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church presents the following helpful guideline (#250): “There can be several different ways to make a family wage a concrete reality. Various forms of important social provisions help to bring it about, for example, family subsidies and other contributions for dependent family members, and also remuneration for the domestic work done in the home by one of the parents.”

What is needed, then, is an attitude of constant watchfulness by employers. This is a duty especially towards those employees who are married with children. The employer must ask himself, “Can those who work for me support their families adequately?” “Is their work here an aid in their parental duty to be open to life and to educate their children?” The Christian employer, thinking through these questions, has a different perspective than the prevailing business culture might encourage or the market seem to demand. But he or she can thereby be a force for the good of the family. This is a great calling and responsibility.

Stewardship

In the Old Testament, numerous statutes give concrete application to the Seventh Commandment and to the virtue of justice, especially as these relate to our duties towards the poor. These include the obligation to tithe and numerous provisions calling us to assist widows, orphans and the needy (E.G. Deut 15:11, Am 8:4ff).

Jesus, who came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to bring them to completion, identifies Himself with those in greatest need (Cf. Mt 25:31-46). He also urges us to move far beyond thinking that tithing 10 percent to God completes our obligation in justice to the Lord and to others. Notice His emphasis on “all” when He speaks about love (Mt 22:37f), “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind… You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Christian stewardship builds on the Seventh Commandment and upon the virtue of justice; above all, it responds to Jesus’ two great commandments of love. A key part of faithful stewardship is expressed succinctly in one of the Precepts of the Church. The Catechism puts it this way (CCC #2043), “The fifth precept (‘You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church’) means that the faithful are obliged to assist with the material needs of the Church, each according to his own ability.”

Support for the Church is one part of being a faithful steward; it is an obligation and a matter of justice. While Christian stewardship goes beyond tithing and generous financial support of the Church’s mission, nonetheless, faithful monetary giving to the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, is an important part of being a true follower of Christ.

Pope Benedict XVI shows us the connection between stewardship and love in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est (#19-20), “The entire activity of the Church is an expression of a love… Love is therefore the service that the Church carries out in order to attend constantly to man’s sufferings and his needs, including material needs. Love of neighbor, grounded in the love of God, is first and foremost a responsibility for each individual member of the faithful, but it is also a responsibility for the entire ecclesial community at every level: from the local community to the particular Church and to the Church universal in its entirety. As a community, the Church must practice love.”