Download Chapter 16 – The Seventh and Tenth

The Seventh and Tenth Commandments
You shall not steal: You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods
Chapter 16
1. God destined the earth and all it contains for all men and all peoples so that created things
would be shared fairly by all mankind under the guidance of justice tempered by charity.
a. No matter what the structures of property are in different peoples (countries, regions,
communities, etc.), according to various and changing circumstances and adapted to
their lawful institutions.
b. We must never lose sight of this universal destination of earthly goods.
i. Man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as
exclusive to himself but common to others also.
ii. In the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself.
c. Private property or some form of ownership of external goods assures a person a highly
necessary sphere for the exercise of his personal and family autonomy and ought to be
considered as an extension of human freedom.
2. Catholic teaching has always maintained the right of individuals to own private property.
3. Some questions to ask:
a. What is the relationship of humans to the material goods of this world?
b. How does one maintain a balance between private ownership of goods and the
demands of Christian charity?
4. Introduction
a. Catholic social teaching from Leo XIII through John Paul II, has been a cry for justice in
the economic and moral wilderness of modern society.
i. Economic systems must serve the common good.
ii. Social progress is possible only on the basis of sound moral principles.
b. Both the human person and the family have priority over the state with the state
existing to serve the family and person.
c. Individual and private initiatives should be encouraged as the best way of producing
wealth.
i. Morality must supersede pure competition in decisions concerning the
distribution of goods
d. The Church has a right to make judgments regarding social and economic matters when
it is a question of fundamental rights or the salvation of souls.
i. The achievement of the common good in this life is directly related to the quest
for eternal life.
e. Property must always be used in accordance with what best serves the common good
i. Wages should be sufficient for the support of a family.
1. In order that people may have the opportunity to dedicate themselves
wholly to the rearing and education of their children.
ii. Human beings have a fundamental right to form and act through their own
private associations unobstructed by the power of the state
1. The resources of human labor must be recognized and protected as
more valuable and more important than capital or material resources.
f. Social actions should be carried out at the appropriate level
i. Where possible, the individual should act on behalf of himself or others:
1. Through his work
2. Through his family
3. Through the local community
ii. The principle of subsidiarity states that the function of lower levels of society
should not be usurped by higher levels except when necessary
5. Biblical doctrine concerning human relations to material things
a. God created the world and its multitude of things and variety of animals.
b. He gave everything to man, so that he may lord over it.
c. God explains that the purpose of created things is that they are destined for the use and
service of humanity
d. Genesis narrates the superiority and dominion of humans over all of creation using
figurative language.
6. The universal destiny of created goods
a. Genesis contains at least five truths regarding the intimate relationship that the Father
establishes between humans and exterior reality:
i. Human authority over the rest of creation is indicated by the fact that men
“gave them their names”.
ii. The purpose of the world’s material resources is to serve humanity.
iii. People can be served by all things, but our dominion is not absolute.
1. We can use them
2. We must also protect and develop them
iv. Created goods are destined for all people, not only for some of them.
v. Our dominion over creation cannot be separated from moral obligations in
regards to the use of goods.
1. This extends to future generations
7. The right to property
a. The Bible also indicates that every person must have access to the basics
i. Food
ii. Clothing
iii. Shelter
b. By the right to private property, each person has the right to possess things as one’s
own.
i. This right is founded on human nature itself:
1. As rational beings, we are able to plan our future
a. We need the security the possession of things offers us
2. Man is a free being
a. Freedom demands that we possess the basic necessities as our
own.
b. If we did not, we would not have the minimum necessary to
enable us to work out our salvation
3. Family life would be notably difficult if the family did not possess things
to satisfy the innumerable and unforeseen needs that must be met
4. A person is not property
a. The Father made us free
b. Every social system that would enslave people by whatever
means is to be condemned
5. Work needs to be equitably compensated.
a. One has the right and duty to claim the fruit of his work as his
own.
8. The universal destiny of goods and the right to private property
a. Catholic morality has always taught that possessions are created by God to help every
person.
b. This is called the social function of property and is a part of the common good.
c. The 7th commandment requires that the use of earthly goods and the fruits of people’s
labor must always be joined to justice and charity.
i. The human is the author, center and goal of all economic life.
d. One must ask which of the two principles (the right to own property or the social
function of private property) is more important
i. The Church teaches the concept of stewardship
1. To remind people that the Father did not give him an absolute right to
use goods as he sees fit
2. We are responsible for the use of goods
ii. The natural right to private property is subordinate to the social function of
property.
1. When there is a dispute between private property and its social
function, the social principle prevails over the private
2. The Father created goods for the use of all people
3. When only some people possess many goods and make it impossible for
the majority of people to live in dignity, the Father’s plan is not fulfilled.
e. The state can intervene so that private property does not oppose the common good
i. The state can claim some goods as special interest for the public.
ii. The right of eminent domain
1. The government can claim private property
a. With appropriate payment to the owner
b. Because of a legitimate and overriding public concern.
9. The social doctrine of the Church
a. A new moral science was begun to address serious social problems which appeared
because of industrialization and poor working conditions
i. Rerum Novarum is considered the first piece of the teaching on social doctrine
ii. Centisimus Annus (John Paul II) is the latest encyclical on social; doctrine
iii. The teaching regarding social life, economics, and politics of all peoples
continues to be the object of attention
b. The social doctrine of the Church covers:
i. Work
ii. Just wages
iii. Private property and its social function
iv. The right to belong to associations
1. Labor unions
v. The defense of justice
vi. The morality of strikes
vii. The social function of economics
viii. Political life
c. True development concerns the whole of creation.
d. The Father wishes all to participate in the goods of creation in accordance with justice
and charity.
10. The duty of Christians to participate in public life
a. Christians are obligated to take an active part in social life
i. We live in community with others
ii. Christ’s universal redemption
b. Christian moral conduct id not concerned only with purely individual acts.
i. It requires participation and collaboration in public activity
ii. Different dimensions of social life are fulfilled and they follow the ethical
demands contained in the Gospel
1. Politics
2. Economics
3. Law
c. We frequently recognize our sins which result from individual or interpersonal actions
but ignore the relation of pour acts to society.
i. This individual ethic has been rejected by Vatican II
d. The mission of Christians is to convey the spirit of the Gospel in public life.
11. International solidarity
a. The problems of one nation or continent affect the rest of the world
i. Rapidity of communications
ii. Economic relations
b. Catholic morality underlines the ethical rights and duties necessary for the international
solidarity of different peoples and cultures.
i. Those with greater wealth and goods should contribute out of their excess to
programs that will reduce the excessive social and economic inequalities that
are often sinful in nature.
12. Respect for nature: Ecology
a. Ecology when taken from the Greek, and deals with protecting the residence in which
human life is developed\
b. If one must respect another’s goods, one must respect nature and animals.
i. This is a consequence of the universal destiny of goods for the use of people.
c. Since the environment is the world common to all people, it should be respected.
i. Some ecological interpretations are exaggerated since they forget a basic
principle:
1. Mineral as well as plant and animal resources are at the service of
humanity
2. People can make use of them, but may not abuse them
3. One cannot use things at his own caprice, destroying nature or
mistreating animals
13. “Do not steal”: Respect for private property
a. Theft is the taking of another’s goods against his reasonable best wishes
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
i. To do unjust damage to property
ii. Remove street signs
iii. Refuse to pay just wages
iv. Cheat others through pricing
v. Charge excessive interest
One may also break the 7th commandment by:
i. Not paying back what is owed
ii. Spending more of someone else’s money than is necessary
iii. Not doing honest work
iv. Failing to fulfill a business contract
Robbery, which is taking property by force adds additional malice to stealing
Damage to goods may involve either private or state property
i. All who effectively cooperate in doing damage are obliged to make restitution
The CCC proposes the following are contrary to the moral law and requires reparation:
i. Speculation in which one contrives to manipulate the price of goods artificially
to gain an advantage to the detriment of others
ii. Corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make
decisions according to law
iii. Appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of an
enterprise
iv. Work poorly done
v. Tax evasion
vi. Forgery of checks and invoices
vii. Excessive expenses and waste
viii. Willfully damaging private or public property
There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the
universal destination of goods.
i. This is the case in obvious and urgent necessity when the only way to provide
for immediate, essential needs (food, shelter, clothing,. . . ) is to put at one’s
disposal and use the property of others.
14. You shall not covet
a. The sinful desire for the goods of others
b. Forbids:
i. Avarice – the passionate desire for riches that leads one to use money to control
others
ii. Greed - the desire for earthly goods without limit
iii. Envy – Unhappiness at the sight of another’s good fortune
c. The cure for these sins is to love poverty of spirit
i. That virtue leads one to accept the goods of this life as on loan from God in the
expectation that one will have to give an account before the Father at the
conclusion of life.
15. Restitution
a. Refers to the obligation to return things to the state in which they were before theft,
damage, or robbery.
b. Restitution must be made for all sins against justice
16. Conclusion
a. The social doctrine of the Church is a moral teaching, not a desired technical response to
problems in social life and politics.
b. The Church proposes that these teachings on human life is twofold:
i. The human person’s dignity
ii. The human person’s social nature
c. Everyone was created in the image and likeness of God, requiring that his or her dignity
be respected.