by Joan Mitchell, CSJ
Many people have ready plans for what they will do if they win the lottery. Help my children buy decent homes or find safe apartments. Pay off the mortgage. Put in central heating and cooling. Support a school in the developing world. Pay off college loans. Take a cruise. Quit work. Set up scholarships for kids who need a chance. Buy a car that runs. Start my own business, so I never again lose a job.
An economics professor invited me to talk about the principles of Catholic social teaching in her class. The first two principles are foundational—the human person is sacred, made in God’s image, and social, unable to thrive without others in family and community. People widely support the teaching that every person has basic rights to food, water, shelter, health care, education — the necessities of life — and corresponding duties to provide these for all.
However, for us who live in a capitalist economy that emphasizes the individual, the principles of solidarity and option for the poor are countercultural. We may not see ourselves as our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. To opt for the poor among us, to lift up the lowest and least, and refuse to leave people out may seem too communitarian.
In the economics class an adult student raised her hand and observed, “It’s no sin to be as rich as you can be.” I disagreed. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis calls us to change our lifestyles because we are consuming Earth’s resources at levels that cannot be universalized (#50).
“The natural environment is a collective good, the patrimony of all humanity and the responsibility of everyone,” Pope Francis writes. He quotes the bishops of New Zealand, who ask “what the commandment ‘Thou shall not kill’ means when ‘twenty percent of the world’s population consumes resources at a rate that robs the poor nations and future generations of what they need to survive?’” (#95).
Luke raises similar questions about wealth in Sunday’s gospel. How much is enough? What is wealth for?
- Which of the principles of Catholic social teaching would you support with your lottery winnings?