Business, Faith, and the Common Good

1. Business, Faith, and the Common Good

2. Business as a Vocation Business is a vocation, and a noble vocation, provided that those engaged in it see themselves challenged by a greater meaning in life. . . Pope Francis, Evangelii gaudium, 203

3. Business as a Vocation . . . this will enable them truly to serve the common good by striving to increase the goods of this world and to make them more accessible to all. Pope Francis, Evangelii gaudium, 203

4. What the Common Good Is Not “The sum total of the good of all individuals” Two problems: Overly individualistic Overlooks the marginalized

5. What Is the Common Good? Two dimensions: 1) The common conditions of social life 2) The attainment of the good life by all, at least to a minimum degree Virgil Michel, O.S.B.

6. The Question How are business, the common good, and the Catholic view of “greater meaning in life” related to each other?

7. The plan for this lecture • Four questions everyone answers in relating economic activityto “greater meaning in life” • How the Catholic traditionanswers those questions

8. The Moral Ecology of Markets Laws structuring markets The provision of essential goods & services The morality of persons & organizations Civil society

9. Laws Structuring Markets Laws limit what is allowed in economic life Critics complain about “government regulation” but governments define markets by determining their rules.

10. Three Advantages We can’t live without markets. There are no “free” markets. Governments don’t “intervene” in markets.

11. The Moral Ecology of Markets Laws structuring markets The provision of essential goods & services

12. Essential Goods and Services

13. The Moral Ecology of Markets Laws structuring markets The provision of essential goods & services The morality of persons & organizations

14. Morality and Markets “The crisis in the financial sector was in essence a collapse of trust in economic institutions.” Catholic Bishops of England and Wales

15. Firms Fined by the SEC Wells Fargo UBS Securities Bank Atlantic Bank of America Capital One KCAP Financial Commonwealth Bankshares Oppenheimer State Street TD Ameritrade Stifel, Nicolaus Credit Suisse Securities Franklin Bank Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac IndyMac Bancorp New Century Option One Mortgage Corp Bear Stearns Morgan Keegan Citigroup Commonwealth Advisors Goldman Sachs J.P. Morgan Wachovia Capital Charles Schwab American Home Mortgage ICP Asset Management Mizuho Securities

16. The Moral Ecology of Markets Laws structuring markets The provision of essential goods & services The morality of persons & organizations Civil society

17. Civil Society

18. The Moral Ecology of Markets Laws structuring markets The provision of essential goods & services The morality of persons & organizations Civil society

19. A Just Economy? If you judge that all four elements of the moral ecology of markets are well-structured, you will judge the economy to be just.

20. How to Decide? Requires both 1) Moral judgments: What should happen? 2) Empirical judgments: What will happen if we try achieve “what should happen”?

21. Catholic Social Thought • Consider the history of Christian perspectives on economic life. • What does that history mean for economic life today?

22. The moral ecology of markets 1. Juridical framework for markets “The market should be appropriately controlled by the forces of society and by the State, so as to guarantee that the basic needs of the whole society are satisfied.” John Paul II, Centesimusannus, #68

23. Market as Cultural Creation It must be remembered that the market does not exist in the pure state. It is shaped by the cultural configurations which define it and give it direction. Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate, 36

24. Social Structures & Sin “The Church's wisdom has always pointed to the presence of original sin in social conditions and in the structure of society.” Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate, 34

25. The moral ecology of markets 2. Communal provision of essential goods and services “It is a strict duty of justice and truth not to allow fundamental human needs to remain unsatisfied.” John Paul II, Centesimus, p. 67

26. Gleaning Laws

27. The earth belongs to all, and not simply to the rich. When you give to the poor man, you are paying back, therefore, your debt; you are not giving gratuitously what you do not owe. - Ambrose of Milan The Early Church

28. The first principle of the whole ethical and social order: The principle of the Common Use of Goods Also know as the “Universal Destination of Goods” or the “Social Mortgage” on property - John Paul II Property Ownership

29. Leave It to Private Charity? This state of things was quite satisfactory to the wealthy, who looked upon it as the consequence of inevitable and natural economic laws, and who, therefore, were content to abandon to charity alone the full care of relieving the unfortunate, as though it were the task of charity to make amends for the open violation of justice, a violation not merely tolerated, but sanctioned at times by legislators. Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo anno 4

30. Wages . . . are still the practical means whereby the vast majority of people can have access to those goods which are intended for common use. John Paul II, Laboremexercens, #19 Wages & Work

31. The justice of a socioeconomic system . . . deserves in the final analysis to be evaluated by the way in which man's work is properly remunerated in the system. Pope John Paul II, Laboremexercens, #19 The Importance of Wages

32. Ownership of the means of production . . . is just and legitimate if it serves useful work. It becomes illegitimate, however, when it is not utilized or when it serves to impede the work of others, in an effort to gain a profit which is not the result of the overall expansion of work and the wealth of society. Pope John Paul II, Centesimusannus, 43 Business Must Serve Work

33. The moral ecology of markets • 3. The morality of individuals and groups “All that people do to obtain greater justice, wider brotherhood, and a more humane ordering of social relationships has greater worth than technical advance. For these advances can supply the material for human progress, but of themselves alone they can never actually bring it about.” Pope John Paul II, LaboremExercens, #42

34. The moral ecology of markets 4. A vibrant civil society

35. The Subjectivity of Society • The social nature of man is not completely fulfilled in the State, but is realized in various intermediary groups, beginning with the family and including economic, social, political and cultural groups which stem from human nature itself and have their own autonomy, always with a view to the common good. This is what I have called the “subjectivity” of society. Pope John Paul II, Centesimusannus13 & 46

36. Love and Justice “Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace.” Pope Benedict XVI

37. A Final Question How is working to improve institutions – businesses, government, etc – related to “more fundamental” elements of Christian faith, like the Nicene Creed?

38. Improving Social Structures “This is the institutional path — we might also call it the political path — of charity, no less excellent and effective than the kind of charity which encounters the neighbor directly.” Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate, # 7

39. Business as a Vocation “Man's earthly activity, when inspired and sustained by charity, contributes to the building of the universal city of God.” Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate, # 7

40. Comments? Questions?