Socialism vs Catholic Teachings

One of the most common discussions that are taking place in the public square today concerns socialism. On the surface, socialism sounds like—in large part—a fulfillment of Catholic social teachings, which is a good thing. To a great extent, we tend to think of socialism in terms of equality among peoples of a society without fully understanding its implications and unintended consequences.

Socialism, by simple definition, is a political and social policy for the equal sharing of goods within a society as deemed appropriate by a governing body over that society. These goods include physical and intellectual properties, resources and wealth. The management of these goods becomes the responsibility of the government and requires obedience of the populous to the secular laws that support socialism. It should be noted that obedience to the secular laws that are needed to implement socialism may—at times—supersede and be contrary the laws of God.

There are issues that arise when one tries to reconcile the teachings of the Church in support of socialism. George. M Searle, C.S.P. writes:

“…the fundamental idea of Socialism is absolutely erroneous, and contradictory to Catholic teaching. And that idea is, that morality is a matter entirely in the jurisdiction of mankind, instead of being subject to the law of God that it rests on and can be determined by popular vote.” [Why the Catholic Church Cannot Accept Socialism, https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=2942]

The foundation of our Catholic faith is based upon the revelations given to us by Jesus Christ and His Apostles. By theology—just as theorems are derived from axioms and preceding theorems in mathematics—the Church expands her teachings and understandings from revelations and preceding teachings through a process generically called jurisprudence.

In this instance and based upon the teachings of the Church, it is the responsibility of each individual to give (i.e., time, talent and treasure) to the poor and impoverished in order to fulfill God’s mandates concerning acts of charity. These responsibilities cannot simply be transferred from an individual to the state. This is one of the underlying reasons why Pope Leo XIII, in Rerum novarum, supports private property rights. Specifically, an individual—by his own free will—can give to the poor and impoverished from his own acquired goods. It is important to realize that when we give alms and tithes from our own goods it is not because God needs them; we need to give to help us release ourselves from materialism that can negatively impact our higher calling of spirituality. Moreover, alms and tithes help us fulfill our responsibility to help our fellow man, and to fulfill the 5^th precept of the Catholic Church.

A fundamental question is; how is someone to acquire goods? The answer is by working within the framework of a financial economy that exists to serve the workers. The workers are not there to serve the economy as is the case under socialism. The concept of working within a financial economy is addressed by a Catholic Social teaching is called “The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers” (http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/the-dignity-of-work-and-the-rights-of-workers.cfm). The underlying point is that there is dignity in work. Associatively, the Catechism states:

CCC 2428  In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the potential inscribed in his nature. The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and its beneficiary. Work is for man, not man for work. Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving the human community.

The concept of work is scripturally based as well. Specifically—we read in Genesis 2:15—after God had created Adam, but before the fall—in Hebrew “abad shamar.” Abad means “to work or serve” and Shamar means “to guard or protect.” In short, God directs Adam to work in order to maintain (e.g., tilling) the Garden of Eden and to protect it.

Socialism takes away the dignity of the worker because it takes away the means of providing for one’s own life, one’s own family and personal service to the community. Associatively, socialism takes away freedom because it breeds dependence upon the government to provide goods on a commonly assumed even distribution rather than on individual need.

With respect to socialism, Pope Leo XIII wrote:

“Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonwealth. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property.” (Rerum novarum, # 15, 1891)

Please keep in mind that the Catholic Church does not condemn socialism as it exists in some religious communities. This is the case because “everyone” in those communities, by their own free-will, has chosen to live within a socialistic environment. In short, socialism was not forced upon them.

The contrasting economic system to socialism is capitalism. However, it is important to keep in mind that the Church does reject unrestricted capitalism. Unrestricted capitalism can result in amoral behavior. Therefore, the role of the government—with respect to capitalism—is to constrain amoral behavior and ensure equal opportunity to all participates without unduly limiting their free-will in activities associated with the acquisition of goods; support of one’s self, family and community; and the performance of charitable acts.

Lastly, the Church does support continuous charitable giving to the chronically indigent and those that clearly cannot work and rely—out of necessity—upon assistance. There may also be too large of a need (i.e., hurricane relief) for any one group other than the government—with its large resources—to give assistance.

In summation and in general, socialism is contrary to Catholic teachings and should be rejected. This rejection is necessary for man to fulfill his obligations concerning his acts of charity. Moreover, charitable actions can only be performed if man has the goods to perform such acts which he acquires through his work.