Living the Worthy Life: A Warning From Bishop Fulton Sheen on Communism and Social Justice

Today’s politicians throw around terms like Free College, Free Medicare For All, and Guaranteed Annual Income. All of these sound in theory very good, and they loosely fall into the category of Social Justice. And who would be against the idea of Social Justice? Should not all people believe in Social Justice? In fact, Social Justice is not part of the Catholic Church. The truth is rather surprising here.

The ‘Social Justice’ called for by 21st advocates is not the social justice called for by the Holy Bible or the early Church. The Social Justice of the 21st Century replaces God with government. Our central focus on this Earth is not to make this place heaven on Earth; our central focus should be to live on Earth so that we may live in heaven for the rest of eternity. To shortchange a forever for a temporary fix is no fix at all – it is an unmitigated disaster of the greatest order. 

Bishop Fulton Sheen explained it this way:

“Never will we be able to understand our times if we naively 'think' of this system of self-Government as the work of a few gangsters or the creation of a pack of criminals we call a political party. The appeal of Socialism, Fascism, and communism was principally negative; they were protests against a live and let live anything goes liberalism, a spineless indifference to causes, a failure to recognize that nothing was evil enough to hate, and nothing was good enough to die for.”

He added that Communism is the final logic of the dehumanization of man:

“The industrial civilization of the Western world has no intent to destroy man's freedom or to deny his personality. But Communism does. Denying God, it reduces man to a robot.”

Do you want to be a robot and receive damnation forever?  Is this ‘Social Justice’? Is this right or correct at any level? Truly, Communism is an aggressive religion of the species. It is designed to replace God, free the masses from their Mass, and to pull a massive misinterpretation on what is socially just for everyone.

More than 70 years ago, Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote about this:

“But the reforms of communism are wrong, because they are inspired by the very errors they combat. Communism begins with the liberal and capitalistic error that man is economic, and, instead of correcting it, merely intensifies it until man becomes a robot in a vast economic machine. There is a closer relation between communism and monopolistic capitalism than most minds suspect. They are agreed on the materialistic basis of civilization; they disagree only on who shall control that basis, capitalists or bureaucrats. . .Capitalistic economy is godless; communism makes economics God. It is Divinity itself. Capitalism denies that economics is subject to a higher moral order. Communism says that economics is morality." 

 This happens, Sheen explains, because “communizing property does not do away with social injustice; it only transfers opportunities for its debasement into fewer hands.”

One of the greatest talks on this subject appeared on the Catholic Hour on Feb. 9, 1947.  Truman was President, and the United States was facing a threat of Communism from Russia and Eastern Europe. Neither China, North Korea nor Vietnam were Communist yet, and most Americans thought that Communism was far away from our country. How quickly things have changed in the past almost 74 years!

Bishop Fulton Sheen spoke to listeners of NBC’s The Catholic Hour that day:

“Though Communism has millions of followers, hangers-on and fellow travelers throughout the world, there are actually only a few outside the Communist leaders themselves who know anything about its philosophy.  Many think that Communism is just an economic theory of production for the use rather than profit:  others believe it to be a defense of the worker and the disinherited, which indeed if it were, we would all be Communists.  Others believe it is a form of collectivism as opposed to the individualism of the Western World. 

Basically, Communism is none of these things.  Rather it is a complete philosophy of life, what the Germans called a Weltanschauung, an integral comprehension of the world different to all other secular systems in that it seeks not to dominate only the periphery of life but to control man’s inner life as well.  Communism has a theory and a practice; it wishes to be not only a State but a church judging the consciences of men; it is a doctrine of salvation and as such claims the whole man, body and soul, and in this sense is totalitarian.”

Brother and Sisters, Communism is not Social Justice.  Communism is not the answer.  Communism’s goal is to replace God with government, replace free choice with no choice, and to bring a level of equality to all people that is equally bad. 

Imagine, if you can, the government telling you when and how you can worship; the government telling you when Churches can and cannot be open; the government telling you that your purpose on earth is to create ‘Social Justice’ for all, and then delivering nothing to no one.  This is Communism.  This is what Bishop Fulton Sheen saw almost 75 years ago, and this is what his haunting words are telling us today. 

We, as Catholics, need to listen before it is too late.  If we do not listen now, the future will be much worse for all of us.  It is our duty to the Church and our Country.