ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT

On Private Property
Business Institutions and Justice
Economic sins
CST Solar System
Learning Outcomes:

1. Understand the ethical dimension of

economy;
2. Recognize the right to private
property;
3. Consider the relationship in business
and justice
Ethical dimension
of Economy

Scope and obligation

 Economy

– It is an effort to meet the material needs of

the human person in a safe and sustainable
way.
– This includes the production, distribution,
and consumption of goods and services.
 Goal of Economy

– The origin and the end of the entire economy

is the human person.
– To render goods and services that all human
beings need for survival and development that
God desires for them
 Economy should…

safe and sustainable way.

survival and development.
 Goal of Economy

– In economic life human dignity must be

respected and promoted, as must be the
person’s vocation to development and the
common good of society as a whole (CSDC 334,
346, 375; GS 63).
 Who is responsible?

safe and sustainable way.

survival and development.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

– Development cannot be limited solely to an increase in

consumption or economic growth, but should include the
integral development of the whole person.
– “Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing
Human
wealth and improving our world.” (Laudato Si (LS) 129).
– “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt 6:24). MONEY
IS NOT ANPerson
END OR IDOL BUT A MERE MEANS OF LIVING.
 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

– The most important goal in life cannot be to

accumulate material riches; it is, rather, to love God
above all else, and to contribute with love to the
development of people and society.
– Depending on a person’s individual calling, one way of
doing this can be through a vocation to business (CSDC
326)
On Private Property

– Everyone has a natural right to the fruits of his

labor and the means to achieve these fruits.
– This right to private property creates individual
freedom by granting material independence,
promotes hard work, and clarifies what belongs
to whom, thereby contributing to shared
prosperity and social peace.
On Private Property

– Government should foster cooperation in “small

units;’ such as the family, firms, and local
communities, without replacing them, but rather
allowing them to fulfill their duties by their own
efforts as much as possible.
– State should act according to the principle of
solidarity and protect the most vulnerable (CSDC
336-337, 351-355; LS 129).
Business Institutions and Justice

– A business or firm is a unit of production that

includes people, equipment, locations, money,
etc.; but, above all, a firm is a “society of
persons” (CA 43)
– A business must serve people by producing goods
or providing services that are truly good and
useful (CSDC 338; CA 43).
Economic Sin

-In the economic life, one must be especially aware

of greed, corruption, and all forms of injustice such
as theft, fraud, usury, exploitation, etc. (CCC 2408-
2414).
Economic Sin

- We act with justice by giving the other what is rightfully her.

In the economy, this consists primarily in the faithful
fulfillment of contracts, respecting agreements, the punctual
delivery of goods in good condition, and making payments
within the stipulated time. In order to be just, contracts must
be free, that is, be entered into without deceit, fear, or
coercion. (CCC2411).
Economic Sin

-The economy is not a heartless machine that

functions according to mechanical laws, but a
meeting and exchange between people who are
responsible for one another (CSDC 204-208)
 In Summary!

summary of a Catholic Social Teaching (CST) view of development might be: it is not

limited to economic growth but is holistic, covering all spheres of life – the economic,
political, cultural, personal and spiritual. It should promote the dignity of the human
person and the common good. It is a transition from less human conditions to more
human ones and is, in Pope Paul VI’s phrase, “the new name for peace”3. Peace is not
just the cessation of violence but intimately linked to justice – in Second Vatican
Council parlance, it is an “enterprise of justice”4. The poorest should have priority and
they should be the subjects of their own development, not the object of someone
else’s idea of how they should be developed.
 In Summary!

That requires maximum participation by the poor and vulnerable in all

decisions and programs affecting their community. Subsidiarity should be
a way of promoting initiative. The right to development in CST is based on
“unity of origin and a shared destiny of the human family, equality
between every person and every community based on human dignity, the
universal destination of the Earth’s goods, the notion of development as
‘integral human development’ and the centrality of the human person
and solidarity”5.
On Peace
 On Peace

– Peace is an expression of the fullness of life that is given to

us by Jesus as a gift.
– Peace therefore goes beyond the mere absence of war; it is
life saved unto fullness by the mystery of Christ.
 On Peace

Flourishing society
is founded on
peace.
Every state aims
for, and maintain
peace as an
essential condition
to its function and
wellbeing.
On Peace
– To counter the threat to peace made by
political tensions, war, and terrorism the
Church calls us to forgiveness and moves
us to work for peace on the individual,
societal, and international levels.
– Peace is the fruit of justice and love as
concretized in reconciliation and
forgiveness between persons, tribes,
regions, institutions, societies and nations.
On Peace
– Peace is a great good and a
universal duty founded on an
ordering of society that has its
roots in God Himself, and is
based on God Himself who
manifests justice and charity.
On Peace

– Violence that is unjust force is

never a means to achieving
peace(CSDC 494-496).
– The Bible teaches us that where
there is violence, God cannot be
present (cf. 1 Chr 22:8-9)
On Peace
– God has established peace as the goal of life in society
(CSDC 488-490).
– The promise of peace that runs through the entire Old
Testament finds its fulfillment in the person of Jesus.
Jesus “is our peace” (Eph 2:14).
– He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility
among people, reconciling them with God (cf. Eph
2:14-16).
– Jesus gives a peace that the world cannot give (cf. Jn
14:27; CSDC 491-493).
On Peace

– Even in the case of a just defense,

however, war is “the failure of all
true humanism: it is always a
defeat for humanity’”(CSDC 497).
– It is therefore better not to speak
of a “just war” but of the just
defense of peace (CSDC 497-500).
On Peace
– The legitimate military defense of the state
should justify and must be at the service of
peace.
– Those who defend the security and freedom of
a country, in such a spirit, make an authentic
contribution to peace”(CSDC 502).
– “The international community as a whole has
the moral obligation to intervene on behalf of
those groups whose very survival is threatened
or whose basic human rights are seriously
violated” (CSDC 506).
On Peace
– The Church demands the total elimination of anti-
personnel landmines and of all other weapons
that inflict excessively traumatic injury or that
strike indiscriminately. She also demands that the
use of children and adolescents as soldiers in
armed conflicts be stopped(CSDC 510-512).
– -“another name for peace is development”(CSDC
498, quoting CA 52).
On Peace
– “The promotion of peace in the world
is an integral part of the Church’s
mission of continuing Christ’s work of
redemption on earth. In fact, the
Church is, in Christ, a “‘sacrament’ or
sign and instrument of peace in the
world and for the world”(CSDC 516).