How our Church Fails to Uphold Human Dignity

Note: I've learned that Ramon Tulio is a literary device by a blogger to humorously discuss Catholic Social Teaching. I've decided to leave this interaction up because it is reflective of interactions I've had with real people in various areas of social justice, from Pax Christi to a real professor at Regis University. However, I will not knowing engage in dialogue with fictional persona. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Thank you, Ironic Catholic, for the chance to have a hearty laugh at myself! Grin.
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Kudos to Professor Ramon Tulio for teaching Catholic Social Teaching via the Ironic Catholic. We need more of that. Unfortunately, Professor Tulio does not stick to Catholic Social Teaching, but throws in poor logic and reasoning. Referring to the financial crisis that came to a near boiling point last week, he says:

"And capitalism without much regulation--as it has been practiced in the past handful of years--has clearly hurt many families and communities, and has played havoc with workers' rights. Wall Street just had a big mammon orgy and now we're all going to pay...and many have been "paying" for years, inside the United States and out."

Where to start? First, I make some presumptions on knowledge of Catholic Social Teaching, which can be found here. Also, the Compendium of Social Doctrine of the Church may be helpful.

"Capitalism without much regulation." Really? Compared to what? Many economists argue we have far too much regulation, that the government's role is to create safe boundaries and make sure everyone plays by the rules inside those boundaries, and stop regulating anything else.

Catholic social teaching gives us four primary principles: human dignity, which is upheld through mutual, synergistic application of the common good,  subsidiarity, and solidarity. Often theologians say we need to uphold the common good, as if it is the preeminent principle of the four. It's not. Human dignity is what we need to uphold.

Every time government takes more power to itself, we have to look toward the principle of subsidiarity. Is government usurping a role and responsibility that can legitimately be done elsewhere? Rather than running to government as the answer, Catholic social teaching urges us to strongly question what is truly necessary for government to do. In today's economic climate we ought to be asking just what roles and responsibilities has the government wrongly taken to itself? 

"Capitalism ... has clearly hurt many families and communities." This is utterly false. Capitalism is simply a means for individuals to freely negotiate the exchange of goods and services. Capitalism hasn't hurt anybody. People sinning has hurt many families and communities, most often their own. Think of it this way: if two people met in the foyer of your parish, shook hands, and then one mugged the other, would you blame the foyer? No. Would the police need to step in and regulate who comes in? No. You'd blame the mugger's choice to mug and request the government do it's proper job of enforcing the law by arresting and prosecuting the perpetrator.

We would be wise to note that while capitalism is a neutral system of economics, which in itself does not infringe upon human dignity (and indeed affords it tremendous opportunity to be upheld), socialism inherently undermines human dignity because it's very tenets usurp the rights and privileges of individuals and families, including right to the fruit of one's labor and private ownership. Socialism is inherently inhuman, and thus inherently evil.

"Capitalism ... has played havoc with worker's rights." Again, really? It's against worker's rights to have the freedom to negotiate work for wealth? Or to move anywhere they wish, train in any area they wish, push and sacrifice to support their family by any moral means possible? Because that's what capitalism offers. The justice of capitalism isn't that every job affords a just wage (whatever that is in application) or the perfect schedule. The justice of capitalism is that every job offers the dignity of freedom to choose, and that choice always and everywhere includes the option to strive for more and better.

Our Failure as a Church

As a Church, we fail to understand our role to help people overcome their poverty, whatever that may be. We have to do a better job of increasing our moral authority so our voice helps shape the morality of those who do business. We have to do a better job of striving to remove barriers between people and their ability to obtain the job they want and are capable of. We would do well to understand our own social teaching and learn from the tremendous wisdom it offers us. We would also do well to better understand capitalism and economics.

To the extent that we advocate actions which undermine subsidiarity and thus human dignity (often in the name of upholding the common good), and the the extent to which we fail to help remove the many and various poverties which prevent us and others from achieving our fullest human potential, we contribute to the failing and suffering of our economy and society. Of course until the Second Coming, we will continue to fail, but perhaps we can get better at failing less.