This means that private ownership of the means of production is not restricted to capitalism and can
also exist in the context of a cooperative economic system (cooperative market). Joint planning by
private owners in the interest of the community is, in fact, a “middle way” between a command
economy such as socialism, which involves state control of the means of production on behalf of the
community, and a free market economy (capitalism) in which private control is structured, through
competition, to benefit the relative few.
Pope Pius XI wrote, “Just as the unity of human society cannot be founded on an opposition of classes,
so also the right ordering of economic life cannot be left to a free competition of forces….and so, then
only will true cooperation be possible for a single common good when the constituent parts of society
feel themselves members of one great family.:” In an economic system., this would require “associating
labor with the ownership of capital, as far as possible” according to Pope John Paul II.
Since the Church believes that decision making should not be left to free competition, who is
responsible for it? The Church has made it clear from the beginning that responsibility for the common
good is a key responsibility of government. According to Pius XI, the state is to “define these duties {of
the common good} in detail when necessity requires” and “make all human society conform to the
needs of the common good; that is, to the norm of social justice.” John Paul ** confirms that “provision
for overall planning…. Weighs on the shoulders of the State” (Laborem Exercens).
The Church’s preference for the cooperatist option is clear and has been for years. In 1945, a Jesuit
theologian, Rev. William Smith state, “Present-day capitalism in practice….runs counter to the social
doctrines of the Church principles…. The Catholic Attitude condemns it and looks forward to renewed,
organic society, the activities of which will be conducted on the principle of cooperation.” Even today,
because competition by its nature intends inequality, Pope Francis has tweeted that “inequality is the
root of social evil.” If the Catholic Worker doesn’t blow the dynamite by exposing the heresy of
competitist economics to light, who will?
Prayer for the Intercession of
Servant of God Dorothy Day
A PRAYER FOR JUSTICE WITH
MERCY ON DEATH ROW
God our Creator,
Your servant Dorothy Day exemplified the
Catholic faith by her conversion,
life of prayer and voluntary poverty,
works of mercy, and
witness to the justice and peace
of the Gospel.
May her life
inspire people
to turn to Christ as their savior and guide,
to see his face in the world’s poor and
to raise their voices for the justice
of God’s kingdom.
We pray that you grant the favors we ask
through her intercession so that her goodness
and holiness may be more widely recognized
and one day the Church may
proclaim her Saint.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
O God, I pray for all the persons who have been sentenced to
death row in our country.
by Kathie Uhler, OSF
Each one bears a sacred dignity, I believe, although my own
sinfulness dulls my ability to see this underlying beauty.
I pray, then, for an end to the death sentence itself. Let justice
be served where there is clear guilt, but let recompense come
from the examples of your own mercy:
when you did not execute but exiled Cain (Genesis 4: 1-15);
when you said you took no pleasure in the death of the
wicked but in their conversion (Ezekiel 33:11);
and when you told us you delight in showing clemency and
will tread underfoot our guilt and throw all our sins into the
depths of the sea (Micah 7: 18-19).
My God, I pray to you each day for largeness of heart and
mercy in the words of Jesus: “Father, forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who have trespassed against us”
(Matthew 6: 9-13).
Amen