Economics
This page started out when I read the Michael Journal for the first time. Pope John Paul II was quoted as saying that the reform of the financial system was most urgent. When starting a new family I was struck by the way having money is seen as justification for making money. For example, someone has more houses than he can live in so he rents them out at rates to generate an income for himself from someone who doesn't have a house to live in. Interest rates are probably the best example. `Make your money work for you' - as if money were some living thing.
The answer to all this was simple -- teach the whole world. No political party, no legislation could ever work until the whole world understood the problem. That will take a long time. In the meantime what can we do?
Vincent McNabb said "Produce as much as you can, consume as little as you need". Or in the phrase we learnt at school "The rich must live more simply that the poor may simply live".
We can be discerning in what we do buy. Does your money go to some international company that takes advantage of low working conditions in developing countries to supply you with the cheapest product possible? Look into Fair Trade.
Use Linux. Avoid McDonalds. Plant fruit and vegies. Give alms!
Look at IHS press for books on the social teaching of the Catholic Church. The encyclicals Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno and Centesimus Annus are the ones to read. They are available from the Vatican.
Many Catholics seem to avoid these areas as left-wing radical preoccupations. Let's just bury the left/right concept and get on with prudence, fortitude, justice and temperance.
19/12/2006 - I've been reading The Church and the Land by Fr. Vincent Mcnabb from IHS press and its very thought provoking. Very radical, both in being a complete challenge and in getting to the roots of things. Can you imagine a life without machines?
Tell me what you think: