Catholic social thought and business ethics: catholic social thought and business ethics; the application of 10 principles.

Abstract

Catholic Social Thought is a treasure trove of moral wisdom formulated to inform the conduct of believers. This doctrine is designed to help form the consciences and guide the actions of people the world over, not the least of who are those responsible for leading business

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Introduction

The Magisterium, or teaching authority of the Catholic Church, provides a comprehensive body of doctrine to guide those of the faith. This guidance extends to the moral aspects of economic activity. The resources of Catholic Social Thought (CST) have been underutilized in this regard, however. The moral wisdom they provide has simply not been tapped into sufficiently. This paper is an attempt to rectify the situation. My goal is to link 10 themes of CST to their applications to present day political/economic realities.

Ten Themes of Catholic Social Thought

Trinitarian Love: God's Existence and Nature

It is evident from the normative expression of the Christian faith found in the Church's Creeds that the Christian worldview is theistic--i.e., the touchstone proposition is the belief in the existence of one supremely powerful, transcendent and personal God. The theism of Christianity is thus distinguishable from worldviews that deny the existence of God (atheism), that hold that many gods exist (polytheism), that believe that everything that exists is God (pantheism), or that assert that the God who created the Universe has now fully withdrawn himself (deism). But Christianity differs from the theism of Judaism and Islam in its belief that the New Testament discloses in Jesus Christ a person both fully God and fully man--i.e., God became incarnate in his only begotten son Jesus Christ.

To understand the basic Christian beliefs about man and the universe, to understand the fundamental assumptions that make the Christian see the world as he or she does, the place to naturally begin is with God. That is, since the Christian worldview is theocentric, insight is particularly sought into the Being at the center of this belief system.

What is God's nature? What has God done? What is God continuing to do? The first item of the Catechism provides a concise summary of the Catholic vision or understanding of reality: