Free-market priest compiles Vatican book

National Catholic Reporter, May 12, 2000 by John Norton

Well-known in U.S. business circles as a staunch advocate of free-market capitalism and small government, Fr. Robert A. Sirico has added a client that has not always shared his views: the Vatican.

The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace recently commissioned Sirico -- and his Michigan-based Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty -- to sift out the most important passages from the social teachings of popes from Leo XIII to John Paul II. The 225-page book, The Social Agenda: A Collection of Magesterial Texts, was released at the Vatican April 27.

Sirico does not agree with all that the popes of the last hundred years have written about social justice, particularly when they have advocated government interference and regulation as a way to protect the poor.

Yet, he said, "we were very conscious putting this [book] together not to impose our approach, but to simply lift out the church's social teaching in as objective a manner as possible."

At the justice and peace council, "there were many, many eyes that went through this document, so I am quite confident that no one will accuse the document of being one-sided, absolutely not. The Vatican never would have published such a thing," Sirico said April 26.

A frequent commentator for national print and broadcast media, Sirico gained notoriety in the early 1990s in many church circles with an op-ed piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal, headlined "God's Gift, A Commercial Christmas." The much-lamented holiday consumerism, he argued, was, in fact, a valuable reflection of the Christmas spirit.

Though he has since distanced himself from that idea, the priest's views on social and economic issues have stirred controversy.

Sirico is a vociferous critic of welfare as damaging to the dignity of the poor, and even warns about the dangers of private charity's "Samaritan dilemma," in which the well-intentioned offer of "too much support" actually hurts the needy.

He has suggested that soup kitchens require that diners help clean up or prepare meals in return for food, which, by the way, ought to be plain, "with an emphasis on nutrition over taste and variety." Such measures might help separate out those who do not really need help, he said.

True to his free-market ideas, he has argued for an end to U.S. trade sanctions on Iraq and Cuba, and supported greater trade relations with China. He is against government censorship of the Internet, arguing instead for self-regulation by parents and local communities.

Such ideas, he argues, are firmly rooted in the "very heart and core of church teaching." He highlights the centrality in papal social encyclicals of the principle of subsidiarity and the right to private property.

The popes' "practical and prudential application" of these core teachings -- for instance, in advocating a state-determined minimum wage -- are, however, subject to discussion, he said. "Have there been discussions in the Vatican where we've disagreed on points of policy? Of course. But I've never had anyone question my orthodoxy," he said.

"In the Vatican you're dealing with very, very sophisticated people who see the overall picture and want to know: Are you being honest? Do you manipulate? And I think we've passed those tests," he said.

Not only did the Acton Institute have economic policy research resources to offer the Vatican, said Sirico, but also through its work on the book offers greater service to the business world that frequently has not taken religious leaders -- or their message -- seriously.

"What we're trying to do is to make the church's teaching more fully understood," he said, "because it is true that a lot of religious leaders -- and here I'm not referring to the Vatican because the Vatican vets its stuff much more carefully -- but religious leaders and people speaking on behalf of religious bodies very often do exhibit a naivete [in economic matters]." Uninformed economic pronouncements by religious leaders obscure the valuable message they have to offer, namely that freedom must be oriented to transcendent values like truth, he said.

Sirico said he had plans for future projects with the Vatican but declined to be specific, saying only that they regarded "globalization, family issues, and economy and tax culture."