CATHOLIC CHURCH'S CONFUSED IDEAS ABOUT STEALING, THE

Voluntaryist, The, Fourth Quarter 2009 by Crovelli, Mark R

Like virtually all Christian denominations, the Roman Catholic Church derives its moral philosophy in very large part from the Decalogue; that is, the set often moral precepts handed down from God to Moses that lay bare the moral responsibilities of man vis-�-vis God and other men. The predominant position of the Decalogue in Catholic moral philosophy was established by Jesus when he was asked "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?":

To the young man who asked this question, Jesus answers first by invoking the necessity to recog nize God as the 'One there is who is good,' as the supreme Good and the source of all good. Then Jesus tells him: 'If you would enter life, keep the commandments.' And he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern love of neighbor: 'You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.' Finally Jesus sums up these commandments positively:' You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' [1]

"Once violence is chosen as a method, falsehood becomes principle."

-Attributed to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

As the foundation upon which Catholic morality very heavily rests, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (the official depository of Catholic doctrine) unsurprisingly devotes a large amount of space and energy to explicating each of the Ten Commandments. In this article, I take issue with the Catechism of the Catholic Church's treatment of the 7 commandment: "You shall not steal." I argue that, insofar as the Catechism can be deemed to be representative of the general Catholic position, the Catholic Church has developed extremely confused, misleading, and often erroneous ideas about stealing. I argue that the Church has sought to justify the taking of property that directly contradicts the straight-forward prohibition against stealing delineated in the Decalogue. I make this argument in the hope that Catholic thinkers and writers will A) take seriously the idea that taking men's justly-earned property without their consent is always stealing, and B) stand up for the billions of people who are persecuted by this villainous activity.

The Definition of Stealing in the Catechism of the Catholic Church

In order for Catholics, and Christians in general, to be able to abide by the 7 commandment, it is necessary for them to know, first and foremost, what the definition of stealing is. For, quite obviously, in order to avoid stealing in one's life, one must be able to clearly discriminate between those actions that involve stealing and those actions that do not. The Catechism of the Catholic Church offers just such a definition of stealing for Catholics:

The seventh commandment forbids theft; that is usurping another's property against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the universal destination of goods. This is the case in obvious and urgent necessity when the only way to provide for immediate, essential needs (food, shelter, clothing. . .) is to put at one's disposal and use the property of others. [2]

Although it is not my primary intention to dissect and critique this definition of stealing, it should be noted that this definition is extremely ambiguous in a number of respects. It is unclear, for example, whether the phrase "reasonable will" means simply the rational consent of the owner, or whether it means what the property owner ought to will. Similarly, the relevance of the phrase "universal destination of goods" is unclear, given Pope Leo XIIFs clear admonition that this idea cannot be used to deny the right to private property:

The fact that God gave the whole human race the earth to use and enjoy cannot indeed in any manner serve as an objection against private possessions. For God is said to have given the earth to mankind in common, not because He intended indiscriminate ownership of it by all, but because He assigned no part to anyone in ownership, leaving the limits of private possessions to be fixed by the industry of men and the institutions of peoples. Yet, however the earth may be apportioned among private owners, it does not cease to serve the common interest of all, inasmuch as no living being is sustained except by what the fields bring forth. [3]

My objection to the Catechism's treatment of stealing goes much deeper than mere quibbling over phraseology. Indeed, it is my contention that there is an absolute failure to consistently apply the standards for stealing as delineated in this definition throughout the Catechism. Specifically, there is an utter failure to apply the standards for stealing to those people who workfor the State. While the Catechism applies the criteria for stealing quite consistently to ordinary people, it does not apply those criteria to presidents, prime ministers, congressmen, police officers, tax collectors, bureaucrats and every other person who lives off of tax money.

It's Not Stealing if the State Does It