The media and the government keep insisting that the
“recession” (a.k.a., “depression”) is over and we have been in recovery for
five years. This puts us in mind of the
old aphorism that there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Be that as it may, here are the major
happenings of this past week in the Just Third Way network:
• This past week we replied to some comments from a Catholic
lawyer who objected to CESJ’s understanding of God and the basis of the natural
law. As a non-religious organization,
CESJ bases its understanding of God and the natural law on reason alone. It takes no stand whatsoever on faith-based
issues, faith being concerned with the supernatural
law, except where faith appears to contradict reason, and thus the natural law
(and then only when it concerns economic and social justice). As far as we know, this is fully consistent
with what the Catholic Church as well as Judaism and Islam teach. As Pope Pius XII summarized the very first
question in the Summa Theologica of
Thomas Aquinas, “[A]bsolutely speaking, human reason by its own natural force
and light can arrive at a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God,
Who by His providence watches over and governs the world, and also of the
natural law, which the Creator has written in our hearts.” (Humani
Generis, § 2.)
• We also responded to a Catholic commentator who believes
that the time is not ripe to approach Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic
Church, and ask for clarification of the principles of economic justice
(Participation, Distribution, and Social Justice). This commentator claims that Pope Francis isn’t
educated in economics, and therefore does not have the capacity to understand
the principles of economic justice.
Ironically, the Catholic lawyer also felt that it is a waste of time to
try to meet with Pope Francis to discuss these matters, because the pope and
his predecessors have already said all they need to say on the subject. We disagree, if only because you clearly have
two sincere individuals, each of whom takes the exact opposite stance on the
same issue. If that doesn’t argue in
favor of asking for clarification, nothing does.
• Nevertheless, there are some Catholics and others who
agree with CESJ’s position. Some very
positive comments have been made on FaceBook in response to brief discussions
of the “faith v. reason” issue.
• Deacon Joseph B.
Gorini, founder, chairman, and CEO of Evangelization Enterprises, Inc.
(EEI), and also Apostolic Action, Inc. (AAI), is continuing his
door-opening efforts. Recently he sent
us a link to an article in The Economist
on “[Pope] Francis, Capitalism, and War,” that, while generally positive, did
not (in our opinion) give the pope enough credit, correctly identify the
underlying problem, or state the only possible solution: expanded capital
ownership. Deacon Gorini also heads Light and
Heat Ministries (LAHMin), an operating operation division of EEI, and which is
currently the public face of the organization.
• On a more personal note, the
“Mighty Mo” Muensterman, niece of CESJ’s Director of Research, is receiving
a lot of good press in recognition of her athletic ability. All of his nieces are, of course, by
definition terrific, and equally deserving of kudos; it just so happens to be
Maura’s “MO”ment.
• As of this morning, we have had
visitors from 59 different countries and 52 states and provinces in the United
States and Canada to this blog over the past two months. Most visitors are from
the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Australia, and Canada. The most
popular postings this past week were “Thomas Hobbes on Private Property,” “Aristotle
on Private Property,” “Avoiding Monetary Meltdown, II: Salmon P. Chase and the
Greenbacks,” “ ‘Allowed Expedients’, Part IV: The Solution,” and “Distributism,
Neo-Distributism, and the Just Third Way, II: The Slavery of Past Savings.”
Those are the happenings for this week, at least that we
know about. If you have an
accomplishment that you think should be listed, send us a note about it at
mgreaney [at] cesj [dot] org, and we’ll see that it gets into the next
“issue.” If you have a short (250-400
word) comment on a specific posting, please enter your comments in the blog —
do not send them to us to post for you.
All comments are moderated anyway, so we’ll see it before it goes up.
