Catholic Apologetics Online

Choose a topic from Vol 3:

God

Man

Religion

The Religion of the Bible

The Christian Religion

A Definite Christian Faith

The Problem of Reunion

The Truth of Catholicism

The Church and the Bible

The Dogmas of the Catholic Church

Moral Teachings of the Catholic Church

The Church in Her Worship

The Church and Social Welfare

The Social Problem

1347. I admire your efforts in what you believe to be the truth, but you are only diverting people's attention from the real business of life.

I believe absolutely in the Divinity of Christ, and He declared that the real business of life is to seek first the Kingdom of God and His justice. Nothing will ever persuade me that He was mistaken.

1348. Do you know that American factories, kept going at full efficiency, could supply this world, and four others, with all necessary material requirements?

I have no hesitation in describing that as a hopeless exaggeration. But that is a minor point. Let us go on.

1349. If so, why the poor?

Because, whatever the efficacy of production, the limitations of human wisdom, and the moral deficiencies in human character will always result in an uneven distribution. The poor will not always be a reality amongst men because good men want them to be poor. They will be a reality because even the best of men will fail to devise a really perfect system of administration; and because there will always be ambitious, covetous, evil, yet clever men who will want to be rich at the expense of others. And Christ predicted the sad fact of continued poverty precisely because He knew both the limitations of human wisdom, and the moral depravity ever likely to assert itself in human nature. We must do our best to improve human knowledge and correct the moral depravity. But so long as the human race exists we shall never entirely succeed in our task. Our Lord foresaw this, and foretold it. But you ignore the realities of life, take it for granted that human nature is what it is not, and live in a world of dreams.

1350. Why do men try to bring about an artificial scarcity by destroying the fruits of the earth whilst people starve?

They would argue that a too plentiful supply of any given commodity will so lower prices that the very growers will not get a sufficient return for their labor, and would themselves be reduced practically to starvation. I certainly agree that they have some kind of right to protect themselves from this point of view. But it is certainly wrong to destroy good food supplies whilst the poor and workless are without sufficient nourishment. It is here that government authority could be used to prevent the destruction of food. If it can be dumped in the ocean with no financial return to anybody, it could be dumped into government receiving depots, and issued free of charge to relief workers and dole recipients. Prices would thus be maintained for those who could afford to purchase their own supplies; and the surplus would benefit those who cannot. I can foresee difficulties in practice arising out of this suggestion, but they should not be insurmountable.

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MORE FROM VOLUME 3

• About the Author
• Preface
  - Msgr Fulton J Sheen
• Author's Foreword
  - Dr Rumble, MSC

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