Pope Benedict XVI’s recent encyclical “Caritas in Veritate” (“Charity in Truth”) appears to be gaining traction among lay Catholics in the business world.
Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson focused on the teachings in the July encyclical in his address today at an international meeting on ethical business practices in Rimini, Italy. Anderson said the Knights have led by example by running a successful insurance company based on Catholic social teaching. “We treat customers and employees fairly,” he said. “Our investment rules prevent us from investing in dozens of companies that violate Catholic teaching in a number of areas, and yet, in one of the worst financial crisis in memory, we turned a solid profit. … A business model based on the understanding of the dignity of each person and on our responsibility to our neighbor cannot help but be an ethical one. We must work to replace Cain’s motivation, with the good Samaritan’s in every aspect of our lives, and especially in business relationships. Only in this way - as the pope makes clear in his recent encyclical ‘Caritas in Veritate’ - will development be truly sustainable.”
The press release about Anderson’s speech at the weeklong Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples organized by the Catholic Communion and Liberation movement, caught my attention because of an initiative that’s being launched by a Florida business executive. It’s the subject of the FAITHCorner reader reflection on the Florida Catholic’s current Living Our Faith page, the print editions’ companion to the Living Faith blog. In “Businessman seeks to put pope’s economic teaching into broad practice,” Paul Gonzales, a parishioner at Blessed Sacrament at Clermont and volunteer at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe in Orlando, wrote: “I believe that business professionals can come together and, based on the teachings of the encyclical, develop principals every employer could adopt.” Gonzales, who heads the compensation department for a major Orlando area employer, asks that those who want to contribute to the effort e-mail him here.
The Living Our Faith page also includes, “Faith helps out-of-work professionals find paths,” staff writer Jean Gonzalez’s look at parish-based ministries for the unemployed.
Living Faith readers, please use the commenting feature below to share your thoughts on how Catholics can uphold their values in the work world, or your stories about what your parish is doing to minister to the unemployed.
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