Thank you again for your response. I talked to my parish priest about this issue. He is the head of his Order in Canada, and a very busy man. But he made time to talk about this.
He said there is absolutely no law against wealth in all Catholic theology. No culture in the entire WORLD has ever made it a “sin” to own a lot of stuff or money. There is no sin whatsoever in possessing or acquiring luxurious things. The idea that being wealthy is a sin is ridiculous, from a theological AND from a moral point of view.
This priest said that people often get the idea that being rich is some kind of a “sin” from the Biblical story of the Rich Young Man. People hear Jesus’ statement that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven” and they start to get nervous. They forget the other passages of the Bible that EXTOLL the virtues of riches.
For example, in Proverbs, it says: “A fortune gained quickly is quickly spent. But wealth, accumulated slowly, steadily grows.”
And also in the Parable of the Talents, God rewards the man who makes much money. He punishes the man who makes nothing.
If someone was to go to confession and confess “owning too much,” or “being too wealthy,” a priest would be forced to say that such things are not sins. They don’t even enter into the language of confession. Being GREEDY does. But it is possible to own massive amounts of wealth and possessions without EVER being guilty of greed. They are not synonymous. Anyone who worries about “owning too much” or “being too wealthy” is wasting God’s time, and their own. It is a useless worry, with absolutely no purpose or benefit.
The priest I talked to used the example of another priest he knows who accumulated enough money to found TWO Universities. And he used the example of the billionaire who invented the Segway, and numerous other inventions (Dean Kamen). Are such people to regard their material gains and fortunes as “bad” or “sinful?” Of course not. People who work hard for what they earn are working in the Provinvce of God.
The priest reiterated the Pope’s words that if people cannot gain wealth, then nobody would have any motivation for working hard. This is why the Church condemns Communism, Marxism and Socialism. Because nobody can own private property or accumulate wealth under such regimes.
Communist, Marxist and Socialist regimes defeat the purpose of working hard at all, because the benefits of any such hard work would merely be given to the collective, rather than to the individual. That is unjust indeed. A worker should be given a fair wage for a day’s work. Someone who works extra hard should, by justice, be allowed to accumulate his reward, no matter how vast that reward is. And that means wealth, power, luxury, whatever. It is sin to deny a worker a fair wage for a fair day’s work.
I identify with what you said about Catholics in general, in your previous post: There exists a “Catholic Culture” in the world, which consists of mostly average Catholics in general. On the other side of the equation, there exists the OFFICIAL TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH. I have discovered the hard way that what Catholics in general believe, and what the Church itself actually TEACHES, are often two entirely different things.
Many Catholics hold beliefs about sin, wealth, theology, damnation, etc. which actually qualify as heresy. It’s just that almost nobody else identifies these beliefs as heresies – mostly because the majority of other Catholics in the world seem to believe roughly the same things. Most people do not bother discovering what the Church ITSELF actually says on these issues. They just listen to what everyone else is saying, and they usually go with it.
I don’t really care for “Catholic Culture” myself at all (I’m very sad to say). “Catholic Culture,” to me, is virtually no different than secular culture, and for the very same reasons. Many Catholics believe hurtful, irrational things about the God and the Church. They believe that certain things (like being wealthy) are sins when they are not. Catholics in general seem to be very confused about Church belief and morality. And such confusion does not originate from God at all.
Philosopher Bertrand Russell said something very useful in this area. Although an atheist, Russell pointed out that if we would simply listen to our experts, virtually all the problems of human society would simply disappear. I think he was absolutely right.
That is why I sought out a priest to talk to about this issue. I have seen so many lies, so much confusion about Church teaching, that I simply didn’t trust most Catholics anymore. I needed an expert. Someone who I respected intellectually. It couldn’t just be any priest, either. Because, sadly, a lot of priests believe many of the very same errors about Church teaching that a lot of regular Catholics believe. I had to choose my expert carefully so I wouldn’t just hear more of the same.
I have actually started a thread on some of the outrageous lies that Catholics believe about Church teaching and theology - lies that cause many Catholics pain and heartache on a daily basis. It can be reached here, if you are interested:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=8007110#post8007110
Thank you for all your help.
