After having discussed the historical aspects of the “Trad Men competency” debate around career and entrepreneurship, we are now going to discuss the moral aspect of the question. Some trad men seem to hold an odd view that one’s efforts to earn more money than average, or to build a small fortune through work and savings are something that proceeds from greed and is contrary to Christian perfection or even outright sinful.
So, is it a sin to want more money, from a Catholic perspective? Short answer: it depends on one’s intention, and there can obviously be good intentions which justify this pursuit and make it even more perfect than the opposite attitude (not wanting to improve one’s situation). Let’s go deeper into it.
Distinguish greed and rightful ambition
As Christians, we are aware that avarice is a capital sin. But in order to avoid confusion when speaking about money and ambition, we have to be precise about the definition of avarice, and understand that there can be such thing as a legitimate pursuit of riches, which is totally distinct from greed.
Here is a definition from the Catholic Enyclopedia:
“Avarice (from Latin avarus, “greedy”; “to crave”) is the inordinate love for riches. Its special malice, broadly speaking, lies in that it makes the getting and keeping of money, possessions, and the like, a purpose in itself to live for. It does not see that these things are valuable only as instruments for the conduct of a rational and harmonious life, due regard being paid of course to the special social condition in which one is placed. It is called a capital vice because it has as its object that for the gaining or holding of which many other sins are committed.”
From this definition we can understand that what is especially against reason and nature in avarice is to consider riches as an end in themselves, instead of a means to a greater end. It is indeed absurd and pointless to accumulate money or goods just for their own sake, for these things will be of no use to us in eternity, unless we used them for the good throughout our life.
It is a vile and very dishonorable thing to be animated by pointless passion for riches. We all know people who are pretty well-off, financially speaking, but who are always distressed about spending too much, always complaining about the cost of things, always looking for a bargain or a discount. What a sad life! They have money, but they don’t even enjoy it, because of their absurd passion which makes them accumulate and hoard just for hoarding’s sake.
One could also sin by avarice without pursuing money as an end in itself, and rather a means to an end. This can happen when the desire for things money can buy is so strong that it leads you to commit other sins (such as stealing, lying, committing sins against justice). You want to “speed up” the tedious process of acquiring money, in order to get what you want sooner, of to get more of what you want, or to get things that you could normally not afford because of your social condition. That is why avarice is a “capital sin,” – it is a root from which many other sins will flow.
Another possible form of the sin of avarice would be the case of someone who is rich enough to put his wealth at the service of the common good, yet does nothing but accumulate for his personal or familial benefit. There comes a point when a great wealth is accompanied with a greater duty of charity and community service, and it is not normal, according to the Church’s social teaching, to see people accumulating an immense wealth and using it only for their personal benefit, while they should rather be thinking of ways to alleviate misery, support good causes, or improve the lives of people around them. What should we think of a rich Catholic who gives almost nothing to priests and religious? It is a disgraceful attitude. He may be thinking he is justified in this excessive economy because of such and such acceptable motive, but charity donation should have a greater place in his concerns. This is most likely the effect of loving the riches too much and practically considering them as an end in themselves (as described above), but disguised under the pretense of a reasonable economy: “I’m thinking about the interest of my children,” or something like that. But the providential role of the rich is not merely to provide for their children or ensure their wealth will keep growing through the centuries; their providential role is to help the poor, the Church, and overall society.
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To summarize:
- Avarice is a disordinate love for riches, which consists in
o Considering money and goods as an end in themselves, accumulating them for no specific reason,
o Or loving the things money can buy so much that it leads to commit other sins in other to acquire more riches.
This being said, we can start talking about what would be an “ordinate love for riches,” a pursuit of riches within the bonds of reason. We can mirror the definition of avarice:
- An ordinate love for riches consists in pursue the acquisition and hoarding of riches,
o Considering money only as means to an end,
o Using it in a moral and legitimate way,
o And using only moral and legitimate means to achieve the end of acquiring more money.
So broadly speaking, any time you have the desire to acquire more riches, as a means to achieve a good end (such as having a more decent life, helping you family, helping society, helping the Church), with a sense of moderation (as things created have to be used and pursued in a moderate way), and with the intention to achieve it through good means (such as working for a company or starting a business), you are not being greedy and avaricious; you are rather practising virtue.
This desire can indeed be linked to virtues such as the virtue of prudence (which leads you to prepare for a bad day, to anticipate things deep in the future such as the settling of your family, or your retirement), the virtue of magnanimity (which leads you to pursue “great things” for the sake of doing more good), the virtue of fortitude(which makes you achieve difficult things instead of being blocked by obstacles), the virtue of temperance (which makes you refrain from “enjoying life” too much, because you need to save, and need to always have a reasonable use of your money).
However, because of original sin, we have to watch over our hearts, make efforts and pray so that this good and normal desire does not deviate, and become excessive and inordinate. He who voluntarily deprives himself of riches always does better than he who pursues riches even in a moral and legitimate way. But as we will discuss, in God’s Providence, not everyone is called to this state of perfect poverty, and people who are called to be fathers and/or to have an economical role in their community should in fact have a certain “ordinate love for riches.” – “If husbands would not desire to amass any more than Capuchin monks, would not their piety be ridiculous, ill-regulated, and unbearable?” (St Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life).
This being considered, there should be no scruple and no shame attached to the pursuit of a better condition, provided that you do it with a right intention and right means. If other Catholics criticize you for that, you should not be bothered, and assume that they do not properly understand the definition of avarice, and have not meditated enough over the matter. I hope that this article could help everyone to have a better understanding of the question.
If you are not called to a religious life, mediocrity is not an option either
It is beyond debate that living a life of perfect poverty, of total renunciation to worldly goods and worldly joys, is the most perfect thing one can do. For us Catholics, it is even a matter of faith: the religious life is more perfect than secular life. The Gospel highlights it, as well as the example of many saints and of generations of monks, nuns and members of religious orders.
Yet, in God’s plans, not everyone is effectively called to religious life. Everyone is invited to consider it, to think about it; but you need an actual calling and a specific grace to be able to join a religious order, or even simply to have the desire to join religious life. Others will be more inclined to marriage, not only from a natural perspective, but also from a supernatural one: they feel called to serve God and serve the Church through the bearing and education of children, which would become saints, religious, priests, pious people, elects of God. We also need these kind of people for the Church to thrive; experience shows that in God’s Providence, most vocations arise in pious families, and a good education is the solid ground on which a vocation can grow.
Catholics who are called to marriage instead of religious life or priesthood are also called to a life of perfection. According to Saint Francis the Sales, it is a heresy to say that holiness is reserved to the cloister: everyone is called to holiness, even married people, and one should find specific means of sanctification in his duty of state in life. The same saint said that it is useless for a lay person to dream that he can be a religious one day, or to lament that he is unable to enter the cloister, if his duty of state prohibits him from entering into religious life. Don’t we often say to ourselves: I would be a saint if I was a priest, if I was a religious, if I was this and that, but since I’m a lay person stuck in this imperfect situation, I am condemned to mediocrity? This is truly an illusion and an erroneous mindset!
No one is called to mediocrity; but all are called to do the best they can to practice virtue and lead a perfect life, in fulfilling one’s duty of state.
From this consideration flows another one: if you are called to be a father, you will sanctify yourself in fulfilling in the best way possible your fatherly duties. This is the primary thing on which you will be judged by God. And as a matter of fact, you can hardly be a good father if you have a general attitude of “not wanting more money,” not making efforts to improve your situation.
The fatherly duties
We could summarize the duties of a father with these two words: to protect and to provide.
These words include a material aspect, a spiritual aspect, and a supernatural aspect.
– Material: you must protect your family from the elements by housing them in a proper shelter. You must protect them as much as possible from intruders, robbers, and criminals. You must protect them as much as possible from the many illnesses that could occur in the course of life. You must cloth them, feed them, teach them some basic skills, take care of their health issues, and provide for their every needs.
– Spiritual: you have to instill confidence and love, so that your children grow up knowing that someone is there to protect them. You have to be the model of strength and uprightness after which they will model their own behaviors and attitudes. You have to give them the love they need in order to grow as sane persons. You have to teach them useful knowledge about life.
– Supernatural: you are responsible for their training in the Catholic Faith. You are responsible for protecting them against the perverted influences of the world: you will look after what they use for entertainment, who they hang out with, which school they attend. You will, within due limits, care for their inner life, their aspirations and their dreams; you will try your best to instill in them the love of God, love of truth, love of virtue. You will pray with them and for them. You will communicate to them the importance of sanctifying grace, the love of the Sacraments such as Eucharist and Penance.
Each of these three aspects, to some degree, require money.
For the material aspect money is obviously necessary.
For the spiritual aspect, it may not be at first sight: indeed, love and confidence are things invaluable and impossible to relate to money. But a lacking of money could lead to side effects in this aspect of the fatherly functions: being always tired, stressed out, and worried about the future, this could cause your children to feel as distressed and unsafe as you are yourself. Being forced to work a second job because of the low wages you get could also be a problem, as you will not be available to spend time with your children.
For the supernatural aspect, consider this: good Catholic schools are expensive, especially if you have a large family (which most Catholics ought to have, by the very law of nature). Living in a safe area, reasonably isolated from the hustle of modern culture, is expensive. Having enough free time to deeply care for your children’s education means that you have enough money not to be working all the time. And also: having priests and churches requires that lay people give enough money for the Church to keep carrying its sanctifying mission.
Even though it would be very wrong to say that “the only duty of a father is to make money,” as if this alone would suffice to fulfill all the subsequent duties, it is true to say that without money, a father will struggle to fulfill any of these duties.
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Providence allows for some fathers to remain poor even in spite of their best efforts. A tradition says that it was the case for Saint Joseph: the greatest trial and humiliation of his life would have been that, while he was working as hard as he could, his family remained in poverty and uncertainty. If this is what God wanted for his Son, it has to be good. However, the thing is that this happened in spite of Saint Joseph’s best efforts: Saint Joseph indeed tried to provide for his family in the best way possible.
All Catholics who are called to fatherhood should, similarly, strive towards improving their condition as much as they can. God could give you success or not; if He gives you success, be humble and glorify Him, for He is responsible of your success (He granted you natural gifts and favorable circumstances); if you remain in poverty, be grateful and glorify Him as well, for it is a cross that will serve for your salvation.
But what about he who remains poor because of his laziness, discouragement, cynicism, mediocrity, imprudence, bad choices, and general negligence? He is not pleasing God in doing so. He should not feel entitled to despise people who strive at improving their situation. We may know people like that: they mock the “9 to 5” crowd (depicting them as slaves), they despise the entrepreneurs (depicting them as greedy people and/or foolish dreamers), they ridicule people going to the university (because the system is a scam), they hate wealthy people (because they must have stolen the money they have in some way). Yet, what are they doing for themselves? Living in their mother’s basements, living on welfare benefits . . . what a life! This is a quite an extreme example, but we should be careful that this spirit of discouragement and cynicism that is often found in modern youth does not conquer us and disguise itself under the pretense of a holy contempt for riches and detachment from the world. Detachment and negligence are not the same thing.
Tristan Berthelot
