[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 21, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 21, 1994]



                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______


   SEVENTH COMMANDMENT: THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH ARE MOST 
                          COMPLETELY EXPRESSED

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I happen to be affiliated with the 
Lutheran Church, and my wife happens to be Roman Catholic. Recently, we 
spent a weekend in New York City and, while there, attended St. 
Patrick's Cathedral, the great Roman Catholic edifice, and attended 
services at St. Peter's Lutheran Church.
  While at St. Patrick's Cathedral, I picked up a statement issued by 
Cardinal O'Connor on the Seventh Commandment, in connection with the 
publication of the New Catechism by the Roman Catholic Church.
  It contains insights for people of every faith and persuasion.
  For example, he says:

       The Seventh Commandment is a negative sounding commandment, 
     ``You shall not steal,'' but it is actually talking about how 
     we treat one another, how we respect one another, how we 
     respect one another's time, property, efforts, and labor.

  At another point, he quotes the New Catechism saying:

       Stealing is not simply the pick-pocket in the subway, or a 
     robbery at Tiffany's. Stealing is an exercise of injustice 
     toward anyone else's rights, depriving anyone of that which 
     is his or her due.

  And he has a great quotation from ``Spartacus'': ``The law often 
allows what honor forbids.''
  At another point in his essay, Cardinal O'Connor states:

       We have to keep looking at various of our practices. 
     Corporate takeovers, for example, may be carried out with 
     civil justice but not moral justice. Very often today people 
     don't know who it is that they work for, who actually owns 
     the company and so this personal touch is lost and makes 
     lawful negotiations very difficult. We have seen that happen 
     right here in this city when out-of-town companies own what 
     seems to be a local corporation. Then when it comes time for 
     workers to bargain they are bargaining with faceless out-of-
     towners in the person of their representatives here.
       Is it possible that in some corporate takeovers pension 
     funds are plundered and people who have worked for a lifetime 
     find themselves without jobs and without pensions? This is 
     stealing. This is a gross violation of the Seventh 
     Commandment.

  I ask that the entire essay of Cardinal O'Connor be placed into the 
Record at this point.
  The essay follows:

              [From the Catholic New York, Sept. 15, 1994]

   Seventh Commandment--The Social Teachings of the Church Are Most 
                          Completely Expressed

       This is the official text of Cardinal O'Connor's 33rd 
     homily on the new Catechism of the Catholic Church which was 
     delivered in St. Patrick's Cathedral Sept. 11.

       Today we continue our study of the new Catechism of the 
     Catholic Church. Our session today will focus on the Seventh 
     Commandment which most completely expresses the social 
     teaching of the Church particularly in areas of special 
     concern to labor. And because today we honor labor it is most 
     appropriate.
       First, however, I want to go back to today's second 
     reading. It is taken from the letter of St. James, written 
     around the year 45 A.D. To me it synthesizes everything that 
     could be said, everything that should be said, about what our 
     relations with one another should be, and in a very special 
     way what relations between employers and employees, labor and 
     management should be.
       St. James asks the question, ``What good is it to profess 
     faith without practicing it?'' Our Lord Himself said, ``Lots 
     of people cry out to me, `Lord, Lord,' but their hearts are 
     far from me.'' St. James asks:
       ``What good is it to profess faith without practicing it? 
     Such faith has no power to save one, has it? If a brother or 
     sister has nothing to wear and no food for the day, and you 
     say to them, `Goodbye and good luck! Keep warm and well fed,' 
     but do not meet their bodily needs, what good is that? So it 
     is with the faith that does nothing in practice. It is 
     thoroughly lifeless.'' [Jas. 2:14-16]
       This spells out what we call the social gospel, the gospel 
     of justice and of charity, the gospel of carrying what we 
     purport to believe into action.
       I watch a lot of parades. During those parades I get many 
     hats and many T-shirts. Frequently, the hats and the T-shirts 
     will have some poignant message on them, something very clear 
     and meaningful. This is especially true during the Labor Day 
     Parade. If I were going to create a T-shirt for this purpose 
     I would select these words from St. James and put them right 
     up and down the T-shirt: ``If a brother or sister has nothing 
     to wear and no food for the day, and you say to them, 
     `Goodbye and good luck! Keep warm and well fed,' but do not 
     meet their bodily needs, what good is that?'' What good is 
     that? This is not simply a Christian teaching, a teaching 
     merely from the Gospels. This is deeply rooted in the Old 
     Testament, what we call the Jewish Scriptures, and it is 
     spelled out quite explicitly in the Ten Commandments from 
     beginning to end.
       The Seventh Commandment is a negative sounding commandment, 
     ``You shall not steal,'' but it is actually talking about how 
     we treat one another, how we respect one another, how we 
     respect one another's time, property, efforts, and labor. The 
     Catechism says:
       ``The seventh commandment forbids unjustly taking or 
     keeping the goods of one's neighbor and wronging him in any 
     way with respect to his goods. It commands justice and 
     charity in the care of earthly goods and the fruits of men's 
     labor. For the sake of the common good, it requires respect 
     for the universal destination of goods and respect for the 
     right to private property. Christian life strives to order 
     this world's goods to God and to fraternal charity.''[2401]
       The Church has been teaching this kind of thing all through 
     its history, but it has come into full blossom since 1891 and 
     the encyclical of Pope Leo XIII called Rerum Novarum or ``Of 
     New Things.'' We will see in a few moments why it has that 
     title.
       The Catechism goes on:
       ``* * * The goods of creation are destined for the whole 
     human race. However, the earth is divided up among men to 
     assure the security of their lives, endangered by poverty and 
     threatened by violence. The appropriation of property is 
     legitimate for guaranteeing the freedom and dignity of 
     persons, and for helping each of them to meet his basic needs 
     and the needs of those in his charge. It should allow for a 
     natural solidarity to develop between men.''[2402]
       It can hardly be argued that one of the triggering factors 
     in the breakdown of the Soviet Union was what the Polish 
     unions called ``solidarity.''
       The Catechism continues:
       ``In his use of things man should regard the external goods 
     he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but 
     common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit 
     others as well as himself * * *. [2404]
       As St. James said, it is no good to say goodbye and good 
     luck, keep warm and well fed but not meet peoples' bodily 
     needs. That is a lifeless faith.
       The Catechism says:
       ``Even if it does not contradict the provisions of civil 
     law, any form of unjustly taking and keeping the property of 
     others is against the seventh commandment: thus, business 
     fraud; paying unjust wages; forcing up prices by taking 
     advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another * * *''. 
     [2409]
       Civil law may allow a number of these things, but the moral 
     law does not. We are still suffering, all of us, because of 
     the manipulations of savings and loans, a major scandal for 
     which the country, that means all working people, are still 
     paying.
       The Catechism continues:
       ``* * * The following are also morally illicit: speculation 
     in which one contrives to manipulate the price of goods 
     artificially, in order to gain an advantage to the detriment 
     of others; corruption in which one influences the judgment of 
     those who must make decisions according to law; appropriation 
     and use for private purposes of the common goods of an 
     enterprise; work poorly done; [Work poorly done means taking 
     money for what hasn't been done. Stealing is not simply the 
     pick-pocket in the subway, or a robbery at Tiffany's. 
     Stealing is an exercise of injustice toward anyone else's 
     rights, depriving anyone of that which is his or here due.]; 
     tax evasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessive 
     expenses and waste. Willfully damaging private or public 
     property is contrary to the moral law and requires 
     reparation. [Sometimes, unfortunately this is done during 
     strikes. It is always self-defeating as well as immoral.] 
     [2409]
       Promises must be kept and contracts strictly observed to 
     the extent that the commitments made in them are orally just. 
     [It used to be good enough just to shake hands. Now contracts 
     are very, very complex but to the degree that they are 
     morally just they must be kept] * * *'' [2410]
       In the plays of Shakespeare you find that beyond the law is 
     honor, a plain, old-fashioned virtue, Or as we read in 
     ``Spartacus,'' ``The law often allows what honor forbids.''
       The Catechism continues:
       ``In virtue of commutative justice, reparation for 
     injustice committed requires the restitution of stolen goods 
     to their owner.'' [2412]
       It is not enough to be sorry for having stolen, to be sorry 
     for depriving someone of his or her rights. There must be 
     restitution.
       The Catechism continues:
       ``The seventh commandment forbids acts or enterprises that 
     for any reason--selfish or ideological, commercial or 
     totalitarian--lead to the enslavement of human beings, to 
     their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in 
     disregard for their personal dignity * * *'' [2412]
       These are not dead, abstract words in the Catechism. We 
     have to keep looking at various of our practices. Corporate 
     takeovers, for example, may be carried out with civil justice 
     but not moral justice. Very often today people don't know who 
     it is that they work for, who actually owns the company and 
     so this personal touch is lost and makes lawful negotiations 
     very difficult. We have seen that happen right here in this 
     city when out-of-town companies own what seems to be a local 
     corporation. Then when it comes time for workers to bargain 
     they are bargaining with faceless out-of-towners in the 
     person of their representatives here.
       Is it possible that in some corporate takeovers pension 
     funds are plundered and people who have worked for a lifetime 
     find themselves without jobs and without pensions? This is 
     stealing. This is a gross violation of the Seventh 
     Commandment.
       The Catechism talks explicitly about the social doctrine of 
     the Church. It says:
       ``* * * The Church receives from the Gospel the full 
     revelation of the truth about man * * * She teaches him the 
     demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine 
     wisdom.'' [2419]
       Pope John Paul II is constantly preaching about the dignity 
     of the human person, of all human persons, with emphasis on 
     the working person. He gets discredited by so many, he gets 
     blamed for so much, but so many ignore what he fearlessly 
     says about our obligations toward one another.
       The Catechism continues:
       ``The Church makes a moral judgment about economic and 
     social matters, `when the fundamental rights of the person or 
     the salvation of souls requires it.' * * * [2420]
       ``The social doctrine of the Church developed in the 
     nineteenth century when the Gospel encountered modern 
     industrial society with its new structures for the production 
     of consumer goods, its new concept of society, the state and 
     authority, and its new forms of labor and ownership. The 
     development of the doctrine of the Church on economic and 
     social matters attests the permanent value of the Church's 
     teaching at the same time as it attests the true meaning of 
     her Tradition, always living and active.'' [2421]
       At the risk of being tedious and sounding abstract let me 
     spend a moment on this. This passage is talking about the 
     period in the Church immediately following Karl Marx who 
     lived from 1818 to 1883. Pope Leo XIII came out with his 
     encyclical ``Of New Things'' in 1891 precisely because there 
     had been a revolution in society. Everything had been turned 
     topsy-turvy. The industrial revolution had taken place and 
     all sorts of new attitudes had developed.
       Karl Marx taught the principle of so-called economic 
     determinism which argued that the economy determined 
     everything. By ``the economy'' Karl Marx meant money. Money 
     was the determinant of everything. Free will meant nothing. 
     The place of God meant nothing. The dignity of the human 
     person meant nothing. It sounded as though it was for the 
     purpose of helping the human person but it was exactly the 
     opposite. Marx borrowed from the philosopher-historian Hegel 
     who believed that class struggle, class conflict is 
     absolutely inevitable. It's in the very nature of things that 
     the ``have-nots'' will always turn against the ``haves.'' 
     Then there will be a period of equilibrium. Then it starts 
     all over again as though there were no free will, as though 
     we couldn't bargain intelligently, in dignified civil human 
     fashion with one another, respecting one another as made in 
     the image and likeness of God. This is what Karl Marx was 
     saying. It was part of his teaching, that only by bloody 
     revolution could equity and justice be brought about.
       It was against this that Pope Leo XIII was speaking in ``Of 
     New Things.'' This is why he fostered and encouraged the 
     development of unions, of working peoples' associations, of 
     voluntarily coming together, of recognizing that we are 
     social human beings, that we naturally should unite out of 
     justice, out of charity, out of self-protection. We should do 
     this voluntarily, not by force and not letting any superior 
     force--state, management, whoever it might be--prevent us 
     from negotiating in good faith as human beings.
       The Catechism continues:
       ``Any system in which social relationships are determined 
     entirely by economic factors is contrary to the nature of the 
     human person and his acts.'' [2423]
       What we have to ask today in our own country is, even 
     though communism has generally been dissipated, do we have a 
     mirror image of it, or of economic determinism? Is it still 
     money that matters most?
       The Catechism says:
       ``A theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and 
     ultimate end of economic activity is morally unacceptable * * 
     * It is one of the causes of the many conflicts which disturb 
     the social order.'' [2424]
       The profit motive is a legitimate motive. But do we exist 
     only for profit, only for money? Does that determine 
     everything? Are people good or bad in accordance with whether 
     or not they have money, or don't have money? Are 
     industrialists good or bad in accordance with how much profit 
     they make or don't make? Is a union leader good or bad in 
     proportion to how much more money he or she can get for 
     workers regardless of how, regardless of whether it is just? 
     That's the mirror image of economic determinism. It is just 
     as bad if it is practiced in capitalism as if it is practiced 
     in communism.
       The Catechism continues:
       ``A system that `subordinates the basic rights of 
     individuals and of groups to the collective organization of 
     production' is contrary to human dignity * * * [2424]
       ``The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic 
     ideologies associated in modern times with `communism' or 
     `socialism.' She has likewise refused to accept, in the 
     practice of `capitalism,' individualism and the absolute 
     primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor * * 
     *'' [2425]
       We can not permit abstract laws, so-called historical laws 
     to rob us of free will.
       The Catechism goes on to say:
       ``* * * Economic life is not meant solely to multiply 
     goods, produce and increase profit or power; it is ordered 
     first of all to the service persons, of the whole man, and of 
     the entire human community * * *''[2426]
       The Catechism talks about human work in very exalted terms.
       ``Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the 
     image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by 
     subduing the earth, both with and for one another. Hence work 
     is a duty * * * Work honors the Creator's gifts and the 
     talents received from him. It can also be redemptive. By 
     enduring the hardship of work in union with Jesus, the 
     carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, [we] 
     collaborate in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his 
     redemptive work * * * Work can be a means of sanctification 
     and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of 
     Christ. [2427]
       ``In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the 
     potential inscribed in his nature * * * Work is for man, not 
     man for work.
       ``Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of 
     providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving 
     the human community. [2428]
       ``Economic life brings into play different interests, often 
     opposed to one another. This explains why the conflicts that 
     characterize it arise. Efforts should be made to reduce these 
     conflicts by negotiation that respects the rights and duties 
     of each social partner: those responsible for business 
     enterprises, representatives of wage earners--for example, 
     trade unions--and public authorities when appropriate.'' 
     [2430]
       We have to have the right to negotiate but somehow, 
     somewhere, in my judgment, we have gone wrong. Sometimes it 
     appears that we think ourselves back in the early decades of 
     this century. We want to use the same tools, the same 
     instruments in negotiation. For example, in 1938 the Supreme 
     Court of the United States delivered a decision which, in my 
     judgment, was terribly destructive of the whole concept of 
     negotiation if not actually immoral--the decision that 
     authorized permanent replacements for striking laborers.
       We are still using that today. It was used in the newspaper 
     strike here in New York quite recently. The threat of 
     permanent replacements makes it a charade to say that working 
     people have the right to negotiate and the right to strike. 
     The right to strike should be exercised only after all 
     negotiations in good faith have been exhausted.
       Is the move to strike the first step taken? Is it used as 
     an instrument of threat? Do we believe that management 
     negotiates with labor instead of human persons negotiating 
     with human persons? Have we lost something or are we losing 
     something, something that must be restored, something vital 
     to true, honest, effective, productive and fruitful 
     negotiations between persons in management and persons who 
     constitute the labor force? Management is not negotiating 
     with unions; persons in management are negotiating with 
     persons in unions.
       Pope John Paul II said, ``The primacy of man over the 
     instrument of capital, the primacy of the person over things, 
     the priority of human labor over capital. Upon this we must 
     insist.'' Then we will get rid of the potential of violence. 
     Then we will get rid of the strike as the first approach 
     rather than the last. Then we will get rid of the arrogant 
     use of power.
       Something has gone wrong. I can say that as an employer 
     myself and on behalf of everyone in a position in the Church 
     who must exercise equity, justice and charity for those who 
     work for the Church, with the Church, to those who build for 
     the Church, to those who work in Church offices. Each is a 
     person as I am supposed to be a person. We have to right 
     whatever it is that is wrong. We can not start out from the 
     principle how can I get more, how can I give less. This to me 
     is enormously important.
       The Catechism takes up justice and solidarity among nations 
     and reminds us of the almost singular voice of our Holy 
     Father in Cairo trying to bring about justice and charity for 
     all the peoples of the world rather than an obsession with 
     population control. it seems to me that labor should be on 
     this side rather than on the side of those obsessed with 
     reducing the number of people in the world. Labor should be 
     on the side of those who opt for development rather than the 
     side of those intent on reducing the numbers of black peoples 
     and Hispanic peoples and other peoples who are non-white 
     labor. Pragmatically that is where the jobs are: to build 
     dams in the Third World, to provide engineers and 
     agriculturalists for the Third World, to help develop the 
     enormous resources in the Third World and throughout the 
     world.
       The Catechism says:
       ``God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and 
     rebukes those who turn away from them * * * [2443]
       ``The Church's love for the poor * * * is a part of her 
     constant tradition * * * Love for the poor is even one of the 
     motives for the duty of working so as to `be able to give to 
     those in need.' [Eph. 4:28] It extends not only to material 
     poverty but also to the many forms of cultural and religious 
     poverty. [2444]
       ``The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we 
     come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily 
     necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting, 
     are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing 
     wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist 
     especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, 
     clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and 
     burying the dead * * * [2447]
       ``In its various forms--material deprivation, unjust 
     oppression, physical and psychological illness and death--
     human misery is the obvious sign of the inherited condition 
     of frailty and need for salvation in which man finds himself 
     as a consequence of original sin * * * '' [2448]
       It has been clearly demonstrated for any who are willing to 
     listen with an open mind that there can be more than enough 
     food for any one who could be born. But we have to work. Work 
     is a great gift and a great privilege.
       I can never preach in this cathedral about work without 
     being again reminded of the beauty of the cathedral itself. I 
     didn't build it. It was built by management. Archbishop John 
     Hughes had to take the risks of management. It was built 
     physically by the hands of working people, by the hands of 
     artists, as is everything done by human beings: a beautiful 
     piece of music, a beautiful work of art, the molding of 
     bricks, the digging of sewers, the emptying of bed pans, the 
     administration of medicines, the practice of surgery, the 
     typing of letters, all of these are the work of human hands. 
     Even if the work is done by machines, they are machines 
     created by the human mind. How we must respect this! And how 
     I, who profit so much as do we all by the work of others, 
     must respect everyone who contributes to society. Everything 
     that we wear, everything that we eat is the result of the 
     work of human hands.
       In this Mass, when we offer the bread to Almighty God that 
     we believe becomes the Body of His Son, we call it ``the work 
     of human hands.'' We offer the wine, the ``fruit of the vine, 
     and the work of human hands'' to become the Blood of the Son 
     of God. What reverence and what respect we must have!
       Not too long ago I was criticized for saying at a union 
     rally that I am proud to be the son of a union man. Let me 
     tell you I am proud to have my responsibilities in 
     management. I am proud of all of the wonderful people in the 
     Archdiocese of New York in management who help the 
     archdiocese, who help the poor, who help keep kids in our 
     schools, who help keep our hospitals open, people in 
     corporate management in the corporate structure. I am proud 
     of all of them. I am proud and humbled to be the Cardinal 
     Archbishop of New York. But the title of which I am as proud 
     as any that I could ever have is the title of being the son 
     of a union man! God bless you.

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