Erasmus of the Economist writes: Advocates of capitalism will certainly\u00a0retort that the system has no need of redemption. The core meaning of the word redemption is something like “to secure the freedom, or the very existence, of someone or something at a price….”\u00a0And as a supremely efficient instrument\u00a0for resource allocation and price discovery, so the argument would go, capitalism should have\u00a0no need of any external agency to purchase its right to exist. It just needs to be allowed to do its job. At the other extreme,\u00a0critics on the left will retort\u00a0that capitalism is so wicked that it cannot\u00a0be redeemed by anything, least of all the doctrines of Catholicism.<\/p>\n
Yet the paper by Clifford Longley is well worth reading, if only\u00a0because it presents in readable language\u00a0ideas which normally lie buried deep inside closely argued papal encyclicals\u00a0and other cerebral writings.\u00a0Mr Longley\u00a0explains some of the key concepts in an elaborate body\u00a0of thought which\u00a0began to emerge\u00a0in 1891 with a document called Rerum Novarum which accepted\u00a0with qualifications the ideas of a free market in capital and labour. They include not just “solidarity”\u2014the idea that all members of society must look out for one another’s welfare\u2014but “subsidiarity”\u00a0or the widely devolved distribution of power. Catholic Social Teaching (CST) seeks to chart a middle way between unrestrained\u00a0capitalism and dirigiste socialism by stressing the vital role of civil society: all the institutions, from the family to voluntary associations and churches, that stand between the individual and the state.\u00a0\u00a0 Just Money<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Erasmus of the Economist writes: Advocates of capitalism will certainly\u00a0retort that the system has no need of redemption. The core meaning of the word redemption is something like “to secure the freedom, or the very existence, of someone or something … Continue reading ![\"Catholic](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Catholic-Comments-on-Capitalism-300x196.jpg\")
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