We are All Tentmakers: The Duty to Work and Contributive Justice

1/25/2012

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carpenter--taught that all labor is good if done for the glory of God. (1 Cor. 10:31) This was not difficult for them, as the majority of them had been simple fishermen. None owned slaves. None were wealthy. None were born of royal or even noble blood.

All are called to contribute to the increase of the world. "By his work and industriousness, man--who has a share in the divine art and wisdom--makes creation, the cosmos already ordered by the Father, more beautiful. He summons the social and community energies that increase the common good, above all to the benefit of those who are neediest." (Compendium, No. 266)

And if one seeks perfection, as St. Basil told his monks, one will not work for oneself, but for others. "Human work, directed to charity as its final goal, becomes an occasion for contemplation, it becomes devout prayer, vigilantly rising towards and in anxious hope of the day that will not end." (Compendium, No. 266)

There are many Saints who heroically gave of their property and their work to the most needy, who epitomize contributive justice and charity, and who therefore are our models. Of the many we could cite, we might point to the American banking heiress St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1988) who contributed her entire vast estate (estimated at $20 million) and selflessly dedicated her entire earthly labor for the education of the Black and Native American peoples who had been such victims of social oppression and racial injustice.

True, we do not all have the financial resources of St. Katharine Drexel. Some of us are mere tentmakers and fishermen. But whether we are poor tentmakers or wealthy banking heiresses, or anything in between, we have a duty in contributive justice to work toward the common good. There is no rich or poor in Christ Jesus when it comes to this obligation. Each must give according to his or her means and the promptings of his or her conscience.

Indeed, as Christians, we have a duty to go beyond mere contributive justice and give of our plenty (and even in our want . . . remember the widow's mite!) to those who are most in need. We are haunted by Christ's words: "Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me." (Matt. 25:45) These move us in ways that no unbeliever can understand.

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Andrew M. Greenwell is an attorney licensed to practice law in Texas, practicing in Corpus Christi, Texas. He is married with three children. He maintains a blog entirely devoted to the natural law called Lex Christianorum. You can contact Andrew at agreenwell@harris-greenwell.com.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: work, contributive justice, Social Justice, Social Doctrine, economics, Andrew Greenwell, Esq.

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1 - 2 of 2 Comments

Pete Brady
1 year ago
I have been putting off getting the "Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church." I should not have. I was prepared to say that I was only aware of two kinds of "justice" --- commutative and distributive --- from what I remembered out of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and my other go-to resource, "Right and Reason," by Fr. Austin Fagothey. BUT... "Contributive" justice is addressed in both. It's probably best to start with "Right and Reason." The explanation is more expansive but, briefly, commutative justice "in the strictest sense, is between equals. It exists between man and man, or between independent states, or between man and the state considered apart from any political relation between them. ...(it) is the basis of contracts." And, briefly again, distributive justice is a "relation of the community to its members. ... (it) requires a fair and proper distribution of public benefits and burdens among the members of the community. It is the particular obligation of public officials, and is violated by favoritism and partiality." Lastly, Father Fagothey covers "legal" justice. It is the "converse of distributive, is a relation of the members to the community. ... requires each man to contribute his proper share toward the common good. It is probably called "legal" justice because it shows itself chiefly in law-abiding conduct, but it goes beyond the bare requirements of the written law. ... Some have suggested that it be called "contributive" justice." The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that commutative justice "obliges strictly; it requires safeguarding property rights, paying debts, and fulfilling obligations freely contracted. One distinguishes 'commutative' justice from 'legal' [or contributive] justice which concerns what the citizen owes in fairness to the community, and from distributive justice which regulates what the community owes its citizens in proportion to their contributions and needs" (CCC 2411). It seems to me that if people were more aware of the term "contributive justice" then perhaps they would be less inclined to say "well, there's no law against it." Justice and law are intertwined, and there IS a law against it. It's called the "natural law." And here I'll end by again returning to what Father Fagothey says further on "legal" or "contributive" justice: "It is justice in even a less strict sense than distributive, because a man contributes to the common good by the practice of all the social virtues, and so legal justice begins to shade out into a condition of general social uprightness." In other words, virtue.
abey
1 year ago
Even in Political terms it is said "Ask not what the government can do for you, but ask what you can do for the government". In other words the government is dependent on the people & not the people dependent on the government, on the contrary the people become off, by & for the government, as the master & people its slave, where the created is made the creator, contradicting the truth, falling into what the bible in Prophecy says of the manner "Tagged or chained by/in the Beast', for sin waits at the doorstep to be taken. This again relates to the truth in the Bible where Israel, sacrificed unto molech & worshiped the star of their god remphan, so GOD turned aside & gave them up to worship the host of heaven. Except in this case, it is to the worship of the government.

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