Should the Church have a say?

The Church is often caught between rock and a hard place when it comes to discussing issues like the economy and issues of a political nature and comes under fire from two sides. There are those who want her to be more vociferous and accuse the Church of mincing words or muffled silence.

At the same time, others take the opposite view and argue that the Church and those who represent her have no competence in such matters and are imprudent to say anything about them.

They say comments on economic and financial problems, for example, should be left to economists, accountants, bankers, stockbrokers and a whole lot of people who are specialised in this particular field. The business of the Church, the argument goes, is to preach the message of Christ, administer the sacraments and help people lead a good moral life.

Another reason the Church is thought to be altogether alien to the economic and political spheres is that rules relating to them differ widely from moral or ethical norms.

However, in fact, the two can be harmonised and are not always and everywhere in conflict with one another. For example, it is highly unlikely for one section of human society to be seriously harmed without that damage having a negative impact on other sections of society.

The Church feels that she has a God-given mission to help people not to live below the standard which conforms to their dignity as human beings. She offers to them, without imposing it, her own moral vision in social and economic matters which she articulates as a part of her responsibility.

Every human activity, including politics and economics, has both a technical and a moral aspect. The technical side regards the skill, efficiency and correctness with which the external things are used. But their use may be ethically right or wrong. This is where the Church comes in and has reason to plead her authority.

Every free human act has its intrinsic morality; ethically, it is either right or wrong. But it cannot be ethically right unless it conforms to the moral norm and is subject to it. Since economic activity of all kinds implies free human acts, it is subject to the moral norms laid down by the natural law.

However, natural law is so general and indeterminate that it obviously needs the authoritative interpretation of the human law giver. This interpretative role is not just the remit of the government. The Church also has a part to play. For example, what natural law puts as "render to everyone his due" the Church interprets as "employers are to pay a just wage to their employees".

Nevertheless, there is a limit beyond which the Church cannot go; she should not step out of her sphere of competence and interfere with the technical aspect of economic decisions and political problems. Nor should she enter into partisan debate. Examples of this abound: for instance, she can preach that a strike may be just under certain conditions, without, however, stating the details of when, where and how that strike should be conducted. The Church has declared that man has the right to work and that unemployment is a degrading condition for grown-up able bodied people. However, it is certainly not her business to create new jobs or propose practical ways of reducing or controlling unemployment.

The Church does not expect and should not be expected to have formulas and ready-made answers for complex social, political and economic questions.

Rather, she only attempts - and indeed has a duty - to set out a framework of values, principles and responsibilities within which the formation of Christian conscience can be promoted and decisions, substantially consistent with moral norms, can be safely taken. It is then the responsibility of each individual to decide according to his own conscience whether to accept or reject these guidelines.

Mgr Cauchi is Bishop of Gozo.