Ethical crunch?

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, is Marx on the rise? Has his predicted consignment of degrading capitalism to the dustbin of history come true?

If the recent credit crunch was part of that materialist dialectic inexorably leading to the 'dictatorship of the proleteriat', Marx would once more grace the altars of that Communist creed now disavowed by the erstwhile high priests of Soviet 'real' socialism. That he has not been so re-instated bears witness to a robust disavowal not so much of his political philosophy as much as of his economic thought.

But his analysis of man's greed in the amassment of capital, regardless of socio-ethical considerations, is as contemporary now as when Marx was working at his desk in the library of the British Museum.

Indeed, I am not sure he would not have welcomed Pope Benedict's view (expressed a year ago to the members of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation) that 'only a shared culture of responsible and active participation can enable each human being to feel not just as a consumer or a passive bystander, but an active collaborator in the process of world development'.

In so positing the problematique of our stewardship in managing and exploiting resources, the Pope was emphasising the need that profit should not accrue only to the individual, and insisting at the same time that 'forms of collectivism' (like Communism) do not oppress personal freedom.

What has given the credit crunch the notoriety it has earned was that obsessive craving for wealth for its own sake, divorcing economic from integrated human development.

Fractured and fragmented, the global financial and business community learnt at its own expense (and even more sadly at that of shareholders and small savers around the world) the colossal cost, in human terms, of policies whose remit was purely material aggrandisement to indulge more greedily in consumerist addiction. Uncertainty and volatility have characterised the universal credit crunch, almost pulling the financial carpet from under our feet, teasing us to question those 'fundamentals' which banks used as their soothing pillows for what was, till recently, a 'calm night'.

Now that we have woken to dawns of domino dismay, as one bad financial message gives way to a worse one, we have to ask ourselves how religion figures in our bewildered society, and what the Spirit entreats us to do to regain our deep serenity. We have to examine our ethical framework and see if our moral norms conform to those of the Maker whose stewards we are.

His standards are enshrined in His exhortation to 'seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you' (Mt, 6, 33).

To assess how our standards relate to those of the Kingdom, the Pastoral Formation Institute, in cooperation with the local chapter of Centesimus Annus Foundation, will be holding a dialogue, open to the public, at the Corinthia Palace Hotel, Attard, on May 12, at 6.30 p.m.

The dialogue will be opened by Catherine McGeachy, the well-known Scottish lecturer and author of Spiritual Intelligence In The Workplace, who has already held leadership conferences at Mt St Joseph retreat house in Mosta. Responding to her presentation, will be Bank of Valletta chairman Roderick Chalmers, and Mario Galea, chairman of the ethics committee of the Malta Institute of Accountants.

This will be the third year that the Pastoral Formation Institute, directed by Fr Mark Sultana, will be hosting these dialogue meetings on religion and society.