Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Schall on wealth and poverty
Schall on wealth and poverty
Jul 18, 2025 8:02 PM

The Jesuit journal In All Things devoted its Winter 2005-06 issue to the question of poverty in the United States. The issue brings together a number of perspectives from Jesuits, both liberal and conservative. The Rev. James V. Schall, S. J., contributed an article titled “On Wealth and Poverty,” one which the journal editors have described thematically as “choosing not to be poor.”

Here is Schall’s article in its entirety:

The most famous book in economics is The “Wealth” of Nations, not The “Poverty” of Nations. Yet, Christ says, the “poor” will always be with us. Not a few still are. No one needs to learn to be poor. It is easy. Do not make, develop, invent, or concoct anything productive. Someone had to invent the wheel, plumbing, tooth brushes, hybrid corn, puters The question of poverty implies “how not to be poor.” Unless we talk about the latter question, it is useless to talk about the former one. If we do not know how to produce wealth or if we choose not to learn or effect those things that actually work to produce it, we will be poor. We will likewise make or keep others poor. Not all “good” ideas work for the good.

All existing societies, as Plato told us, are divided between rich and poor, usually antagonistic to one another. The notion that everyone need not be poor, need not be antagonistic, in their wealth making, is a modern idea. Wealth production and distribution were things that had to be invented. Not everyone invented them, or learned how to use them that did work. Certain famous ideas about wealth production, like socialism, will not and cannot work.

What we mean and even feel to be poverty or riches refer to the relative riches of the society in which we live. Poor people can envy those not quite so poor. Both are, by our standards, simply poor. Rich people envy those richer than they. Both seem rich by our standards. The question of poverty is a pared to what?” situation.

A certain amount of property or wealth is necessary to practice virtue, as Aristotle said. He also said that the greatest crimes do not arise from a lack of means or sustenance. Riches are often the worst environment in which to practice virtue. “Woe to you who are rich.” Yet, the poor are not necessarily virtuous simply because they are poor. The rich are not vicious simply because they are rich.

Not everyone wants to be rich. Socrates, for example. The philosopher Thales told us that he was too interested in higher things to concern himself with riches. But to prove that he could be rich if he wanted, he cornered the market on wine and oil presses. He made a bundle. Ever since, though not always admirably, monopolies have been a source of riches, both for governments and private individuals. The monastic vow of poverty, like the vow of chastity, was not intended to imply that wealth-creating or marriage was wrong. It was meant to say that both are good.

For the “rich young man” to give up his riches is senseless if the reason for doing so was that riches were intrinsically evil. Otherwise he would have been morally obliged to follow Christ, not free to do so. Following Christ only made sense if riches were good. The young man did not go away sad merely because he had “many riches,” which he evidently did. He could have said to the Lord, “Look, I will use my e for some charitable purpose; you name it.” He still would have gone away sad.

The reason the poor are poor is not because the rich are rich. The only way that the poor will be not poor is for them to lean how to be rich from those who have learned. The main reason that people are poor today is the political, moral/religious system in which they live. Most of the poverty in modern times is caused by ideologies, usually ones proposing the eliminating poverty by government control. They cannot do so, and do not do so, because they followed a theory that violated basic tenets of human nature. Aristotle already understood mon property would not be cared for. Governments that reduce or eliminate the incentive of the people through faulty tax policies produce neither wealth nor the satisfaction of people responsible for their own lives.

A going economy, with free enterprise, democratic political systems, rule of law, and fair courts, with control of corruption, governmental and private, is the chief mechanism for the elimination of poverty. Poverty that is caused by human disaster, physical or moral deficiency, is the proper arena of benevolence or charity. Every decent society will have some voluntary or governmental mechanism to meet extreme needs.

But the main question raised by poverty is about the knowledge and energy necessary to engage a whole people in the productive work that causes wealth. In modern times, the question of poverty on a wide scale is largely a result of not having chosen the right political, economic, and moral systems in which poverty can be eliminated. No ideological alternatives have worked. At this, we should not be surprised.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Want to Help the Poor? Promote a Free Market in Health Care
Want to help the poor? Promote a free market in health care. That’s the argument made by John C. Goodman, author of the new book Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis. Timothy Dalrymple recently talked with Goodman about the best approach for restoring free-market pricing mechanisms into the market for medical care and health insurance: Aren’t there some people, however, who have little of money and lots of time, and would prefer to wait in order to receive cheaper care? There...
Counting the Profit of a Third Party Choice
Joe Carter recently highlighted the discussion at Ethika Politika, the journal of the Center for Morality in Public Life, about the value of (not) voting, particularly the suggestion by Andrew Haines that in some cases there is a moral duty not to vote. This morning I respond with an analysis of the consequences of not voting, ultimately arguing that one must not neglect to count the cost of abstaining to vote for any particular office. One issue, however, that I...
On Call with Dr. Pamela Casson
Dr. Pamela Casson, a pediatrician in Colorado Springs, knows what it means literally to be “On Call.” This week she shares with us in this video interview with Jon Hirst how she sees God working through her in her work with families, children and the world around her. Thank you Pamela for giving us an inside look at how you see your work as blessing the world. ...
Is it really ‘aid’ if it goes to relatively wealthy nations?
Alan Duncan, an aid minister in the UK, says his government is “forced” to hand over large amounts of money to the EU’s foreign aid budget, but has no say in how the money is spent. The problem is that much of the $2 billion+ “aid” money (one-sixth of the British budget) goes to projects such as making a Moroccan water park more eco-friendly, an art project in St. Petersburg, and building a hotel and plex in Barbados. Britain’s International...
How were people On Call in Culture 165 years ago?
What is so special about 1837? That was the year Abraham Kuyper was born. September 29th is his 165th birthday. So we thought we would go back to 1837 and see how people were being On Call in Culture back then. We don’t know if they were all believers on a mission to bless the world, but by seeing what was going on 165 years ago, we hope you are encouraged to engage your world in 2012! How did people...
Did 2,362 Millionaires Get Unemployment Checks in 2009? (Answer: Yes they did.)
The Congressional Research Service (CRS), a group that works exclusively for the U.S. Congress, issued a report with one of the greatest titles I’ve ever seen on a government document: Receipt of Unemployment Insurance by e Unemployed Workers (“Millionaires”) Now the first nine words are nothing special, typical policy-wonk speak. But whoever added in the word “millionaires” with scare quotes and parentheses is a genius. Most people would have been nodding off around the word “Insurance” but seeing millionaires (that’s...
Stop Apologizing for Our Liberties
You cannot apologize to a fanatic, says Lee Harris. It only serves to convince him that he was right all along: The last few weeks have witnessed a peculiar and disturbing spectacle: An American administration that has spent a great deal of time and energy apologizing for our liberties—in particular, for what many would regard as the foundation of all our other liberties, namely, the freedom to express our minds as we see fit. This signature freedom, of which Americans...
Dodd-Frank: The Other Serious Threat
At least es at us head on. The greater legislative threat may be the one that most Americans have never heard of. Economist Scott Powell and Acton friend Jay Richards explain in a new piece in Barron’s: While Obamacare received more attention, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, also known as Dodd-Frank after its Senate and House sponsors, … unleashed a new regulatory body, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to operate with unprecedented power. Dodd-Frank became law in...
Markets and culture: A time to play, a time to pray
Faced with the prospect of a professional athletic career, a nearly-half million dollar salary, and a perfect lady, what’s not to like? Apparently, for Grant Desme, it was the noise and unrest of the world. Can a culture of life and the noise and tumult of the marketplace co-exist? Rev. Robert Sirico, reflecting on this, says they can, so long as it is not a place where: [C]apitalism…places the human person at the mercy of blind economic forces…What we propose,...
Rev. Sirico on Life, Work, and Human Flourishing
J.Q. Tomanek of Ignitum Today interviewed Rev. Sirico about life, work, human flourishing, and his new book, Defending the Free Market: JQ Tomanek: Back in the day, holiness was misinterpreted as a cleric or religious life thing. How can a lay Catholic practice their faith? What are some ways to sanctify our work as lay Catholics? Is “ora et labora” just a monk thing? Reverend Sirico: Yes, religious people are often tempted to e so “heavenly minded they are no...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved