Conference 36 - Procuring the Common Good

Conferences on the Virtues

By Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd

Number 36

Procuring the Common Good

The Common Good is comprised of several components. Primarily, it is “the intellectual and moral good of virtue”. Secondarily, it is a sufficiency of external goods by means of which society is suitably established and ordained [oriented] toward the exercise of virtue. Thus the common good of every society consists in the availability of an abundance of all those things which are conducive to a life of virtue on the part of its citizens. One very important goal of the virtue of Legal Justice, therefore, is to provide a sufficient share in that abundance for all.

Thus, the duties of those who govern society are both negative and positive. Among the negative: (a) to preserve good order, (b) to protect personal rights, goods and liberties and (c) to rid the society of existing or impending evils. The positive consists in doing all those things, generally, which promote the collective well being of the society, and to see to it that “well-being” is shared by all the members. St. Thomas has this to say concerning the “duty of Princes” (civil rulers):

“A King (civil ruler) who is educated in divine law should have this as his principal concern and objective: to enable his subjects to live well. His efforts should accomplish three things: (1) establish each and every subject in a good life, (2) preserve him in that good life, and (3) improve on it.”

“Two things are required for a man to live a good life. The first and foremost is that he conduct his affairs virtuously, since it is by the exercise of virtue that the human individual (in this life) finds his proper good, his happiness. The second is a sufficiency of those corporal goods which are the means or instruments by which one is able to perform acts of virtue.”

At this point, in view of what St. Thomas says next, we do well to recall that a virtuous life establishes “due order” or “integrity” within the individual human nature. Such a person enjoys inner “unity” as a result of the “harmony” existing among the various faculties and powers of his humanity. Hence:

“The very “unity” of the human person is caused by NATURE. The “unity” of a multitude, which is called PEACE, is obtained through the efforts of human agents. Therefore, to establish a good life within a society, three things are required: (1) that the unity of peace be created, (2) that within that peaceful environment all together live virtuously, and (3) that through the efforts of the King (civil ruler) there be made available to all a sufficiency of the goods needed to live virtuously.”

As stated in a previous conference, legislators practice the virtue of legal justice when they enact laws conducive to the common good. Now having said that the common good is obtained when all individuals have a sufficiency of what they need to live virtuously, it follows that legislators have the authority to pass laws that assist (if not require) the individual citizens to practice ALL the moral virtues. Therefore legislators are within their rights when they pass laws requiring the practice not only of justice, but also of the other cardinal moral virtues, viz., Temperance, Fortitude and Prudence. They are wrong therefore (certain economists, according to my textbook) who would restrict the power of legislators to the passing of laws concerning JUSTICE ALONE.

But how do civil rulers go about passing laws that require citizens to live virtuous lives? Clearly they do not do so either by commanding us to be just, prudent, temperate and strong [against evil], nor by forbidding us to be unjust, imprudent, etc. Rather they do so by monitoring certain “institutions” and concerns of civil society to promote “goodness” and to prevent evil. Pope Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Rerum Novarum has this to say: “Therefore [those] by whom the nation is governed ought first to devote their efforts generally and in all things to bring to bear the entire weight of the laws and institutions, so that by bringing about conformity to them and by the administration of the public resources, the prosperity of the community and of private individuals spontaneously flourishes. Now these are the things which more than anything else bring about prosperity to nations: probity[honesty] and morals, rightly and well ordered families (or family life), guardianship of religion, and of justice, moderate imposition and equitable sharing of public burdens, the increase of the arts and of the trades, a flourishing agriculture.”

In commenting upon this, the author of my textbook has this to say: “Since the duty of the civil state does not consist in substituting its own activity for that of the citizens, but rather, in using its proper energies and powers to help them to attain, by their own personal efforts, the full and perfect development of their goods and resources (Latin: facultates). Thus in those matters where individual citizens and families are sufficient unto themselves, the State should not intervene. Since the individual person and the family have their being and their [mode of] doing independently of civil society, they have their own proper end [purpose] independent of it also. Therefore the human person and all his goods are not ordained to [do not exist for] the political community. Hence, the State:

(a) Should recognize and protect the rights and appropriate liberty of individuals and families: it is not right for the citizen or the family to be absorbed by the State; it is [only] fair that each be permitted to conduct his/its affairs with freedom, insofar as this can be done without injury either to the common good or the good of other citizens.

(b) Should likewise recognize and protect private societies, for example, associations of workmen, since it is granted to them by Natural Law to enter into private associations. Therefore, in safeguarding these societies, those who are in control of civil society are not to become involved in the inner workings and ordering of their activities; but should any of these [associations] become manifestly adverse to decency, justice and the well-being of the nation, they may fittingly be resisted or dissolved, but the greatest caution is to be exercised in so doing.

(c) All the more so [the State] may not arrogate to itself any rights over religious associations and their administration; rather, its civil rulers should respect them, conserve them, and, where the situation demands, prevent injustice against them.”

Probity of Morals and Peace

My author continues: “it is in the [best] interest of the welfare of the nation:

(a) That public private moral integrity flourishes among all the ranks of the citizens; that vices are suppressed; and that peace and order reign.

(b) For that reason, the civil society should intervene in the event of impending [civil] disturbances resulting from walkouts by workers or any planned cessation of services.

(c) The same is true when, because of an insufficient wage for protracted hours of work or from heavier work, workers deliberately walk out and remain idle. Grave and prolonged inconveniences resulting therefrom are to be remedied by public authority. But the more effective and healthy solution is to avert civil intervention by a timely resolution of the causes of conflict.

(d) Caution should be taken to avert danger to integrity of morals in offices and workplaces by an indiscriminate intermingling of the sexes, or by other occasions of sin.

Properly Ordered and Established Family Life

The State:

(a) Should be vigilant to insure that domestic [family] interests proceed according to the dictates of natural and divine law. Thus, for example, that marriages be indissoluble, that the natural law govern the procreation of children, and that vices contrary to nature be suppressed. [Should see to it] that parents do not default in their duty to oversee the education of their children, and that there be no lack of the means to accomplish this. And that fathers of families be provided the means to earn what they need to provide for their families, etc.

(b) Rightly, in extreme cases, should come to the aid of families which have fallen upon difficult times and are utterly destitute of the means to recover therefrom by themselves.

(c) Likewise, since serious disorders with regard to mutual rights can occur within domestic walls, public authority may intervene to safeguard them. This does not mean that it usurps the rights of the citizens, but only that it strengthens them with appropriate supports.

(d) Should also intervene [to hold families together] in the event the bonds that hold the natural family together is seriously weakened.

Guardianship of Religion

The civil authorities should also:

(a) Protect and assist [the practice of] religion, so that God may be worshipped.

(b) See to it that workers are provided sufficient, convenient opportunities to fulfill their religious obligations.

Guardianship of Justice

The State is to take care:

(a) That Justice is held sacred and that no one injures another with impunity. The rights of each individual, no matter who he is, must be considered holy. And in order that each person may enjoy them inviolate, the public authorities must make provision to uphold and vindicate them. Their principal and special efforts in protecting individual rights, however, must be accorded to the weak and the poor.

(b) That employers do not unfairly burden employees by imposing upon them conditions that are foreign to the dignity of their persons, or which are harmful to their health, which exceed their strength or capabilities, or which are not duly accommodated to their age and sex. Particular care must be taken to see that employees are not required to work protracted hours on a daily basis, and that the special needs of women and adolescents in the work force be duly respected and provided for.

(c) That sufficient attention and concern is devoted to those who have to work for a living. Because of their unique, irreplaceable contribution to the well being of society, they deserve the means adequately to feed, shelter and clothe themselves and their families. Since workers also share the God-given, instinctive need of all human beings to have “something to call their own”, the laws should see to it that wages are ample enough for employees to acquire and hold private possessions. This calls for a more equitable distribution and sharing of wealth, and is to be a concern of public authorities.

On this latter point, Pope Pius XI picks up in his encyclical Quadragesimo Anno:

“The wealth which is constantly being generated by social-economic factors ought to be attributed to all individuals and to all classes of people in society, so that the Common Good, which Leo XIII praised as “benefits shared by everyone”, may be preserved. By this law of social justice, no one class of citizens is to be excluded from participation in the rewards…

Each of them, therefore, is to be given its share. And it is necessary that the distribution of the goods of the Creator be called back to and made to conform with the norms of social justice, which every thinking man (Latin: cordatus) is concerned about now that such a huge distance separates a small number of extravagantly wealthy individuals from a countless number of people suffering grave want. This is to be understood not only of ownership and fruits of the earth, but also of the goods, things brought about as a result of human industry. To the immense multitude of workers on the one hand, and to certain extravagantly wealthy people on the other, the vast wealth of resources which has been so copiously generated by this so called “industrial age” have far from justly been distributed, nor have they been shared with diverse classes of people.”

(d) According to Leo XIII, public authorities are to cohibit (restrain) rabble-rousers who would introduce corrupt practices into the ranks of employees with the resulting danger that goods are taken from their lawful owners by force. Pius XI, in turn, declares that it pertains to those who govern civil society to see to it that the duty of those who are wealthy to contribute to the common good is clearly defined whenever the need arises and the natural law is silent on the matter. That is to say, the State may, in view of what is best for all, look carefully into and declare, in the light of the natural and divine law, what are the licit and illicit uses that wealthy people may make of their property. That being done, Leo XIII advises, in whatever manner wealth is distributed and shared, the goods of this earth will not cease to contribute to the well being of everyone in the society.

Pius XI warns also against abuse of “economic power” which results from possession and/or control of vast sums of money. The few who wield this power tend to use it to gain “political” power as well for self-serving purposes. The result is that, instead of being free and impartial, a queen and a supreme arbiter, keenly intent upon social justice and social charity, a safeguard against abuse of economic power, too often public authority becomes a slave to human greed and caprice. (To be continued).

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