CLE: Reviewer

• You shall not steal: '7th Commandment'
• The commandment "Thou shalt not steal"


  Protects the right of others to what is rightfully theirs
• People steal because


  They want to have more
• Greed drives them


  To amass wealth in the face of massive poverty
• The Seventh Commandment


  Could be understood as a direct and general prohibition of theft
• The commandment not to steal

  Simply means not to claim unjustly the possessions of another as one's own
• Stealing in the Israelite community


  • Takes a strong social dimension in the prohibition against the accumulation of wealth and harvest, which deprives the poor and the weak of their right to the goods of the earth
• Stealing


  Takes the form of taking from another his/her part of the goods of the earth
• The Seventh Commandment


  Deals with something very important for the life of the community
• The Seventh Commandment

  • Protects the right of possessing goods and properties for the good of individuals and families, and the whole community
• Violations of the Seventh Commandment

  • Robbery, larceny, embezzlement, and false pretenses
• Larger context of violations

  • The giver of bribes for political favors, the manipulator of the economic system for unjust and unearned assets, the destroyer of business for the sake of a favorable tax advantage, the issuer of stocks who, having made his millions, then sells out as the vast enterprise is about to collapse, or the government figure who sets out to make a fortune by compelling the offering of bribes
• The Universal Destination of Goods


  The right to private property is valid and necessary, but it does not nullify the value of this principle. Private property is under a 'social mortgage,' which means that it has an intrinsically social function.
• Theft "from above"


  The rich robbing the poor
• Theft "from below"


  The have-nots taking unjustifiably from those who have
• Property


  Is misused objectively when it becomes a means of exercising power over others, instead of helping improve the common quality of life
• Theft "from above"


  • Exorbitant interest rates being charged by banks and insurance firms, rich landowners, and multinational corporations taking advantage of the small farmer or businessman, bribery, violation of business contracts, refusal to pay just wages, tax evasion schemes, and falsification of documents, excessive gambling, irresponsible borrowing, and refusal to repay legitimate debts
• Thefts "from below"


  • Widespread practices of shoplifting, stealing office/ factory/school supplies, office work-hours wasted in sloth, borrowing and never returning, cheating with false weights or the use of inferior materials, smuggling and overcharging to make excessive profits
• The basis of the Church's social teaching

  The intrinsic dignity of every human person
• Human solidarity


  Awareness of the common fatherhood of God, of the brotherhood of all in Christ- *children in the Son' and of the presence and life-giving action of the Holy Spirit
• The Christian conscience must recoil at the sins committed against the poor
• Economic and Political power is used selfishly to serve the interest of the few and keep the poor at bay
• Our inequity is a moral evil
• Preferential love for the poor


  The Church's social doctrine is marked with a preferential option for the poor
• Love for the poor is incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish use
• Three positive goods and values:

  Universal destination of goods and private ownership of goods - The right to private property is necessary so that people can meet their human needs and of those who are dependent on them.

  Social justice - is based on the dignity of every person who is the living image of God, redeemed by Christ, and dwelt in by the Holy Spirit.

  The preferential love for the poor - is inspired by the poverty of Jesus and his concern for the poor.