[kosta50]

“His Holiness recommends “adopting means to assist parents in their inalienable right to educate their children in their own ethical and religious convictions”

His Holiness also happens to think unrestrained capitalism is a system of social injustice that promotes secular values and greed. How do American Catholics reconcile this?

After all, it is the capitalist system that has created conditions, where in many if not in most cases, both parents work and children are by that fact alone raised in institutionalized "Skinner" boxes, or on the streets, and such assistance to them would be worthless.

Are we willing to give up an entire paycheck and cut our family income by as much as 50% in order to have mom at home raise the kids? (How many college-educatred, profesisonal women are ready to give up their edcation and professional life to do that?)

No doubt, some families do. Dad takes a second job, and a PhD mom stays at home, cooks and raises the kids. But I think most people nowadays don't fit that pattern or are willing to throw away years of their education that easily.

Democrats will occasionally pay lip service to

It says something about the values of at least half of Americans, doesn't it? Are we becoming strangers in our own home?

[nathanbedford]

About 10 km west of my home here in Bavaria there is a foothill of the Alps called "Ratzingerhoehe" upon the summit of which is a restaurant with a particularly stunning view of the valley below, the lake beyond, and the Alps running to the horizon. I understand this is owned by a cousin of his Holiness who has visited the restaurant as a cardinal.

If you go about 30 km to the east and you will come to a town which has the gymnasium where his Holiness attended school. If you go about 40 km northeast of here he will come to his birthplace.

I recite all of this to identify his roots with this area. I think this is significant because it is the law here that parents may not homeschool their children in lieu of attending public school. They will actually put the parents in jail. The authorities have explicitly stated that they want the children to have a homogenized cultural experience. So I give his Holiness credit for having broken with the contemporary culture of the place of his birth.

As to the reference to unbridled capitalism, I can only say that that is a widely shared conception in this area. Moreover, I would observe that the tendency here is to look to the state to protect you from your neighbor rather than look to yourself or to your neighbor to protect you from the state.

Which brings me to my next observation which is that it is one thing for a parent to decide that it is not an economic interests for Mama to stay home to school the children and quite another for the state to forbid her from doing so. It seems to me that the Germans tend to look to the state as the font of good and to the individual has the potential for trouble.

[pegleg]

Are we willing to give up an entire paycheck and cut our family income by as much as 50% in order to have mom at home raise the kids?

The real question is what’s more important?

No doubt, some families do.

I would suggest their priorities are in order.

[don-o]

His Holiness also happens to think unrestrained capitalism is a system of social injustice that promotes secular values and greed. How do American Catholics reconcile this?

I am not a Catholic, but I agree with the statement as attributed to the Pope. The Gospels are full of commands to aid the poor. It is the duty of every Christian and every Christian capitalist to do such. (I must suspect that there are not very many of the latter.)

"Unrestrainted" is an interesting choice of words. Perhaps informed Catholics would share the suggested source of that desired restraint.

[MarkBsnr]

***His Holiness also happens to think unrestrained capitalism is a system of social injustice that promotes secular values and greed. How do American Catholics reconcile this? ***

Rather poorly, I’m afraid. I think that a lot of American Catholics hold diametrically opposing ideas such as capitalism and socialism, and the sanctity of life and the right to die/abortion. That, too, is mostly held by the liberation theology generation, which is on its way out.

***Are we willing to give up an entire paycheck and cut our family income by as much as 50% in order to have mom at home raise the kids? (How many college-educatred, profesisonal women are ready to give up their edcation and professional life to do that?) ***

My wife has a degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan. We are one example. Colleen has been home with all of our 5 kids from birth. We do not buy into this culture of acquisition.

***No doubt, some families do. Dad takes a second job, and a PhD mom stays at home, cooks and raises the kids. But I think most people nowadays don’t fit that pattern or are willing to throw away years of their education that easily.***

It hasn’t been thrown away. She will re-enter the work force when all the kids are at school but not until. She and I are adamant that the children are the focus of our marriage, and not each other or ourselves. Marriage is not 50-50. It is 90-10 both ways.

***Democrats will occasionally pay lip service to
It says something about the values of at least half of Americans, doesn’t it? Are we becoming strangers in our own home?***

Some of the nominal Catholics are.

[Desdemona]

His Holiness also happens to think unrestrained capitalism is a system of social injustice that promotes secular values and greed. How do American Catholics reconcile this?

By employing morality in action. Official church teaching, which was revealed LONG before the 20th century, is that the most just economic system is one that is fair to all being a free market system where man can work according to his talents and abilities for profit. With this system, one must contribute to the common good what he can afford and where it is most needed (that would be to charity) all while ethically going about business (no cheating, lying in advertising, propagandizing falsely, etc.). That doesn't sound like what we now know as socialism to me. BXVI didn't come up with this. This is the way it's been for centuries. The way republics like Venice ran. We need to get back to it, truth be told.

Please, remember that in the Church we are fighting a battle with an element that is very ignorant of Church teaching and history and that excise segments of encyclicals with "bottom lines" without reading the underlying reasoning - or the rest of the sentence sometimes. We have a lot of CINOs passing themselves off as devout, practicing Catholics, when the general population cannot tell the difference. And people are often too lazy to care. So, things aren't always what they seem. Satan is the father of lies and unfortunately, this is a topic that's been one of his victims.