Consumerism: A Subtle Corroder of Virtue

Catholic Online ^ | 8/30/2004 | Dr. Ray Guarendi (interviewee)

[Conservative til I die]

I agree wholeheartedly with this article. I've finally gotten a good paying job (4 years out of college and single, for reference) yet find that I'm still crunched for cash. So I've decided to pay off all my debts (college loan, car loan, credit cards) within two years. I clip coupons and bargain shop (saved $21 on a $73 supermarket trip today) and buy generic when possible.

I want to control my debt, not let it control me.

[GirlShortstop]

Good memory shortstop!!       :)    For a smile, thanks to sandyeggo:

The Senility Prayer

God, grant me the Senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
The good fortune to run into the ones that I do,
And the eyesight to tell the difference.

[GirlShortstop]

I clip coupons and bargain shop (saved $21 on a $73 supermarket trip today) and buy generic when possible.

That's commendable C-t-I-d.  I think paying full price is for suckers.  :)

[Conservative til I die]

Gee, how did I know you'd somehow find some issue with this article.

[Conservative til I die]

Sink's right. We should be worshipping in abandoned storefronts like the Pentecostals. Mmmmm, I love the smell of must and waterbugs.

[Conservative til I die]

How do quarter billion dollar cathedrals justify rampant consumerism on the part of the laiety?

[Conservative til I die]

She's just a rampant consumerist.

[Gerish]

Go through your house; count all of the things that are just sitting there. They serve no purpose but to adorn our lives.

Good article. I try to do the above at least once a year. Amazing what you can bag up and give to the Rescue Mission etc. Makes you really ponder the question of "why do I have all this stuff I never use?"

[Conservative til I die]

Yeah. I only buy name-brand or not-on-sale when it otherwise isn't feasible. Things like cat food, cat litter, soups, things like that. Even then though, I always buy larger sizes for the bulk discount, savings that aren't noted on your receipt.

I've got better things to spend the money on, like saving up for a nice condo(ownership society and all). I'd much rather put down $15,000 and pay a $900/month mortgage than be like my idiot friends buying glorified studios in the city with poor ventilation, uneven floors, noisy neighbors, and a beautiful view of the wall of the next building for $1600 a month.

[sinkspur]

I don't disagree with the premises of the article, nor its intent, to encourage Catholics to become less materialistic.

However, it's time Catholic laymen held their clergy responsible, and forced them to be good stewards of the treasure entrusted to them. Building palaces for themselves and ornate monstrosities called churches ought to be questioned by those forking over the funds.

[GirlShortstop]

She's just a rampant consumerist.

LOL... and Religious Catalog just proves it!!    

[GirlShortstop]

However, it's time Catholic laymen held their clergy responsible, and forced them to be good stewards of the treasure entrusted to them. Building palaces for themselves and ornate monstrosities called churches ought to be questioned by those forking over the funds.

I have to agree with you sinkspur.

[sinkspur]

How do quarter billion dollar cathedrals justify rampant consumerism on the part of the laiety?

Sets a bad example.

[Conservative til I die]

So you think that Catholics don't posess the free will needed to not be consumerists? C'mon, that's like saying laiety will molest kids because some priests do.

Laypeople using "THe Church does it too!" are just looking for a quick, cheap excuse to justify their own selfish actions.

[sinkspur]

Laypeople using "THe Church does it too!" are just looking for a quick, cheap excuse to justify their own selfish actions.

I'm for removing the source for the excuse.

[Convert from ECUSA]

Comments #7, 10, 11, 30 - Sinkspur, good points!

#8 and #15 - Pyro7480, I'm just across the Potomac from the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and it is a beautiful church that looks like a church. It was built in a very different era than the one we live in, when we didn't have the scandals we have live through recently, and I don't think most - if any, bishops in the US lived in fancy houses. But that is my opinion. Personally, something like the Shrine is, to me, worth contributing to. A beautiful church which takes one's mind toward God inside and out, is priceless. However, monstrosities like that hideous what-ever-it-is in LA (Taj Mahoney) is another matter - other examples are in Mike Rose's "Ugly as Sin." As you put it well in #8, money spent on a classical catherdral is well spent.

[sinkspur]

I don't think most - if any, bishops in the US lived in fancy houses.

Actually, far more bishops lived like princes in the early and mid 20th century than do now.

The idea of a "bishop's mansion"--something fairly common throughout large dioceses--should be revolting, but it wasn't.

[GirlShortstop]

...monstrosities like that hideous what-ever-it-is in LA (Taj Mahoney) is another matter - other examples are in Mike Rose's "Ugly as Sin".

LOL... as my father would wryly remark:  "their taste is all in their mouth."   teeheehee

[Lester Moore]

I think that it is the author's purchase of 4x4's, cell phones, computers, internet service provider, central A/C in his home, house slippers, newspaper subscription, TV's, take-out food, etc... that is the destructive consumerism he is talking about.

I am not guilted and will continue to spend my money as I see fit.