Prudence

Prudence is the often the first virtue taught in Catechism. Some call prudence the “mother of all virtues”.

I imagine that prudence occupies such a pivotal place in the practice of the Christian faith because the dictionary defines the noun as: “acting with or showing care and thought for the future”. In other words, the act of being prudent is one where we examine the foundation of our intentions before speaking or acting.

A logic exercise students of philosophy often engage in while analyzing arguments is to hone in on the premise, or founding assumptions, of that argument to determine whether the course of action being advocated is well founded.

For a litmus test of whether our planned course of action is set on a solid foundation, www.catholiceducation.org points its readers to the following citation from St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” Philippians 4:8

On Tuesday, the eve of the summit of leaders from the Group of Eight most industrialized rich nations of the world northeast of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI published a 144-page encyclical, the highest form of papal writing, entitled Caritas in Veritate – Latin for “charity in truth.”
In it, he addressed everything from globalization and mandatory birth control to development aid and the environment. He also called for a new business order governed by ethics and the common good, warning that the blind pursuit of profit has “wreaked havoc” on the world economy.
Click on this link for an unofficial synopsis of the encyclical: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0953.htm

My reading of history from the time since humans have kept written records (I am a particular fan of Ancient Greek and Roman history) has led me to believe that market economics appears to be this world’s natural order for doing business.

Market economics at one end of the spectrum can be something as simple as a network of bartering agreements – you grow wheat and in exchange for your excess grains I will build you a granary – to “unbridled capitalism”. Capitalism is defined as an economic system in which a country’s trade and industry are geared toward extracting maximum profitability at every stage of the production process.

Our country’s economy and those of the other G8 countries – the United States, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Russia – is probably closer to former end of the spectrum of market economies than the latter and, as far as the Pope is concerned, that is where we got ourselves into this mess that’s become the first global economic contraction since the Second World War.

The Pope wrote that while the globalized economy has redistributed wealth, which has “lifted billions of people out of misery”, he also warned that reckless growth in recent years has caused environmental degradation, a loss of trust in world markets, and mass migration.

The Pope calls for the reform of the United Nations and international financial institutions to give poor countries a greater voice on the global stage, adding his voice to those of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, and China for an overhaul of UN institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group – two bodies revered in the developed world but loathed in developing countries for often forcing poorly thought-out policies on their populations.

Let’s pray the leaders of the G8 are prudent in their deliberations this week and that we be prudent in our actions and words.