The work ethic of the bishops' pastoral on the economy

This paper describes the prevaling ideology of acquisitive materialism and shows that it values work only as a means for acquiring material goods. This is contrasted to the view of work in the traditional Protestant Ethic and in Catholic social teaching. The Pastoral argues that work is good in itself when the worker is aware of participating in and contributing to the life of the community. While Catholic social thought in the past has emphasized distribution, the Pastoral points out that active participation in production by all is essential to a just economic order. Richard P. Mullin Jr. is Professor of Philosophy at Wheeling College. He is the author of several articles which have been published in Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference on Value Inquiry, Philosophy in Context, and Ethics West Virginia Lecture Series.