by Johnny Zokovitch
For most of my adult life, the idea that one might critique capitalism as unsustainable or even morally wrong invited eye rolls and one’s immediate dismissal as being an “unserious” person. To be labeled as a socialist or a communist meant being shunted to the extreme margins of our national conversation, or worse, considered treasonous and unpatriotic.
But in recent months, we’ve been witnessing an opening for the consideration of alternative approaches to our national economic life that we haven’t seen since the 1930s in this country. Just as the Great Depression presented a reckoning with the capitalist policies that led to widespread poverty, massive unemployment, and the concentration of wealth and the means of production in the hands of the very few, today’s economic fragility – characterized by medical debt, rising costs in education, food insecurity for millions, the widening wealth gap between billionaires and the rest of us – is starting to change the conversation. We’ve seen candidates like Zohran Mamdani in New York City openly claiming a socialist vision that aims to transform economic inequality and elevate human dignity over the bottom line. And we’re hearing the pushback from politicians like President Trump dusting off the boogeyman of communism as a mortal threat that will lead to the ruin of life as we know it.
Yet most I think, and especially those who are far younger than I am, don’t go all a-quiver and recoil at the mention of ideas and policies associated with socialism or communism. We’re too brutally acquainted with the ravages of capitalism in the age of Bezos, Zuckerberg and Musk to not be open to the idea that maybe, just maybe, we could do things differently.
And for those of us who follow Jesus, we have a sneaky suspicion that the early Christian community (as described for instance in Acts 2:42-47) bears more than a passing resemblance to socialist practices.
Earlier this week marked the birthday of Fr. Joe Nangle, OFM, the original author of this column on “Hope and Challenge.” In every column I write, I usually link to a column of Joe’s with the hopes that readers will revisit his wisdom. Today, in honor of Joe and in thanksgiving for his elucidation of where capitalism leads us, I want to give over the rest of this space to him, excerpting a column he wrote in October 2024 for the members of Pax Christi USA entitled “The violence of capitalism.”
The Gospel for this 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time suggests a challenging examination of conscience for us who live at this time and place in history. Mark’s gospel relates the story of a rich man who cannot part with his possessions despite the Lord’s invitation to do so; and Jesus’ follow-up: “How hard it is [for the rich] to enter the Kingdom of God.” Yet the thought of judging our personal and societal lifestyles through the prism of this sad story and Jesus’ reaction tempts us to look away. We are reluctant to confront our way of life in this world of enormous privilege, especially when compared to the rest of the world. It evokes defensiveness. Still, doing honestly the work of assessing critically how we live will surely result in a deep and healthy self-awareness before God.
Most of us are rich, objectively, and especially in comparison with the majority of people who live today. Our “wants” far exceed our “needs.” The capitalistic system is a house of cards, dependent on our being “constant consumers.” It insists on continued growth, through ever increasing purchases of goods and services that are often superfluous, even useless. [One commentator boasted that her contribution to the “recovery” after the tragedy of September 11, 2001 was to “keep the system” going by buying a new car – an insane disconnect.]
This dehumanizing system is propelled by clever observers of our psyches who bombard us with ceaseless advertisements promising greater health, happiness and social standing in and through their products. Being subjected to such manipulation is truly a violation of our intelligence and common sense, but unfortunately it is effective.
This temptation to constant “upward mobility” is not confined to personal matters. How many of our parishes, at the whim of their clerical leaders, spend exorbitant amounts of money on ever-more ornate liturgical artifacts? How often do we hear of new multi-million dollar churches and cathedrals being built – monuments to men who occupy powerful positions in Catholic (and other) institutions? [By way of comparison, we recall the decision of Archbishop St. Oscar Romero who refused to reconstruct his admittedly rundown cathedral in San Salvador so as not to insult those living in poverty.] …
Without doubt the capitalist mentality drives virtually the entire corporate world. The Catholic Nonviolence Initiative has pointed to the violence being done, for example, to Mother Earth by profit-driven big businesses of every type. When asked, executives of large corporations shamelessly admit that the “soul” of their enterprises is the “bottom line,” the balance sheet. Business practices which favor the shareholders, however harmful to consumers, are permissible.
Over against all of this is a simple and profound ideal and challenge: the preferential option for the poor. This corollary to Catholic Social Teaching was spelled out clearly in the 1986 prophetic pastoral letter of the US bishops titled “Economic Justice for All.” They wrote:
“[Personal and societal] decisions must be judged in light of what they do for the poor, what they do to the poor and what they enable the poor to do for themselves.” (#24)
Johnny Zokovitch is the former executive director of Pax Christi USA. He currently serves on the board of the Pax Christi International Fund for Peace which continues the work of Fr. Joe through the Joe Nangle OFM Fund for a Nonviolent Future. Read more from Johnny at https://johnnyzokovitch.substack.com/ and sign up there to receive his articles directly to your email inbox.