Use business as an agent of positive social change

The moral life consists of people choosing actions and developing virtues that enable them to pursue their own good and the good of others so that they may enter into communion with God, their Supreme Good. This understanding is based on the Church’s view of the human person and his dignity, as well as what is truly best for him. Therefore, to truly love another person is to want him or her to flourish, treating others as ends in themselves and not as mere means to an end.
 
With this framework in mind, we recognize that each person has a task, a mission to know, love, and serve God in a particular way. Our lives will take on their true meaning to the extent that we fulfill that mission. 

This is true in a particular way of Catholic business leaders who can use their business organizations as agents of change. When such individuals understand their daily work as a vocation, doing God’s work, they see their role as servant leaders, evangelizing the workplace – helping form people in virtue. Thus, the culture created within the workplace becomes a gateway for the gospel, a place to engage the world and advance the principles of human dignity and the common good.

“It is not always easy to reconcile the demands of the gospel with the demands of business and commerce,” said Pope Francis during a meeting with young Catholic entrepreneurs and business people. However, the “‘evangelical values’ that entrepreneurs and managers hope to implement in their businesses,” emphasized the Holy Father, “provide an opportunity for ‘genuine and irreplaceable Christian witness.’” In other words, the businessperson has a fundamental role in transforming society that begins with respect for the dignity of human work and the subjective dimension of work, seeing that “work is work with others and work for others” (Centesimus Annus, 31).

Catholic social principles serve as focal points of Catholic identity, and they remind us of the source of our truest good and ultimate happiness. These principles, on the practical level, keep business owners, leaders, organizations, and institutions focused on serving the common good, producing goods and services that meet genuine human needs. They do this while taking responsibility for their social and environmental impact, watching for opportunities to serve the poor, organizing productive and meaningful work that respects the human dignity of employees and their right and duty to flourish in their work, structuring workplaces with subsidiarity that equips and entrusts employees to succeed, and using resources wisely to create sustainable wealth and to distribute it justly.
 
Sadly, many Catholic business owners, leaders, and employees are unfamiliar with Catholic social teaching, and this lack of awareness has led to grave harms to persons and the common good. Consequently, we have experienced far too often the scandal and confusion caused when illicit and immoral behavior goes unchecked and uncorrected. Therefore, to ensure that Catholic identity and Catholic social teaching guide business life and practice requires stewardship, constant vigilance, and ongoing evaluation. It also requires education and formation for leaders and employees in Catholic teaching.
 
Catholic identity signifies a distinctive character, a raison d’ etrè, and it serves as the foundation and guiding force for and within Catholic life, including business. Everything the Catholic business does and aspires to be should flow from its Catholic identity, grounded in the tradition and social teaching of the Church. It should permeate its culture, the business or institution’s way of doing things, because the culture is what brings identity to life. This identity guides policies, decisions, and procedures, and it provides direction for its service to human persons.
 
Aligning a Catholic business’s core values and mission does not just happen; it must be intentional, attended to, and nurtured.

FATHER SHENAN J. BOQUET 
is president of Human Life International and a priest of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, LA. Please keep Human Life International in your continued prayers and support.