Gospel values must trump consumerism

In his encyclical "Centesimus Annus," Pope John Paul II lamented consumerism, which he described as "exhausting."

He noted that we in the West, in particular, are sculpted and shaped from cradle to grave to live and act like consumers. We are bombarded incessantly with high-powered advertising techniques that define and create more and greater needs.

The superfluous becomes the convenient; the convenient becomes the necessary; and the necessary becomes the indispensable.

Gratification

"Enough" is not a word that advertisers use. Our prevailing culture is about choice, getting more for less and instant gratification.

We see evidence of consumerism all around us. Our supermarkets give us 40 brands of shampoo to choose from and eight different types of potatoes. We have new gadgets and software every month, $150 flights to the Caribbean, and 120 channels on cable.

Furthermore, these high-powered advertising techniques not only create more and greater needs, but they also seek to shape the attitudes and personality of the consumer as well. The self becomes the center of the universe; other people become things to serve one's needs. The moral norm is efficiency; the means are whatever works, let the chips fall where they may, be they unethical business practices, the exploitation of labor or rapacious usurpation of the environment.

Christian response

As Christians, we are called to break free from this lifestyle of high consumption, of wasteful depletion of resources, and affluent use of service and leisure, so that we might listen to what Gospel values have to say.

Gospel values tell us, "Blessed are the poor in spirit"; Gospel values point out that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle then for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven; Gospel values remind us that we should be content to be fed and clothed.

While most people would readily admit that these are Gospel norms and values, far too few are willing to take the steps necessary or make the sacrifices required to translate the values into lived realities.

For example, the poor person says, "Let the rich begin. I've had enough frugality already." And the rich person says, "Why should I give up that which I have legitimately acquired? Therefore, let someone else begin and, then, we'll see."

The net result is that no one does anything.

Living simply

Despite this pessimistic reality, however, there are signs that many people have had enough of media-driven consumption patterns and self-obsessed lifestyles, and are heeding God's call to be different, to speak out and to be living symbols to the world that an alternate way of life is both possible and necessary.

One such effort is the Livesimply Network, which seeks to change lives in our affluent West, and lives in poor parts both of our own country and of our planet.

Launched in Great Britain, Livesimply challenges us to look hard at our own lifestyle, and to live simply, sustainably and in solidarity with people who are poor.

Correcting injustice

The campaign was inspired by the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's great encyclical, "Populorum Progressio," written after his visits to Asia and Africa in the 1960s.

Pope Paul made clear that challenging the causes of social injustice is part of the mission of the Church, and asked Catholics and "all people of good will" to take the issue of global poverty seriously and to work for economic justice. He noted that true human progress must always be integrated within the economic, cultural, social and spiritual domain.

Equally important, Pope Paul underscored that an isolated economic approach to development is inadequate; rather, personal awareness, commitment and conversion are indispensable as well.

Poverty here

It is sad to acknowledge that, 40 years after that landmark encyclical, the problems of poverty and social injustice remain so intractable.

In the United States, for example, 37 million Americans are living in poverty, including one in six children. Poverty affects disproportionately Blacks, Latinos and single-family households.

A vicious cycle of poor education, low incomes, inadequate health care and crime-infested neighborhoods has led to high levels of persistent poverty in our nation across generations.

Poverty there

The situation is far worse abroad, where more than a billion people live below the international poverty line of less than $1 a day.

A child dies every five seconds of hunger or hunger-related diseases. In the developing world, 143 million children have lost one or both parents. There are more than 12 million AIDS orphans in sub-Sahara Africa alone.

Many other grim statistics could be cited to indicate that we have a long way to go in changing ourselves and our society in order to bring about a world where people will not be hungry and all will share at the same table.

As "Populorum Progressio" says, to bring about such a world "involves building a human community where people can live truly human lives, free from discrimination on account of race, religion or nationality; free from servitude toward others and to natural forces which they cannot yet control satisfactorily. It involves building a human community where liberty is not an idle word, where the needy Lazarus can sit down with the rich man at the same banquet table."

Solidarity

The Livesimply Network invites us to live in solidarity with people who are poor. This solidarity is not, as Pope John Paul II notes in his 1987 encyclical, "Sollicitudo Rei," "a feeling of vague passion or shallow distress at the hardships of people both near and far."

Rather "it is a firm and pervading determination to commit ourselves to the common good; that is to say, to the good of all and to each individual because we are really responsible for all."

I encourage you to learn more about the Livesimply campaign (www.livesimply.org.uk). As a writer stated in the London Catholic Tablet, the campaign challenges us "to share rather than to horde; to be generous with ourselves, our time and our resources; to consider how much is enough;...To live simply is not just to live frugally for its own sake -- that would be like fasting without prayer or almsgiving. It is to live in such a way that human dignity is respected and all may reach their full human and God-given potential."

May each of us strive to live simply by taking personal responsibility for creating change and for understanding the impact our way of life is having on poor people and on the global environment we all share.

(2/1/07) [[In-content Ad]]