By Flavio Felice, Michael Novak Distinguished Visiting Scholar-in-Residence, Busch School of Business.
Dealing with the so-called "civil economy" means, first of all, asking how each of the many spheres that make up civil society can contribute to the development of the human person. In short, it means understanding that the leading actor of economic activity, under the principle of polyarchy, proclaimed by Benedict XVI, and the Sturzian principle of plurarchy, is to be found in the many realities that populate civil society.
One of these realities, which in part contributes to the development of the individual and consequently to the common good, is the world of university education. There, the academic community, as a whole, works together to create and offer a series of services that, at least in their intentions, are intended to contribute to the good of the person.
Enter an interesting experiment at The Catholic University of America's Busch School of Business in Washington, DC. Following the words of Pope Francis in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium: Business is a vocation, and a noble vocation, provided that those who engage in it see themselves challenged by a greater meaning of life; this will enable them to truly serve the common good by striving to increase the goods of this world and make them more accessible to all, we affirm the civic importance of economic life and the need for it to be accompanied not only by ethical and pastoral aspects but also by a solid scientific formation. This is the first in a short series of five articles in which we will present the aforementioned School of Business, using as many key concepts as the Church's social doctrine offers us.
The Busch School was founded in 2013, the same year that Pope Francis was elected, to integrate the moral and pastoral dimension that has accompanied the reflection of the Church's social doctrine on the themes of enterprise and the entrepreneurial vocation with scientific knowledge in the various fields of economics, management, and finance.
In a conversation with the Dean of the School, Prof. Andrew Abela, we noted the intention to contribute to the emergence and maturation of a sensitivity to the civil value of enterprise, which, although well present in the texts of the Magisterium and the Social Pastoral, has not always been translated into a shared awareness in everyday life. The business world and the market are often seen as something separate from the rest of civil society, indispensable for obvious reasons but, as is often the case with things considered necessary, not so appreciated. We believe that not enough thought has been given to the role that business can play in developing a civil society that is better prepared and culturally equipped to embrace the values of freedom, responsibility, and inclusion.
The enterprise, as defined by John Paul II, is a community of working people. It is the place where we can clearly see the shaping of community through the exercise of certain fundamental virtues: moderation, humility, respect, commitment, creativity and so many other virtues that make up the moral fabric that holds a person together and that, as a projection of his actions, sustains and qualifies civil society itself. Therefore, business can be a place – though not the only one, nor necessarily the most important – where people learn to work with and for others. Through business, individuals can engage in a process of value creation that extends beyond economics, encompassing multiple dimensions, including civil life.
Through business, individuals can engage in a process of value creation that extends beyond economics, encompassing multiple dimensions, including civil life.
Understanding the civic role of business and accepting Pope Francis's invitation to consider entrepreneurial work as a noble vocation, to the extent that the entrepreneur, but also the manager and all those who interact with the business entity, give their vocation a meaning that challenges all aspects of life and not only those related to the profit and loss account, also means returning the economic disciplines to their humanistic background, where literature and philosophy are no less important than mathematics.
Essentially, this means recognizing that the humanities also play a fundamental role in promoting and maintaining healthy economic institutions. Enzo Di Nuoscio beautifully defines the content of the human sciences as invisible geniuses and intangible defenders of the democratic citadel. From this perspective, we can affirm that the economy, as an institution born of an open society, lives and is sustained by a set of intangible values. These values are nurtured by the humanities, which are necessary for its survival and thus for the health of a free and virtuous society itself.
This article was originally published in Avvenire (a daily newspaper of the Italian Episcopal Conference).