Slip-Sliding Away from God’s Law

Consider the greatest problem facing the Catholic Church in the U.S. and how each of us can help solve it. During the past 60 years, each succeeding generation born to devout Catholics has contained a smaller number of devout Catholics and many atheists, agnostics, Marxists, and lukewarm Catholics. This is happening now rather than hundreds of years ago because we are now in the habit of compromising doctrine and condoning sin, and to the extent that any generation does that, the next generation will do even more of it. 

I’ve spoken with a dozen or so couples for whom the loss of faith among their children or grandchildren is the greatest tragedy of their lives. I try to comfort them, but they have reason to grieve. The souls of their loved ones are wandering from God, and some will be eternally lost. One way we contribute to this ongoing tragedy is by compromising with the “no work” provision of the Third Commandment and condoning sin against it.

How would American Catholics respond if practicing their faith was made a crime? While citizens of many totalitarian regimes have been tested in that way; most Americans have not. When given a much less challenging test, we failed miserably. We embraced sin not because government officials mandated it, but merely because they legalized it.

Before

Before 1960, Christians generally did not work, buy or sell on the Lord’s Day. They understood that this was the rule and had been the rule for nearly 2000 years, and that the Jews had honored their Sabbath in that way for at least 1500 years longer than that. 

The Baltimore Catechism proclaimed, “By the third commandment of God all unnecessary servile work on Sunday is forbidden.” The nuns taught us not to plow, sell, buy, or do any other work that could be postponed, and not to let our servants or employees do any either. An emergency exception was limited to genuine threats to life, limb or property. We could fight off a wolf, bandage a wound, or put out a fire. A charitable exception was limited to volunteering one’s own time performing works of mercy for people in need. We could feed a hungry person, nurse a sick person, or visit a prisoner. Deliberately violating this rule, absent special mitigating circumstances, was a mortal sin.

They also taught us to put all ten Commandments in perspective: that Catholics, other Christians and Jews understood them the same way; that they were and are the core of God’s moral law; and that the first three are most important as they relate to the First Great Commandment: Love of God while the last seven relate to Second Great Commandment: Love of Neighbor. 

In nearly every U.S. jurisdiction, compliance with the rule was enforced by state or local governments through the so-called “blue laws,” which prohibited most Sunday work and had done so since colonial days. If you came of age prior to 1960, everything you had ever heard would have told you that Christians were not to perform unnecessary work on Sundays, and that Sunday sales were unacceptable.

During the 1960s, the blue laws came under political attack. Some argued that they violated federal or state constitutions by furthering the interests of Christianity. Others favored the profitability and convenience of seven weekly shopping days. Soon, in virtually all U.S. jurisdictions, these laws were repealed by the legislature, nullified by the courts, or ignored by law enforcement. As a result, retail stores began opening on Sundays and insisting that their employees work Sunday shifts.

Sixty Years Later

About two years ago, my wife (the pious and learned Dr. Jennifer Borek, a frequent contributor to these pages) told me our local St. Vincent de Paul Society thrift store was open on Sundays. I said, “Do you want me to complain?” And she said, “Yes, please.” Because that’s the kind of relationship we have.

Soon I was on the phone with an executive in the society’s regional office. I said I wished to complain about the store selling non-emergency items on Sunday. She asked why that was a problem and volunteered that all the society’s local thrift stores were open on Sundays. I said it was a problem because the society is a Catholic organization and Catholics are obliged to refrain from such Sunday sales. She told me that the Board was responsible for the decision, that all Board members were Catholic, and that they consulted a priest before making the decision. 

I wrote to the Executive Director of the St. Louis Vincentians. In return I got a polite letter from his number two acknowledging my concerns and explaining that Sunday sales were good for the society’s income and for the convenience of shoppers. I consulted two priests: one who vigorously supported Vincentian Sunday sales and one who would not express an opinion. I spoke to a handful of my fellow Vincentians and wrote to dozens of others. All were senior citizens; most were uncomfortable with the Sunday sales decision. All but one, however, had made peace with it and had no interest in asking to have it reversed. 

Since then, I’ve spoken with faith-filled Catholics who are perfectly comfortable with Sunday sales. I’ve learned that there are millions of such Catholics. I’ve also spoken with people who, like me, thought Sunday sales and Sunday work were prohibited. It seems that those who came of age prior to 1960 assume that Sunday sales are absolutely forbidden, while those who came of age after 1980 assume that Sunday sales do not present an important moral issue. These assumptions developed unconsciously based purely upon the cultural messages received in our youth. If we haven’t yet examined them consciously, we are not responsible for them. We deserve neither praise for getting them right nor shame for getting them wrong. But which is right? 

God’s Commandment: Guideline or Rule?

It’s a rule. It’s a commandment: one of the three most important. 

Here’s how the Third Commandment begins in the current Catechism (quoting Deuteronomy):

• Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, November 2019, part three, section two, chapter one, article three.

It’s a rule.

Why Does It Seem Like a Guideline?

Today millions of U.S. Catholics view the rule as an unimportant guideline because we have spent about sixty (60) years condoning sin against it and compromising its meaning. The condonation began, as always, as timidity disguised as kindness.

The loss of the blue laws caught us unprepared. Those of us who had put all our economic eggs in the retail sales basket were forced to choose between continuing to honor God’s commandment or retaining enough income to pay our bills. Some took the saintly path and refused Sunday work despite the threat of economic martyrdom. Others, including some of the most devout, were unwilling to impoverish themselves and their families. Although wracked with guilt, reluctantly they began working Sundays. 

Nearly everyone sympathized with these non-martyrs and wanted to ease their pain. So, we told them that their desire to honor their financial obligations and protect their families was understandable. If our “kindness” had stopped there, the “No Work” rule would not have eroded. Catechists would still teach it, the clergy would still preach it, and we and our offspring would have been choosing commandment-friendly jobs and careers for the past 60 years. We would be neither working nor shopping on Sundays.

Alas, we fallen humans tend to shrink from the unpleasant and to rationalize our timidity. Accordingly, if asked, “Is my Sunday work sinful?” we said anything but “Yes.” Catechists instructing the children of non-martyrs, said anything but “Sunday work is a sin.” Preaching on the subject also became less clear as well as less frequent. 

I don’t know what their confessors told the Sunday workers. Nonetheless, whenever a Sunday worker left the confessional and cheerfully returned to his or her Sunday work schedule, the message received by those hoping for leniency was, “The Church approves of it.” As time goes on, a dwindling number of Catholics bother confessing Sunday work or Sunday shopping at all.

To get a sense of the extent to which Catholic discourse on this subject has been obfuscated with condonation and compromise, I asked Google AI to sweep the Internet using its algorithm to get the consensus answer to this question: “Can Catholics shop on Sunday?” The answer was:

“Yes, Catholics can shop on Sunday, but the Church encourages them to avoid non-essential shopping to keep the day holy for rest, family, and worship, prioritizing Mass attendance and avoiding activities that hinder others from their own rest, with necessities like urgent groceries or medicine being acceptable exceptions. It’s generally discouraged to make Sunday a regular shopping day, especially for non-essentials, as it goes against the spirit of the Lord’s Day, but occasional necessity or a spirit of rest and charity (like buying a gift) doesn’t constitute a mortal sin, especially if Mass is attended.” (emphasis in the original).

Compare the blather above with the AI’s response to this question: “Can Catholics have pre-marital sex?” The answer was:

“No, the Catholic Church teaches that sex before marriage (fornication) is a serious sin, reserving sexual intercourse exclusively for the marital covenant between a man and a woman, as it’s meant for deep lifelong union, procreation, and the expression of marital love. Engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage, including intimate acts like fondling or nudity, goes against Church teachings, which emphasize chastity and reserving sexual expression for the sacrament of marriage.” 

So, the Internet consensus is that Catholics may not have pre-marital sex because it is a sin, but that Catholics may shop on Sunday although the Church “encourages” them to avoid certain kinds of shopping. The word “sin” doesn’t appear in the shopping answer at all except to assure us that those who buy gifts on Sunday (and thereby encourage employers to require Sunday work) may do so without fear of mortal sin. Of course, Catholics are confused. Of course, those tempted to shop on Sunday can easily convince themselves that their failure to heed the Church’s “encouragement” is not sinful at all. The slope is slippery and we are already near the bottom.

A Dead End?

I’m neither a professional writer nor a professional researcher. I’m rarely paid; I have few purely academic interests and no academic reputation. I write primarily to help my children and grandchildren make good decisions. Accordingly, while studying our humiliating retreat from the “no work” rule, I tried to develop some useful guidance. The first suggestion that came to mind was “Don’t work on Sunday,” which seemed too mean. “Please, don’t work on Sunday” wasn’t much of an improvement. Either was likely to provoke an angry or defensive response, and both made me feel like a hypocrite. My close friends and family-members who work on Sundays are trapped just as surely as the non-martyrs of the 1960s. They chose Sunday-work careers in all innocence because they grew up surrounded by condonation and compromise. If I were as trapped as they are, I too would compromise to preserve my livelihood. 

Defeated I put the whole project on the shelf. The Catholic community was drifting away from a key element of the Third Commandment and there was no way out. (Or was there?)

The Price of Inaction

During my lifetime, the children of each succeeding generation of devout Catholics have been less devout than their parents. Some become atheists or agnostics; others reject more Church doctrines, engage in more public sin, or receive the sacraments less often than their parents. My archdiocese recently closed some sixty percent (60%) of its parishes and expects to close a similar percentage in less than thirty (30) years. Why are we diminishing so rapidly at this time in history?

Can it be that modern Catholics are born with less potential for virtue? Nonsense. Can it be that high-tech sin is irresistible in comparison to the primitive sins of prior generations? I don’t buy it. God would not leave modern children with less chance of salvation than their ancestors. Even if some kinds of sin are more attractive now, we have compensatory resources: more leisure time, more available information, and a greater ability to understand the consequences of sin. Life is no less fair today than 1000 years ago. 

The Old Testament histories are instructive. The chosen people periodically moved away from God toward the false beliefs of their neighbors. Each time, after much suffering, they would repent and move toward holiness again.

In my lifetime, the U.S. Catholic community has tried to accommodate itself to its increasingly Godless neighbors. We have muted our preaching and teaching about less popular doctrines and have condoned many popular sins. Inclined to weakness, we tend to confidently adopt the errors and compromises of our elders and to follow their example by compromising further with doctrines we don’t like and further condoning sins we do like. It’s been like a one-way ratchet.

For a long time, I didn’t care much. It was not among my daily concerns. Then along came my perfect, delicate and vulnerable grandchildren. If present trends continue, they will face more error and vice and will have fewer dependable, faith-filled allies than even their wonderful parents did. If their faith and virtue diminish as a result, their parents, the good Doctor, and I will be inconsolable. Long after I’m gone, if any of my great- or great-great- grandchildren are lost, the grandchildren I know and love so well will be inconsolable. I must act to protect them. 

Please

If you are a saint, thank you for your service. I can ask you for nothing more. 

If you are like me, sometimes unable to resist sin, please do not undermine the ability of others to do so. Please do not say or imply, even by silence, that sin is something less than sin or that the Truths preserved by Holy Mother Church are subject to change. If you must work Sundays, explain to your family and others that you are sinning under duress, that you repent, and that you are struggling to find a way to live a more Christian life. If you must shop on Sundays, shop secretly, in disguise, far from family, friends and neighbors. If you get caught, plead guilty by reason of weakness and admit that you have deliberately offended God.

My family and I thank you for considering this request.