While I used coffee as an example, the same question is true for tennis shoes, groceries, computers and all of the other items and services that make up the $14-trillion-dollar economy of the United States.
We live in a complex economy. While we wish businesses wouldn’t act contrary to our values, sometimes they do. One company, Starbucks, recently made the news when it made homosexual “marriage” a core value of the company, and the founder and chairman, Howard Schulz, defended the decision when asked by two questioners at the annual shareholders’ meeting.
How are we to respond when a company takes actions like Starbucks? The Catechism and Church teaching developed over the centuries provide insightful answers. Here’s what the Catechism says:
“By his reason, man recognizes the voice of God which urges him ‘to do what is good and avoid what is evil.’ Everyone is obliged to follow this law, which makes itself heard in conscience and is fulfilled in the love of God and of neighbor. Living a moral life bears witness to the dignity of the person” (1706).
So doing good and avoiding evil is the principle we need to follow, but because we are a sinful people, and that sin permeates the culture, it’s unreasonable to think we can completely separate ourselves from the evil around us. Take the example of a pro-life worker at an electric utility. The local abortion mill needs electricity, so the worker at the plant helped the abortion mill in some way, yet he strongly opposes abortion.
This gets us to the issue of cooperation: both formal and material. Formal cooperation is when we help in some way and share the goal of the person or organization we are helping. Formal cooperation with evil is never allowed. Material cooperation is when we help a person or organization but do not share their goals. The principle of material cooperation recognizes what has been described above: that it can be virtually impossible to completely separate ourselves from participating in the sinful actions of others.
This brings us back to the example of Starbucks. If you strongly believe in traditional marriage between one man and one woman, it’s clear you wouldn’t be formally cooperating with Starbucks’ goal of promoting homosexual “marriage.” How do you decide whether it is acceptable to materially cooperate with Starbucks? Here are a few points to consider:
Is the issue of a serious nature? In this case, the answer is clearly Yes. That should prompt us to avoid participating if it’s reasonable to do so. What level of commitment is the company making? A $5,000 annual donation toward the cause of homosexual “marriage” from an organization with $12 billion in annual revenues represents a modest level of involvement. Saying that homosexual marriage is a core value of the company raises the bar substantially.
To what extent do you need the product or service the company provides? I’ll leave the coffee question up to you.
Are there good alternative sources for the product or service of the company? In this case, there are several, including Mystic Monk coffee from the Carmelite monks in Wyoming.
Although material cooperation with evil is allowed for sufficient cause, it is meritorious to take extra steps to avoid such cooperation. God love you!
Phil Lenahan is president
of Veritas Financial Ministries (VeritasFinancialMinistries.com),
host of the Life and Money radio program and
author of 7 Steps to Becoming Financially Free (OSV).
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Dear Phil,
The Holy Spirit led me to read your article. I have stopped buying at Starbucks, Home Depot, JCPenney, and other similar firms that have openly shown support for the so called “same-sex marriage”. This has led me to find other institutions that have also shown similar support. I was surprised by how long the list that Wikipedia provides is (scroll down on that page):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supporters_of_same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States
For example, most of the large airlines appear in that list. I also ended up finding my insurance (nationwide), internet search engine (google), internet shopping site (both e-bay and amazon), and many other firms from which I am currently a client (costco, general mills, procter and gamble, clorox, etc.). For some companies I cannot get rid of b/c of my job (for ex. microsoft’s excel). The difficult decisions are those in the gray area (precisely where the devil loves to be). At least I think having cut off amazon would help me save from my shopping sprees from having had the amazon’s prime service (i.e., 2-days “free” shipping). yet, how about costco? (thank God Wal-Mart’s Sam’s is not in the list :-) ) or general mill’s Cheerios for my baby? well, Wal-Mart or other brands (Kellog’s?) might also offer alternatives.
God bless and thank you again for bringing up this subject,
Antonio, PhD
Antonio, Kellogg is one of the worst offenders. They are sponsors of the Daily Show and have refused to withdraw support for the show even after the notorious “vagina manger” incident.
Catholics, Evangelicals, and conservative Jews need to band together to make our voices heard. As long as the chorus of voices assaulting traditional marriage is louder than that supporting it, these companies will hedge their bets in the other direction. Unfortunately, most Catholics don’t have the resolve to make the necessary sacrifices.
That said, we must pick our battles, as there is no way we can entirely avoid remote cooperation with evil. Every little bit helps, though. I, for example, will not purchase anything from Kellogg—even though my daughter loves Special K—and although I can’t avoid Google completely (I have a longstanding Gmail account), I use Yahoo as my default search engine. The same is true for companies like Kraft. I buy generic products when I can, but occasionally I can’t find a generic version or a competitor’s brand, so I will buy Kraft in those circumstances. The point is that we need not completely boycott a company to make a statement (and hopefully make a difference). If everybody with conviction and a desire to salvage our culture did what they could within reason, these corporations would take note.
At least eat lunch at Chick-Fil-A.
:)
Another homophobic article in a Catholic paper, and a dumb one at that. I am so sick of this I won’t be subscribing when my trial ends.
Do I believe in the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman? I do. Do I believe that homosexuality is disordered? I do, though I have a gay sibling whom I love very much and who epitomizes Christian virtues more than most of my church going friends. She, unfortunately, has been driven out of the Catholic church buy nut jobs like you who seek to ostracize instead of invite members of the Body of Christ to live as one.
This article is just silly. Even to the extent that you describe a $5k investment on $12billion in revenues as being modestly involved. That number is a rounding error in most discussions. Infinitesimal, therefore un-newsworthy, would be more accurate. Did you write this article just to be able to plug Mystic Monk coffee at the end? For those of us buying a cup of coffee on the road, you’d have us do what - drive to Powell, Wyoming instead of one of the 11,000 Starbucks stores?
I do not live my life quizzing everyone I meet or do business with on sexual orientation - “I do want to buy the car, but before I sign the contract, can you tell me if you or your boss support gay marriage? You aren’t gay yourself, are you? That wouldn’t be good.”
How about writing something serious next time? Stop trying to weed people out of the Church and begin to bring them in. This is the call Christ gave us.
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