In my book of the Liturgy of the Hours, Monday’s morning prayer ends with this plea: “Father, Your almighty power created all things from nothing, and Your mercy recreated what was lost. Enlighten our path from the dawn of each day, and grant peace to those who place all their hope in You.” 

Right now, there is an urgent need to recreate what was lost. Just look at the landscape: 26 million people newly unemployed; an unfolding economic tsunami that will cause untold hardship for millions; a mountain of corporate, consumer and government debt that will burden recovery efforts; and large numbers of people now fearful for their families’ futures. On the face of it, this is not an inspiring scenario.

We might ask ourselves: concretely, “From where can we start? If our first effort is to implore God in prayer to accompany us and enlighten our way, what else can we do to ignite and sustain the immense human effort needed to take care of those who need material help and to revitalize the economy for all?

While addressing the “scandal of poverty” in 2018, Pope Francis highlighted two essential components of an answer when he said: “What is lacking is a free and far-sighted entrepreneurship, which ensures adequate production, and a solidarity approach, which ensures fair distribution.”

The Pope’s indications on the question of poverty take on profound weight now. The recent job losses disproportionately hurt the poor and a vast number of new jobs are needed to generate the sustainable economic value required to provide for all Americans. Government handouts can help us survive the short-term. But the only real solution to this problem is through an historic effort of job creation by as many of us as are capable and willing to help with that task.

So I’d like to propose a challenge: I invite Catholics from all walks of life and all sectors of the economy to actively engage in acts of entrepreneurship and solidarity in your particular situations. Moving forward, we need the widespread application of these practices to rebuild the economy as fast as we possibly can.

 

What Is Entrepreneurship?

First, let’s be clear on what’s uniquely valuable in entrepreneurship at this moment in time.

Whereas the “worker” and the “professional” are normally occupied with predefined responsibilities, “entrepreneurs” tend to think and act a few steps ahead of the rest of us. Entrepreneurs are the “scouting parties” of the economy. They are visionaries. Unhindered by current limitations, they anticipate needs and envision a better way.

Entrepreneurs are preoccupied with improving lives and creating new value within a market or by creating entirely new markets. In doing so they become fundamental engines of economic growth. Engines that make better use of available resources, fulfill others’ needs and generate new jobs as a consequence.

Unfortunately, entrepreneurship has been declining in recent years, “indicating a U.S. economy that has steadily become less dynamic over time.” To rebuild the economy now, we need a great renaissance in entrepreneurship. More than this, we need a movement of Catholic entrepreneurs to blaze the trail and accompany their fellow citizens along the right path.

 

Why Catholic Entrepreneurship Offers More

A resurgence in entrepreneurship in itself is not enough. Beyond the inspiration and practical lessons we might gain from iconic entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs (founder of Apple), Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Airlines) or Sara Blakely (founder of Spanx undergarments), we need to look to Catholic Social Thought (CST) to provide us with a more enlightened and complete guide for our efforts.

Far-sighted entrepreneurship and solidarity characterize what we will call the truly Catholic entrepreneur. To discover concretely what these mean, let’s look to three CST principles as practiced by the Catholic entrepreneur, who inherently understands, is motivated by and lives these truths.

 

1. The Common Good

In Catholic Social Thought, the idea of the common good is like a foundation or cornerstone for economic activity. Recognizing that we should act in the interests of the common good means we should respect, promote and protect the fundamental rights of the human person as a primary consideration as we engage in economic activity.

It then proposes that prosperity, or development of the spiritual and temporal goods of society and the peace and security of its members are natural and right objects in pursuit of the common good. For the Catholic entrepreneur the common good represents a compelling and virtuous mission that inspires and motivates their entrepreneurial intent and energies.

Rather than personal wealth accumulation, public recognition or the personal pride that comes with “winning,” the Catholic entrepreneur is animated by a higher calling that seeks true prosperity and the development of human persons as the right and proper objective of their work.

 

2. The Universal Destination of Goods

This principle reminds us, as the morning prayer tells us, that since God’s “…almighty power created all things from nothing,” everything we have is given to us. We are stewards of the earth’s resources. These resources and any treasure we derive from them should be used for the benefit of all.

The universal destination of goods represents an invitation to all people to responsibly use God-given resources to co-create goods for the benefit of all. “In the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind to take care of them, master them by labor, and enjoy their fruits” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2402).

The Catholic entrepreneur embraces this invitation and, by engaging in the task of co-creation, creates work (“master them by labor”) and generates new value for all (“enjoy their fruits.”) In this moment, the universal destination of goods becomes a call to each of us to employ the resources we own or that we manage “in ways that will benefit the greatest number” (2405). In other words, to generate new economy in response to God’s call to become co-creators for the good of all.

This insight leads to an awe-inspiring and powerful motivation for Catholics, as we are each personally invited to collaborate with God himself in function of his great plan for humanity. During these hard times you can choose to believe it or not, but God still desires and has a plan for our human flourishing. He invites you to participate in making this happen from whatever situation you find yourself in. If you can’t see this invitation or you’re unsure how to respond to it, reach out and ask to for help — which brings us to the value of solidarity.

 

3. Solidarity

“We’re all in this together” is a phrase I am sure you’ve seen often since this crisis began. It points to perhaps the most challenging yet powerful of the principles of CST, that of solidarity. Solidarity is a facet of the Communion of Saints and acts to remind us, “Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others” (Catechism 947).

Solidarity therefore has a powerful dynamism about it. Living solidarity means recognizing our inter-dependence and living within a communion where we can find our fulfillment and achieve far more than we could by ourselves. More than that, solidarity offers us a medium through which we can experience the hundredfold as we journey forward.

In taking advantage of what solidarity offers, the Catholic entrepreneur lives and works with the awareness that the head of this communion is the very one who “created all things from nothing.” From this awareness, powerful connections and collaborations can be borne, through which our efforts are multiplied as we work together to “recreate what was lost.”

 

An Invitation

If you’re a Catholic businessperson or entrepreneur, I invite you discover a new calling within this crisis and to use the riches contained in Catholic Social Thought to respond to that calling.

On our own, we can all try to “fix” our situations, but if there are two, three or 100 of us working together with the mindset of the far-sighted entrepreneur and in solidarity, how much more we can generate and how much more effectively the good we generate can be “communicated to the others” within such a companionship.

Our generosity in responding to this calling can be the vital source of a more robust and good economy, an economy we now urgently need to set about rebuilding.

John Egan is a professor of marketing at The Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business.