Every year, it seems, Christmas becomes more commercialized. In NYC this year, we started seeing Christmas decorations in stores in October. In October. Christmas is starting to lap Halloween.
I was thinking about this when I read that the Catholic Church in Italy is working to repeal that country’s new Sunday shopping law. Earlier this year, in an effort to stimulate the Italian economy, the Monti government enacted a law allowing shops across the country to open on Sundays. The new law is opposed by a coalition including the Vatican, small shop owners, and some secularists who argue that a nationwide day of rest is in everyone’s interest. The Italian campaign is part of a larger movement called the European Sunday Alliance, a network of “trade unions, civil society organizations and religious communities committed to raise awareness of the unique value of synchronized free time for our European societies.”
The Sunday Alliance is not at heart religious . Sure, some Christians argue that Sunday shopping violates the Sabbath, but mostly the movement has secular goals, such as working less, putting a brake on commercialism, and spending time with family and friends. To be sure, small shop owners have an economic interest in ending Sunday shopping, since the practice disproportionately favors big-box retailers. But it’s not like the big-box retailers who favor Sunday shopping are being altruistic. They’re only advancing their economic interests.
The arguments for allowing Sunday shopping are pretty straightforward. Increased commercial activity means more wealth and greater tax revenues. More people will be able to find employment. And there is the matter of consumer choice. If people want to buy TVs on Sundays, why should the state stop them? Who’s harmed? Finally, allowing shopping on Sundays could be seen as a gesture toward religious pluralism. Not everyone observes the Christian Sabbath, and Sunday closing laws may create burdens for non-Christian businesses and consumers.
These arguments have carried the day in America. Notwithstanding the fact that the Supreme Court has declared Sunday closing laws constitutional, most places allow Sunday shopping nowadays. Americans have become accustomed to the convenience and see nothing wrong with it. A movement to ban shopping on Sundays in America would go nowhere.
To my mind, though, opponents of the new Italian law have a point. Economics isn’t everything. It’s not unreasonable to think that, one day a week, society should forgo buying and selling, even if that means a reduction in wealth and tax revenues. (Tax revenues? In Italy? Who are we kidding?) In a culture as homogeneously Catholic as Italy’s, Sunday is the only realistic option. Moreover, it’s not unreasonable to think that Sunday store openings will create a situation in which observant Christian employees feel pressured to work, or that Sunday shopping will threaten traditions Italians enjoy. Perhaps Italians don’t want a society in which Christmas becomes, inevitably, the Biggest Shopping Season of the Year.
So, to the opponents of the Italian law, I say, Good Luck and Buon Natale. Not that any of this would affect us here at CLR Forum. We’re open seven days a week.
Unprofitable Lending for the Modern Economy, by University of Oklahoma Law Professor Brian McCall. The publisher’s description follows:
very interesting post on 
Mario Draghi, Catholic Social Doctrine, and the Euro Crisis
The European sovereign debt crisis is far from over and it is, as recent Italian elections have shown, at the center of European political debates. One of the main actors in the crisis has been the European Central Bank under the leadership of the Italian President Mario Draghi.
On February 27, Draghi gave an important speech at the Katholische Akademie in Bayern (Germany). The speech may be interesting for those studying the relationships among Catholic Social Doctrine, economics, and public policy. In the speech, Draghi reminds listeners how important it is not to separate economic from moral concerns and stresses that: “Ultimately, we must be guided by a higher moral standard and a profound belief in creating an economic order that serves every person.” He quotes Cardinal Reinhard Marx: “the economy is not an end in itself, but is in the service of all mankind”. According to Draghi, one of the central mechanisms to manage the current crisis is subsidiarity: the shared responsibility and mutual support between the EU supranational level and the different member states. For Draghi: “Catholic Social doctrine makes absolutely clear that subsidiarity has to be paired with support. But what binds these together is trust.” In sum, it is a speech worth reading to understand the euro-crisis from a Catholic Social Doctrine perspective.
The speech is available here.
→ Leave a comment
Posted in CLR Forum Guest, Commentary, Pasquale Annicchino, Uncategorized
Tagged Catholic Social Teaching, Catholicism, Italy, Religion and Economics, Religion in Europe