Podcast Summary: The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

Episode: Day 314 – Goods of Others (2025)

Date: November 10, 2025
Reading: Catechism paragraphs 2407–2414

Episode Overview

In this episode, Fr. Mike Schmitz continues the exploration of the Seventh Commandment—“You shall not steal”—focusing on respect for persons and their goods. He unpacks the Catholic Church’s teachings on private property, the universal destination of goods, and the virtues necessary to live these principles. The episode emphasizes the importance of internal virtue over mere external compliance, explores practical examples of justice and injustice in economic life, and reflects on reparation, gambling, and the absolute prohibition of slavery and exploitation.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Paradox at the Heart of the Seventh Commandment (00:30)

• Fr. Mike recaps the “paradox” discussed in previous episodes:
  • The universal destination of goods: The world’s resources should serve the needs of all.
  • The right to private property: Each person has the right to own private property, rooted in human dignity.
• The main tension: How do we honor both principles in practice?

2. Foundational Virtues: Temperance, Justice, and Solidarity (02:55)

• Virtue of Temperance moderates attachment to material goods.
• Virtue of Justice: “to preserve our neighbor’s rights and render him what is his due.” (03:10)
• Virtue of Solidarity: Recognizing that “we belong to each other.” (05:20)
  • Emphasizes the radical Christian idea of genuine fraternity, loving one’s neighbor as oneself.
  • “Solidarity is—we belong to each other. Even if we’re different, we still belong to each other.” (06:15)

3. Principles in Action: Subsidiarity and Solidarity (04:30)

• Subsidiarity means addressing needs at the lowest, most immediate level (families, parishes).
• Solidarity compels us to see everyone as our neighbor, referencing the parable of the Good Samaritan.

4. Defining Theft and Exceptions (08:05)

• The Catechism’s nuanced definition: “usurping another’s property against the reasonable will of the owner.”
• Exceptions:
  • Presumed consent (e.g., a roommate using milk with tacit permission).
    • “Think of Kramer coming into Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment and using his milk… that’s presumed consent.” (09:28)
  • Urgent necessity: When someone’s life is at stake, using another’s property is not theft (e.g., breaking into a cabin to survive in the mountains).

5. Offenses Against the Seventh Commandment (12:15)

• Deliberate retention of lent/lost goods
  • “Finders keepers, losers weepers…that is NOT the Church teaching.” (12:30)
• Business fraud
• Paying unjust wages
• Price gouging and exploitation (e.g., payday loans)
• Market speculation that manipulates prices at others’ expense
• Corruption and bribery
• Theft of common goods (using workplace property for private purposes)
• Work poorly done (willful negligence)
• Tax evasion
• Forgery
• Excessive expenses and waste
• Willful damage to property (vandalism)

6. Justice: Commutative, Legal, and Distributive (15:50)

• Commutative Justice: Regulates fair exchanges among individuals and institutions.
• Legal Justice: What citizens owe the community.
• Distributive Justice: What the community owes individuals.

7. The Primacy of Interior Virtue (16:10)

• The key to justice: “Not justice enforced from the outside… but that people have the virtues, that people have an interior strength.” (16:12)
  • Laws are important, but “the ideal is that people have virtue.”
• Cites John Adams: “A democracy… must have a religious people… otherwise you need government in everything.” (17:25)
• The goal: Aligning hearts with justice so reparation and restitution become voluntary, not just legally compelled.

8. Reparation and Restitution (18:10)

• Zacchaeus’ Example: Restores fourfold what he defrauded; justice is lived out when individuals seek to repair wrongs themselves.
  • “If I’ve defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” (18:20)
• Obligation for restitution applies to all beneficiaries of theft, directly or indirectly.

9. Gambling & Games of Chance (19:10)

• Not inherently unjust, but can become gravely sinful if they:
  • Deprive someone of essentials.
  • Lead to addiction (“the passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement.”)
  • Involve cheating (grave matter if significant harm is caused)
• Lighthearted note: “This is for all the families… Grandma always cheats at cards… if the damage is so slight, it’s not grave matter.” (20:08)

10. Absolute Condemnation of Enslavement (21:00)

• The Church unequivocally forbids any acts that reduce people to property, regardless of motive.
  • “The Seventh Commandment completely forbids enslavement of human beings… to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise in disregard for their personal dignity.” (21:20)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Virtue Above Law:
  “The ideal is that people have the virtues, that people have an interior strength and not merely an external structure that holds them in place. Does that make sense?” – Fr. Mike (16:12)

• On Solidarity:
  “It is a radical idea that we belong to each other.” – Fr. Mike (06:10)

• On Practical Exceptions to Theft:
  “Consent can be presumed… Think of Kramer coming into Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment and using his milk… I imagine at this point Kramer can just presume that he can use Jerry’s milk whenever he wants.” – Fr. Mike (09:28)

• On Repairing Injustice:
  “If I have participated in defrauding anyone of anything, just like Zacchaeus says, then I will restore that, not because someone’s making me, but because I’m choosing to do this.” – Fr. Mike (18:25)

• On Internalization of Justice:
  “Because there is a higher law than just the civil law… I realize that I can never get away from God’s law and I can never get away from God’s justice.” – Fr. Mike (17:40)

• On Cheating in Games:
  “Unfair wagers and cheating at games constitute grave matter unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably consider it significant.” – Fr. Mike referencing CCC 2413 (20:08)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro & Recap of Paradox: 00:05–02:45
• Virtues & Principles: 02:55–07:10
• Parables & Scriptural Application: 06:30–08:05
• Definition of Theft & Case Studies: 08:05–10:30
• List of Moral Offenses: 12:15–15:50
• Kinds of Justice: 15:50–16:55
• Importance of Interior Virtue: 16:12–18:10
• Restitution/Reparation: 18:10–19:10
• Gambling & Games of Chance: 19:10–20:30
• Enslavement Condemned: 21:00–End

Final Thoughts

Fr. Mike encourages listeners to become people of justice, not just by avoiding external wrongdoing, but by cultivating virtue, temperance, and solidarity. By aligning our hearts with God’s justice, we honor the dignity of others and contribute to a more just world. The Catechism’s teaching on the goods of others is both a challenge and an invitation to deeper freedom, trust in God, and practical charity.