A gesture of overcoming.From Dorothy Day's' letter to the treasurer of New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , 1960. Dear Sir: We are returning to you a check for $3,579.39 which represents interest on the $68,700 which we were awarded by the city as a payment for the property at 223 Chrystie Street which we owned and lived [in] for almost 10 years, and used as a community for the poor. We did not voluntarily give up the property--it was taken from us by the right of eminent domain that superior dominion of the sovereign power over all the property within the state, including that previously granted by itself, which authorizes it to appropriate any part thereof to a necessary public use, reasonable compensation being made. (Law) See under Domain. for the extension of the subway which the city deemed necessary.... Property owning having been made impossible for us by city regulations, we are now renting and continuing our work. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We are returning the interest on the money we have recently received because we do not believe in "money lending" at interest. As Catholics we are acquainted with the early teaching of the Church. All the early councils forbade it, declaring it reprehensible to make money by lending it out at interest. Canon law canon law, in the Roman Catholic Church, the body of law based on the legislation of the councils (both ecumenical and local) and the popes, as well as the bishops (for diocesan matters). of the Middle Ages forbade it and in various decrees ordered that profit so obtained was to be restored. In the Christian emphasis on the duty of charity, we are commanded to lend gratuitously, to give freely, even in the case of confiscation confiscation In law, the act of seizing property without compensation and submitting it to the public treasury. Illegal items such as narcotics or firearms, or profits from the sale of illegal items, may be confiscated by the police. Additionally, government action (e.g. , as in our own case--not to resist but to accept cheerfully. We do not believe in the profit system, and so we cannot take profit or interest on our money. People who take a materialistic view of human service wish to make a profit but we are trying to do our duty by our service without wages to our brothers [and sisters] as Jesus commended in the gospel (Matthew 25). Loaning money at interest is deemed by one Franciscan as the principal scourge of civilization. Eric Gill, the English artist and writer, calls usury usury: see interest. usury In law, the crime of charging an unlawfully high rate of interest. In Old English law, the taking of any compensation whatsoever was termed usury. and war the two great problems of our time. Since we have dealt with these problems in every issue of The Catholic Worker since 1933 ... and since scripture says that the love of money is the root of all evil, we are taking this opportunity to live in practice of this belief, and make a gesture of overcoming that love of money by returning to you the interest. Insofar in·so·far adv. To such an extent. Adv. 1. insofar - to the degree or extent that; "insofar as it can be ascertained, the horse lung is comparable to that of man"; "so far as it is reasonably practical he should practice as our money paid for services for the common good, and aid to the poor, we should be very happy to allow you to use not only our money without interest, but also our work, the Works of Mercy The Works of Mercy or Acts of Mercy are actions and practices which the Catholic Church considers expectations to be fulfilled by believers. These works, it is believed, express mercy, and are thus expected to be performed by believers insofar as they are able in accordance which we all perform here at the headquarters of The Catholic Worker without other salary or recompense RECOMPENSE. A reward for services; remuneration for goods or other property. 2. In maritime law there is a distinction between recompense and restitution. (q.v. than our daily food and lodging, clothes and incidental expenses. Insofar as the use of our money paid for the time being for salaries for judges who have condemned us and others to jail, and for the politicians who appointed them, and for prisons, and the execution chamber at Sing Sing, and for the executioner's salary, we can only protest the use of our money and turn with utter horror from taking interest on it. Please also be assured that we are not judging individuals, but are trying to make a judgment on the system under which we live and with which we admit that we ourselves compromise daily in many small ways, but which we try and wish to withdraw from as much as possible. Dorothy Day was co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement The Catholic Worker Movement is a Catholic organisation founded by Servant of God Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ. . Alexis Vaughan is editorial assistant at Sojourners. For more information, visit the Center for Responsible Lending (www.responsiblelending.org). |
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