• Catholic Church Gambling
• Catholic Church On Gambling

• PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
  • SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
    • CHAPTER TWO YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
      • Article 7 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
        • II. Respect for Persons and Their Goods

Gambling most definitely is focused on the love of money and undeniably tempts people with the promise of quick and easy riches. What’s wrong with gambling? Gambling is a difficult issue because if it is done in moderation and only on occasion, it is a waste of money, but it is not necessarily 'evil.' People waste money on all sorts of. Catholic Family Center Restart’s Outpatient Gambling Treatment Services are designed to enable and support individualized recovery from gambling addiction or a gambling and substance use problem. The goals of our program include: Establish and maintain abstinence from gambling; Create a support system that reinforces a gambling-free lifestyle.

II. Respect for Persons and Their Goods

2407 In economicmatters, respect for humandignityrequires the practice of the virtue of temperance, so as to moderateattachment to this world's goods; the practice of the virtue of justice, to preserve our neighbor's rights and render him what is his due; and the practice of solidarity, in accordance with the goldenrule and in keeping with the generosity of the Lord, who 'though he was rich, yet for your sake . . . became poor so that by his poverty, you might become rich.'¹⁸⁹

Respect for the goods of others

2408 The seventhcommandmentforbidstheft, that is, usurping another's property against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the universaldestination of goods. This is the case in obvious and urgentnecessity when the only way to provide for immediate, essentialneeds (food, shelter, clothing . . .) is to put at one's disposal and use the property of others.¹⁹⁰

2409 Even if it does not contradict the provisions of civillaw, any form of unjustly taking and keeping the property of others is against the seventhcommandment: thus, deliberateretention of goodslent or of objectslost; businessfraud; payingunjustwages; forcing up prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another.¹⁹¹

The following are also morallyillicit: speculation in which one contrives to manipulate the price of goodsartificially in order to gain an advantage to the detriment of others; corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make decisions according to law; appropriation and use for privatepurposes of the commongoods of an enterprise; workpoorly done; taxevasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessiveexpenses and waste. Willfullydamagingprivate or publicproperty is contrary to the morallaw and requiresreparation.

2410Promises must be kept and contractsstrictlyobserved to the extent that the commitments made in them are morallyjust. A significantpart of economic and sociallifedepends on the honoring of contracts between physical or moralpersons - commercialcontracts of purchase or sale, rental or laborcontracts. All contracts must be agreed to and executed in goodfaith.

2411Contracts are subject to commutativejustice which regulatesexchanges between persons in accordance with a strictrespect for their rights. Commutativejusticeobligesstrictly; it requiressafeguardingpropertyrights, payingdebts, and fulfillingobligationsfreelycontracted. Without commutativejustice, no other form of justice is possible.

One distinguishescommutativejustice from legaljustice which concerns what the citizenowes in fairness to the community, and from distributivejustice which regulates what the communityowes its citizens in proportion to their contributions and needs.

2412 In virtue of commutativejustice, reparation for injusticecommittedrequires the restitution of stolengoods to their owner:

JesusblessesZacchaeus for his pledge: 'If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.'¹⁹² Those who, directly or indirectly, have takenpossession of the goods of another, are obliged to make restitution of them, or to return the equivalent in kind or in money, if the goods have disappeared, as well as the profit or advantages their owner would have legitimatelyobtained from them. Likewise, all who in some manner have takenpart in a theft or who have knowinglybenefited from it - for example, those who ordered it, assisted in it, or received the stolengoods - are obliged to make restitution in proportion to their responsibility and to their share of what was stolen.

2413Games of chance (cardgames, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morallyunacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. the passion for gamblingrisks becoming an enslavement. Unfairwagers and cheating at gamesconstitutegravematter, unless the damageinflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonablyconsider it significant.

2414 The seventhcommandmentforbidsacts or enterprises that for any reason - selfish or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian - lead to the enslavement of humanbeings, to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personaldignity. It is a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamentalrights to reduce them by violence to their productivevalue or to a source of profit. St. Pauldirected a Christianmaster to treat his Christianslave 'no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a belovedbrother, . . . both in the flesh and in the Lord.'¹⁹³

Respect for the integrity of creation

2415 The seventhcommandmentenjoinsrespect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimatebeings, are by naturedestined for the commongood of past, present, and futurehumanity.¹⁹⁴Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animalresources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moralimperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other livingbeingsgranted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, includinggenerations to come; it requires a religiousrespect for the integrity of creation.¹⁹⁵

Catholic Church Gambling

2416Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providentialcare. By their mereexistence they bless him and give him glory.¹⁹⁶ Thus menowe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. PhilipNeritreatedanimals.

2417Godentrustedanimals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image.¹⁹⁷ Hence it is legitimate to useanimals for food and clothing. They may be domesticated to helpman in his work and leisure. Medical and scientificexperimentation on animals is a morallyacceptablepractice, if it remains within reasonablelimits and contributes to caring for or savinghumanlives.

2418 It is contrary to humandignity to causeanimals to suffer or dieneedlessly. It is likewiseunworthy to spendmoney on them that should as a prioritygo to the relief of humanmisery. One can loveanimals; one should not direct to them the affectiondue only to persons.

Catholic Church On Gambling