Tag: Catholic moral theology

A reader asks:

This is heavy on my heart and I plan to meet with a priest, but I’ve decided after much internal debate that I need to file bankruptcy. I want to go to confession as well and while I can talk to the priest there, I wonder what to think about and reflect on in terms of the nature of the sin here. This was largely all due to survival and a lot of difficult circumstances.

We respond:

Yes—Catholic moral theology does speak of this, under two headings:

1. Prodigality (profligacy) itself, and
2. The injustice of not paying one’s debts.

1. Prodigality / Profligacy

Classically, the opposite of the virtue of liberality is prodigality: wasting or scattering money without reasonable care.

McHugh & Callan define it this way:

“The vice opposed to liberality by excess in giving is prodigality, which is an insufficient regard for temporal things and an extravagant bestowal of them on others.”

They note that:

• By its nature, prodigality is ordinarily a venial sin, because:
  • we aren’t absolute owners of our goods, only stewards before God,
  • but wasting them doesn’t necessarily injure anyone else.
• But it can become mortal from its circumstances, for example:
  • when the purpose is gravely sinful (e.g., paying for seduction or bribery), or
  • when the consequences are grave, “wastefulness which makes one unable to pay debts or assist a relative who is in grave need”.

So:

Spending more than is reasonable, so that you can’t pay basic obligations, is exactly the case they give where prodigality turns into grave sin.

2. Not paying debts

Under the 7th Commandment (“Thou shalt not steal”), Catholic catechesis explicitly includes non-payment of debts as a sin against justice. Spirago’s Catechism Explained lists, among sins against the 7th Commandment:

“The Seventh Commandment expressly forbids: theft, robbery, cheating, usury, injuring the property of another, detention of goods that have been found or lent, and the nonpayment of debts.”

He adds that we are in danger of mortal sin when what we wrongfully withhold is enough to seriously affect the other’s ability to live in a manner suited to his state.

So:

• Freely choosing to spend in such a way that you know you will not pay your creditors is a sin against commutative justice (you’re withholding what is strictly due) and can be mortal if the amount or harm is serious.
• That is more than “just” prodigality; it’s basically a kind of theft/fraud by omission, because debt-repayment has moral priority over luxuries and non-necessary spending.

3. What if you honestly cannot pay?

The tradition makes some important distinctions so people don’t despair.

Jone explains that when someone is truly insolvent (bankrupt), physical or moral impossibility can postpone, or if permanent, even remit the obligation for now:

• Restitution (including paying debts) is morally impossible if paying would put the debtor in really grave need (e.g., he could not modestly support himself and his family according to their state in life).
• In a just bankruptcy, the debtor may keep what is needed for modest support and a small means of livelihood, and may not make new donations or take on further debts.
• If later he comes into substantial means, he is ordinarily still bound in conscience to pay back his creditors unless they freely forgive the debt.

So there’s a difference between:

• Malicious / reckless overspending that knowingly sacrifices creditors and dependents (grave sin), and
• Honest misfortune or miscalculation, where you now truly cannot pay; then your duty is to:
  • live simply,
  • not waste money,
  • do what you reasonably can over time to satisfy debts,
  • and not take on further unnecessary debt.

Putting it together

So to answer your question directly:

• Yes, there is what you’re calling a “sin of profligacy”: the Church calls it prodigality, a vice opposed to the virtue of liberality.
• By itself, careless overspending is generally venially sinful;
• But when that spending causes serious inability to pay just debts or to provide for those you’re bound to help, it becomes a grave sin against justice, not only against prudence.

If this is something that worries your conscience right now, a good approach is:

1. Bring it to confession frankly (including any known debts neglected through your own fault).
2. Make a simple plan to live more modestly and to repay what you reasonably can, step by step.
3. Avoid new unnecessary spending or debts until justice is substantially restored.

If you’d like, you can tell me (in general terms) what kind of debts and spending you’re dealing with, and I can help you think through how traditional moral theology would look at your specific situation.