Does Money Taint Everything?
by Jeffrey Tucker – February 18, 2008 Reprinted with permission from our good friends at InsideCatholic.com, the leading online journal of Catholic faith, culture, and politics. During Lent, you have probably heard some version of the following from the pulpit: “This is the season to volunteer in charitable causes, to give back in service to the community, in a labor of love.” One cannot argue with the instruction here, or the sentiment behind it. Lent is indeed a time for giving and for sacrifice. My argument is with the choice of language, which is pervasive all year round. It contains a word and three phrases the common usage of which can be highly misleading. Let’s examine each. Voluntary This word “volunteer” is used to describe a person who does things in service of others, and we all know the intent of the term. We speak of volunteering all the time. The U.S. has what is called the voluntary sector, which is supposed to refer mostly to non-profit organizations. But think of the
