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Hi, Dawn —
This is one of those matters we can
deduce using reason. If it is sinful
to do unnecessary servile work on
the Lord's Day (the Christian Sabbath),
then to require others to do servile
work for us — which is what
happens when we patronize businesses — is
to contribute to either their sin
(if they freely choose to work on
Sunday) or, more than likely, against
the structures which compel them
to work (if they have no choice,
either by their manager or by economic
circumstances).
In his apostolic letter Dies Domini on this subject, Pope John Paul II says:
| "When, through the centuries,
she has made laws concerning Sunday
rest, the Church has had in mind
above all the work of servants
and workers, certainly not because
this work was any less worthy
when compared to the spiritual
requirements of Sunday observance,
but rather because it needed greater
regulation to lighten its burden
and thus enable everyone to keep
the Lord's Day holy. In this matter,
my predecessor Pope Leo XIII in
his Encyclical Rerum
Novarum spoke of Sunday rest
as a worker's right which the
State must guarantee." |
For example, if no one went shopping
on Sunday, all the stores would close,
and workers would have Sunday off.
As it is, shops open on Sunday because
people patronize them, and the owners
compel the workers to work on Sunday
to satisfy the patrons. By refusing
to patronize stores on Sunday, we
take a principled stand against the
violation of the Lord's Day.
That being said, we don't take a
legalistic view of this. Some businesses
necessarily must remain open and
the link between one person shopping
on Sunday and an individual's violation
of the Lord's Day is rather remote.
The truth is, in modern American
culture at least, we've advanced
virtually inexorably toward a culture
where shops are open on Sunday, and
even if all the practicing Christians
in the world suddenly stopped shopping
on Sunday, it probably wouldn't make
a difference. Nevertheless, the question
is:
- Do you want to contribute to
a culture where people are often
compelled to work seven days a
week or not spend quality time
with their families?
In any case, Dies Domini does not directly address
this question. What it says is,
| "In any case, [the faithful]
are obliged in conscience to arrange
their Sunday rest in a way which
allows them to take part in the
Eucharist, refraining from work
and activities which are incompatible
with the sanctification of the
Lord's Day, with its characteristic
joy and necessary rest for spirit
and body." |
Eric
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