Max Weber made an historic impact with his magnum opus on the Protestant work ethic at the turn of the twentieth century. Yet more than a century later, the full dimensions of the Catholic work ethic often go unnoticed in Catholic literature. Many writers on the Catholic work life omit the value of work, writes David Cusimano, a new contributor at the Acton Institute’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website, in a new essay.
Cusimano, a business advisor and entrepreneur who teaches at the University of Navarra in Spain, has spent decades defining the intersection of faith and work. He writes:
[M]any contributors frame the Catholic work ethic as teaching that work is merely a means to leisure and the beauty that is enjoyable in leisure. While these are good things, writers who dwell exclusively on them miss the opportunity to remind Catholics that holiness can be lived out in the workplace. … Yes, work does afford people leisure and can provide compensation that allows more time with family and friends, but that is not its purpose.
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