Varieties of Stealing.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 28, 10 July 1902, Page 20

Varieties of Stealing.

Ir there is one of God's comminnments of which Catholics of ordinary uprightneoß aiid honor are apt to think themselves particularly observant, it is the seventh — Thou sbalt not steal. In examining his conscience pitpara*ory to going to confession, the average penitent (Rays the Are Maria) probably spends very few minutes in reflecting upon his possible tranrgresaions of the elementary law of jupt'Ce, and practically skips that portion of the % table of ems ' which dealu with the various methods in which tho coinmaudment may be. a nil very f v quently i-, violated. It is quite pce^iole, nevertheless, that his gratitude is premature, that his self-conceit io deceiving him somewhat ; and that, as an undoubted matter of fact, he has been guilty more than once of actual stealing. He has not, perhaps, committed theft in its technical sense — the secret putloimng of: another man's goods contrary to the lationai will of their owner ; but, technical theft is not the or. ly way in which the Seventh Commandment may be broken. What concerns the penitent is the theological definition of stealing, and thit is ' The vi.just taking or keeping of the goods of another again° t his will, when he rightly wishes not to be deprived of them ' The non-payment of legitimate dtbts is obviously a kind of stealing, and is unfortunately all too common even among the class known as good practical Christians. Not many of these, perhaps, delude the '^ selves a^ to the degree of sinfuluess involved in refusing to pay their servants, work people, or tradesmen ; but very many contract debts about the timely payment of which they are the reverse of scrupulous. Their doctor's bill, for instance, is a burden that in no way inconveniences them ; its liquidation ia cheerfully postponed to an indefinitely remote by-and-by. Their dues to the Church, their dibts to their pastor, to whose support they are in strict justice bound to contribute, are allowed to acoumulate for months, even years, without perceptibly disturbing the serenity of their conscience. And as for subscriptions to papers or magazines — There is more steaHnj in the world than ig rcoordtd in the police courts, or even avowel in the confessional.