Doubting Thomas

...For days that Michael couldn't do it, he wanted to pay the eight-year-old, Patrick, nothing, but finally agreed to $.50 per day (I'm surprised that he didn't figure out a way to charge the five-year-old, Christopher, a fee for letting him watch his brothers work) I caught wind of these dealings and intervened...

...Thomas offered to pay the ten-year-old, Michael, $1.25 per day...

...THE LAST WORD Doubting Thomas DENNIS M. DOYLE I found myself wondering the other day if my twelve-year-old son, Thomas, might not grow up to be a plantation owner in Latin America Thomas has a deal worked out with the neighbors across the street that he will water their gardens while they are on vacation for $2 50 a day...

...Although I felt that this would violate a basic principle, I saw it as a move in a positive direction Thomas would not agree to this offer, and just kept getting more and more upset I finally said that I would discuss the matter with our neighbor, collect the money, and distribute it myself Thomas was furious He said I had no nght to interfere If he were hitting his brothers, cussing them out, or otherwise abusing them, he would understand that I should get involved...

...Thomas said, "I mean the 1990s...

...Thomas countered that since his brothers agreed to the deal, there was no injustice I brought up the teaching from Pope Leo XIIFs Rerum novarum that legal contracts can be unjust if they result from negotiations between unequal partners That a contract is legal and both parties agree doesn't guarantee that it is just or moral Thomas said that this is the nineties, and he isn't interested in all that old teaching I retorted that Rerum novarum was written in 1891, which was the nineties...

...At first I argued that whoever worked should receive the entire $2 50 After some hard feelings and some arguing, I offered to compromise at $2 per day, with Thomas keeping fifty cents...

...Their consent to low wages doesn't make the deal a just one Thomas argued that they don't really need the money as much as he does They were too young to have important things to spend it on...

...Editor's note A difficult ethical question arises What percentage of the fee for this article should go to the author's sons9 31...

...I said that if he were interested at all in being Catholic and reading the Bible he would want to rise above his current position and do the right thing...

...I said this was a rationalization—a fabricated "reason" that really was no reason at all...

...But this was simply a business deal between his brothers and himself, and I should keep my nose out of it At this point I brought up to Thomas the principle of Catholic social teaching that although the government should not interfere unnecessarily in arrangements between individuals, still the government (in this case, me) has a role to play in trying to alleviate injustices...

...Since Thomas himself had to be out of town for part of the time, he subcontracted the work to his younger brothers...

...Thomas fumed that he was tired of all this Bible stuff, after all the Bible was written a thousand years ago and why should he be interested m it today9 I reminded him that the New Testament was written about two thousand years ago, and the Old Testament before that, and that even if he rejected the Bible and Christianity he should still be interested in being a good person Thomas said that he didn't have to care about that, that he wasn't like me, and that he could think what he wants I let him stomp off I figured that no matter how difficult it is to have an exploiter of laborers for a son, it must feel downright oppressive to have a religion teacher for a dad ? Dennis M Doyle teaches ecclesiology at the University of Dayton...

...I summed up my case...

...Thomas was taking advantage of his brothers In politics they call this "exploitation " His brothers deserve a larger share of the profits from the work they actually perform...