Page 84 - Reflexions of African Bishops and Priests

Money Is Nothing but Figures Representing Goods and Services

Why Let People Create These Figures to Our Disadvantage?

Speech of Bishop Mathieu Madega of Gabon

As usual, our International Congress in Rougemont
in 2014 was preceded by a study session (August 19-
28) on economic democracy (or social credit), viewed
in the light of the social doctrine of the Church, based
on the book by Alain Pilote, “The Social Credit propos-
als explained in ten lessons.”
More than 50 priests and faithful of Africa and
other countries attended the session, including Bishop
Mathieu Madega Lebouakehan, Bishop of Mouila and
President of the Conference of Bishops of Gabon. It
was his third participation in such a session in Rouge-
mont. (Note that the next study session on economic
democracy in Rougemont will take place April 20-May
2, 2015, followed by our week of adoration in front of
the Blessed Sacrament, May 3-10.)
Bishop Madega became an ardent proponent of
Social Credit, talking about it everywhere, even dur-
ing his visits in Rome (he delivered personally to Pope
Francis our book of ten lessons). Here are extracts from
what what Bishop Madega told us at the conclusion of
our study session in Rougemont, on August 28, 2014:
by Bishop Mathieu Madega Lebouakehan
“The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand Bishop Mathieu Madega proudly shows the pectoral
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” cross he received as a gift from Cardinal Lacroix of Que-
(Psalms 110:1) bec City, when he celebrated the Mass at Quebec City’s
We have come to take part in this session, and cathedral on Sunday, August 24, 2014.
we thank the Lord. And to try to meditate upon this
“treasure, which I have made my own”, Jesus tells us but others. These means of payment are controlled
in John, 10:10, “I came that they may have life, and by other people, for their own benefit. (Note: nowa-
have it abundantly.”Therefore: days. as Douglas explains on page 11, money is more
a means of distribution than a means of exchange.)
1. We must live. The issue is this: we want to exchange products
2. To live, we must satisfy our basic needs and and services among ourselves in order to live. Why
even our secondary needs. then, do we permit others to interfere in our trans-
3. In order to do this, we need to work. actions, to our disadvantage — and always to our dis-
4. But, in working, we cannot obtain everything advantage? If these people intervened to make our
that we need. exchanges easier and allow us to live in peace, no one
5. We therefore need to exchange what we have would complain; so how can we explain that, within
our exchanges, we let someone else make life more
with others. complicated? (See Louis Even’s article on page 14.)
6. What, then, is the means of exchange?
Let us sit down together and make a decision: let
Let us say that we will exchange a quantity X of us banish from our midst this capital sin of laziness.
product A with a quantity Y of product B. In this ex- Why do I say this is a sin of laziness? Because, even
change, money is nothing but a unit of measurement though these other people who control money do it in
of the value of the products. This unit could be either a way that harms us, we let them think on our behalf,
maple leaves, rocks, feathers… or money. Money is we let them decide our fate. To this we must say, “No,
therefore conventionally accepted as means of pay- no and no!” What, then, should we do?
ment in exchanges between producers and consum- Let us begin by “thinking” in the official light of the
ers. Mark you, today it is not those who are buying the teaching of the Catholic Church, along with Douglas, u
products, goods and services who create the money,

84 2014 session www.michaeljournal.org