Expert: Fr. Timothy Johnson - 8/28/2010

Question
QUESTION: Dear Father,

Are Catholics morally obliged  to boycott companies which donate to or have close ties with companies with various immoral agendas (abortion, anti-Catholicism, etc.)?  

Thank you for your help and may God bless you.

ANSWER: Hi, Michael:

If you know of such companies, and do not want to contribute in any way, then by all means boycott them.  But realize this is a question of discernment and discretion.  For example, if the local department store opened up an abortion clinic in the back room of its store; or some store were selling blatant anti-Catholic literaturem then certainly avoid and boycott it with no further question.  On the other hand, how about a store that has employees asking for donations to the "March of Dimes"?  Well, certainly when asked, a Christian moral person would surely decline to give a donation, since one of the means this organization employs for "preventing birth defects" is by preventing the birth of defective babies through abortion.
+ May God bless you.

Fr. Timothy Johnson

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dear Father,

In addition to the blatantly obvious examples, I was also wondering about whether we must boycott companies which donate, e.g. to Planned Parenthood?  If some of the lists which I have seen are accurate, it seems either impossible or at least quite difficult to buy many things (computers, credit cards, gasoline, soda, car insurance, airplane tickets, food, etc.) without having the money going to one or another immoral cause.  While I obviously do not wish to support any of these causes, I am wondering if one must in fact go to some inconvenience to avoid doing so, i.e. if one would commit a positive sin if he bypasses some lesser known but “clean” product to buy the brand name one which is known or suspected to have ties to one of these evil causes.

Thank you very much for the help and may God bless you.


Answer
Clean or generic products typically are all manufactured at the same plants and locations as the name brand things.
I suppose that one could become a hermit, go live in a cave, and be totally self-supportive raising their own food, hunting, clothing themselves, etc.
But seriously, I already answered this.  This is a discretionary matter.  Yes.  It is worth going to some inconvenience to do the right thing.  Now I am just wondering how much further this question can be broken down in its details.  I await the next question to slice, dice, and parse the general principles in evry last detail and particular.  God bless you!

Fr. Timothy Johnson