Tuan Trinh wrote: |
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Hi, guys —
I was reading the Aquinas Catechism where he is talking about the 7th commandment (Thou shall not steal), I came across the following paragraph:
| The lost of spiritual goods; finally, stealing is forbidden because the results of theft are peculiarly harmful to the thief, since they lead to his loss of other goods. It is not unlike the mixture of fire and straw:"fire shall devour their tabernacles, who love to take bribes" and it ought to be known that a thief may lose not only his own soul, but also the souls of his children, since they too, are bound to make restitution. |
My question is:
- Are we really bound to make the restitution for our parent's debt?
Thank you,
Tuan
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| { Citing the 7th Commandment, are we really bound to make the restitution for our parent's debt? } |
Eric replied:
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Tuan,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
This is admittedly a difficult passage.
What he may be saying is that there is an obligation to make restitution in justice, an obligation that may devolve (say, if the thief were to die before making sufficient restitution) upon his children, tempting them to ignore the obligation. It's not a matter of the children being guilty for the sin. It's a question of justice, a question of correcting the situation.
Say a thief steals something and leaves it to his children. Then his children would incur the obligation to restore the stolen goods, putting their souls in danger if they knowingly did not do so.
Eric
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Tuan replied:
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Hi Eric,
Thank you very much for taking your precious time to answer my question.
- It's obvious that the children are bound to make restitution if they benefit or inherit the stolen goods but I wonder if they are still bound to make restitution in the case where they have nothing to do with the stolen goods?
Tuan |
Eric replied:
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Tuan,
If this is a practical question, I'd discuss it with your local priest. I am not a moral theologian, but I'd probably say that if you know restitution has not been made, and you've inherited from a guilty party, you are obliged to make restitution. But that is my guess.
Perhaps one of my colleagues can comment more competently.
Eric
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Tuan replied:
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Hi Eric,
Again, thank you for your time and your view of this situation.
Tuan |
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