September 9, 2025 // Diocese

Catholic Charities Speaker Asks: Are Businessmen Rich Fools?

Jill Boughton

Freelance Writer

On Thursday, September 4, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend sponsored its second annual Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades Lecture Series at St. Matthew Cathedral in South Bend. Last year, Holy Cross Father Dan Groody’s reflection on the “theology of migration” left attendees wanting to keep discussing the topic, so this year’s event fittingly began with Mass, continued during a dinner prepared by Papa Vino’s, featured a thought-provoking lecture by Martijn Cremers, dean of Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, and concluded with guided table conversation that folks were reluctant to leave despite the lateness of the hour.

Bishop Rhoades introduced his fellow clergy for the Mass and gave a particular shout out to two orders of sisters represented that evening. Both the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ and the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration have long played an essential role in caring for the poor in our diocese. Bishop focused on the reading from Colossians 1:9-14, in which St. Paul links growth in wisdom with living a life worthy of the Gospel. “True human flourishing is pleasing to God,” Bishop Rhoades declared. “Living in the light of Christ inevitably involves good works, like the thousands to whom Catholic Charities brings hope and healing every year. And where do we find the grace to do so? In the Eucharist.”

Dan Florin, CEO of Catholic Charities in our diocese, gave a brief introduction to the evening and to the work of Catholic Charities. Rather than being a subsidiary of a national organization, each of the 168 Catholic Charities groups functions independently, although a national network provides training and advocacy. In our diocese, Catholic Charities partners with other organizations such as St. Vincent de Paul societies, the Christ Child Society, and Women’s Care Center.

Catholic Charities in our diocese helped 23,000 people last year, primarily in four areas: counseling services, stability services, migration services, and pro-life services. A new 10-week life skills program features one-on-one mentorship and case management.

Before introducing the speaker for the evening, Bishop Rhoades reminded those in the crowd of the testimony that there wasn’t a needy person in the first Christian community (Acts 4:34). On this visit to the northwestern part of the diocese, he had several opportunities to assist struggling parishes in which Catholic Charities also has a strong presence, including blessing the new roof on St. John the Baptist School and making a visit to Our Lady of Hungary School. Sometimes well-meaning people advocate closing churches in “dangerous” neighborhoods, Bishop Rhoades said, but that’s precisely where the Church is called to be.

The featured speaker for the evening was Cremers, in his second term as dean of Mendoza College of Business. Rather than focusing on his substantial academic achievements, Bishop Rhoades commended him for his strong Catholic identity. During his talk, Cremers explained that even though he was raised Catholic in the Netherlands, he didn’t meet young people who understood and tried to live their faith until he began graduate studies at NYU. For example, although he received first Communion and was confirmed, he had never celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation, nor did he know anyone who had! In New York, loneliness “created a crack in my mistaken ideas about self-sufficiency.”

As he grew older, he began to explore his Catholic faith. “I am so grateful to God that He granted me a powerful, beautiful conversion experience when I was praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament, the immediate outcome of which was to go to confession for the first time in my life, at age 23. Thanks be to God for my ongoing journey of conversion that got a jumpstart that day and made me realize that I had been like the rich fool in the parable.”

The theme of Cremers’ talk was “The Parable of the Rich Fool: A Reflection on Business in the Light of Catholic Social Thought,” prompted by Jesus’ parable of the man who built bigger barns to store his abundant harvest (Luke 12:13-34) but “was not rich in what matters to God,” Cremers said.

“This parable is quite challenging for business! Our Lord calls the rich man, who is so successful in business, a fool,” Cremers said to the audience of approximately 150 supporters of Catholic Charities. Far from a condemnation of the entire business world, “Our Lord is challenging us to look at where we put our faith, how we order our love, and what our hope focuses on.”

He explained the noble purpose of business was not primarily to make a profit but to serve others in society. The rich man “mistakes a lower good, material possessions, for the highest good, love of God, which leads to service of our neighbor.” For all his wealth, he seems to lack faith, hope, and love, Cremers said.

Despite the cynical view that pursuing profit is the ultimate goal of business, Catholic social teaching insists on the intrinsic value of each human being as an end in himself, not a means to be used then discarded. “People are more important than profits.”

In contrast to the selfishness of the rich fool, “our human nature is inherently social, or relational, made for communion,” because we image “the one God who is a divine communion of Three Persons, the Holy Trinity. Our very social nature means that our true and lasting happiness and flourishing depend on and are deepened by how we are generous to others with the gifts that we have received.” This is the second pillar of Catholic social thought, solidarity.

Cremers discussed the universal destination of all goods, saying, “Whenever you are making a decision, in your business or whatever organization you are a part of, you are invited to think through what that decision means for everyone who is affected by it, particularly those with the greatest needs, and that you commit to prioritizing their needs.” Cremers quoted St. Gregory, whose feast was celebrated the previous day: “He that hath a talent, let him see that he hide it not; he that hath abundance, let him quicken himself to mercy and generosity.” Cremers also spoke about the importance of teamwork in business.

Focusing on the workers in the icon of the parable projected behind him during the talk, Cremers discussed the value of competition in promoting excellence and the importance of subsidiarity, the third pillar of Catholic social teaching. He called subsidiarity “support that does not take away from our agency and freedom but enhances our agency and freedom for excellence.”

He ended his talk by commenting on the Japanese image known as “The Wave.” In the image, the wave itself “is a metaphor for the environment of the competitive market, or for the modern, secular world.” However, he continued, “the wave doesn’t care where you want to go.” That requires a compass outside yourself – Mount Fuji in the illustration but, for us, “our Catholic faith and especially Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.” The three small boats in the image “represent a team, an organization, a business … where each person is interdependent on one another to achieve a shared purpose, a common good, to arrive at their shared destination. … The three elements in the print illustrate the three things that all successful businesses and organizations need to do – namely, to contribute by serving the genuine needs of others, guided by our faith, to cooperate in solidarity guided by love, and to compete with excellence in subsidiarity guided by hope.”

Besides external competition, “we compete internally toward the best version of ourselves, by the grace of God and the help and support of others, guided by hope in Our Lord’s invitation to the heavenly banquet.”

Those at each table were then invited to reflect on how we are seeking the Kingdom in serving God and others, how we can grow rich in what matters to God, and what actions toward solidarity we can take right now.