The True Wealth of Nations

The Ethics and Economics of Prosperity

Appendix C:

Proposal for a planning grant

for a project aimed at reducing government corruption
in Latin America by strengthening the influence
of the Catholic Church within civil society

Executive Summary

The planning grant proposed here would cover the costs of two years of a benchmark study and planning in preparation for multi-year pilot projects against government corruption in five Latin American nations.

The planning grant study during Year 1 would investigate the character and extent of government corruption as well as the history and capacity of the Catholic Church in Latin America with regard to government corruption and would identify likely sites for regional pilot projects. The planning during Year 2 would bring together Church leaders, lay and clergy, to decide whether to proceed with the pilot projects and, if so, to decide on appropriate sites, plan realistically for implementation, and submit to appropriate funding sources a grant proposal to fund the pilot projects, which would begin in Year 3.

Each pilot project would entail two efforts: first, a pastoral educational initiative against government corruption within the relevant Roman Catholic dioceses and second, Church-supported efforts within civil society to confront government corruption. Each pastoral initiative will be designed to increase awareness of the damaging effects of government corruption in society and to engender a moral urgency in confronting corruption as a long-term problem that is not only a personal moral failure but a pervasive political, economic, and cultural phenomenon. In each pilot project, the Church would be engaged with existing organizations of civil society already confronting government corruption, to strengthen local efforts and, acting as a partner in such efforts, to develop more effective ways to bring the influence of civil society to bear on the problem.