Any attempt to dissipate the confusion that reigns in Catholic circles on the subject of private property must be welcomed. Fr Drostan’s paper is to be welcomed also as a very notable clarification of the question and as an attractive preface to the major work which he may be persuaded to produce.

Not the least disturbing feature of the situation is that it appears so simple to many. Remaining wholly on the plane of reason, we can show Communism to be false, first because it is atheistic—and the quinque viae can quickly be pressed into service to show the folly of atheism—and secondly because it rejects private property—which natural law alone upholds as a fundamental right. But the Communist is not convinced, and to quite faithful Christians it does not seem as if there were much respect for God or the basic human rights in the stronghold of liberty and capitalism. And when American bankers turn to the crucifix before accommodating their clients—at the usual rates—militant atheism, if not more sincere, seems to have a better understanding of the meaning of religion.

Fr Drostan rejects this unholy simplicity and exposes the limitations of a largely hypothetical natural law. At the very opening of his paper he places the problem in its proper setting—where it is all too rarely placed: ‘private property is essentially and basically a theological question’.