Father Tim Jones Outrages Many in the U.K., Tells Congregation: 'My advice to poor is to shoplift'

Great, now a clergyman is telling his congregation that shoplifting from large chains is sometimes the best option for the vulnerable among us. Father Tim Jones, 41, delivered a controversial sermon at St. Lawrence Church in York, United Kingdom, telling his flock that "it is far better for desperate people during the recession to shoplift than turn to prostitution, mugging or burglary," according to the U.K. Daily Mail. Wow, whatever happened to the Ten Commandments and the one that specifically states "thou shall not steal?" Needless to say, Father Jones has come under blistering criticism by the British Retail Consortium and the local police, who all maintain the position that "no matter what the circumstances, shoplifting is an offense."

According to the Daily Mail, he insisted that his advice did not break the "thou shall not steal commandment, but instead he states that God's love for the poor outweighs his love for the rich.

Delivering his festive lesson, Father Jones told the congregation: 'My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift.  I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or  because I think it is harmless, for it is neither. 'I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.

'I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need. 'I offer the advice with a heavy heart and wish society would recognise that bureaucratic ineptitude and systematic delay has created an invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope.' He added that he felt society had failed the needy, and said it was far better they shoplift than turn to more degrading or violent options such as prostitution, mugging or burglary. Source: UK Daily Mail

I do understand his position about the needy literally being ignored by the rich, but encouraging shoplifting is certainly not the answer to the social ills that dog the poor. The Hinterland Gazette has sent an email to Father Tim Jones seeking his thoughts on the controversy his sermon has sparked.

UPDATE#1: Father Tim Jones responded to The Hinterland Gazette. Here's his email in its entirety:

The advice I gave was simply a statement of long established Christian teaching, perhaps best summed up by Aquinas:

From St Thomas's Summa Theologiae, IIaIIae 66,7.:---

"Things which are of human right cannot derogate from natural right or Divine right. Now according to the natural order established by Divine Providence, inferior things are ordained for the purpose of succouring man's needs by their means. Wherefore the division and appropriation of things which are based on human law, do not preclude the fact that man's needs have to be remedied by means of these very things. Hence whatever certain people have in superabundance is due, by natural law, to the purpose of succouring the poor. For this reason Ambrose [Loc. cit., 2, Objection 3] says, and his words are embodied in the Decretals (Dist. xlvii, can. Sicut ii): "It is the hungry man's bread that you withhold, the naked man's cloak that you store away, the money that you bury inthe earth is the price of the poor man's ransom and freedom."

Since, however, there are many who are in need, while it is impossible for all to be
succoured by means of the same thing, each one is entrusted with the stewardship of his own things, so that out of them he may come to the aid of those who are in need.
Nevertheless, if the need be so manifest and urgent, that it is evident that the present need must be remedied by whatever means be at hand (for instance when a person is in some imminent danger, and there is no other possible remedy), then it is lawful for a man to succour his own need by means of another's property, by taking it either openly or secretly: nor is this properly speaking theft or robbery".

Another way of putting it is that if the need is genuine, and the taking is from
another's superabundance, then it is, in truth, not stealing, and not a breach of the 8th commandment.  This was wholly endorsed by Ridley and Latimer, two of the early protestant martyrs of England.

God bless,

Tim Jones