Many years ago, I worked in a small, rural town in the Philippines. Most of the people lived in neighboring barrios and had small parcels of land. They were not very wealthy but worked hard and got by.
It happened that leaders of what was called the White Rock religious sect descended on our town. They began to preach that there was going to be a flood in the valley. They recalled the flood that occurred in Old Testament times when all were drowned. They warned the people that everybody in the valley in which we were living would drown. Believers then should sell their land and move to the mountains where it would be safe. They could return after the flood. Naturally the proceeds from the sales of the land would be given to the leaders of the White Rock church. They would manage the finances and the rest of the affairs of those who fled to the mountains.
Some people did accept this new religion. They sold their land, and whatever else was sellable and moved up the mountain. Of course, it was not very long before they began to realize that there was not going to be any flood. The whole thing was a scam.
One of the parishioners who lived in a neighboring barrio came to me with a moral question. I knew him well. He did not have much. He would not have been well versed in moral questions. But he did have a good sense of justice.
He had bought land from one of the people who had gone off to the mountain. He paid the asking price which was less than the land was worth. The seller was in a hurry to get to the mountain. Those who went there figured that after the flood they could come back down and reclaim the land from those who had died in the flood. Now the person who sold the land realized he had been duped. He wanted to buy the land back.
My friend’s moral question was, would it be ethical for him to keep the land even though he had bought it fairly for an agreed price? If he did sell it back should it be for the low price he paid for it or for the true value of the land?
I doubt if many much more educated and well-off would have been bothered by such questions. But he was.
Columban Fr. Brendan O’Sullivan lives and works in the U.S.