Pizzas galore!

So is money in itself wrong? No, says Kit Dollard, a former businessman and the co-author of Doing Business with Benedict: the Rule of St Benedict and Business Management, a guide to finance based on the 6th century rule of the Italian saint. “St Benedict, while not commenting directly on money, does say that “God is present everywhere”, that those who use their creative gifts in the monastery’s workshops should exercise “proper humility” and when charging for their products should “avoid any taint of avarice.” It is more about good stewardship – how and where we spend our money,” he explains.

Spending, however, is a conscience issue argues Father Harris: “Although the right to work, to support oneself and one’s family is part of Church teaching, so is sharing. How vital is it really to own a Porsche in London? When I first arrived in Canary Wharf, I would see Audi and Ferrari car dealers set up their stands at bonus time, and bankers literally hand over their bonus cheques.”

For the Right Rev Bernard Longley, the auxiliary Roman Catholic bishop of London, the Biblical parable of the Talents – where a master asks his servants about the use to which they have put the gifts he has given them – offers pertinent reflection for those impacted by the market crisis.

After celebrating a Mass in Canary Wharf, he explained: “ The Church teaches that the mission of baptised Christians is to witness to faith in the midst of the world. You could not look for a better example of that than here in Canary Wharf. In the midst of all the commercial activities, these Christians who have just come to Mass and work here believe in grace – which is something offered for nothing. That influences their personal and professional relations. These are people who know to use what is given to them as gifts received.”

So what exactly can faith offer depressed bankers in the credit crisis? “Hope” says Bishop Longley. Katalina Reynolds-Carryl, a regular worshipper at the weekly Wharf Mass agrees. An analyst with the global finance managers, State Street Corporation, her company has been directly impacted by the recent market turmoil:

“What happened to Lehmans has had an impact on our business and we felt the threats to AIG in a big way. To an extent you have to put yourself in the Lord’s hands,” she says. “But what can you do? You can’t worry about every little thing. For me, being able to come here once a week [ to Mass ] is a sanity check. People often try to book meetings during the lunch hour but I miss enough lunch hours and work enough weekends to justify taking thirty minutes out of my week once a week to come here. This is my time. It is a moment of peace.”

On Monday, the Church of England posted a prayer for the debt-trapped on its website, which calls on God to be a "tower of strength" amid the "shifting sands" of the current economic climate. By Thursday it had called for a stringent review of financial regulations, and the Archbishop of Canterbury had suggested that, at least in part, Marx may have had a point in his critique of Capitalism.

Economic liberalisation in itself is not to blame, claims the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Speaking on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day on Friday he said: "Markets remain the best way we know of harnessing human creativity for the benefit of all. Economic liberalisation has taken 500 million people out of poverty in China, and 130 million in India. They're also the best antidote to war. As Montesquieu pointed out in the eighteenth century, when two nations come into contact with one another, they can either fight or trade. If they fight, both lose; if they trade, both gain."

What is both "wrong" and "unacceptable" the Chief Rabbi argues is rather "the unbridled pursuit of short term gain at the expense of long term economic health, financial greed at the cost of moral responsibility. "

One of the Chief Rabbi's first initiatives on taking office was to found the Jewish Association of Business Ethics. This now offers its programme, Markets and Morals, to all British schools. He says: "This summer, representatives of all the faiths in Britain marched together with the Archbishop of Canterbury in support of the Millennium Development Goals. Markets need morals. Trade needs responsibility. God's gifts must be for the benefit of all.” .

Will the current crisis, wonders Kit Dollard make people “more humble or more angry? This of course varies as to how you have been affected and where you see the money coming from in the first place."