In an earlier essay (Sibley, Angus. 2016. "Can there be a Catholic economics?" "International Studies in Catholic Education" 8 (2), 211) I observed that 'the Church has a long record of consistently criticisng the obsession with competition that has such a dominant place in orthodox economic thinking and practice'. Inordinate emphasis on competition is so prevalent in current economic behaviour, and has so many adverse consequences, that a more detailed examination of this phenomenon, and of the Church's arguments against it, seems to be timely.