Bishops: NAFTA Leading to Mexico’s Cultural Death: “Mexico’s Catholic bishops have pleaded with the federal government to renegotiate a trade treaty with the U.S. and Canada that they say is leading to the cultural death of their nation. The bishops said the Jan. 1 abolition of agricultural tariffs under the North American Free Trade Agreement is putting poor Mexican farmers out of business and threatening the destruction of entire rural communities. They said that farmers and their families are now being driven to migrate to cities in Mexico or to the U.S., which ‘currently has a very strong and anti-humane immigration program.’

“In a mid-January statement, the bishops’ social action commission called on the state to ‘analyze the legal possibilities and economic feasibility of renegotiating the agricultural section of the free trade agreement in order to protect more decisively the interests of the poor rural and indigenous communities who are in the majority. There exist legal, economic and moral conditions to renegotiate this section, which should be the priority for the government and legislators,’ said the statement, signed by 10 bishops.” The bishops are concerned that poor Mexican farmers have to compete with “heavily subsidized U.S. and Canadian producers.” They are concerned that farmers who are unable to make a living will turn to producing illegal drugs and that imported genetically modified seeds will threaten the plant life of Mexico.

(From The Catholic Telegraph, Feb. 8, 2008)

Bishop: Carbon Taxes Should Aid Poor: “Carbon taxes in the world’s richest countries should be used to ameliorate the effects of global warming in the world’s poorest countries, said an Irish bishop. ‘Climate change is undermining the fight against poverty,’ said Bishop John Kirby of Clonfert, chairman of the Irish bishops’ overseas aid agency, Trocaire. ‘Developing countries haven’t caused global warming, but the world’s poorest people are left to cope with the consequences for three reasons: They live in areas that are seeing the biggest impact of global warming, they depend heavily on the weather for their livelihoods, and they are already living in poverty, therefore they are less able to cope with the impact of these climate changes.’

“…Kirby said he wants a significant share of carbon-tax revenues to go to the newly developed UN Adaptation Fund, created to help poorer countries adapt to climate-change threats. The bishop noted a recent government announcement that a new carbon tax on the consumption of fossil fuels will be introduced in Ireland. According to the United Nations and the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, recorded natural disasters over the last decade have tripled since the 1970s, and if greenhouse emissions contribute at their current rate, Africa would experience major crop failure and water shortages, the bishop said.

“‘As a global problem, all countries have a common and shared responsibility to tackle climate change. Rich industrialized countries, however, bear particular responsibility for action,’ he said. ‘Any action we take must take the rights of developing countries into consideration. Poorer countries with low carbon emissions must be allowed to continue their economic development and mustn’t be punished for the sins of the developed world.’”

(From National Catholic Reporter, March 7, 2008)

Religious Investors Urge Ban on Genetically Modified Beets: “Religious investors are pressuring food companies that use beet sugar in their products to declare they will not buy sugar made from genetically modified beets. They contend that, while engineered to be more resistant to disease, the beets attract certain weeds that require even stronger herbicides to try and eradicate them. Sugar-beet planting season begins in early April, and the investor groups want the companies’ declarations to be made before planting starts to demonstrate that there is a lack of desire for genetically engineered sugar. ‘We are concerned that consumers are not being given (a) choice,’ said Leslie Lowe, director of the Energy and Environment Program for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, an umbrella group of Catholic and other denominations’ investment arms. The Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility has established a Web site, http://dontplantgmobeets.org , which contains information about genetically modified foods, and a letter that can be sent to food, restaurant and beverage companies that rely on beet sugar to make their products.”

(From The Catholic Telegraph, March 14, 2008)

Philippine Bishops Call for Reform: “‘We live today as a people almost without hope, it would seem,’ the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines says in a Jan. 27 statement about the political situation in the country, particularly rampant corruption. The bishops list a number of concerns, such as ‘the perception that corruption in government is at its worst’ and ‘investigations into the truth of allegations of bribery (are) often stymied or their results unreported,’ and then say these problems have plagued the country for years. …

“In the Jan. 27 statement, the bishops say, ‘We zero in on what we say is the basic fault in our communities’ political and social life: the subordinating of the common good to private good. …We need to seek ways and means of correcting it in whatever way we can – but always according to the principles of active nonviolence – together, creatively and imaginatively.’ They say this can be achieved through ‘conversion, real conversion, to put it in terms of our faith, for all of us to deliberatively, consciously develop that social conscience that we say we sorely lack and to begin subordinating our private interests to the common good.’

(From Origins, Catholic News Service, March 6, 2008)

Big Pharma and the Poor: “The pharmaceutical industry is failing to make key medications available to millions of people in developing countries, according to a recent report from Oxfam International, Investing for Life. The study examined the practices of the world’s 12 biggest pharmaceutical companies – practices that include putting protection of intellectual property rights ahead of the critical health needs of people in the world’s poorest countries. The companies mount fierce resistance to cheaper generic drugs, which they see as unacceptable competition. And yet generic competition, the report observes, ‘is the most effective …method to reduce drug prices.’

“Oxfam’s executive director has said the industry should recognize that smothering generic competition and fighting for stricter patent laws amount to a ‘moral outrage.’ Currently, over 85 percent of world consumers are either underserved or have no access at all to essential medications the companies produce. Poor people therefore continue to face diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, cancer and HIV/AIDS without affordable medicines. The report also faults the industry for neglecting research and development into diseases that disproportionately affect people in developing countries. Between 1999 and 2004, it says, there were only three new drugs targeted at diseases affecting the developing world, out of 163 brought to the market. …The report’s executive summary calls for the pharmaceutical companies to incorporate ‘a social equity bottom line into their thinking’ when it comes to pricing. That bottom line has yet to be put in place.”

(From America, Feb. 11, 2008)

Iraqi Archbishop Found Dead: “Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, Iraq, who had been kidnapped Feb. 29, was found dead March 13. Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad told the Italian Catholic agency SIR that the kidnappers had informed church leaders March 12 that Rahho, 65, ‘was very ill,’ and a few hours later they phoned again to say he had died. They phoned the next morning to tell church leaders where they had buried the archbishop.

“Rahho was kidnapped after leading a Way of the Cross service at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul. His driver and two bodyguards were killed.”

(From National Catholic Reporter, March 21, 2008)

SOA Closing Getting Nearer: “An estimated 25,000 people gathered in November at the gates of Fort Benning in Georgia as part of the 18th annual School of the Americas protest. The U.S. military asserts that the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly the School of the Americas, strives to promote ‘peace, democratic values, and respect for human rights through inter-American cooperation.’ Many Americans strongly disagree. ‘We are a better country than what is on display at this school,’ Rep. Jim McGovern, a lead investigator of the 1989 SOA-linked murder of six Jesuits and two laywomen in El Salvador, told the crowd.

“Critics of the school want it shut down due to the numerous human rights atrocities and massacres associated with many of its graduates. Eleven people, ranging in age from 25 to 76, were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience, risking up to six months in federal prison. The annual protest’s influence is growing: The 2007 congressional bill to suspend the school’s operations failed by only six votes.”

(From Sojourners, February 2008)

Interfaith Effort to End Poverty: “Eliminating much of the world’s worst poverty within a decade would become a principle of U.S. foreign policy for the first time under a Catholic-led legislative push now gathering force with a growing interfaith alliance. Nearly 40 representatives from Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths as well as the Shinto and Wiccan religions, met at the University of San Francisco Feb. 20 in an effort to broaden the ranks of members of faith communities involved in the campaign. Leaders said they are trying to build the campaign to full strength by May to push the U.S. Senate to pass the Global Poverty Act this summer. The U.S. House passed the bill Sept. 25. The bill calls for the U.S. president to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to promote the elimination of global poverty as a foreign policy goal.

“The meeting was organized by the Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought at the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco. It was hosted by Archbishop George H. Niederauer of San Francisco; Stephen Privett, S.J., the university’s president; and Episcopal Bishop Marc Andrus of California.”

(From America, March 10, 2008)

UN: Purchase Food from Developing Countries: “The United Nations World Food Programme is purchasing most of its food from developing countries in a ‘win-win’ situation for both parties, according to the chief of the agency, which last year paid cash to poorer nations for a record 80 percent of its food. The world’s largest humanitarian organization, WFP bought 2.1 million metric tons valued at over $760 million from 69 developing countries in 2007, with Uganda as the largest supplier.

“The agency has a policy of buying food locally when and where there is an abundance, but it avoids these markets at times of scarcity in order to avoid disturbing prices. ‘Local purchases create win –win situations to hunger,’ said Josette Sheeran, WFP’s Executive Director. ‘In an era of soaring food prices – which hit hardest those already hungry – such solutions are more critical than ever.’”

(From Indianapolis Peace & Justice Journal, February 2008)

U.S. Abortion Rate Declines: “A study showing that abortion rates in the United States have fallen to their lowest level in nearly 30 years is good news for a pro-life official who attributes the decrease to changing attitudes. ‘I am not surprised that the number and rate of abortions is falling steadily,’ said Deirdre McQuade, director of planning and information for the bishops’ Office of Pro-Life Activities, who credits the shift in part to recent debates about partial-birth abortion which have increased public awareness about abortions.

“She said she was confident abortions would continue to decrease in the United States as more information about abortions was made available to the general public, support networks expanded for expectant parents in crisis, people sought healing from past abortions and adoption ‘was treated as a courageous choice for birth mothers.’ The number of abortions declined to 1.2 million in 2005, a figure that is 25 percent below the 1.6 million abortions in 1990 and is the lowest level reported since 1.179 million in 1976, according to a study released Jan. 17 by the Guttmacher Institute, a Planned Parenthood affiliate based in New York.”

(From The Catholic Telegraph, Feb. 1, 2008)

Vatican Committed to Cuba: “Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, said he hoped his six-day visit to Cuba had helped give ‘new impetus to relations between the church and the government of Cuba.’ The cardinal was the first foreign dignitary received by Cuban President Raul Castro, who took office Feb. 24. Cardinal Bertone said he had wished Raul Castro ‘success … in this mission of service to his country’ and had reaffirmed the Vatican’s commitment to ‘help bring the world closer to Cuba and share common ground on international issues.’ ‘We have spoken about the church, about Cuba and Cubans at the present moment, with particular reference to the challenges posed by the world of young people,’ he said.”

(From Origins, Catholic News Service, March 6, 2008)

Catholics Call Candidates on Immigration: “The Catholic Legal Immigration Network called on presidential candidates and elected officials to have a more productive discussion of immigration. It also decried delays that it said will keep many new citizens from voting this year. In the 2007 fiscal year, 1.4 million people applied for U.S. citizenship, double the previous year’s applications, said Don Kerwin, director of the U.S. Catholic Church’s umbrella organization for immigration services, known by its acronym, Clinic.

“It now takes 18 months to process a naturalization application, up from seven months before the latest surge, said Emilio Gonzalez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, at a Jan. 17 hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. That means many people who filed for citizenship before the cost went up last year have little chance of being able to vote this year, Kerwin told Catholic News Service. ‘Instead of building on the momentum created by this massive influx of naturalization applications,’ said a Jan. 16 statement from Clinic, ‘many members of Congress and …presidential candidates have supported the denial of citizenship – which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment – to children born in the United States to parents without legal status.’”

(From America, Feb. 11, 2008)

Catholics and Elections: Our Catholic faith calls us to evaluate political candidates based upon Catholic Social Teaching. Many resources are available to help us in this effort. The Catholic bishops of the United States have given us guidelines in their letter, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. Once we determine the values we must look for in candidates, resources are available to help us determine which candidates hold those same values.

You can find the positions of the major candidates in both parties relating to peace concerns at the Peace Action website. Guides on other pressing issues can be found at the websites of the New York Times  and Friends Committee on National Legislation. To see how your Congresspersons voted in the last Congress, go to the websites of NETWORK and Friends Committee on National Legislation (scroll down to pg. 6).

Pope Urged to Call for End of Iraq War: “More than 3,000 people, many involved in the Catholic Worker Movement and peace activism, have signed a letter to Pope Benedict XVI asking him to call for an immediate end to the Iraq War during his U.S. visit in April. Another statement circulating among faith leaders marks the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq March 19 with a call to repentance for ‘the sin of this war.’ The letter to the pope asks him to reconsider his plans and refuse to meet with President George W. Bush until the Iraq War, which the pope has opposed, is ended. The pope and the president are scheduled to meet at the White House April 16. ‘The separate anniversary statement, titled ‘Call to Lament and Repent: Guide Our Feet to the Path of Peace,’” was started as a Lenten project through Sojourners, an evangelical Christian community. “This season of Lent, we are truly living ‘in darkness and in the shadow of death’ as we mark on March 19, 2008, the fifth anniversary of the war with Iraq,’ it opens. ‘It is a war that is being waged by our country, financed by our taxes and fought by our sisters and brothers. As U.S. Christians, we issue a call to the American church to lament and repent of the sin of this war.’”

(From The Catholic Telegraph, March 21, 2008)

Bishops to Offer Mediation: “A Venezuelan archbishop said the Catholic bishops in his country and Colombia will offer to mediate a dispute between their nations’ leaders. Archbishop Ubaldo Santana Sequera of Maracaibo, president of the Venezuelan and Colombian bishops’ conference, said Jan. 22 that Venezuelan and Colombian bishops would meet in Bogota, Colombia, in March to offer to help resolve the situation between the countries. Archbishop Santana called the dispute ‘very worrisome.’ Colombia’s conservative President Alvaro Uribe and Venezuela’s socialist President Hugo Chavez have been carrying on a verbal spat since early January, when Chavez called for Colombia’s two leftist guerilla groups to be removed from an international list of terrorist organizations. Chavez made his comments the day after the larger of the two guerrilla groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym FARC, freed two long-time political hostages by releasing them to Chavez’s representatives. In response, the Colombian government reasserted its position that the guerillas are terrorists and accused Chavez of meddling in Colombia’s internal affairs.”

(From The Catholic Telegraph, Feb. 8, 2008)

 

SJB Friars Commit to Non-violence: The Franciscan Friars of St. John the Baptist Province based in Cincinnati, Ohio, held their 2005 Chapter at the University of Dayton, May 23-27. Among the many proposals that were passed, the Chapter delegates affirmed a resolution introduced by their JPIC Office in which they committed themselves to “continued conversion to a life of Franciscan non-violence in support of a consistent ethic of life.” The complete resolution follows.

“As Franciscans, we affirm the sacredness of all human life and the inherent value of all creation. In a world where violence is rampant, we wish to be a sign of hope, actively promoting the preservation of life, peace among people and nations, justice for all and reconciliation. We commit ourselves to continued conversion to a life of Franciscan non-violence in support of a consistent ethic of life.”