Latest OMI JPIC News
Oblates Participate in a Vatican Meeting on Mining June 12th, 2013
Camille Piche OMI and Séamus Finn OMI participate in a meeting on Mining hosted by Cardinal Turkson at The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Rome on June 7th.
Representatives of the mining sector were joined by members of religious communities and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in developing a collaborative and inclusive reflection process on mining, taking into account the challenges and opportunities that it presents to all stakeholders.
Tax avoidance to be on agenda of 17-18 June G8 Summit June 12th, 2013
Senior Catholic bishops from all of the G8 countries urged G8 Ministers to tackle tax avoidance, saying that “paying a fair share of taxes” is a “moral obligation”. Cardinal Brady, the head of Ireland’s Catholic church organized a letter to the G8, urging leaders to make good on their pledge to tackle aggressive tax avoidance at a summit later this month.
Last month, US senators described Ireland as a “tax haven”, accusing it of facilitating a multibillion-dollar tax avoidance structure for Apple. Tax Justice campaigners have argued that Ireland’s ultra-low corporation tax rate of 12.5%, combined with a series of additional tax incentives, is having a corrosive impact on tax coffers elsewhere, particularly poorer nations.
“In terms of tackling hunger, nothing is more crucial…than tax justice”, says Oliver De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
The Tanzania Energy and Minerals Minister says multinationals’ tax evasion and avoidance by companies and others is “crippling development and negatively affecting government budgets to cover…health, education and food production.” Many multinational companies operating in Tanzania are alleged to have accounts in British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Bermuda and several other places under Britain to avoid paying taxes.
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has created a resource on the subject: “Tax avoidance: An introduction”. Please visit their website for this resource and more information.
The Oblates belong to a coalition of non-governmental and faith groups – Tax Justice Network – that is campaigning for a more just international tax system.
Faith-Based and Socially Responsible Investors Urge U.S. Retailers to Back Bangladesh Accord June 7th, 2013
People and rescuers gather after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013.
Used under Creative Commons license; photo courtesy of rijans on flickr
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a group of socially responsible investors of which the Oblates are active members, has asked US retailers to be part of the Bangladesh Fire and Safety initiative, a global accord that promotes the safety of garment workers that would be legally enforceable. The initiative was proposed after more than 1,100 workers died in a building collapse on the outskirts of Dhaka on April 24. The collapsed building housed garment factories that supplied to several Western retailers.
At least 14 North American retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), Macy’s Inc (M.N), Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O), JC Penney Co Inc (JCP.N) and Gap Inc (GPS.N) have declined to sign the accord.
They have said the accord gives labour unions too much control over ensuring workplace safety and have proposed the alternative “Safer Factory Initiative”.
ICCR, which was part of the Divestment from South Africa campaign in protest against Apartheid, said the alternative plan could dilute the impact of the accord and may not be legally enforceable.
Retailers such as Zara parent Inditex S.A. (ITX.MC), H&M (HMb.ST), PVH Corp (PVH.N) and Britain’s Tesco Plc (TSCO.L) have supported the Bangladesh fire and safety initiative.
Read the ICCR Statement on the issue…
The Pope launches “Missio”, an “App” created by an Oblate June 6th, 2013
A new smartphone application, called “Missio”, is expanding the Church’s footprint in a digital world. The App can be downloaded for free, and is available in eight languages. The service was inaugurated by Pope Francis during the Audience with the National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies and with the staff of Fides Agency, on May 17, at the Vatican. Pope Francis clicked on an iPad, launching the application, which was created by Fr. Andrew Small, OMI National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States.
The app “Missio” contains news posted on the site “news.va”, photos, videos and the Pope’s homilies, the news of the Church in the world. “Holy Father, we want to put the Gospel in the pocket of every young person in the world,” said Fr. Small to the Pope, who touched a button on which “Evangelizantur,” was written, which in Latin means “May they be evangelized.” On the very first day, the App was downloaded by 1,140 people in 27 different countries. “Our goal is to help people see the world through the eyes of faith,” said Fr. Small. The application can be downloaded for free on iTunes App Store and Google Play. The Apps’ eight languages are: English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Arabic. The App was developed by the company Little iApps.
Temperance: Another way to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint June 6th, 2013
“In his classic study of the cardinal virtues, Josef Pieper was quick to point out that the rich meaning of temperance is not captured by the concept of moderation. Moderation is only a small part of temperance—the negative part. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, temperance gives order and balance to our life. It arises from a serenity of spirit within oneself. The reasonable norm allows us to walk gently upon the earth. Temperance teaches us to cherish and enjoy the good things of life while respecting natural limits. Temperance in fact does not diminish but actually heightens the pleasure we take in living by freeing us from a joyless compulsiveness and dependence. Temperance therefore means a lot more than the so-called “temperance movement” regarding the consumption of alcohol!”
“E. F. Schumacher, in his most influential book Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, contrasted the consumerist way of life, which multiplies human wants, with the simple life, whose aim is to achieve maximum well-being with the minimum use of the earth’s resources. The “logic of production” that demands more and more growth in consumption is a formula for disaster, he argued. “Out of the whole Christian tradition,” Schumacher concluded, “there is perhaps no body of teaching which is more relevant and appropriate to the modern predicament than the marvelously subtle and realistic doctrines of the Four Cardinal Virtues” and in particular temperance, which means knowing when “enough is enough.”
Excerpted from The Good Life from a Catholic Perspective: The Challenge of Consumption by Msgr. Charles Murphy
Inspiration from the Catholic Climate Action E-Newsletter. Sign up here…
