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Missionary Oblates Join Supreme Court Filing in Argentina/NML Capital Case March 25th, 2014
Jubilee USA Network, a religious anti-poverty coalition, along with 78 other religious and development groups filed with the US Supreme Court in the case between Argentina and NML Capital. The Amicus Curiae brief takes the side of Argentina because the precedent of the case impacts predatory behavior on vulnerable populations. The friend-of-the-court brief argues that the case will have a detrimental impact on the poor, undo bipartisan United States debt policy and cause global financial instability. Filers joining Jubilee USA include: American Jewish World Service, Church World Service, Action Aid USA, numerous synagogues and churches across the US and a large number of Catholic religious orders of nuns and priests, including the Missionary Oblates. Read the full list of the 79 groups and Jubilee USA’s Amicus Curiae.
“At the end of the day, this case is about a precedent that could expose developing economies to extreme predatory behavior,” noted Kent Spriggs the attorney representing the 79 groups “The Supreme Court’s decision will affirm or harm current bipartisan US debt policy.”
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Stations of the Forest March 10th, 2014
We would like to thank the Columban Fathers for the powerful Stations of the Forest video. It is a compelling narrative of the destruction of the forest that has ruined ecosystems from the Philippines to Brazil – a destruction that imperils the world.
Following the format of The Stations of the Cross this prayerful resource laments the stages in the death of part of God’s Creation. It incorporates issues related to rainforest destruction: extractive industries, loss of biodiversity and climate change.
A Booklet accompanies the DVD, providing the script, an agenda for meetings, a reflection on the Stations, and prayers. (download booklet here)
Download – The Grace of Forests Lenten resource
Catholic News Service’s Fracking Series Illuminates Controversial Issue February 21st, 2014
Image Source: US EPA
Catholic News Service reporter, Dennis Sadowski, has written a series of five articles on hydraulic fracking from a faith perspective. Fracking is a complicated issue, yet Sadowski provides a clear overview of this controversial energy source while blending in environmental justice teachings of the Church.
By clicking on a title, you will be taken to the article at the Catholic News Service website:
To frack or not to frack: Debate examines America’s quest for energy
Advances in drilling technology led to fracking’s rapid expansion
Religious community chooses nature over riches of a natural gas lease
Faith motivates Catholics to speak out on gas, oil-drilling practices
Families seek recourse in lawsuits for wells considered a nuisance
Catholic voices raise moral concerns in country’s fracking debates
The Inequality Debate Heats Up! February 14th, 2014
What started out as a slogan that surfaced at the height of the Occupy movement — the 1 percent vs the 99 percent — has morphed into the hotly debated issue of inequality, especially income inequality. Across a broad spectrum ranging from Pope Francis to billionaire Tom Perkins, a variety of reflections, analysis, explanation and apologies have been offered.
The executive director of the International Monetary Fund, Ms. Christine Lagarde, entered the conversation at the macroeconomic level when she stated recently at Davos, “The gap has been widening tremendously, particularly over the last ten years and it has widened in all corners. You look at the U.S. economy. You look at the Brazilian economy. You look at some of the developing countries although to a lesser degree, but it does… that inequality has expanded.”
Read Fr. Seamus Finn’s latest blog on Huffington Post….
FACT Coalition Calls on Congress to Eliminate Corporate Tax Loopholes January 21st, 2014
The Missionary Oblates recently joined other organizations working through the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition in asking Congress to eliminate corporate tax loopholes. The coalition is concerned about corporations shifting jobs overseas, and corporate avoidance of US taxes. The letter calls on Congress to “refuse to extend two recently expired tax breaks that subsidize highly profitable corporations at the expense of ordinary Americans.”
These tax breaks perversely encourage “American corporations to lend, invest and create jobs in foreign countries rather than in the U.S.” The ‘active financing exception’ called out in the letter is one of the primary reasons General Electric has paid, on average, only a 1.8% effective U.S. federal income tax rate over the past ten years. This exception was removed in the tax reform of 1986, but reinstated after fierce corporate lobbying. It has been extended consistently since 1998. “The last two-year extension of the active financing exception was estimated by the Joint Committee on Taxation to have cost taxpayers $11.2 billion.”
A second exception, called the CFC-look through rule, was also targeted in the letter. The groups signing the letter said, “The last two-year extension of the CFC look-through rule was estimated by the Joint Committee on Taxation to have cost taxpayers $1.5 billion.”
As people continue to struggle to find decent work, the outrage over multinational corporations essentially gaming the system is understandable. We hope this outrage will compel Congress to stand up for ordinary taxpayers and stop giving these corporations a free pass.
Read the letter (Download PDF)
