News Archives » Social Justice
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….
Call on Congressional Republicans to Adopt Family-Friendly Immigration Reform January 24th, 2014
Call Your GOP Member of Congress and Urge Inclusion of a Path to Citizenship for Immigrants and a focus on Family Unity in the Republican position on immigration reform
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives meet EARLY NEXT WEEK to plan their way forward on immigration reform. They could announce their reform principles by the middle of week.
Catholics and other supporters of immigrants and their families are strongly encouraged to call their GOP Members of Congress on Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 27 and 28, and ask that these two elements be included in their immigration reform principles:
- Include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
- Maintain family unity by preserving the family immigration system.
Use this toll free number, 1-855-589-5698, to be connected to your Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Thanks to the USCCB Justice for Immigrants for this Action Alert!
Oxfam Releases “Good Enough to Eat” Index January 22nd, 2014
Last week the global hunger and development organization Oxfam released their Good Enough to Eat index. This informative resource assesses food security, food quality, affordability, and dietary health across 125 countries.
Number 1? The Netherlands. Last Place? Chad.
We feature this item in the spirit of the Caritas call for “One Human Family, Food for All” and our own effort to better understand chronic world hunger.
Thanks to National Catholic Rural Life Conference for this information. Learn more about NCRL and subscribe to their e-newsletter.
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)
Death Penalty Resources for Communities of Faith January 16th, 2014
At the start of the New Year, we would like to remind everyone of the excellent free educational resources on the death penalty available from the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty (CMN). The ready-for-use resources on the death penalty are helpful for anyone interested in learning more about the faith response to the death penalty.
CMN materials are available on the website and are downloadable. Many of these resources are also available in Spanish.
Learn more about the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty:
The Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty (CMN) is a lay ministry of the institutional U.S. Catholic Church that educates Catholics to seek a faithful response to crime, with a focus on abolishing the death penalty in the U.S. and promoting restorative justice. CMN works as a national lay collaborative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and state Catholic conferences. CMN has since developed partnerships with Catholic lay leaders, diocesan staff and secular organizations in the movement.
More information is available elsewhere on our website.
