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Labor Day Statement of Support issued by US Catholic Bishops September 4th, 2009
The U.S. bishops are calling on Catholics to recommit this Labor Day to supporting all workers and praying for those who have lost jobs during the economic recession. The Catholic ishops issued their call in their annual Labor Day statement: “The Value of Work; The Dignity of the Human Person.”
The statement was released on September 3 and signed by Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York. Bishop Murphy, chairman of the Bishops’ Conference Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said that Labor Day is a time to celebrate “the value and dignity of work and the contribution and rights of the American worker.”
Bishops of G8 Nations Call On Their Leaders to Assist the Poor in Developing Nations July 1st, 2009
The Catholic Bishop’s Conferences from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Scotland and USA are urging their leaders, members of the Group of Eight (G8) major industrialized countries, to adopt a set of shared actions designed to protect and assist poor people in developing nations who are suffering from the economic meltdown.
The appeal is contained in a joint statement to the G8 summit 2009, the next meeting of which takes place in Italy on July 8-14. The bishops’ letter refers to an earlier message from Pope Benedict XVI addressed to a G20 meeting where the Holy Father called for more development aid to poor countries. The Pope remonstrated that poor nations did not generate the crisis hence should not be its victims.
Following is the full text of the letter
Click here to read more »
SRIC is inspired by faith and committed to action May 10th, 2009
The financial crisis, health care and the urgency of responding to global warming were three criticial issues discussed at a recent panel organized by the Socially Responsible Investment Coalition (SRIC). The current crises were examined by a panel with varied expertise. Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI discussed the financial crisis, emphasizing its impact on the poor.
Oblates Work with Parishioners to Save Mortgages April 27th, 2009
John Lasseigne, OMI is a priest at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in the Southern California community of Pacoima, where one in every nine homes is in some stage of foreclosure. He says the people in this community were targeted by predatory lenders and given loans they never should have qualified for.
Fr. Lasseigne and others at Mary Immaculate, has been working with One-LA, a community organizing effort in Los Angeles, to help parishioners re-finance problematic mortgages.
CNN recently did a story on this effort. Watch the video…
Socially Responsible Investors Call for Transition to a Low-Carbon, Socially Sustainable Economy April 15th, 2009
Umbrella organizations for the sustainable and responsible finance industry, including the Social Investment Forum, of which the Oblates are a member, have issued an important statement on transforming global capital markets.
They contend that “the current economic crisis affords a unique opportunity and imperative to transition to a low-carbon, resource efficient and socially sustainable economy.” The groups thus have called upon world leaders to respond to the economic challenge facing the global economy by incorporating sustainability and social responsibility measures into both the economic stimulus packages for short-term recovery and the longer-term reform of the credit and investment markets.
