Bishops Vote To Draft Message On ‘Work, Poverty And A Broken Economy’

ATLANTA—The U.S. Conference ofCatholic Bishops (USCCB), meeting for their annual Spring General Assembly,approved a proposal by the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and HumanDevelopment to draft a message entitled CatholicReflections on Work, Poverty and a Broken Economy.

The proposal passed with a vote of 171to 26 on June 13.

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire ofStockton, California, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and HumanDevelopment, called the move “timely, if not overdue.”

“It has been a long time since thebody of bishops has addressed the moral and human dimensions of economic lifein light of Catholic teaching,” said Bishop Blaire. “This is especially urgentwhen so many of our people are suffering and wonder whether their Church caresand has anything to say about their situation and the economy that has leftthem behind.”

The goal of Catholic Reflections on Work, Poverty and Broken Economy is tocommunicate the bishops’ concern for people hurt by the economy, especially thejobless and those living in poverty. It will apply the human, family, moral andsocial costs of the economic crisis to Catholic teaching on economic life,especially the encyclicals of Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est and Caritasin Veritate.

The document will invite “Catholic conversations”on the moral dimensions and human impact of economic life among parishes anddioceses, college and universities and other Catholic organizations andmovements. It will also seek to go beyond the ideological and partisan polarizationon economic issues, briefly addressing the responsibilities and limitations ofvarious economic players, including individuals, the private sector, religiousand non-profit groups and the government.

---

Keywords: USCCB, U.S. bishops, U.S. Conference of CatholicBishops, June meeting, Atlanta, Spring General Assembly, Bishop Stephen E.Blaire, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, solidarity,subsidiarity, personal responsibility, public action, family, economicstructures, unemployment, CatholicReflections on Work, Poverty and a Broken Economy, Pope Benedict XVI, DeusCaritas Est, Caritas in Veritate, poverty, social justice

# # # # #