July-August 2011 (en Español)
Pope says selfish economic models at root of world hunger
By John Thavis [Catholic News Service]
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said persistent world hunger was a "tragedy" driven by selfish and profit-driven economic models, whose first victims are millions of children deprived of life or good health.
In responding to the crisis, international agencies should rediscover the value of the family farm, promoting the movement of young people back into rural areas, the pope said July 1 in an address to participants in an annual conference on hunger organized by the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
Meeting with the group at the Vatican, the pope strongly emphasized the theme of economic justice that has figured prominently in his encyclicals and other writings. He noted that millions of men, women and children remain without adequate nourishment today.
"My thoughts turn toward the situation of millions of children, who are the first victims of this tragedy, condemned to an early death or to a delay in their physical or psychic development, or forced into forms of exploitation just to receive minimal nutrition," he said.
The pope said the cause of such hunger cannot be found only in technical developments such as production cycles or commodity prices.
"Poverty, underdevelopment and, therefore, hunger are often the result of selfish behaviors that, born in the human heart, manifest themselves in social life, economic exchange, in market conditions and in the lack of access to food," the pope said.
"How can we be silent about the fact that even food has become the objector speculation or is tied to the course of a financial market that, lacking definite rules and poor in moral principles, appears anchored to the sole objective of profit?" he said.
The pope said the United Nations' own studies show that global food production is able to feed the world's population -- which makes the situations of hunger all the more unjust.
The international community often limits its food assistance to emergency situations, he said. Instead, he told the experts, it needs to address the problem with long-term strategies that consider the human dimension of development and not just economic benefits.
The pope called for support of international efforts to promote the family farm as a key component of national economies. The traditional nuclear family, he said, has shown itself to be a competent instrument for agricultural production and for training of new generations in farming.
"The rural family is a model not only of work, but of life and the concrete expression of solidarity, in which the essential role of the woman is confirmed," he said.
The pope said food security also requires protective measures against" frenetic exploitation of natural resources." This is especially true because the race to consumption and waste seems to ignore the threat to the genetic patrimony and biological diversity, which are so important to agricultural activity, he said.
He said the Bible's injunction to "cultivate and care for the earth" is opposed to exclusive appropriation of such natural resources.
Copyright ©2011 Catholic News Service. Reprinted with permission of CNS.
[The full text of the Pope's remarks can be found at www.zenit.org/article-32993?l=english.]
Catholic Relief Services Names Carolyn Y. Woo to Serve as President and CEO
Baltimore, MD, June 24, 2011--Catholic Relief Services announced today that its Board of Directors has named Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo, a former member of the CRS Board, to serve as the agency’s president and CEO. Woo will succeed Ken Hackett, who is retiring after leading CRS for the past 18 years.
Woo, 57, has served as the dean of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame since 1997. She served on the CRS Board of Directors from 2004 until 2010. On Jan. 1, 2012, she will become the seventh chief executive of CRS since it was founded in 1943.
“Dr. Woo is a woman of deep faith with a strong commitment to the mission of the Church. She will bring exceptional abilities and gifts to the task of serving the poor around the world in the name of Catholics throughout the United States,” said the Most Rev. Gerald F. Kicanas, Bishop of Tucson and Chairman of the CRS Board of Directors. “CRS is so blessed to have had Ken Hackett's leadership these 18 years, now to be followed by another outstanding faith-filled leader in Dr. Woo,” he said.
Hackett, who is retiring after leading CRS since 1993,worked closely with Woo during her tenure as one of the first lay members of the CRS Board. “Having traveled and worked closely with Carolyn as a Board member, I have always appreciated her keen sense of the critical issues and decisions that faced us institutionally,” he said. “Her powerful intellect and insight combined with a profound faith and an abiding compassion will equip her well to lead CRS as it faces the challenges ahead.”
Woo was born and raised in Hong Kong, educated by the Maryknoll Sisters of Ossining, and immigrated to the U.S. to attend college at Purdue University, where she received her B.S., M.S.I.A. and Ph.D. degrees.
Prior to assuming the deanship of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, Woo served as Associate Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Purdue University. She joined Purdue as assistant professor in 1981, became full professor in 1991 and directed the Professional Master’s Programs in the Krannert School of Management from 1993 to 1995.
Her teaching and research interests include corporate and competitive strategy, entrepreneurship, management of innovation and change,and organizational systems. During her six-year tenure on the CRS Board, she made several trips overseas to visit the agency’s programs and staff, including Banda Aceh, Indonesia, shortly after the Indian Ocean tsunami, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Kenya.
“I am honored to join an organization that is a true manifestation of the compassion of Jesus Christ and the Church’s ministry of charity around the world,” Woo said. “I look forward to building on the strong accomplishments of Ken and the global staff of CRS.”Woo and her husband, David Bartkus, currently live in South Bend, Indiana. They have two sons.
New NGO Committee Against Trafficking in Persons
By Thomas Brennan, SDB (from Salesian InTouch, July 13, 2011)
On June 14, 2011, forty representatives from NGOs, many of them from religious congregations, met for the first official meeting of the NGO Committee Against Trafficking in Persons. For nearly two years, a small group of NGOs sponsored by religious congregations had been meeting as a working group on Migration and Trafficking of the NGO Committee on Migration. In early May, 2011 we decided that the time was right to begin a committee Against Trafficking and voted to begin the committee in June.
The issue of trafficking is clearly a worldwide problem that needs to be addressed,and we believe that forming a Committee Against Trafficking shows that we are serious about combating trafficking. Additionally, by forming the committee we want to indicate to the Member States and to the UN System that Civil Society and faith based organizations want to work collaboratively with governments to address the underlying causes of trafficking.
While the data on trafficking, as is the case with many other clandestine and/or illegal activities, is imprecise, the experience of NGOs on the ground and the self reporting of Member States about trafficking in their countries do provide enough clear data to indicate the gravity of the situation. The annual Trafficking in Persons Report compiled by the government of the United States gives important information about the present reality of trafficking throughout the world.
The Committee Against Trafficking will address the issue of trafficking in the key areas of: sexual exploitation, with special emphasis on addressing the demand side of the issue; labor; organ harvesting; and adoption.
The Core Group of the NGO Committee functions as the coordinating group of the committee and exercises a collaborative leadership model. The core group members are: Thomas Brennan (Salesians of Don Bosco); Ilaria Buonriposi (Vivat International, Camboni Sisters); Leonir Chiarello (Scalabrinis); Winifred Doherty (Good Shepherd Sisters); Catherine Ferguson (UNANIMA International).
At our first meeting, a member of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence Against Children gave a presentation on the efforts of the Office to combat the issue of trafficking especially of children. A lively discussion followed and future collaboration is guaranteed. The International Organization on Migration and the International Labor Organization have also agreed to partner with the committee.
Pax Christi USA Executive Director Steps Down after Ten Years in Leadership
Washington, D.C.-After serving ten years as Pax Christi USA's Executive Director, Dave Robinson will be stepping down from the position and beginning a sabbatical on July 31, 2011. Robinson has worked for Pax Christi USA for two decades, beginning his service at the time of the 1991 Gulf War and completing his tenth year as Executive Director--the longest tenure of any of PC USA's previous directors--this month.
Robinson took over the leadership of Pax Christi USA just weeks before the events of September 11, 2001, and his vision for how the organization would engage the world was formed in the crucible of those first days as director. Robinson articulated Pax Christi USA's commitment to reconciliation and nonviolence in the face of political forces mobilizing to use the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon as excuses for a foreign policy built on the doctrine of preemptive war, the justification of torture, and the stifling of dissent at home. In March 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, Robinson led the effort to organize religious leaders for civil disobedience at the White House,resulting in over 60 prominent clergy and religious being arrested. In the immediate aftermath, Robinson would join Rev. Jesse Jackson and United Methodist Bishop Joseph Sprague in meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to call for a peaceful alternative to the U.S.-led invasion.
"Dave's experience and determination enabled Pax Christi USA to speak critically and prophetically in response to the Bush Administration's policies in the wake of 9-11 and leading up to the war in Iraq," said Sr. Josie Chrosniak, HM, Chair of Pax Christi USA's National Council. "Because of this, Pax Christi USA responded quickly and eloquently, correctly calling the 9-11 attacks 'crimes against humanity' instead of 'acts of war' and attempting to influence the U.S. response to our grief toward healing and peace instead of fear and revenge."
Robinson also frequently traveled to areas of conflict in the world, including Afghanistan,Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran. His travels helped to build relationships of solidarity with oppressed people as well as sections of Pax Christi throughout the world. "The entire Pax Christi community--including colleagues and friends in the Pax Christi International network--will miss Dave," said Marie Dennis, Co-President of Pax Christi International."We are grateful for his lifelong commitment to disarmament and dispassion for peace for all of the human family."
Reaching the Light: Historic Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers
By Carissa Smith [Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach]
On June 21, 2011,we were alerted to good news about domestic workers from Fr. Peter O'Neill, SSC,who was attending the International Labor Organizations (ILO) annual conference. He announced that on June 16th they celebrated the adoption of the convention on decent work for domestic workers, which was overwhelmingly voted for by governments, trade unions, and employers' organizations who make up the ILO. This revolutionary treaty will extend key labor protections to domestic workers and will protect millions of people who have gone without guarantees of their basic rights, according to Human Rights Watch.
The convention establishes the first global standards for the estimated 50 to 100 million domestic workers worldwide, the vast majority of whom are women and girls. Previously, they were vulnerable to countless abuses and labor exploitation such as excessive working hours without rest, non-payment of wages, forced confinement, physical and sexual abuse, forced labor and trafficking. According to the ILO, children make up nearly 30 percent of the world's domestic workers. Given that national child labor laws do not include domestic workers children can thus work for long hours at young ages with no legal repercussions to employers. Moreover, as a result of being separated from their families and having a near-total dependence on their employers these young workers are highly vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. The exclusion of domestic workers from protection under the law left almost no concrete means of securing justice for this population of workers.
Essential components of the convention mandate governments to provide domestic workers with labor protections equal to those of other workers, including working hours, minimum wage coverage, overtime compensation, daily and weekly rest periods, social security, and maternity protection. In addition, the new standards require governments to protect workers from violence and abuse, and to ensure effective monitoring and enforcement. Furthermore, the convention requires that governments set a minimum age for domestic work and to guarantee that work by those above that age does not interfere with their education; as well as limiting working hours and prohibiting domestic work that would harm their health, safety, or morals.
In our work of changing structures to change lives the journey is long and arduous, often times with more letdowns than successes. This victory has come after a 63-year long struggle of faithful souls who have kept their eye son the light at the end of the dark tunnel of injustice for domestic workers. Our work now turns to ensuring that this historic convention is not only recognized on paper, but most importantly, recognized in practice all around the world.Sisters of Saint Joseph collaborate with St. Louis Hotel and ECPAT to address Human Trafficking
(St. Louis, MO): Human Trafficking is among the many serious issues in need of healing both in St. Louis and throughout the world. While many call it a hidden crime, it exists not only in the St. Louis area, but in virtually every city and town in our country.
After months of collaborative conversation and planning, the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph (CSSJ) is excited that the Millennium Hotel St. Louis is taking the steps necessary to sign and implement the six-point ECPAT-USA Code of Conduct. By signing this code the Millennium Hotel St. Louis will take a stand against the sexual exploitation of children by helping ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking in Children for Sexual Purposes) fight child sex tourism. The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, developed by ECPAT, sets a standard of responsible business practices that effectively crack down on child sexual exploitation.
Discussions with the hotel about the complex issue of human trafficking began when the Sisters of Saint Joseph first contracted with the Millennium for their national event. In speaking of the process that will culminate in the signing of the ECPAT Code of Conduct, Sister Kathleen McCluskey, CSJ, Executive Director of the Federation says, “As Jesus taught us,it’s all about building relationships of healing in our world. We wanted to host our national Event at a hotel that supports this mission and spirituality. From the moment they became aware of the horror of human slavery and the role that hotels can play in combating it, the management at the Millennium has been eager to learn and take action.
The Sisters of St. Joseph are pleased to have been partners in a collaboration with the Millennium, ECPAT, and Nix Conference and Meeting Management that has brought us to this important moment. In signing the ECPAT Code, developing policies and procedures for the prevention of trafficking, and educating every person on the staff, the Millennium St. Louis demonstrates a true concern for people, surely for their guests, but also for the world we all live in. They are taking concrete steps to combat a degrading and horrible abuse that threatens the whole human community.”
Of this collaboration, Nix says, “Nix Conference & Meeting Management is thankful for the opportunity to work with the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Millennium Hotel St. Louis on this venture. We support the commitment of Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph and ECPAT to combat human trafficking. We stand firm in our resolve to protect all children and will unite with others in the industry to bring awareness to the human trafficking issue.”
Dominic Smart, General Manager of the Millennium Hotel St. Louis comments, “It is important for all of us to join together to fight human trafficking. Everyone in our hotel will take part in the ECPAT training and be vigilant in helping to keep human trafficking and exploitation of children out of our hotel and our community. Having the Sisters of St. Joseph gather in our hotel brought this issue more clearly to our attention and everyone in the hotel has strong beliefs about it. As a father of three, like any parent, I am sensitive to this cause and feel that every child has a righto a healthy and happy childhood.”
The signing of the EPCAT Code of Conduct will take place on July 12, 2011 at the Millennium Hotel St. Louis during the 2011 Event of the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph where close to 900 Sisters and Associates from across the nation and the world will be gathered. Roman Catholic women religious have been key leaders in the national and international movement to stop the demand for human trafficking.
USCCB Meets with President, Congressional Leaders to Urge Protection for the Poor in Debt Agreement
WASHINGTON--Religious leaders, including representatives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), met with President Barack Obama July 20 to urge the President and congressional leaders to protect programs for hungry and poor people in decisions surrounding the deficit and debt.
The delegation to the White House included Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of La Cruces, New Mexico, member of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Galen Carey of the National Association of Evangelicals; David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World;Jim Wallis, chief executive of Sojourners;as well as representatives of the Salvation Army,the Alliance to End Hunger, the National Council of Churches of Christ USA, and others.
“As the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, we come here not to advance a particular plan, but a fundamental moral principle: put the needs of the poor first in allocating scarce resources,” said Bishop Ramirez. “As religious leaders, our concern is not which party wins the current political battles, but we know, if we don’t speak up, who is likely to lose: the families trying to feed their kids, the jobless looking for work, the children who need health care, the hungry and sick and hopeless around the world.”
Representatives of USCCB and other religious leaders also met with Rep. Paul Ryan, House budget chairman, on July 8 as well as the staff of House Speaker John Boehner.
The Circle of Protection statement has been endorsed by more than 60 heads of Christian denominations and religious organizations, as well as 45 heads of development agencies and other faiths, as part of the Circle of Protection movement. The movement was launched in response to the disproportionate budget cuts proposed to programs for hungry and poor people.
“As Christian leaders, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. We are also committed to resist budget cuts that undermine the lives, dignity, and rights of poor and vulnerable people,” the leaders wrote in a statement. “Therefore, we join with others to form a circle of protection around programs that meet the essential needs of hungry and poor people at home and abroad.”
Statement of Catholic Bishops and Participants in Regional Consultation on Migration (North America, Central America and the Caribbean) San José, Costa Rica, June 3, 2011 (excerpts)
[The complete statement can be found on the USCCB web site.]
As Catholic bishops in charge of the pastoral care of migrants, gathered in San Jose, Costa Rica, June 1-3, 2011, with the participation of CELAM and CARITAS International and joined by religious and lay experts on issues of migration, we once again express our solidarity with our migrant brothers and sisters in this hemisphere who migrate in search of abetter life.
...
While we acknowledge the right of sovereign nations to enact laws, we nevertheless regard as unjust and inhuman, and therefore requiring change or abolition, those laws that cause the separation of migrant families,arbitrary detention and threats to life. All of these consequences are reflected in:
The Increased Violence Against and Kidnapping of Migrants by Organized Crime. The dramatic increase of kidnappings and murders of migrants, in Mexico, by crime organizations requires an urgent response.
...
The Increase in Deportations between the United States and Mexico. The U.S. government, with support from the U.S. Congress, had deported a record number of migrants in the past two years, despite the request of the Catholic Church to work for a reform of U.S. immigration laws, which would include the legalization of undocumented workers and their families. We urge the U.S. government to change course and protect immigrants and their families regardless of their migratory status.
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The Tragedy of Human Trafficking. Those who live in poverty continue to be victims of human trafficking in our hemisphere, especially vulnerable are the unaccompanied migrant children, who are often victims in the countries of transit and destination. To be sure,important steps have been made over the past ten years to address this humanitarian problem, but much more is required. We express our support for anti-trafficking efforts and for increased services to victims. We urge vigilance on the part of our governments and fellow citizens in fighting this tragedy, until it is eliminated from our hemisphere and the entire world.
Growing Economic Inequality. As we have stated in the past, the ultimate solution to migration is development and economic opportunities throughout the hemisphere, so that families can find work and live in dignity in their countries of origin. More attention must be paid to this economic inequity, especially when economic integration and free trade agreements are considered between countries of our hemisphere.
...
The Effects of Globalization on Human Persons. We live in an era in which goods, capital, and communication are exchanged globally in a short period. However, the human beings on the move who provide the labor to keep economies growing do not receive legal protection. Our governments cannot continue to benefit from the labor of the undocumented without offering them legal protections.
...
As a moral matter, this situation cannot continue. We urge those nations which have not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families to approve it and bring their legislation into harmony with it, creating public policies that respect the spirit of the Convention for migrants, independent of their migratory status.
The Increasing Threats to Agents of the Pastoral Care of Migrants in their Role as Defenders of Human Rights. This is a drama that has increased in Mexico, hunting down many men and women whose pastoral work in solidarity with our brothers and sisters has become a threat,especially to the criminal gangs and some officials who collude with them, who have lost the sense of seeing the person and see the migrant as a commodity.
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As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall continue to“welcome the stranger,” as He taught us: bringing to life the scene of the person who fell into the hands of robbers and the action of the good person,who representing Jesus bound up his wounds ... and took care of him (Lk. 10, 25-37), and invite us to do the same:to care for him, because “for whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me.” (Mt. 25:35, 40).
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