ECONOMIC JUSTICE

“Poverty calls us to sow hope…. Poverty is the flesh of the poor Jesus, in that child who is hungry, in the one who is sick, in those unjust social structures.”

(Pope Francis, Meeting with Students of Jesuit Schools—Q&A, 6/7/13)

Is poverty decreasing?

The number of people in America living in poverty in 2012 (46.5 million) was the largest number seen in the 54 years for which poverty estimates have been published.

The UN has defined poverty as those making less than $1.25 a day. Over 1.6 billion people are considered "poor".

Poverty is a state of being – characterized by shame, humiliation, anxiety and worry, much more than it is about ‘do I have more/less than $1.25 a day’.

A total of 1.6 billion people are living in multidimensional poverty

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Of these 1.6 billion people, 52% live in Sub-Saharan Africa and 29% in South-east Asia.

1 in 5 children in the U.S. currently live under the poverty line and suffer from malnutrition

The Church teaches that accumulating goods is not a "bad" thing. But we must be watchful of misusing material things. It can "pollute" ourselves.

"Our economic life is shaped increasingly by economic globalization, which offers both new potential and new problems.

Some see this process as the source of many of the world's ills. For others, it is the solution.

The question is not whether these forces will continue, but whether they lift people up or push them down, whether they drive people apart or bring them together." (A.P.A.T.T)

Do you know someone in poverty?

A WIDENING GAP

It is our responsibility to ensure that *all* humanity has fair access to gaining material goods. That means making sure there are no structures in place that inhibit that possibility.

Wealth exists to be shared.

(Comp. Chp 7 #328)

I'm not telling you to eradicate inequality. That may not be possible nor would it be smart. Why?

Some of us are blessed to have the resources that we do. We have to remember that not everyone has the same opportunities that we have. Is that fair?

If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James 2: 15-17

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“To be a Christian is to live dangerously, honestly, freely - to step in the name of love as if you may land on nothing, yet to keep on stepping because the something that sustains you no empire can give you and no empire can take away.”

- Dr. Cornel West

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[Wisdom from Fr. Thomas Merton ]


“Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.”

Solidarity

Solidarity "is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all"



Saint John Paul II - Sollicitudo rei socialis

"No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world ... the Brazilian people, particularly the humblest among you, can offer the world a valuable lesson in solidarity, a word that is too often forgotten or silenced because it is uncomfortable ... I would like to make an appeal to those in possession of greater resources, to public authorities and to all people of good will who are working for social justice: never tire of working for a more just world, marked by greater solidarity"



Pope Francis

What is globalization?

The worldwide movement toward economic, financial, trade, and communications integration.
Globalization implies the opening of local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world with free transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers. However, it does not include unhindered movement of labor and, as suggested by some economists, may hurt smaller or fragile economies if applied indiscriminately.

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IMMIGRATION

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IMMIGRANT/IMMIGRATION:
The movement of a person or group who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.

MIGRANT/MIGRATION:
The movement of a person or group of people from one place to another without establishing a permanent residence

Tradition of Immigrants

• Abraham+Fam (Gen 12:1)
• Jacob and Fam (Gen 47)
• Mary+Joe+Jesus (Mt 2:13-15)
• The whole Church
• Your family!

How do we respond to the Immigrant?

OPTION FOR THE POOR

As workers, owners, and managers, Catholics should contribute to a workplace that is safe and respectful, where workers have a voice and can earn enough to support themselves and their families

"Central to the biblical presentation of justice is that the justice of a community is measured by its treatment of the powerless in society, most often described as the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger in the land...The way society responds to the needs of the poor through its public policies is the litmus test of its justice or injustice."

-Economic Justice for All (#38, #123)

An "option" for the poor does not mean that Christians can choose whether or not to be on the side of the poor. Rather, it means a *commitment* in favor of the poor.

Such a commitment is unlikely to be sustained without *Solidarity* with the poor, that is, a lifestyle that includes experience with the poor and sharing the lot with the poor.

It is about EMPOWERING and not about ENABLING.

AUTHENTIC DEVELOPMENT

HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT

CAUSES OF POVERTY

OUR RESPONSE

FAIR TRADE

As consumers and as investors, we can support businesses that contribute to the common good, treat workers fairly, and do not exploit the poor and vulnerable.

As consumers, we can also live more simply so that there might be enough at the table for all.

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