CALLED TO
PROTECT THE POOR IN OUR ECONOMIC SYSTEM
by Sr. Brenda
Walsh, Racine Dominican
In recent times, there is
much conversation and concern about ways to balance state and
national budgets. Some individuals and groups are calling for cuts
in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. If these efforts
succeed, they could be disastrous for millions across the nation,
for older adults, families with young children, and disabled
veterans, leaving them without needed resources and care.
Pope Francis is calling on
all people, not to balance the budget in ways that deprive millions
of poor and suffering of their basic human rights. It goes against
Biblical principles and must be avoided at all costs. Many of the
church leaders in past and present have emphasized this matter. Pope
Francis is rightly called the Pontiff of the poor. He chose the name
Francis, because he wanted to be associated with a Saint who had
great concern for the poor. He also hopes that the church will be a
church of the poor and for the poor. Presently, his choices and
lifestyle reflect his calling as he preaches by the witness of his
life. He is aware that there is a global financial crisis that is
destroying people’s lives and calls all of us to speak out boldly
and clearly against the lack of ethics in our economic system. His
hope is to wake the world up to the injustice in the system and its
devastating effects on the poor and suffering of our time and place.
Francis and the two previous Popes ask us to reflect on the ills of
the current system and to work to develop a more just and equitable
one.
This calls us to look at our own
lifestyle and to examine the lack of ethics in the economic system.
Hopefully, it will call all of us to work together and make
decisions based on the common good. I often think of what Mahatma
Gandhi once said: “There is enough for everyone’s need but not
enough for everyone’s greed.”
In many places, budgets are being
explored at local, state and national levels, and ways to balance
the budgets are being considered. We remind our legislators that we
must be concerned about more than profit in our decision-making. We
are required to make the common good the foundation of our
decisions. For employers, the decisions made must include workers,
suppliers and producers and to look at the total picture as
decisions are made. We can all be part of developing a more just
economic system. We also ask ourselves “What are we asking of the
millionaires and billionaires? Why do we need to spend so much
money on wars and military work and how can we control it? Currently
in the US, we spend more on military spending than the rest of the
world.
Here are some things we can do to
bring about change:
--Invite people of all faiths to
gather and discuss the issue and then plan to invite business and
government leaders to address the issue of economic justice and make
decisions about how they will respond. We ask ourselves, “Do we
worship a god of growth, power, and money?
