Moved with Compassion to Debt Relief March 21

Prayer

Jesus, teach us clearly what it means to forgive our debts as we forgive those with debts to us. Give us Daniel’s contrite heart and humble spirit. Teach us, Lord, the generosity that we need to exhibit in order to be received by you. As you deal with us in your kindness and great mercy, teach us how to show those qualities to those around us. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/032106.shtml

How are we doing at forgiving debts? Are we like the generous master or the callous servant? Today, we learn from Psalm 25 that in our humility, the Lord will teach us the way. The Lord and his servants have been hard at work for 2006 years in just that endeavor. It seems the Church and we the people are just now letting some of those lessons sink into the grey matter and into our actions.

In the Jubilee Year, Leviticus explains that those enslaved because of debts are freed, lands lost because of debt are returned, and community torn by inequality is restored. Today churches around the world tell us that international debt has become a new form of slavery. Debt slavery means poor people working harder and harder in a vain effort to keep up with the interest payments on debts owed to rich countries including the US and international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Reducing world poverty is today’s central human and spiritual and economic challenge. Look at what the Vatican, the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF and Jubilee 2000 all advocate. While there is widespread agreement on the goal, there is little agreement on the means to that end.

As far back as September 23, 1999 (that was almost six and one-half years ago), the late Pope John Paul II called on the First World nations and their financial institutions to take “decisive steps” to ease the burden of international debt on Third World nations. The late Holy Father said that the debt burden is an "urgent" problem for poor countries, and expressed regrets that wealthier nations have appeared hesitant to lighten that load. "It is the poor people," he pointed out," who pay the cost of that indecision and delay."

Debt relief is an essential precondition for an effective fight against poverty, the Holy Father argued. But he did concede that it would be only one step in a "much larger task" of lifting the Third World nations out of poverty. That task would also require prudent economic policies and efficient administration, he added. He stressed the importance of education and health care, too, as factors in eliminating dependence and poverty. In his first encyclical and other writings, Pope Benedict echoed this message of love for the poor.

People from the world's richest countries should be prepared to accept the burden of debt reduction for heavily indebted poor countries, and should urge their leaders to fulfill the pledges made to reduce world poverty, especially in Africa, by the year 2015.
Pope Benedict XVI
Message to the Make Poverty History March
July 2, 2005[1]

Many factors contribute to poverty in developing countries: economic and political history, poor economic management, weak governance, armed conflict and such external factors as deteriorating terms of trade and climatic problems. In about half of the 80 poorest countries, unsustainably high external debt has also become a key constraint on development. [2]

The programs initiated by many of the financial institutions carry delays and conditions that will limit the number of countries where they will take effect or the speed with which debt relief will become a reality. Though World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has said 42 countries will benefit from the (Group of 8) G-8 nations debt deal, the fine print of the World Bank’s plan to implement debt cancellation means that beyond an initial 17 nations, any additional countries will have to wait at a minimum until mid-2007 – a full two years after the G-8 Summit in Gleneagles – for their debts to be cancelled to the World Bank. These countries will have to keep paying their debts in the meantime even after they reach the completion point – and these payments are non-refundable. Some nations, like Haiti, will have to wait until 2009. This is unacceptable.[3]

Despite initiatives advocated by our Church and others to reduce the foreign debt of the world’s poorest countries over the last several years, many countries still have heavy debt burdens. The 34 poorest African countries – a majority of the world’s least developed countries – had a combined foreign debt of $106 billion in 2002. Because they must make payments on this debt to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, it is nearly impossible for many poor countries to invest adequately in HIV/AIDS care and prevention, to feed their people in times of natural disasters and conflict and at the same time to foster development that is essential for people to rise out of poverty. The Catholic Campaign against Global Poverty calls for the US to promote greater debt relief and reforms that pace the way for development.[4]

An essential theme in today’s reading is a preferential option for the poor. The ungrateful servant showed that callous behavior when he demanded repayment after all that was pardoned for him. This concern is rooted in Jesus’ concern for the least among us as we have heard echoed in earlier readings during Lent.

This compels Catholics to ask basic questions of U.S. policy makers: How do our foreign policies affect the world’s poor? Do they alleviate poverty or exacerbate it? Do they foster development or impede it? As citizens in a powerful democracy and affluent nation we have the right to raise these questions. As people of faith we have the responsibility to work for answers that protect the lives and dignity of all God’s children.[5]

Action

As followers of Jesus, we want our brothers and sisters throughout the world to “live in peace” and to have at least the basic necessities to live in dignity. Recognizing the gift of God’s Spirit at work in the world, we must do our part by putting our faith to work for effective measures to end the suffering and poverty of our sisters and brothers. We should also concentrate on our own lives and our personal, spiritual, social, economic and political responsibilities.

Jubilee USA Network brings together people to turn this reality around by active solidarity with partners worldwide, targeted and timely advocacy strategies and educational outreach.

In that context, as part of the Catholic Campaign against Global Poverty you can:

Pray for people throughout the world seeking to rise from the indignities of poverty…for U.S. policies that can help make it happen…for all who stand in solidarity with the world’s poor.
Advocate by contacting your elected officials to make the case for trade, aid and debt policies that overcome poverty and promote development for impoverished people. Ask the question: how will the decisions of U.S. policy makers impact the poor, both in the United States and overseas? Advocate for these leaders to keep their promise for debt cancellation.
Educate people in your parish and community about Catholic Social Teaching, U.S. economic policies and the world’s poor.

You also can familiarize yourself with Jubilee USA Network through its web site at http://www.jubileeusa.org/jubilee.cgi. Jubilee USA Network began as Jubilee 2000/USA in 1997 when a diverse gathering of people and organizations came together in response to the international call for Jubilee debt cancellation. They have met and actively support Pope John Paul’s call for debt relief. Now over 60 organizations including labor, churches, religious communities and institutions, AIDS activists, trade campaigners and over 9,000 individuals are active members of the Jubilee USA Network. It is a strong, diverse and growing network dedicated to working for a world free of debt for billions of people.


[1] http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/globalpoverty/handouts/bulletinquotes.pdf
[2] http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2001/071001.htm
[3] http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/JubileeUSA/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2619
[4] http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/globalpoverty/handouts/Campaignissues.pdf
[5] http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/globalpoverty/handouts/WhyaCatholicCampaignAgainstGlobalPovertycolor.pdf