how would you write an invitation to a global practice of peace

Chris Macrae Wcbn009 at aol.com
Sun Jul 10 04:09:20 PDT 2005


For me, I'd like to see a coming together of people who have at least one historic certainty of economics that they want to question. Background to my persepctive can be explained in many ways, but this email from London and friends of www.simpol.org is as clear as any I would need:
Greetings, Now the 6/7 Olympic jubilation that swept London turns to a shuddering horror, 7/7 should remind us of the true nature of Jubilee, restoring structures of justice that work for everyone and protect the earth. We should all be eager to hear of, and to propagate, positive initiatives in this regard.This neat letter ( I've put the quote in front!)  in the G today is neat is apposite too : “Terrorism is the war of the poor;and war is the terrorism of the rich”
 
There can be no solution while we continue to proclaim that "our" violence against “them" is always a just war; while "their" violence against us" is terrorism. It is all evil and wrong and our common humanity must come to acknowledge this if we are to begin to live together in peace on this planet.
Rev. Brian Matthews Wrexham
 Further,  I have just dug out these two pertinent references to our engagement with justice. Peter
------------------------------------
>From COMPENDIUM OF THE SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
Liberia Editrice Vaticana – 2004     isbn 88-209-7716-8  [552 pages £19.99]
CHAPTER SEVEN ECONOMIC LIFE   [ pp 185 – 212]
I. BIBLICAL ASPECTS a. Man, poverty and riches
 
323. In the Old Testament a twofold attitude towards economic goods and riches is found. On one hand, an attitude of appreciation sees the availability of material goods as necessary for life. Abundance - not wealth or luxury - is sometimes seen as a blessing from God. In Wisdom Literature poverty is described as a negative consequence of idleness and of a lack of industriousness (cf. Prov 10:4), but also as a natural fact (cf. Prov 22.2). On the other hand, economic goods and riches are not in themselves condemned so much as their misuse. The prophetic tradition condemns fraud, usury, exploitation and gross injustice, especially when directed at the poor (cf. Is 58:3-11; Jer 7:4-7; Hos 4:1-2; Am 2:6-7; Mic 2:1-2). This tradition, however, although looking upon the poverty of the oppressed, the weak and the indigent as an evil, also sees in the condition of' poverty a symbol of the human situation before God, from whom comes every good as a gift to be administered and shared.
 
and
 
341. Although the quest for equitable profit is acceptable in economic and financial activity, recourse to usury is to be morally condemned: "Those whose usurious and avaricious dealings lead to the hunger and death of their brethren in the human family indirectly commit homicide, which is imputable to them". 714  This condemnation extends also to international economic relations, especially with regard to the situation in less advanced countries, which must never be made to suffer "abusive if not usurious financial systems". 715  More recently, the Magisterium _used strong and clear words against this practice, which is still tragically wide-spread, describing usury as "a scourge that is also a reality in our time and that has a stranglehold on many peoples' lives".716
 
714 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2269
715 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2438.
716 JOHN PAUL II, Catechesis at General Audience (4 February: L'Osservatore Romano, English Edition, 11 Feb 2004, p.11

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