US Bishops to issue document on economy

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops today conclude their annual Spring General Assembly, where they approved a proposal to draft a message entitled Catholic Reflections on Work, Poverty and a Broken Economy.
It will be the first major document from the US bishops since the publication of the encyclicals of Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est and Caritas in Veritate.
“It has been a long time since the body of bishops has addressed the moral and human dimensions of economic life in light of Catholic teaching,” said Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, California, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. “This is especially urgent when so many of our people are suffering and wonder whether their Church cares and has anything to say about their situation and the economy that has left them behind.”

During the debate before the decision was made to draft the message, several bishops spoke of the need to move beyond previous economic statements made by the bishops’ conference.

“I was particularly gratified to see that there was a balance in some of the principles that should be emphasized...I think there really is a perception problem with the conference and with this committee particularly as being seen at times as partisan, and I hope we will seriously take the principle of subsidiarity,” said Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City.

“I think we need to talk about the debt, and the real seriousness of that debt, and that we can’t just simply go on,” Archbishop Naumann continued. “Sometimes we are perceived as just encouraging the government to spend more money, with no realist way as how we are going to afford to do this.”

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