Bishops Call for ‘Economic Justice’ in U.S.

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops, capping a six-year project, voted overwhelmingly Thursday to adopt a lengthy and controversial letter that calls for changes in the U.S. economy to guarantee “minimum conditions of human dignity in the economic sphere for every person.”

Titled “Economic Justice for All,” the letter indicts the American economy for failing millions and says “that so many people are poor in a nation as rich as ours is a social and moral scandal that we cannot ignore. . . . Full employment is the foundation of a just economy.”

While the document makes no detailed recommendations for redistribution of the nation’s wealth, it says “the concentration of privilege that exists today results far more from institutional relationships that distribute power and wealth inequitably than from differences in talent or lack of desire to work.

‘Most Urgent Claim’

” . . . The obligation to provide justice for all means that the poor have the single most urgent claim on the conscience of the nation. As individuals and as a nation, therefore, we are called to make a fundamental ‘option for the poor.’. . . Deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community.”

While the 53,000-word letter, revised by the prelates through three drafts since 1984, will not be binding on the nation’s 52.5 million Catholics, it will serve as a basis for Catholic teaching on economic matters in parishes and Catholic schools.

The letter is framed as an “economic challenge” to the nation.

“The economic challenge of today has many parallels with the political challenge that confronted the founders of our nation,” it says. “In order to create a new form of political democracy they were compelled to develop ways of thinking and political institutions that had never existed before. . . .

“We believe the time has come for a similar experiment in securing economic rights: the creation of an order that guarantees the minimum conditions of human dignity in the economic sphere for every person.”

Adopted by a vote of 225 to 9 at the closing session of the bishops’ four-day conference here, the letter deplores increasing poverty in the United States, emphasizes government intervention to aid the poor, declares that every American has a right to a job, “healthful working conditions” and “a standard of living in keeping with human dignity,” and calls for a federal job-creation program.

‘Government Must Act’

“The market alone will not automatically produce full employment,” the document states. “Therefore, the government must act to ensure that this goal is achieved by coordinating general economic policies, by job-creation programs and by other appropriate policy measures.”

Such passages place the bishops in clear conflict with the free market economic philosophy espoused by the Reagan Administration.

Although the Administration has not openly criticized the letter, Catholic conservatives such as former Treasury Secretary William Simon and Catholic lay theologian Michael Novak have repeatedly taken it to task.

The letter, they said in a report released by the Lay Commission on Catholic Teaching and the U.S. Economy a week before the bishops’ meeting here, places “far too much faith” in government intervention as a way to help the poor and not enough trust in capitalism. The poor will benefit only if the free enterprise system is allowed to thrive, thus producing jobs, goods and services, the commission statement said.

‘Head in the Sand’

Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, who chaired the five-bishop committee that drafted the letter, defended the insistence on the need for government regulation of the economy. He accused Simon of economic “libertarianism” and said Novak “has his head in the sand” for trying to “Christianize all aspects of capitalism. . . . There will always be a tension between the two.

“All people have a right to participate in the economic life of society,” Weakland said in a summary of the letter. “If persons or groups are denied an opportunity to share in the economic life of society, an injustice is being done.”

“Clearly, it’s a critique of the U.S. economy,” said Bishop James W. Malone, outgoing president of the 300-member National Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It asks: ‘What does the economy do to and for the people?’ We offer some suggestions.”

New Material

The draft given final approval Thursday was released last spring and was changed little during debate here.

It includes new material added since the second draft was considered by the bishops a year ago and places a greater emphasis on several subjects, including family life, education and international economic issues.

The letter urges a strong commitment to education for the poor and stresses that education can overcome “powerlessness and marginalization.” It reaffirms the second draft’s commitment to Catholic parochial schools--particularly in the inner city--but asserts that Catholics have a “duty as citizens” to support the improvement of public schools.

The final draft takes a stronger position than did previous versions on the special problems of farmers and the “urgency” of Third World debt and the tendency of most Americans to ignore its effect “on the lives of people already disadvantaged.” In calling on Third World countries to look at the reasons why they they have not achieved and sustained economic growth, the final letter emphasizes a need to shift priorities away from arms expenditures and toward human needs.

Written in Popular Style

The economics pastoral and its accompanying “pastoral message” reflect thousands of consultations, hearings and discussions that the five-member drafting committee has held since the project was first launched in 1980.

The brief introductory message is written in popular style and is intended to explain the rationale for the lengthy letter and highlight its major themes for the Catholic population, Weakland said.

Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony said in an interview Thursday that he will emphasize the letter’s recommendation that money now spent on national defense be channeled instead to help the poor.

“That really needs to be talked about in Southern California because of the large defense industry,” Mahony said. He added that he plans to set up task forces throughout the archdiocese to press the letter’s call for better pay equity.

“I see the letter as a catalyst to Southern California Catholic business and corporation leaders so they can find some creative solutions . . . to the erosion of the blue-collar job market,” the archbishop added.

The overview of the pastoral letter lists six “basic moral principles” underlying the full document:

- “Every economic decision and institution must be judged in light of whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the human person.”

- “Human dignity can be realized and protected only in community.”

- “All people have a right to participate in the economic life of society.”

- “All members of society have a special obligation to the poor and vulnerable.”

- “Human rights are the minimum conditions for life in community. This includes . . . economic rights.”

- “Society as a whole, acting through public and private institutions, has the moral responsibility to enhance human dignity and protect human rights.”

The bishops approved $525,000 to implement provisions of the letter, including setting up a system of advocacy-lobbying to pursue legislation to help the poor.

Malone, in a press conference closing the bishops’ conference here, said the letter calls on the U.S. Catholic Church to observe the same standards for living wages and retirement benefits for its employees as the document asks of secular employers.