Casey Schoeneberger, Faith in Public Life’s Media Relations Assistant, came to FPL from NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby’s Associate Program after studying economics at Saint Joseph’s University. She blogs about tax and budget issues on Bold Faith Type.
October 28, 2011, 5:02 pm | By Casey Schoeneberger
This week’s statement by the Vatican on the need for greater oversight of the world’s financial markets was highlighted by numerous media outlets. Prior to the statement’s release, Faith in Public Life shared background information with reporters. The excerpt below from Elisabetta Povoldeo’s piece in The New York Times details the Vatican’s important call for policies and institutional structures that benefit the common good:
“In a report issued by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Vatican argued that “politics — which is responsible for the common good” must be given primacy over the economy and finance, and that existing institutions like the International Monetary Fund had not been responding adequately to global economic problems.
“The document grows out of the Roman Catholic Church’s concerns about economic instability and widening inequality of income and wealth around the world, issues that transcend the power of national governments to address on their own.”…
“In the United States, the report was embraced by politically liberal Catholics who are concerned about the widening gap between rich and poor. Vincent J. Miller, a professor of Catholic theology and culture at the University of Dayton, wrote, “It’s clear the Vatican stands with the Occupy Wall Street protesters and others struggling to return ethics and good governance to a financial sector grown out of control after 30 years of deregulation.
John Gehring of Faith in Public Life, a liberal advocacy group in Washington, said, “In the next Republican presidential debate, someone should ask Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, both proudly Catholic, whether they support the Vatican’s call for more robust financial reform.”
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October 28, 2011, 3:28 pm | By Casey Schoeneberger
Photo Credit: The Protest Chaplains
With the flurry of violence against #Occupy Wall Street protesters this week, it is easy to overlook the peaceful presence that clergy members bring to the movements happening across the country. The Protest Chaplains, a group of clergy-in-training, arrived at Zuccotti Park (and later Occupy Boston) with a desire to be in service to fellow protesters through nonviolent action and compassion. All evidence points to the Protest Chaplains fulfilling their mission:
“We are committed to caring for all who join, chronically homeless and well-heeled activist lawyers alike. We work through our differences to envision the future together. These are the values and actions woefully missing from our public life and political discourse. It is unclear how we will regain these values without first relearning them. Thus, we feel it is necessary to show the United States and the world: this is how humans flourish together in dignity, respect, and love.
I’ve seen it with my own eyes: a disheveled man, a bit twitchy, walks into the village and says, “I’m here and I want to stay.” Within two hours he has a tent, a sleeping bag, warmer clothes, and a hot meal. The cuts on his hands have been bandaged, and he stands next to me at the General Assembly, our democratic forum.
If a rag-tag group of protesters managed this, why can’t the wealthiest nation on Earth? Why can’t many religious organizations and social service institutions with billions of dollars and all the right intentions manage to do this? What are the missing ingredients? This is the challenge and promise of the Occupy movement, often overlooked in both pro and con commentary. It’s less about what we’re saying, and more about what we’re doing.”
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October 28, 2011, 10:38 am | By Casey Schoeneberger
As the Super Committee gets closer to its deadline, the Circle of Protection is still watching for immoral cuts to programs that serve the most vulnerable. Reverend Michael Livingston, Director of the National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative, went on public radio to talk about the coalition and why it is important for people of faith to be involved in the budget debate:
“I think the people of faith have been lacking in their response and a vigorous public engagement on issues of advocacy for people who are in need. I think we’ve been much too busy maintaining our houses of worship and being concerned with our own internal affairs–important as they are–and not paying enough attention to the common wealth, to the common good, to the family of people, all of whom were created in God’s image.”
The Circle of Protection rightly contends that the federal government has a responsibility to prevent families from falling further into the depths of poverty. Astonishingly enough, Livingston’s co-interviewee, Acton Institute Fellow Michael Miller, contends that safety-nets designed to prevent increased hardship is actually the cause of out-of-wedlock birthrates:
“…if you look, for example, at the African-American family, you look at the policies from the 1960s onward, you see out-of-wedlock birthrates were in, you know, low-20 percent, mid-20 percent, before the war on poverty. Now, they’re at about 75 percent, and that means three out of every four African-American child is born out of wedlock. Well, there’s no better indicator of poverty than to be born out of wedlock, and I think the state has actually created the incentive for this type of behavior.”
Miller’s “concern” for those born out-of-wedlock is yet another tired conservative talking point designed to simply shrink the federal budget and decrease taxes for the benefit of the wealthiest Americans.
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October 27, 2011, 11:34 am | By Casey Schoeneberger
The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel
Clergy petition Village Voice to drop ads linked to sex trafficking
By Adelle Banks — Religion News Service
Three dozen religious leaders have signed an ad calling on Village Voice Media to remove an adult section of its BackPage.com that they and others claim is a conduit for child sex trafficking.
The Vatican meets the Wall Street occupiers
By E.J. Dionne Jr. — Washington Post, Opinion
Will we soon see a distinguished-looking older man in long, white robes walking among the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in New York’s Zuccotti Park? Is Pope Benedict XVI joining the protest movement?
Faith Groups Target Super Committee
By Joseph Kuhn — Religion News Service
The Faithful Budget Campaign is also targeting the home districts of members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, as the Super Committee is officially known.
Democrats’ First Offer: Up to $3 Trillion for Debt
By Robert Pear and Jennifer Steinhauer — New York Times
The Democratic plan would trim much more, a total of $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion, through cuts in the growth of federal entitlement programs, including Medicare, and more than $1 trillion in new tax revenues.
Rep. Ryan hits back at Catholic class warfare question
By Eric Marrapodi — CNN, Belief Blog
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, waded into a bit of economic theology Wednesday. The staunch Catholic…was asked about the collision of his faith in finance and his faith in the church.
So Much for the Nativists
By New York Times, Editorial
Here’s a Capitol riddle for you: Representative Lamar Smith, one of the most reflexively anti-immigrant hard-liners in Congress, is sponsoring a bill to flood the agriculture sector with up to half-a-million visas for guest workers.
Moment of Conception
By Pema Levy — American Prospect
On November 8…Mississippi voters are expected to approve Amendment 26. The measure would establish the personhood of the fetus from the beginning of biological life and outlaw all abortions without exception.
Crony Capitalism Comes Home
By Nicholas D. Kristof — New York Times, Opinion
…yes, we face a threat to our capitalist system. But it’s not coming from…Occupy Wall Street protests. Rather, it comes from pinstriped apologists for a financial system that glides along without enough of the discipline of failure…
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October 24, 2011, 12:43 pm | By Casey Schoeneberger
The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel
Vatican urges major economic reform
By Victor L. Simpson — Associated Press
The Vatican called Monday for radical reform of the world’s financial systems, including the creation of a global political authority to manage the economy.
Religion claims its place in Occupy Wall Street
By Jay Lindsay — Associated Press
Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid…believes religious groups have already amplified the movement’s power. He sees his involvement as a duty, because so many in his congregation are affected by the nation’s economic woes.
The GOP’s latest tax gimmickry: Soak the poor
By E.J. Dionne Jr. — Washington Post, Opinion
Voters are shrewd in figuring out whether tax proposals really benefit them. That’s why raising taxes on millionaires — the exact opposite of what Cain and Perry want to do — wins support from a broad majority.
No Holiday
By New York Times, Editorial
While Washington debates how to create jobs and cut the budget deficit, major corporations — read major campaign contributors — are pushing Congress for an enormous tax cut on corporate profits. Lawmakers seem all too eager to grant their wish.
Evangelical conference preaches support of immigrants
By Meredith Heagney — Columbus Dispatch
Evangelicals are gathering at Cedarville University to talk about the importance of showing compassion to immigrants, whether they are documented or not.
Anti-illegal immigration bill stokes backlash in Alabama fields
By Mark Guarino — Christian Science Monitor
[Farmers] say US workers are unwilling to endure the rigorous conditions of farm work and that state legislators need to come up with solutions to prevent local agribusiness from going under.
Why the GOP Demonizes ‘Illegals’
By Peter Beinart — Daily Beast, Opinion
The use of ‘illegals’ as a noun by Romney and other Republicans is just the latest example of politicians using euphemisms to signal antipathy to an ethnic group–in this case, Latinos.
6 GOP candidates woo Iowa social conservatives
By Jennifer Jacobs, Jason Noble and Josh Hafner — Des Moines Register
In an audition before conservative Iowans, six GOP presidential candidates worked Saturday night to outdo one another on the authenticity of their Christian faith and the strength of their opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
Meet Mitt Romney’s Radical, Right-wing, Sharia-phobe Foreign Policy Advisor
By Jarad Vary — New Republic
…the Phares selection may be a dog-whistle to a particular group of conservatives that Romney has, until now, hardly attempted to court: anti-Sharia zealots, who happen to enjoy a strong base of support in Iowa.
Congress: Don’t squander America’s big investment opportunity
By Rachel Black — Christian Science Monitor, Opinion
Earning a college education benefits families and the economy for generations. Unfortunately, students from low-income homes are earning degrees at the lowest rate in three decades. Washington needs to cash in their economic potential by helping them save for college.
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