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January 21, 2008 • 6:45 pm 0

Catholic Charities USA Calls for National Commitment to Address the Challenges of Race and Poverty

Catholic Charities USA Calls for National Commitment to Address the Challenges of Race and Poverty

Released : Monday, January 21, 2008 11:00 AM

New Paper on Race and Poverty Released on Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

DETROIT, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Catholic Charities USA today marked Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day by calling for a renewed commitment to address the intertwined problems of racism and poverty that undermine America’s fundamental promise of liberty, economic security, and justice for all.

The call to action was made today during a holiday Mass at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit where Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, released a new paper on the issue: Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common Good.

“In order to adequately and seriously address poverty in this country, we must have a candid conversation and subsequent action that changes the impact race has on poverty,” Father Snyder said. “We realize that racism is an uncomfortable subject for many people, but we also believe that Catholic Charities must be willing not only to talk about racism, but to initiate and lead a conversation that is desperately needed if we are going to truly provide help and offer hope to those we serve.”

The paper intends to start, enrich, and inform a conversation within the Catholic Charities network and throughout the country by compelling every individual to serve, educate, and advocate for programs and policies that will foster unity in communities, eliminate racism, and significantly reduce poverty. The paper is part of Catholic Charities USA’s Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America, an effort which seeks to cut the U.S. poverty rate in half by 2020.

While whites make up the majority of the poor in the U.S., poverty rates are highest among minorities. U.S. Census figures show that in 2006, the overall national poverty rate was 12.3 percent, with the rate for African Americans at 24.3 percent, nearly three times higher than the 8.2 percent poverty rate for whites.

“Local Catholic Charities agencies across the country help nearly 8 million people a year,” said Fr. Snyder. “Every day, we see the faces of the poor across America, and we know firsthand how race and poverty are interconnected.”

Father Snyder acknowledged that great strides have been made in addressing racism in the United States, but emphasized that more can and must be done.

“Poverty is a moral and social wound on the soul of our nation, and the ghosts of our nation’s legacy of racial inequality continue to haunt us,” he said. “Racism fractures the unity of the human family, violates the rights of individuals, mocks the God-given equal dignity that everyone deserves, and is absolutely incompatible with our Christian faith and belief.”

The paper contends that racism entails more than conscious ill-will, more than deliberate acts of avoidance, exclusion, malice, and violence perpetrated by individuals. Racism also describes the reality of unearned advantage, conferred dominance, and invisible privilege enjoyed by white Americans, to the detriment, burden, and disadvantage of people of color. The paper states that this network of racially conferred advantages and benefits, which has been termed “white privilege,” also must be addressed.

Catholic Charities Seeks Change in Federal Programs

In addition to examining the reality and history of racial injustice in America, Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common Good also calls for a renewed commitment to racial equality as a national priority. It urges Congress and the Administration to strengthen laws that address poverty that is racially caused or aggravated. These include:

— Adoption of progressive affirmative action programs for education and employment;

— Passage of programs that promote quality educational opportunities for the poor;

— Making critically needed investments in public schools and in safety net programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, and Medicare;

— Comprehensive immigration reform;

— Wide-ranging criminal justice reforms;

— Improved fair housing laws;

— Increased federal funding for affordable housing;

— Enactment of tougher laws to punish predatory lenders; and

— Adoption of measures that help the poor get access to low-cost Internet service.

“Our battles against poverty and racism will not be easy, and success will be measured in years, not days or months,” Father Snyder said. “It is my hope that our work can make a difference, even if it is just laying the foundation that others may build upon. We ask others to join us in our effort to fight racism and cut poverty in half so that together, we can make our country whole.”

The paper, Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common Good, can be found online at http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.

Catholic Charities USA’s members — more than 1,700 local agencies and institutions nationwide — provide help and create hope for more than 7.8 million people a year regardless of religious, social, or economic background. For more than 275 years, local Catholic Charities agencies have been providing a myriad of vital services in their communities, ranging from day care and counseling to food and housing. For more information, visit http://www.catholiccharitiesinfo.org.

SOURCE Catholic Charities USA

Copyright 2008 PR Newswire

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PR Newswire
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Top World News, Americas, North America, Health, Education & Welfare, USA, Government, Minority & Ethnic Groups, Race Relations, Social Issues, Social Welfare, Michigan, U.S. Welfare News

Filed under: Caritas, Catholic Charities USA

December 26, 2007 • 3:36 pm 0

3 Years After Tsunami: Caritas Focuses on Preparedness

SUMATRA, Indonesia, DEC. 25, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Three years after the deadly 2004 tsunami that hit Asia, Caritas Internationalis said the majority of its reconstruction projects are completed.

The Dec. 26, 2004, natural disaster killed more than 225,000 people in 11 countries when an ocean earthquake triggered a series of devastating sea waves along the coasts of the Indian Ocean.

The Caritas agency says its focus is now preparing coastal communities on how to respond should disaster strike again.

The agency’s $485 million program — planned to be spent over five years — provided immediate relief, then went to building homes and restoring livelihoods. Two-thirds of the initial budget has been spent.

Caritas Secretary-General Lesley Anne Knight said: “Three years after the devastating tsunami, Caritas has helped tens of thousands of survivors reconstruct their homes and their lives.

“The scale of destruction across multiple countries was unprecedented. But it has been made possible because Caritas was on the ground before, during and after the emergency.

“We know that disaster preparedness can save thousands of lives. Caritas is now looking at how to prevent such major loss of lives in any future disaster by training communities in the best ways to respond.”

Filed under: Caritas

November 23, 2007 • 11:43 pm 0

AIDS Caregivers: Despite Lower Numbers, Action Needed

AIDS Caregivers: Despite Lower Numbers, Action Needed
Groups Say Statistics a Sign of Hope — and a Challenge

ROME, NOV. 23, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Although statistics revised this week by the United Nations indicate there are fewer people living with HIV/AIDS than previously thought, care agencies say the numbers call for renewed action, not complacency.

Figures released by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization have lowered the estimated of the number of people living with HIV to 33.2 million, down from 39 million. These numbers were welcomed by Church workers who respond to HIV/AIDS around the world as a sign of hope and a challenge to keep promises.

The reduced figures are primarily due to improved data-gathering methodology and better information from many countries, particularly India. There are, however, some indications that better access to treatment and more intensive efforts at prevention have stabilized the spread of the disease in some countries.

“We welcome any indication that fewer people are living with HIV, whether it is through more accurate statistics or because a strong response in some areas is making a positive impact,” said Linda Hartke, coordinator of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance.

“But in no way can we relax our efforts. HIV remains a devastating disease not just for individuals, but for families, communities and nations,” she added.

Monsignor Robert Vitillo, special adviser on HIV and AIDS at Caritas Internationalis, pointed out that the impact of AIDS far exceeds the statistics.

“The direct work of our Caritas member organizations and other Catholic organizations in care, counseling and support have always indicated that the impact of AIDS is far greater than the official figures have ever shown,” he explained.

“The response to AIDS is not just about treating a disease,” Monsignor Vitillo continued, “but treating all the factors in our society that continue to fuel the spread of the disease and inhibit our response, such as stigma and discrimination, violence and injustice against women, poverty, isolation, abuse. We see this in the faces all around us, and these numbers cannot be quantified.”

Filed under: Caritas

November 23, 2007 • 11:37 pm 0

Caritas Leader Sees a Threat in Latin America

Caritas Leader Sees a Threat in Latin America
Honduran Cardinal Sounds Warning About Underdevelopment

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 23, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Underdevelopment plaguing Latin America provokes tensions conspiring against peace, said the president of Caritas Internationalis.

Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga affirmed this Wednesday, the second day of work for the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which focused on consideration of Paul VI’s “Populorum Progressio.”

The archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, said, “The objective of development is not just elevating all people to the level of the rich countries, but rather basing a more dignified life in the work of solidarity, a life in which the dignity and creativity of each person can effectively increase, as well as his capacity of responding to his own vocation, and therefore, to God’s call.”

The cardinal added, “The integral development of the human person is favored by the productivity and efficacy of work,” although a business should not be considered only “a society of capital” but “a society of persons.”

Given this, he explained, the Church’s social doctrine emphasizes the concept of social responsibility of a business, and places emphasis on the priority of the human person and the common good.

The archbishop of Tegucigalpa said that “just as there exists a collective responsibility to avoid war, there should also exist a collective responsibility to promote development.”

Echoing a theme of Paul VI, the cardinal said: “If development is a new name of peace, Latin American underdevelopment, with particular characteristics in each country, is a situation of injustice that promotes tensions conspiring against peace.”

“In the work of evangelization,” he concluded, “the practice of charity and the fight for justice should be considered a permanent model for the Church.”


Filed under: Caritas, Social Doctrine

November 23, 2007 • 2:44 pm 0

Caritas Feeding Hungry in Bangladesh

Caritas Feeding Hungry in Bangladesh

Disaster-Preparedness Program Helped Quick Response

DHAKA, Bangladesh, NOV. 22, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The international aid organization Caritas already distributed food to 120,000 people in the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr.

The cyclone, which hit a week ago, claimed the lives of at least 3,100 people. Rescuers fear that number could climb as high as 10,000, once more remote areas are reached. At least 1.2 million were left homeless.

The executive director of Caritas Bangladesh, Benedict Alo D’Rozario said, “During my visits to the affected areas of Bagerhat and Patuakhali districts, I have seen that the roofs of about 90% of the houses have been blown away. […] [t]he roofs of many schools have been blown away and children do not know where their books are.

“Roads are yet to be cleared for vehicles and transport connections are not fully restored yet. No ferry is available to cross the river at Kalapara. People are still under open sky and searching for their valuables from the debris. Many of them are desperately looking for or waiting for their loved ones to return as thousands of them are still missing.”

Caritas Bangladesh has long-term development and disaster preparedness programs in the worst-hit areas, which helped with the speed of the response.

After completing the first round of aid, Caritas will repeat food assistance to the same families.

Over $3.2 billion worth of crops have been destroyed resulting in the loss of food and income for millions of people. Caritas will be looking at the medium- to long-term impact after the initial phase of the relief effort has ended.

The Bangladesh government promised today to feed the more than 2 million people left destitute after the storm destroyed crops, saying it had promises of some $390 million in international aid.

Filed under: Caritas

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