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Cover
story Bishops call for just farm policies
Excerpts from U.S. Catholic bishops pastoral letters and
statements on food and family farm issues:
Others at a disadvantage in making a
living are immigrants, the strangers among us. Made in the image
and likeness of God, newcomers remind us that most Catholics in the United
States are descendants of those who arrived here to begin a new life. Different
in look, customs and language, newcomers are often discriminated against. It is
not a new situation in the journey of many centuries. You shall also love
the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Deuteronomy
10:19).
Such people have faces and futures. One young man sits quietly,
his heavily muscled arms folded across his chest. A friend coaxes him to speak,
promising that his real name will not be used. Gradually, Julio Lopez relaxes,
unfolds his arms and extends a huge, gentle hand. The hand is deformed with
scar tissue; its shape distorted. He speaks reluctantly, through a translator,
of a poultry-processing injury, which required more than 70 stitches to close.
Weeks later, his use of the hand is still impaired. He is told by the medical
people available to him that nothing more can be done and that he is not
authorized to see a specialist. He has not been compensated for the injury. He
is concerned that the disability is permanent, but he will not make a fuss for
fear of losing his current job in the processing plant, the job that feeds his
family back home. He is desperate to support them, so desperate that he crossed
the border into this country illegally. What will happen if he is sent back?
Like others who are undocumented, he says it is safer to be silent.
--Pastoral Letter of the Bishops of the South (Poultry
Pastoral), released Nov. 15, 2000
Record low prices for some crops and
livestock, combined with disease, floods and blizzards have created an economic
and social strain in our rural communities. These events worsen an already
disturbing trend in the declining number of family farms and ranches, a loss of
rural residents and concentration of ownership in land and markets. Meanwhile,
greater pressures are put on church ministries, public and nonpublic schools,
the delivery of government services, the provision of health care, rural
businesses, mental health services and eventually the urban economy.
This crisis gives reason to reflect on what the church can offer
to matters concerning rural life. In doing so, the church calls upon a social
teaching based on the primacy of the human person in every economic and social
activity, including agriculture, and the churchs experience as pastors,
teachers and ministers to the very people most affected by this crisis in rural
life. The goods of creation are meant for all, throughout generations. Excess
profits in agribusiness, especially at the expense of the laborer, violate
principles of justice. Policies should foster wide distribution of ownership in
agriculture rather than concentration, whether in land, animals, technology,
seed, genetic make-up, processing or production. Moreover, social and economic
policies must provide just compensation to ranchers and farmers for their
labor.
-- Pastoral Letter signed by the bishops of North
Dakota
We recognize the great contributions
that our ancestors made to this region. The original native inhabitants and the
early ranchers, farmers, fishers and loggers struggled against almost
insurmountable odds to carve out a home in this sometimes inhospitable land. We
recognize that damage to the watershed may have been caused by financial need
and lack of knowledge more than by a lack of appreciation for the
environment.
Our pastoral letter is not meant to criticize peoples
efforts to provide a suitable living for their family. We are hopeful that
those involved in industry are, by and large, also concerned about the
environment.
At the same time, we commend those who have recognized and
responded to the environmental challenges that result from commercial and
industrial enterprises. It is important for those with deeper concerns about
the environment to recognize that farmers, ranchers and other landowners and
workers are not their enemies. It is equally important that the latter groups
seek to better understand environmental concerns. Protection of the land is a
common cause promoted more effectively through active cooperation than through
contentious wrangling.
-- Columbia River Pastoral, signed by bishops of the Pacific
Northwest, February 2001
What is needed, then, is a
fundamental change of federal farm policy in which the good produced by the
work of the farmer is reflected in what the consumer pays for dairy products,
produce and other foodstuffs. The policy change can happen, if the consumer is
made aware of and led to change the serious problems that the farmer faces
because of the inadequate prices paid for their products.
As members of a democratic society and as believers in the
Resurrection, we know that it is both possible and necessary to lend our voices
and actions to efforts to rectify unjust situations. We do have control over
the economy, if we choose to exercise it. Farmers and consumers are not merely
actors in a play written without their consent. Economic forces and
technological innovations are under the control of individuals. Both
individuals and the church have the freedom to speak out. We must forcefully
and persuasively direct our government to reevaluate so many of its economic
and farm policies that have perpetuated these injustices.
--Wisconsin Catholic Conference, 1997
National Catholic Reporter, May 24,
2002
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