Workplace Justice | Trade Justice | World Poverty | Social security
‘Within an unjust economic system marked by significant structural inequities, the situation of the marginalised is daily becoming worse. Today, in many parts of the world, people are starving, while in other places there is opulence.’
Pope John Paul II, World Food Day, 16 October 2003
Workplace Justice
'The feast of St Joseph the Worker provides an opportunity for all of us to appreciate the dignity and creativity of work, and, at the same time, to reflect on the need to provide every member of our community with the opportunity to undertake meaningful work'
Bishop Kevin Manning, St Joseph the Worker Pastoral Letter 1999
- Briefing
- Discussion Guides
- Dignity and Work 2016 (1/5/16)
- Caritas in Veritate: Encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI (13/7/09)
- Stolen Wages - An Opportunity for Justice?
(23/1/06)
- Welfare Review (1/2/00)
- Fair equitable taxation system (25/8/99)
- Unemployment Position paper (2/7/99)
- Unemployment Background Paper (1/7/99)
- Pastoral Letter St Joseph the Worker
- 2019 - An Australian Tradition of Reflection on Work
- 2017 - The Right to Work: Our shared responsibillity
- 2015 - The Dignity of Work: When it matters most
- 2014 - Putting People First: The call for an economy of social inclusion
- 2013 - Time for a New Start: A call to increase allowance payments
- 2012 - The Dignity of Work: More than a casual concern
- 2011 - Indigenous employment: the most basic form of social justice
- 2010 - Australia at the Crossroads: A time to set new rules
- 2009 - ‘Working families’ and the minimum wage at a time of financial crisis
- 2008 - Migrant Workers in Australia: Our responsibility as a global citizen
- 2007 - Keeping Time: Australian families and the culture of overwork
- 2006 - The voice of vulnerable workers in the changing world of work
- 2005 - The minimum wage in an age of prosperity and wealth
- 2004 - The human costs behind the official unemployment rate
- 2002 - Casual work - the costs of flexibility
- 2001 - Living wage case
- 2000 - The loss of entitlements following a company insolvency
- 1999 - The dignity and creativity of work
- 1998 - Industrial relations now
- Media Releases
- Bishop calls for New Start on Allowance payments (30/4/13)
- Dignity of workers should be more than a 'casual concern' (30/4/12)
- Real job creation needed to close gap in remote Australia (28/4/11)
- Real jobs, not rations, will close the gap (29/10/10)
- Australia Fair? A Nation at the Crossroads (29/4/10)
- Back National Apology with community development (13/2/09)
- Bishop calls on politicians to help put work in proper perspective (26/4/07)
- Listen to the voice of vulnerable workers (30/4/06)
- Minimum wage must support worker and family (26/4/05)
- The human costs behind the official unemployment rate (30/4/04)
- Living Wage Test of a Just Society Says Bishop in Pastoral Letter for the Feast of St Joseph the Worker (1/5/01)
- Church Social Justice body promotes paths to full employment (3/9/99)
- St Joseph, work and unemployment (1/5/99)
- Bishop calls for New Start on Allowance payments (30/4/13)
- Prayer cards
- Series Papers
- 78. Putting People First:Pastoral letters for the Feast of St Joseph the Worker 2010–2015
- 66. Work and Dignity: Pastoral Letters for the Feast of St Joseph the Worker 1998-2009
- 58. Choice for Whom: A discussion of the 2005 industrial relations laws
- 56. From Money to Meaning: Young People and Work
- 31. Full Employment: towards a just society
- 16. Working for Change, The Australian Young Christian Workers Movement
- External Links
Trade Justice
The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council sees trade as essential for development of countries and acknowledges the positive effects of globalisation. However, the economy cannot be taken as the ultimate determinant of human life. The challenge is to ensure that the human person remains the centre and the beneficiary of all aspects of globalisation and trade.
It is not free trade, but fair and just trade which will enable this for all peoples.
Discussion Guide - Australia & United States Free Trade Agreement
- Discussion Guides
- Media Releases
- Series Papers
- 79. Human Trafficking and Slavery: A response from Australian Catholics
- 74. Time to draw the line - Finding a just settlement between Australia and Timor-Leste
- 54. Trade Justice
- 51. The Timor Sea's Oil and Gas: What's Fair?
- 41. Life: Creation or Commodity? The Case Against Patents on Living Things
- 29. Assessing the Market Economy
- 20. Sex Tourism in Asia
- Social Justice Statements
- Ten Step leaflets and prayer cards
- External links
- Anti-Slavery Australia free online course
- Australian Catholic Religious against trafficking in humans (ACRATH)
- Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET)
- ABC Radio AM Interview with Bishop Saunders May 2013
- Fairtrade
- Fairwear
- Jubilee Australia
- Pope calls for a return of "person-centered ethics" in finance and economics - Vatican Insider May 2013
World Poverty
The struggle against poverty must not be reduced simply to improving the conditions of life, but to removing [people] from this situation, creating sources of employment and adopting their cause as one's own.
Pope John Paul II, 'Law of the Market is not enough', Vatican, 15/12/03
From the April 2013 Briefing: Dear Friends, READ MORE ↓
He spoke with representatives of world media about how he came to choose his name: |
- Briefing
- April 2013 Briefing
- October 2013 - From the Secretariat
- Discussion Guides
- Caritas in Veritate: Encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI (13/7/09)
- Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 Message for Peace - Fighting Poverty to Build Peace (13/1/09)
- Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 World Day of Peace Message - The Human Person, The Heart of Peace (16/2/07)
- Statement for Jubilee Sunday 2005 (26/6/05)
- World Day of Peace Message 2005 “Do not be Overcome by Evil but Overcome Evil with Good” (15/2/05)
- Media Releases
- Series Papers
- Social Justice Statements
- Ten Step leaflets and prayer cards
- External links
- Caritas Australia
- Catholic Mission
- Jubilee Australia
- Palms www.palms.org.au
- Catholic News Service article May 2013: 'Pope warns comfortable living causes 'gentrification of the heart'
Social security
‘God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favouring anyone.’
Centesimus Annus, 31, Pope John Paul II
- Discussion Guides
- Welfare Review (1/2/00)
- Media Releases
- Bishop calls for New Start on Allowance Payments (30/4/13)
- Real job creation needed to close gap in remote Australia
(28/4/11)
- Real jobs, not rations, will close the gap (29/10/10)
- Right to shelter - Right the wrong! (6/8/10)
- Bishop cautions on income management (15/6/10)
- Australia Fair? A nation at the crossroads (29/4/10)
- Back National Apology with community development (13/2/09)
- Minimum wage must support worker and family (26/4/05)
- The human costs behind the official unemployment rate (30/4/04)
- Poverty eradication must be a shared priority (17/10/03)
- Bishop’s social justice concerns on opposition tax plan (1/9/98)
- A just and equitable tax system (4/8/98)
- Pastoral Letter
- Series Papers
- Social Justice Statements
- 2017 Everyone's Business
- 1992 Common Wealth for the Common Good
- 1989 Catholics Look at Wealth Distribution
- 1982 House and Home: A Christian Call for Housing Justice
- External links
Dear Friends,
As we journey through Holy Week, we follow the journey of Jesus Christ - condemned by the authorities and many of those who had hailed him a King, enduring the ridicule and suffering of the Passion, but overcoming death to appear before us as the risen Christ, our Savior offering the hope of Easter.
Celebrating Palm Sunday, Pope Francis has spoken of this journey:
‘We waved our palms, our olive branches. We too welcomed Jesus; we too expressed our joy at accompanying him, at knowing him to be close, present in us and among us as a friend, a brother, and also as a King: that is, a shining beacon for our lives. Jesus has awakened great hopes, especially in the hearts of the simple, the humble, the poor, the forgotten, those who do not matter in the eyes of the world ...
‘Jesus is God, but he lowered himself to walk with us. He is our friend, our brother. He illumines our path here. And in this way we have welcomed him today. And here the first word that I wish to say to you: joy! Do not be men and women of sadness: a Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement! Ours is not a joy born of having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus, in our midst; it is born from knowing that with him we are never alone, even at difficult moments, even when our life’s journey comes up against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them!’ (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa- francesco20130324_palme_en.html )
From the first days of his pontificate, Pope Francis has been reminding us of the plight of people who are poor.
He spoke with representatives of world media about how he came to choose his name:
‘Francis of Assisi. For me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation; these days we do not have a very good relationship with creation, do we? He is the man who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man ... How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!’ (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/speeches/2013/march/documents/ papa-francesco_20130316_rappresentanti-media_en.html )
At an ecumenical and inter-faith gathering he highlighted the role of all faiths to address human need and the causes of poverty and hardship, apparent in myopia of modern ideologies such as consumerism:
‘There is much that we can do to benefit the poor, the needy and those who suffer, and to favour justice, promote reconciliation and build peace. But before all else we need to keep alive in our world the thirst for the absolute, and to counter the dominance of a one-dimensional vision of the human person, a vision which reduces human beings to what they produce and to what they consume: this is one of the most insidious temptations of our time.’
He spoke of the need to pursue higher values of truth and goodness, and particularly an openness to the transcendent in the face of a materialism that seeks to eliminate God from the human story.
(http://www.vatican.va/holy father/ francesco/speeches/2013/march/documents/papa-francesco_20130320_delegati-fraterni_en.html )
And addressing diplomats from around the world he highlighted the commitment of the Church to work of justice:
‘How many poor people there still are in the world! And what great suffering they have to endure! After the example of Francis of Assisi, the Church in every corner of the globe has always tried to care for and look after those who suffer from want, and I think that in many of your countries you can attest to the generous activity of Christians who dedicate themselves to helping the sick, orphans, the homeless and all the marginalized, thus striving to make society more humane and more just.’
He has called on all countries to join in this work of justice:
‘My wish is that the dialogue between us should help to build bridges connecting all people, in such a way that everyone can see in the other not an enemy, not a rival, but a brother or sister to be welcomed and embraced! ...
‘Fighting poverty, both material and spiritual, building peace and constructing bridges: these, as it were, are the reference points for a journey that I want to invite each of the countries here represented to take up.’ (http://www.vatican.va/holy father/ francesco/speeches/2013/march/documents/papa-francesco_20130322_corpo-diplomatico_en.html )
As we travel this journey of Holy Week together, we are called to remember our brothers and sisters who shoulder the cross of poverty and suffering. To Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who endure poverty in a land of plenty; vulnerable asylum seekers languishing in immigration detention facilities; the 20% of the world’s poor near us in East and South East Asia and the Pacific. In the plight of all who are poor, devalued or in any way distressed, we recognise the structures and systems of the world that cause and perpetuate human suffering. As Pope Francis says, how we respond by fighting poverty, peacebuilding and creating solidarity will be the ‘reference points for a journey’. Our shared work for justice is based on the hope of Easter - God’s love for us we see in the ultimate sacrifice of Christ and his victory over the obstacles and sufferings of this world.
The members and staff of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council wish you the joy of Easter and the hope of the risen Lord.
John Ferguson