Fr. Arturo Aguilar on YouTube

Fr. Arturo Aguilar recently spoke at the U. S. Catholic Mission Association. His remarks are available on youtube at the following address:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=CatholicMissions&view=videos

The Bible, Church Teaching and Debt

Fr. Sean McDonagh, SSC

At a time of chaos on the financial markets, which is now beginning to hit the real economy, and threatens the well-being of millions of people, the first reading on Sunday, October 26th 2008, was appropriate. It warned about usury. It read, “if you lend money to any of my people, to any poor man among you, you must not play the usurer with him/her: you must not demand interest from him/her.” (Ex.22: 24). Israel was a community shaped by its belief that God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and had obliged them to develop genuine bonds of mutual support within their community. There could be no genuine community if a small proportion of the population owned most of the land and wealth and exploited the poor, starving masses at every opportunity.

Because Israel had experienced Yahweh’s compassion, it is understandable that the laws governing lending would be sensitive to the plight of debtors. Exodus 22: 25,”If you take another’s cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to him before sunset. It is all the covering he has; it is the cloak he wraps his body in; what else would be sleep in? If he cries to me, I will listen, for I am full of pity” was also read on the October 26th 2008. It warns creditors that they must not impoverish the poor. Charging interest was seen as a way of impaling the poor on the treadmill of debt that might deprive them of the necessities of life.

Chapter 24 of the Book of Deuteronomy goes even further and forbids a creditor from acting in a high-handed and haughty way towards a debtor, by entering a debtor’s house to recover a pledge. The creditor is expected to wait outside the house until the debtor carries out the pledge himself. In the biblical perspective, if the creditor entered the house of the debtor without permission it would be seen as an insult to the dignity of the debtor. The same chapter also forbids (Deut. 24: 26) confiscating the means of livelihood of a person as collateral on a debt. This was very understandable in an agricultural society where most people lived from hand to mouth. Where a creditor to take a mill stone as a pledge, this would literally deprive the debtor and his family of a basic life-supporting instrument. The author of Deuteronomy would consider this intolerable, as I am sure he would condemn banks that are foreclosing on loans which they should not have made, and throwing people out of their houses.

Jesus was well aware of the damage which debt does to individuals and society as a whole. The harsh socio-economic realities that obtained in Roman-occupied Palestine at the time of Jesus were marked by indebtedness, heavy taxes, widespread begging and slavery. Many poor country people had to hire out their labor just to get food for themselves and their families. This was the context of Jesus’ preaching which was meant to be good news for the poor. The second petition in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew’s Gospel asks God to forgive us our debts as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us (Mt. 6: 12). Jesus was well aware that cancelling debt freed poor people from a culture of dependency and gave people hope and real freedom of choice.

The teaching of the early Church, especially from the fourth and fifth century, is full of denunciations of those who prey on the poor though usurious practices. Condemnations of usury continued into the Middle Ages. The Third Council of Lateran (1179) and the Second Council of Lyons (1274) condemned usurers.

The teaching on usury in the Christian Churches began to change in the wake of the Reformation in the 16th century. While Luther, Melanchthon and Zwingli condemned taking interest on a loan, Calvin permitted it, especially if the loan was made to rich people. According to Professor Thomas Neill of St. Louis University in his book, The Makers of the Modern Mind, it is difficult to overestimate the influence of Calvinism in the formation of the modern business conscience. [1]
Gradually even in the Catholic tradition interest on a loan became morally acceptable as long as it was not considered excessive. Maybe in the light of the suffering, hunger, death and political turmoil which this debt-induced crisis is wreaking on the poor of the world, it might be a timely moment for the Churches to revisit the whole question of usury and how debt has been used to drive economic growth.


[1] Thom Neill, 1947, Makers of the Modern Mind, “An the Good Shall Prosper”, Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee . (Paperback 2007).

URGENT ACTION: Support the people of Lomas de Poleo

Columban Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Office

Dear Friends,

We have received an urgent request for action from Fr. Bill Morton, Columban missionary in El Paso, Texas. As many of you know, Fr. Bill and the entire Columban community have accompanied the families of Lomas de Poleo for many years and the violence continues with increasing intensity.

We are asking that you email a personalized version of the following letter to the Governor of Chihuahua, Sr. Jose Reyes Baeza, asking for his immediate intervention to bring peace and justice to the Lomas de Poleo community and hold the Pedro Zaragoza family accountable for their illegal actions.

Please circulate this action request widely.

Many thanks for your solidarity.
Amy Woolam Echeverria
Columban Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Office

Background:
In the last two weeks four more homes have been demolished, two elderly residents have been kidnapped and tortured by the Mexican military, and the residents’ access to water and electricity continues to be denied. A deep ditch has been dug around the elementary school house making it difficult for the students and their families to gain entry. The teachers are frequently absent, now, due to escalating violence and attempts by Zaragoza surrogates to close the school and force the families to go to another school in the relocation area.

On Saturday, October 18, 2008, a small group of the Lomas del Poleo Alliance of Las Cruces met with New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson, who indicated he would be willing to intervene since the disputed land, literally, borders on his state of New Mexico. Lomas del Poleo is also in the path of a proposed multi-billion dollar, bi-national development plan involving major business figures from both sides of the border, as well as government officials from New Mexico and Chihuahua.
For a more detailed history of the situation visit: Paso Del Sur at http://www.pasodelsur.com/

Action Requested:
Please use the sample English or Spanish version of the letter below, and sign with your name, city/state and send via email, to the email addresses noted below. Please personalize the letter. Don't just forward this email. Please invite anyone in your network of friends, families, civic groups, church and other groups to do the same.

Send letters to:
webmaster@chihuahua.gob.mx
marcagob@chihuahua.gob.mx

Sample Letter – English

Honorable Jose Reyes Baeza
Governor of the State of Chihuahua
Republic of Mexico

Owing to the escalation of violence in recent weeks against the inhabitants of the Colonia of Lomas del Poleo by the employees of the brothers, Jorge and Pedro Zaragoza, we are asking your immediate intervention so that the appropriate authorities might guarantee the security of the residents in this Colonia. Also we urge that you order the State Attorney General's office to immediately investigate the crimes committed in this area which have already been presented to the Attorney General.

As you well know the lands in Lomas del Poleo are the subject of a legal dispute in the Agrarian Court Number Five in Chihuahua so we are also asking you to oblige the Zaragozas to respect the law and immediately stop the campaign of oppression and harassment against the inhabitants of Lomas del Poleo. It is obvious that these two businessmen are trying to get the inhabitants to abandon their lands before the courts make their decision.

In short, Mr. Governor we only ask that the law be followed and restored.

Sincerely:
(Your name, title, city, state, country)

Sample Letter: Spanish Version

Sr. José Reyes Baeza
Gobernador del Estado de Chihuahua, México.

Presente

Debido a la escalada de violencia desatada en las últimas semanas en contra de los habitantes de la parte alta de la colonia Granjas Lomas del Poleo, por parte de trabajadores al servicio de Pedro y Jorge Zaragoza Fuentes, le solicitamos su inmediata intervención para que las autoridades correspondientes garanticen la seguridad de los vecinos de esa colonia. Asimismo, le urgimos ordene a la Procuraduría de Justicia del Estado la inmediata investigación de los delitos cometidos en esa zona, los cuales han sido oportunamente denunciados ante esa representación.

Como debe ser de su amplio conocimiento, las tierras de la Colonia Granjas Lomas del Poleo están sujetas a una disputa legal que se dirime -- a través de distintas demandas en el Tribunal Unitario Agrario Número Cinco--, por lo que le solicitamos, también, obligue a los empresarios Zaragoza Fuentes respeten los tiempos de la ley y detengan inmediatamente la campaña de presión y hostigamiento que han levantado en contra de los vecinos en Lomas del Poleo. Es obvio que lo que pretenden estos dos empresarios es obligar a los colonos a que abandonen sus tierras, antes de que los tribunales competentes rindan su fallo final.

En suma, Sr Gobernador, lo único que le pedimos es que haga cumplir la ley y restaure el Estado de derecho en la colonia Lomas del Poleo.

Atentamente:
(Your name, title, city, state)

Perseverance Through Faith: A Priest's Prison Story

The Missionary Society of St. Columban is pleased to announce the publication of Perseverance Through Faith: A Priest’s Prison Story by Father W. Aedan McGrath, edited by Theresa Marie Moreau.

In Perseverance Through Faith: A Priest’s Prison Story, the reader learns about Communism through the eyes of one Irishman caught up in the devastating political hurricane in China. Father W. Aedan McGrath took on a regime that knew no limit to its hatred and vengeance. Now, almost sixty years later, people in the West are looking with different eyes toward Communist China and its booming economy. The memoirs of Father W. Aedan McGrath are important. The China before us here and now is the China, still, in part, rooted in the drama of Father McGrath.

Father McGrath’s book is available in both paperback and hardback at www.xlibris.com/PerseveranceThroughFaith.html. Or, you may place an order via telephone through the Xlibris Book Ordering Department at 1.888.795.4274.

Making Sense of the Current Financial Turmoil

Fr. Seán McDonagh, SSC

As I listen to commentators, politicians and so-called financial experts trying to make sense of what is happening on the financial markets, I am reminded of the statement from Lord Acton that “those who do not learn from history are domed to repeat it.”

The roots of this crisis goes back at least as far as the 1930s, though some would push it right back to Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations, who is often considered the father of modern economics. .In the wake of the horror of World War I and the Great Depression, Marxists and Liberal Capitalist thinkers were attempting to revise their theories in the light of the World War and the experience of the Great Depression.

Two of the most famous thinkers on the capitalist side were, John Maynard Keynes (1883 to 1946) and Friedrich Hayek (1899 to 1992). Keynes’s father, John Neville, was an economist who taught at Cambridge. John Maynard had a broad education in classics and mathematics. He also taught economics at Cambridge, but his circle of friends reached far beyond the academia. He was an important member of the group of artists, philosophers and writers who became known as the Bloomsbury group. In fact, he married a Russian ballerina, Lydia Lopokona.

Keynes public persona was also enhanced by the fact that, as a journalist, he could explain the seemingly complex ideas of economics in a clear way, thus making economics available to a wider audience. His initial claim to fame came from writing a book in 1919 called The Economic Consequence of the Peace. It argued that the reparation demands on Germany were too onerous and that they would lead to economic chaos and future conflict. He argued, as did Pope Benedict XV, that every effort ought to be made to re-incorporate Germany into the European economic system.

Keynes was not a socialist. He supported market-based capitalism. Adam Smith had argued that the government should not intervene to control markets or other factors of production. To be fair to Smith he believed that governments had an obligation to provide resources to fund the public services. However, most liberal economists or the 19th and 20th century only focused on Smith’s opposition to governments interfering with the market.

Keynes broke with his fellow economists by pointing out that the market system alone was not capable of addressing modern economic circumstances. In his book, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, he rejected the traditional laissez faire of unrestricted commercial freedom and argued that, in the modern era, markets had to be managed by governments.

He pointed out that, during a recession people did not normally invest in enterprises. This had a knock-on effect on the economy, leading to reduced demand, business failure and mass unemployment. Many of these points were highlighted in a 1932 article by Keynes, Hubert Henderson and Seebolm Rowntree entitled “We Can Conquer Unemployment”. They argued that it was precisely at this point in the downward swing of the economic cycle that governments needed to put money back into the economy, even if this meant deficit spending.

Naturally, when the economy was moving, full-steam ahead, the government should put money aside for the rainy day. Keynes argued that government intervention at a time of economic slow-down would have a multiplier effect. By putting money into the economy, governments were priming the pumps and, thereby, stimulating demand. This would allow companies to employ more workers, thus reducing unemployment levels. Workers would have money to buy good, thus stimulating growth.

It is not true to say that President Franklin Roosevelt fought the 1932 election on the promise of implementing Keynesian ideas. In fact, the opposite was true. He accused the Hoover Administration of being the “greatest spending Administration in peace time history”. It was only after a Black Tuesday on October 19th 1937 that Roosevelt’s Administration began to implement Keynesian policies. During World War II Keynesian economics spread to many other countries and remained the most dominant economic theory in the Capitalist countries of the world until the late 1970s.

In my next post, I will look at the economic theories of Friedrich Hayek (1899 to 1992) which were embraced by Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan. Like Keynes, he was opposed to socialism, but he was also hostile to any government intervention in the economy. The de-regulation mantra, “get the government off our back” slogan of the 1980s and 1990, which has led to the present crisis, owes much to writings of Hayek.

A Bit of Grit

A Bit of Grit

A mighty force blows within
Bestows within
A Gift

Within this Gift a bit of grit
From which to build the
Gift of Life

A sprinkling of laughter, a thin
Veil of tears, a blanket of Love,
The music one hears, our hopes,
Our dreams, our fears – the
Ones we hold dear.

Layer upon layer does gradually
Build.

A power of reckoning from which
One can will…That Love and
Peace and Joy to Abide

All from the Gift of the grit inside.

A poem by Roseanna Walters, Columban Associate

Border Peace Vigil

Dear Friends,

You are invited to participate in an Inter-faith (Christian, Muslim, Jewish) and Ecumenical (Catholic and Protestant) prayer vigil for Border Peace. There have been some 1,000 killings in Juarez, mostly drug related; and the violence continues to increase. There have been several incidents in El Paso also. Several clergy want to gather in prayer to seek a spiritual solution to the problem, to raise awareness of the link between US consumption of drugs and Juarez violence, and to pledge to promote peace along the US-Mexico border.

We plan to have three vigils throughout the year in different places unique to our respective religious traditions. The first one will be at St. Pius X Parish on Tuesday October 14th from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. A social gathering will follow for the participants.

At the vigil we plan to have a reading from the Torah with a prayer for peace, a reading from the Koran with a prayer for peace, and from the Bible with a prayer for peace. Three presenters will speak about border violence and how they have been affected by this violence. In the end we will all make a pledge to promote peace and to work to stop the use of drugs in our society.

We ask that you encourage and invite your friends, family members, congregation and other groups to which you belong, to this important spiritual vigil for peace.

From our friends who are unable to join us at St. Pius X on October 14, 2008, we humbly ask for your prayerful support.

Thank you for your part in helping to spread God's peace which overcomes all fear.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Bill Morton