Monday 5 October 2009

Brisbane’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission has called for Catholics to continue their involvement in efforts to address poverty locally and globally.

The call was made in the lead-up to Anti-Poverty Week, 11 – 17 October.

The Commission’s Executive officer, peter Arndt, said that the global financial and economic crises which developed over the course of the last year have hurt the poorest and most vulnerable people around the world worst.

“Poor people around the world have little influence with governments and we in the Church must stand with them so that their concerns are heard and addressed,” Mr Arndt said.

“Anti-Poverty Week is an excellent opportunity for us to do something to raise awareness about poverty here in Australia and in the poorest countries in the world,” he said.

“Last year’s Social Justice Sunday Statement focussed on poverty in Australia and called on Catholics to get involved in action to address it,” he said.

“And this year’s Social Justice Sunday Statement also reminds us of both the poverty of Indigenous Australians and of global poverty,’ he said.

“Australia’s Bishops urge us to make a difference in the world for the sake of future generations,” he said.

“They encourage us to see the causes and the consequences of injustices like poverty, to make judgements about how the Gospel calls us to understand these problems and to act to address them,” he said.

“There are many ways in which we can get involved in challenging the scourge of poverty,” he said.

“Getting involved in the work of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, Caritas Australia’s Be More Program, Micah Challenge, the Make Poverty History Campaign or the Make Indigenous Poverty History Campaign are all excellent opportunities for us to stand with those who face the indignities associated with poverty,” he said.

Ideas for action, information sheets and links to poverty campaigns and organisations working to address poverty may be found at the Anti-poverty Week web site at http://www.antipovertyweek.org.au/

For further information, please contact Peter Arndt on (07) 3336 9173 or 0409 265 476.

NB  This release is issued with the approval of the Commission or its Executive under the provision of its Charter which enables it to speak in its own right.  The views expressed in it do not necessarily represent the views of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.