| International News

In a 16-page wide-ranging document, “Who is My Neighbor? Australia’s role as a global citizen,” released Sept. 17 in anticipation of Social Justice Sunday observance in that country Sept. 30, the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference focused on global issues of justice, development and peace, urging Catholics to look into the eyes of the people of the world to see great diversity and the sharing of life as sacred and a human dignity to be respected.

“Every person has a calling to be a good citizen, contributing to the life of the nation. Every nation is part of the international community, responsible for the global common good,” the bishops said, calling on Australians “to act more in the interests of our neighbors who do not share our prosperity and security.”

The document, they stressed, is both “an invitation to reconsider the way we live and act as individuals and a nation” and “a call to Christians to follow the way of Jesus in our globalized world with more hope and more heart, to work confidently to build the church as the people of God and to view even the most alien Samaritan as our neighbor.”

Pointing to the St. Luke’s Gospel account of the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Australian bishops said that, while the lesson taught is that everyone is and should be treated as “our neighbor,” “we can all find good excuses for not treating the person in need” as such.

The bishops stressed that what happens in one part of the world affects the people in another, and the “actions and events outside our borders increasingly affect our lives at home.”

Acknowledging that almost 2 million Australians donate time or money each year to an overseas aid or development organizations, especially for emergency relief, the bishops said that more awareness is needed that “there is an ongoing emergency in many parts of the world – the deaths and hardship resulting from war, famine and disease – that often fails to attract such attention.”

Those that live in nations that are “rich and secure” are not the cause but share responsibility for “disadvantaged neighbors,” the Australian bishops argued, insisting that the riches and security enjoyed by the developed world are “dependent on and derived from the same social and political conditions that impose poverty and a lack of security on others.”

The globe is shrinking, the bishops said, providing the opportunity to connect with people throughout the world and to experience a current revolution in innovation and commercialization.

This globalization “has increased our interdependence and posed some moral challenges,” the bishops’ conference document states, pointing to the reduction in cost from imported goods that result from lower pay, reduced workplace and environmental standards and exploitation of workers.

. Christians are called, the Australian bishops said, to recognize all peoples “across national boundaries, across language barriers and across cultural and religious differences” and to “share the many benefits of globalization” with them, especially those who are most disadvantaged or vulnerable.

“Globalization is good news, but it is not all good news,” they said. “We are called to think and act globally in cooperation with those who benefit from globalization and in solidarity with those who are marginalized by it.”

Such thinking includes:

- Ensuring that developing nations share in the benefits of foreign corporations extracting natural resources found there.

- Encouraging opportunities for people in less developed nations to participate actively in economic activity and development.

- Promoting democracy and citizen participation home and abroad.

- Increasing the developed world’s aid commitments to Third World nations.

The bishops urged Catholic parishes to establish direct relationships with other parishes in less developed parts of the world to give material support and create bonds of faith and solidarity. “Provide a real example of our concern for true development that extends well beyond issues of security and stability.”

While lauding the benefits of trade deals, the bishops criticized agreements that are neither free nor fair. “We know that market forces alone will not ensure the equitable or full development of peoples. We cannot alleviate poverty simply by removing trade barriers and opening up capital flows. We need to be wary about aid with strings attached when those strings are designed only to achieve broader economic objectives like privatization of public assets and trade liberalization.”

International terrorism poses a whole set of threats to the world’s citizenry, the bishops stressed, but questioned the lengths nations should go to pre-empt it. “Preventing terrorism is a vital goal, but what actions are justified in pursuit of that goal?” ...