Washington D.C., Sep 19, 2011 / 18:37 pm
Bishops and other Catholic clergy should speak about unemployment and poverty in their homilies, U.S. bishops’ conference president Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan said on Monday.
“Widespread unemployment, underemployment and pervasive poverty are diminishing human lives, undermining human dignity, and hurting children and families,” Archbishop Dolan said. “I hope we can use our opportunities as pastors, teachers, and leaders to focus public attention and priority on the scandal of so much poverty and so many without work in our society.”
The Archbishop of New York said that 46 million people, 15 percent of the population, now live in poverty in the U.S. Recent unemployment figures are also “dismal.” Sixteen million children, almost one in four, are growing up in poverty. African-Americans and Hispanics face unemployment and poverty at “far higher rates.”
“For us as bishops, these numbers are not statistics, but people suffering and wounded in their human dignity,” Archbishop Dolan said. “They are parents who cannot feed their children, families that have lost their homes and jobless workers who have lost not only income, but also a sense of their place in society. For us, each of these persons is a child of God with innate human dignity and rights that deserve respect.”