Bishop calls for economic justice

Analysis:

The headlined reads “Bishop calls for fair distribution of resources,” but the story doesn’t really communicate how or why the world’s resources should be distributed fairly. The article does say that the Bishop referred to Catholic Social teaching of this issue, but never provides an actual source, even though Gumbleton sourced each of his quotes from church documents. The Bishop also cites several statistics, but the reporter never verifies or provides sources for the statistics on poverty. The only concrete example of wealth distribution in the Press article was when Gumbleton referred to the minimum wage campaign in Florida, but Gumbleton also discussed trade policies such as NAFTA and the recently passed trade policy CAFTA. Gumbleton even cited a Catholic Bishops statement from the US and Central American Bishops that was opposed to CAFTA.

This information could have been reported and would be useful to readers, but the Press article instead devoted a full third of the story to Gumbleton’s recent disclosure of being sexual abused by a priest when he was in school, despite the fact that Gumbleton never mentioned this issue at the lecture.

Story:

Bishop calls for fair distribution of resources

By Patricia Mish
The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS — In one image, an African girl collapses from hunger, while a vulture hovers nearby. In another, an American 4-year-old boy clad in hockey gear prepares to take to the ice.

Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton used the photographs to illustrate the widening gap between rich and poor in a world where a fifth of the population uses 87 percent of the resources. The bottom fifth live in “absolute poverty,” he said.

“The reason it’s an injustice is it need not be that way,” Gumbleton told about 375 people at Aquinas College on Tuesday.

The activist bishop had spoken earlier the same day about another injustice — sexual abuse.
Gumbleton told reporters states should remove time limits preventing victims from suing the church, and revealed he was “inappropriately touched” by a priest when he attended Sacred Heart Seminary High School.

Gumbleton would not name the priest, who he said died 10 or 15 years ago. The first bishop to disclose he was abused, Gumbleton said he was not traumatized by it but felt compelled to speak out. He did not address the issue at Aquinas, focusing his remarks on poverty.

He said God created the world with enough resources for all.

“A few of us have far more than we have a right to when a majority of people do not have enough,” he said.
The African girl is one of 30,000 to 40,000 children who die of hunger daily, Gumbleton said. “Is there any one of us in this room who does not have more than we need?” asked Gumbleton, pastor of St. Leo Parish in Detroit. “I doubt it. If we have more than we need when other people lack the necessities, then we have those material possessions unjustly.”

He cited Catholic social teaching, in which popes and bishops have called for an end to unbridled materialism and a fairer distribution of the world’s resources. He challenged the audience to not only share their resources but to change the societal structures that create the disparity. Gumbleton cited the example of Florida, where voters recently approved a $1 hike in the minimum wage to $6.15 per hour and linked the wage to the inflation rate. “That’s the kind of change we need to make in our whole nation,” he said.

Fielding audience questions, Gumbleton encouraged voters to be informed on all issues. “Just because one party or another party proclaims itself to be pro-life doesn’t mean they’re pro-life,” he said, adding the term means not only opposing abortion but supporting and protecting life.

Tom and Margaret Merkel, who brought their 6-week-old son, agreed. “I’ve never really heard a Catholic come out and say being ‘pro-poor’ was being pro-life,” said Tom Merkel, adding Gumbleton’s talk “does make you want to redouble your efforts to live simply.”

Consolata Sister Zelia Cordeiro said she has heard Gumbleton before and praised his calls for justice and peace.
“To me he is one of our prophets,” she said.