N.C. bishops call for economic justice - bishops William G. Curlin and Joseph Gossman cite the misguided priorities for economic justice, and the potential clout of the the minority Catholic voice in North Carolina - Brief Article

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 12, 1997 by Patrick O'Neill

DURHAM, N.C. -- Despite a booming economy and one of the nation's lowest unemployment rates, the plight of North Carolina's poor has worsened and Catholics have a moral duty to respond with action and compassion.

That's what the bishops of North Carolina's two dioceses said in a joint pastoral letter on economic justice released Nov. 24.

Speaking to Catholics and "all people of good will," Bishops William G. Curlin of Charlotte and F. Joseph Gossman of Raleigh said the impact of federal welfare reform is taking a heavy toll on North Carolina's poor, estimated at almost a fifth of the state's population.

To illustrate his point, Gossman, who has been in the diocese for 22 years, contrasted the fact that a $132 million 21,000-seat arena is under construction in Raleigh to accommodate the recently relocated Hartford Whalers hockey team -- now the Carolina Hurricanes -- while city and county politicians have failed to build a shelter for the capital city's growing homeless population.

Politicians "are still arguing about where to put a much-needed homeless shelter," Gossman said, noting that a "good ticket" to a hockey game costs $60. "How many poor people will be able to afford a ticket to a hockey game?"

In the pastoral letter, "Of One Heart and One Mind" (the title is from Acts 4:32), the bishops wrote: "We feel compelled to express our grave concern for the children, women and men in our state who lack sufficient economic means to live full and fruitful lives. We write to ask you, our sisters and brothers, to embrace with us our church's responsibility to help shape our world so that the God-given dignity of every human being will be acknowledged, respected and protected.... As a community of faith, we must look to the common good of all our brothers and sisters."

Gossman said the pastoral was designed to "alert" Catholics and "the wider community to what looks like the prospect of some awful events taking place." Cuts in welfare and social services are "going to mean a lot of very tragic things, more than likely in all of the 50 states," Gossman told a news conference.

Curlin, who once posed as a homeless man "to see what it's like to be unwanted and unloved," said. "the action of the spirit" must be out in the streets with the poor, not locked up behind closed church doors. "We should be an active voice on behalf of the vulnerable, the poor in our state. We should be stirring up the conscience of the world," he said.

The pastoral includes anecdotes about four North Carolina families who, despite a willingness to work, are unable to make ends meet on salaries from low-income jobs.

"We speak because our American economy has expanded dramatically and many have prospered," the bishops wrote. "There is too much poverty and too little economic opportunity for all our citizens. Our faith tradition as Catholics calls us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable before all else."

Both bishops said the pastoral letter's message was meant to be heard by both the state's 250,000 Catholics and anyone willing to help the poor. "It's not a Catholic thing," Curlin said. "It's a human thing."

Catholics represent less than 3 percent of the state's population, Curlin said, "but if you have a strong voice and a strong heart for it you can make a difference. You don't have to have the numbers." The bishops pledged to "add the voice of the church loudly and clearly to the conversation about poverty in our state" and to make "advocacy for justice an integral part of our charitable efforts."

The bishops also presented a challenge to the business community to make a "commitment to the well-being of the impoverished and the less powerful in your communities" so that all people will have access to a "living wage," promotion and advancement.

Newspapers throughout the state carried stories about the pastoral. A Nov. 26 editorial in The Raleigh News & Observer praised the pastoral: "We can hope that the message will be received with open hearts and minds and that it will be shared within and without the Catholic church."