PERTH, WA: January 31, 1991
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AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS LIST 38 SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND ACTION IN ...
Wealth robe Australia's Catholic Bishops have suggested that the government give serious consideration to conducting a wealth inquiry. This is one of 38 "suggestions for discussion and action" in the bishops' draft statement on the distribution of wealth in Australia. The bishops also suggest changes in tax structures to eliminate advantages given to high income-earners at the expense of low income-earners and to give families a fairer deal. They say that the increasing burden on middle-income earners should be lightened and that serious consideration should be given to the reintroduction of death duties or some other form of wealth tax. The document contains the findings of a three-year consultancy process around Australia. The bishops conducted public hearings in a number of
centres and also received over 700 written submissions. The bishops make these comments about the pressure on families: "If families are disadvantaged under the taxation system operating in Australia, they are the first victims of other trends including unemployment and the rising cost of housing, education and health care. "They also suffer from the consumerist climate, from persistent and intrusive advertising and from the 'plastic money' culture and easy availability of credit . . . "It is a fallacy to measure economic growth without taking into account such socially productive activity as child-rearing and family-management. • 'The benefits to the nation of strong and healthy family life are not easily measurable, but it is obvious that they are immense, even in financial terms.
"Unfortunately, we have witnessed a disturbing increase in family disintegration, which is costing us dearly. Any measures taken to arrest this trend must be applauded and even the most hardheaded economist should surely see such initiatives as a sound investment." The bishops suggest that the wealthy and the high income-earners ask themselves if it is legitimate for them to aspire to an even higher standard of living at a time when serious poverty exists both at home and abroad. They say they are disturbed by the prevalence of tax evasion and the evidence of a weakening of taxation morality in the community. "We conclude by reaffirming our confidence that it is possible for Australians to create a fairer society," the statement says. The early chapters look at definitions of wealth and poverty and the reality of
the gap between Australia's affluent and poor people, as revealed by the inquiry. A special chapter discusses the Church's own resources. Separate chapters summarise the teaching of the Bible and of Church authorities on social justice, with particular reference to wealth distribution. Before formulating their suggestions, the bishops attempt in the second last chapter to answer the question: "What kind of society do we want?" "Australians must place less value on self-centred individualism and more on the individual's acceptance of responsibility for others, in a spirit of solidarity." the statement affirms. The Bishops' Committee for Justice. Development and Peace hopes that a final statement with recommendations can be completed by the end of 1991. They expect community responses to the draft to reach their North Sydney secretariat by April 30, 1991.
Different document ...
LONDON (CNS): A document from an international CatholicAnglican dialogue outlines a common understanding of the Church and how it operates. The document is somewhat different from agreed statements on the Eucharist, justification, authority, and minis-
try and ordination,
roo
Were raising the standard. DI_ 1631
said Bishop Mark Santer, Anglican cochairman of the Second AnglicanCatholic Roman International Commission (ARCIC "All our previous documents addressed themselves to specific and obvious doctrinal questions from the controversies of the past," he said. "With
this document, we tried to get behind the particular and obvious issues to the underlying question of the way in which we understand the Church." The document said Catholics and Anglicans were able to recognise "a true affinity" in each other's churches, but
should not ignore the effects of centuries of separation. "Grave obstacles from the past and of recent origin must not lead us into thinking that there is no further room for growth toward fuller communion," the document said. Catholics and Anglicans should continue
examining their differences, it said, listing among obstacles to unity the ordination of women and the question of authority in the Church. "Paradoxically, the closer we draw together, the more acutely we feel those differences which remain," the docu-
• More on Pages 2, 3
ment added. "This document should be seen as part of the long process of the growing together of Anglicans and Roman Catholics," noted Bishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Catholic co-chairman of ARCIC Formal dialogue between Anglicans and Catholics began
in January 1967 with a meeting of the Joint Preparatory Commission. Its report led to the establishment of the First AnglicanRoman Catholic International Commission, which first met in January 1970. ARCIC published its first agreed statement — on the Eucharist — in 1971.
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