$20,000 for East Timor PERTH, WA: December 12, 1991
Number 2768
Registered by Australia Post Publication No. WAR 0202
"As a sign of solidarity with the Church in East Timor, Australian Catholic Relief has made an emergency grant of $20,000 to assist them in their care for families who are in deep distress and need," said Mr Michael Whiteley, National Director of Australian Catholic Relief. • See Page 3
POST ADDRESS: PO Box 50, Northbridge, 6000 W.A. LOCATION: 587 Newcastle Street, Cnr Douglas St (near Loftus St)
TELEPHONE: (09) 22 77 080
FAX (09) 22 77 087
PRICE 600
Parish helps resettle families COLOMBO; Sri Lanka (UCAN): The second phase of a parish-initiated community housing project ended when 76 families at Sinhapura, 20 kilometres south of Colombo, were given the keys to their newly built houses. The project began in 1976 when 330 families — shantydwellers — were evicted from their homes by government authorities. The Pannipitiya parish, led by pastor Father
Francis Fernando, began a housing and community centre project to help resettle the families. The project was financed by the German Development Assistance Association for Social Housing (DAASH). The Sinhapura housing project, started in
1980, comprises 234 houses, with a community
center, health center and preschool. The people
of Sinhapura are involved in the planning and construction of the houses, as part of a community development program. Because of the Church's help the people are now leading meaningful lives, Sandya Fernando, a Buddhist youth leader in Sinhapura, said. "We are happy to receive the Church's service," which has not discriminated against "caste, creed or colour," she said.
Act now on jobs
...AND STOP THAT FINANCIAL LOSS AND SOCIAL ISOLATION, SAY BISHOPS
Their exclusion of the unemployed from the country's life and their isolation are unacceptable, say the Catholic bishops of Australia. Work is not just a commodity for the economy and people have to feel their work is wanted and valued, they say. The bishops want action to deal with the financial loss and social isolation brought about by unemployement. At their half yearly meeting in Sydney the bishops said unemployment may cause long term damage to Australia. "We cannot accept a situation which excludes large numbers of Australians from full participation in the life of their own country" say the bishops. To the people who say a long term of unemployment is good for the economy of the country the bishops say: "Whose economy? It sounds as if people are at the service of the economy rather than the other, right, way around". "The Catholic Church has never accepted the view that reduces human labour to a commodity, to be bought and sold — or not — merely according to the laws of supply and demand. Human labour has a dignity because of the dignity of the person who works. Through work, women and men realise their humanity through using the gifts of the earth, building community and sharing in the work of the Creator". Unemployment is not an abstract problem, they say, because it affects young, middle aged, the no longer employable and all their "Unemployment means that a person's work is not wanted, or not valued. It can mean real losses: of participation in the life of
the community; of esteem and self esteem; of financial security. "The losses can multiply into loss of emotional and physical health and disturbance in personal relations. "Even if statistics were to tell us there was full employment, many Australians could still claim that their work was not wanted or not valued". A great deal of work is not classed as "unemployment simply because it attracts no payment; work done within families; of caring for the young, the sick and the old; of helping children grow up;
of building enduring relationships". Not only is the value of this work often underrated, it is actually discouraged by many of our economic policies. Country rates of unemployment are higher than the cities but the real rates are higher still, say the bishops, "masked by the ineligibility of many farmers for unemployment benefits; the migration of the young unemployed to the metropolitan areas; and the withdrawal of many women from a futile and expensive search for work". Unemployment problems
will not simply vanish when the economy starts to grow again, say the bishops. "The long term problem of structural unemployment remains. The present situation will do some good if it rouses us from the complacency about unemployment: and makes us realise that although some jobs have gone forever, there are new jobs waiting to be created. "This is not a responsibility for Government alone. The challenge of national reconstruction needs entrepreneurs and their wealthproducing initiatives; it needs union leaders who
will embrace labour market reforms; it needs commitment from government, employers and unions to education and training to equip our people for the new tasks that lie ahead. The bishops say they do not "speak as politicians or economists, but as pastors and teachers. "We speak in the belief that political and economic discourse is distorted if it lacks a moral dimension, if its focus on the dignity of the human person is blurred. We ask for that focus and that dimension in the of discussion unemployment."
Focus on new 'father'... All eyes on Father Tony (left) of Parkwood and Vallis after his ordina- snapped by his sister tion in St Mary's Joyce Dunne (right) who Cathedral as he gives a came from Seattle for the sign of peace to his sister occasion. Just making Nancy Allen of Ocean the picture is his sisterReef, video recorded by in-law Noreen Vallis of his niece Sheryl Morris Parkwood. • See page 11.