Friday, April 06, 2012

Catholics and Jews togheter for healing the current economic crisis

The Bi-Lateral Commission of representatives of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate and the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with Jews (with several delegates coming from Israel) ended a three day meeting in Rome discussing “Religious perspectives on the current financial crisis: vision for a just economic order”,  with unanimous agreement on the contents of a joint statement hailing common Jewish and Catholic moral, ethical values as guidelines for action.

This was their eleventh encounter.
 
“Such a meeting would have been inconceivable fifty years ago” said Israel’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Mordechay (Motti) Lewy, who hosted a farewell reception in his home at the end of the encounter. In welcoming his guests, he expressed regrets that his term would soon end, but trusted in the enduring nature of the friendships that had been forged.
 
Warm words of appreciation for the cordial atmosphere between the Israeli Rabbinate and Vatican officials were expressed by all concerned.
 
“The most important aspect of our meeting was that it took place, and that there is such friendship between us” said the Chairman of the Jewish delegation, Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, Chief Rabbi Emeritus of Haifa. He had opened the first day of the meeting with a prayer of thanks to God for “the historic transformation in Catholic-Jewish relations since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and the historic visit of Pope John Paul II to Israel which led to the establishment of the bilateral commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Holy See.”
 
Rabbi Cohen also wished to thank Ambassador Lewy for his commitment, his “knowledge and expertise in the complex relations between the Holy See and Israel”,  which he hoped “will continue to provide us with benefits even after the ambassador retires from his present position.” 

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Chairman of the Catholic delegation and President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,  paid tribute to his predecessor, Cardinal Jorge Mejia and to the members of the Bilateral Commission. He said he welcomed his new responsibility. Having studied in Jerusalem in his youth, Cardinal Turkson speaks a fluent Hebrew.
 
The delegations were joined on the first day by Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with Jews plus the former senior members of the Catholic delegation, Cardinal Mejia and Cardinal Georges Cottier.  The final joint declaration states they “expressed their joy at the continuity of this work as a blessing for both communities and for humanity.” 

Catholics and Jews were in agreement that the key to recovery lies in commonly held traditional religious values, having no connection to ideologies such as Marxism, unbridled capitalism or consumerism.

Formal contributions to the 3 day discussions were made by Prof. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, President of the IOR  - the Vatican’s “Istituto per le Opere di Religione”, Prof. Zamagni from the Economic Science Department of the University of Bologna, and Dr. Meir Tamari, former chief economist of the Bank of Israel.

Prof. Tedeschi, who gave an oral presentation, stressed the West’s decrease in population growth as a major factor of the economic crisis. Families with less children lead necessarily to a diminishing production of consumer goods and services, he reasoned, which halts economic growth and leaves many people jobless. Jews and Catholics, he felt, should work on reinforcing traditional family values.
 
Dr. Tamari, on the other hand, in proposing a “Culture of Enough”, claimed that “economic immorality and unethical business dealings” are fueled by “a culture of greed”. The effects of “the credit explosion fueled by exaggerated consumerism, careless lending policies and manipulative creative accounting” that led to the present crisis were accelerated by “relaxed public supervision and minimal regulatory efficiency.”   

In pointing to the harm done by financial institutions and advisors by “rendering advice that serves the hidden interests of the advisor”  he cited the 11th century Jewish Biblical commentator Rashi who said,  “Do not tell him to sell a donkey and buy a field when you wish to buy a donkey and sell a field.”
 
The discussions that followed these presentations crystallized into Catholic-Jewish guidelines for a new morality for economics.   

The contents are substantial and merit a synopsis. Following are highlights from the final Joint Statement.

- At the roots of the current financial crisis “lies a crisis of moral values, in which the importance of having, reflected in a culture of greed, eclipsed the importance of being; and where the value of truth reflected in honesty and transparency was sorely lacking in economic activity.”

- “At the heart of Jewish and Catholic visions for a just economic order is the affirmation of the sovereignty and providence of the Creator of the world with whom all wealth originates and which is given to humankind as a gift for the common good.”
 
- The wellbeing of society is the purpose of an economic order. Human dignity, antithetical to egocentricity, the wellbeing of the individual in relation to community and society, protection of life, sustenance, clothing housing, health, education, employment, with particular attention to “the poor, the orphan, the widow, the sick and disabled, and the stranger” (migrant and foreign workers in today’s society) – are “a measure of the moral health of society….”

- The “Divine gift of wealth places obligations upon the recipient”, especially “towards countries and societies in need”.
 
- Promotion of a just economic order requires: universal distribution of goods, a culture of “enough”, responsible stewardship, ethics for allocation of resources and priorities, “and the critical importance of honesty, transparency, gratuitousness and accountability.
 
- Partial remission of debts by governments should be extended to families and individuals “for their economic self-rehabilitation”.
 
- “The members of the bilateral commission underscored the role that faith communities must play in contributing to a responsible economic order and the importance of their engagement by government, educational institutions, and the media, to this end.”
 
- Religious communities, as “an integral part of society, must play a central role together with politics and business, in ensuring the subsidiarity necessary for a just social and economic order.”  
 
- Due to “the profound lack of the ethical component in economic thinking…it is imperative that institutes and academies of economic studies and policy formation include ethical training in their curricula…and also ethical counseling to decision makers on a national and international level.”
 
The reading of Psalm 85, 11-14, a spiritual text held in common, with a “prayer to the Source of all blessing that the words of the Psalmist will be fulfilled” concluded the meeting.
 
The delegations were  thus composed: Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen (Chairman of the Jewish Delegation), Rabbi David Rosen, Rabbi Prof. Daniel Sperber, Rabbi Prof. Avraham Steinberg, Mr. Oded Wiener; Peter Cardinal Turkson (Chairman of the Catholic Delegation), Achbishops Elias Chacour, Antonio Franco, Bruno Forte, Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, Msgr. Pier Francesco Fumagalli, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzab alla O.F.M., Fr. Norbert J. Hofmann S.D.B .