Making the Case for Jubilee: The Catholic Church and the Poor-Country Debt Movement

Ethics and International Affairs

Volumn 21, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 107-133

  Donnelly, Elizabeth A ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 57749164648     PISSN: 08926794     EISSN: 17477093     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-7093.2007.00063.x     Document Type: Article

References (72)

1. World Bank, “Partnership for Development: From Vision to Action” (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1998), p. 67.
2. For a history and assessment of the informal network of NGOs and churches that evolved into a more integrated but loosely affiliated coalition of groups collaborating on the Jubilee 2000 campaign, see Elizabeth A. Donnelly, “Proclaiming Jubilee: The Debt and Structural Adjustment Network,” in Sanjeev Khagram, James V. Riker, and Kathryn Sikkink, eds., Restructuring World Politics: Transnational Social Movements, Networks, and Norms (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002), pp. 155–180.
3. See CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis, “The Case for an International Fair and Transparent Arbitration Process,” Background Paper, September 2002; available at www.cidse.org/en/tg3/ftapfin.pdf.
4. “Impact of the Latin American Debt Crisis on the United States,” Subcommittee on International Debt, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, 100th Congress, 1st sess., March 9, 1987, D125.
5. John Clark, “A Grassroots View of the Debt Crisis,” Food Monitor 42 (Fall 1987), p. 11.
6. See, e.g., statements by the Mexican (1987) and Cuban (1986) Catholic bishops, reprinted in Edward Cleary, O.P., ed., Path from Puebla: Significant Documents of the Latin American Bishops since 1979, trans. Phillip Berryman (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Catholic Conference, 1989), pp. 330–48. Other Latin American bishops' conferences issued short reflections on the debt crisis as part of more comprehensive statements on socioeconomic conditions in their countries.
7. See, e.g., the statement by the Ecuadoran bishops (1986) in Cleary, Path from Puebla, pp. 210–20. Individual bishops, most notably Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns of Sao Paulo, Brazil, also spoke out on debt.
8. United States Catholic Bishops Conference, “Economic Justice for All: Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy,” Origins, NC Documentary Service (hereafter Origins) 16, no. 24 (November 27, 1986), p. 438.
9. Archbishop Rembert Weakland, O.S.B., “Viewing International Debt in Its Full Dimensions,” Origins 16, no. 41 (March 26, 1987), pp. 722–726.
10. J. Bryan Hehir, “Third World Debt and the Poor,” Origins 18, no. 36 (February 16, 1989), pp. 607–612.
11. Administrative Board of the United States Catholic Conference, “Statement on Relieving Third World Debt,” Origins 19, no. 19 (October 12, 1989), pp. 305–314.
12. World Church Commission of the German Bishops, “The International Debt Crisis: An Ethical Challenge. The Role of the Federal Republic of Germany” (Bonn: Secretariat of the German Bishops Conference, May 16, 1988).
13. Joint Conference on Church and Development (GKKE) of the German Commission for Justice and Peace of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference and Church Development Service, an Association of Protestant Churches in Germany, “The International Debt Crisis Concerns Us All: Contributions to the Public Hearing of the Commission for Economic Development of the German Parliament,” GKKE 16 (September 1988).
14. Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace, “An Ethical Approach to the International Debt Question,” Origins 16, no. 34 (February 5, 1987), pp. 601–611.
15. Interviews with Michel Camdessus, IMF Managing Director, July 2, 1992, and Jacques de Larosiere, Governor of the Bank of France, March 17, 1992.
16. See “Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace” at www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/ justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_pro_20011004_en.html.
17. Interviews with: Bernard Snoy, then Executive Director to the World Bank and IMF, July 2, 1992 (a founder of and participant in the Paris group)
18. Rev. Philippe Laurent, S.J., March 13, 1992 (a social ethicist who served as the group's ecclesial advisor)
19. Monsignor William F. Murphy, March 4, 1992 (former PCJP undersecretary)
20. Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, March 24, 1992 (then PCJP president).
21. The most oft-cited documents are Pope Paul VI's 1967 encyclical on development, “Populorum Pro-gressio,” and the 1986 “Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation,” issued by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
22. PCJP, “An Ethical Approach,” pp. 605, 608.
23. An Ethical Approach., p. 604.
24. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, “The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response; A Pastoral Letter on War and Peace” (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Catholic Conference, May 3, 1983).
25. Administrative Board of the USCC, “Statement,” p.307.
26. PCJP, “An Ethical Approach,”p. 604.
27. “An Ethical Approach,”., p. 603.
28. The bishops point out that over 30 percent of developing country debt at the time was owed to U.S. commercial banks and the U.S. government, imposing a special responsibility on the U.S. Church to speak out. See Administrative Board of the USCC, “Statement,” p. 307.
29. Administrative Board of the USCC, “Statement,” p. 307.
30. “Statement,”., p. 308.
31. “Statement,”., p. 310.
32. “Statement,”.
33. “Statement,”., p. 312.
34. “Statement,”., p. 310.
35. “Statement,”., p. 311.
36. “Statement,”.
37. “Statement,”., p. 312.
38. “Statement,”.
39. “Statement,”., pp. 312–313.
40. PCJP, “An Ethical Approach,” p. 605.
41. “An Ethical Approach,”.
42. “An Ethical Approach,”., p. 610.
43. Administrative Board of the USCC, “Statement,” p. 313.
44. “Statement,”., p. 314.
45. “Statement,”., p. 313.
46. “Jubilee 2000: Cancel Zambia's Debt,” ecumenical pastoral letter of the Christian Council of Zambia, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, and the Zambian Episcopal Conference, August 7, 1998, in Fr. Joe Komakoma, ed., The Social Teaching of the Catholic Bishops and Other Christian Leaders in Zambia: Major Pastoral Letters and Statements (Ndola, Zambia: Mission Press, 2003).
47. Peter Henriot, S.J., “Should Zambia Pay Its Debt?” National Mirror, August 18, 2004.
48. Elizabeth A. Donnelly, “Seton Hall Conference Discussion Summary” (Conference on the Ethical Dimensions of International Debt, Seton Hall University, October 22–23, 1998), p. 3; available at www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/shusum500.htm.
49. Peter Henriot, S.J., “Governance Issues and External Debt Relief for Poor Countries” (unpublished paper, January 13, 2003); available at www.jctr.org.zm/publications/gov-debt.htm.
50. Peter Henriot, S.J., “Connecting Debt and Trade from a Development Perspective: Challenges for Ireland and the EU” (paper presented at the International Jesuit Network on Development conference “Debt and Trade: Time to Make the Connections,” Dublin, Ireland, September 9, 2004), p. 3.
51. Henriot, “Should Zambia Pay Its Debt?”
52. Henriot, “Governance Issues and External Debt Relief.”
53. Interview with Ann Pettifor, March 8, 2001.
54. Jubilee 2000 U.K., “New Year Brings Call from the Pope, Bono, and Salman Rushdie”; quote taken from Q, February 1999, p. 149; available at www.jubileeresearch.org/jubilee2000/quotes.html.
55. See Jubilee 2000, “How It Was Achieved,” at www.jubileeresearch.org/jubilee2000/final/how.html.
56. Pope John Paul II, “Tertio Millennio Adveniente” (November 10, 1994); available at www.vatican.va/ jubilee_2000/docs/index.htm.
57. Jubilee 2000, “How It Was Achieved.”
58. See Jubilee 2000, “Who We Are,” at www.jubileeresearch.org/jubilee2000/about.html.
59. “Who We Are,”.
60. Cardinal Basil Hume, “International Debt: An Introductory Address,” February 12, 1996; available at www.catholic-ew.org.uk/briefing/9603/9603009.htm.
61. For a summary of the proceedings and alternative views on the causes of the debt overhang, allocation of monies to debt relief in relation to development assistance, which countries should receive debt relief, the efficacy of the HIPC Initiative, and the ethics of conditionality, see Elizabeth A. Donnelly, “Seton Hall Conference Discussion Summary.”
62. Administrative Board of the United States Catholic Conference, “A Jubilee Call for Debt Forgiveness,” April 1999; available at www.nccbuscc.org/sdwp/international/adminstm.htm.
63. “A Jubilee Call for Debt Forgiveness,”., p. 8.
64. “A Jubilee Call for Debt Forgiveness,”, p. 13.
65. Jeffrey D. Sachs, “A Millennial Gift to Developing Nations,” New York Times, June 11, 1999; available at www.jubileeresearch.org/jubilee2000/news/sachs14jun.html.
66. Peter Henriot, S.J., “Is HIPC Good for Zambia?” (undated); available upon request at www.jctr. org.zm.
67. See Jubilee 2000, “G8 Cancels More Debt…An Important Step but Only a First Step,” June 22, 1999; available at www.jubileeresearch.org/jubilee2000/news/cologne24jun.html.
68. As recently as September 2004, Henriot complained that “Zambia's policies on civil servant wages, further privatization and hiring of teachers are dictated not by national consensus but only by one thing: meeting the elusive HIPC completion point.” Henriot, “Connecting Debt and Trade from a Development Perspective,” p. 3.
69. Much of the intellectual and advocacy work can be traced to a series of papers involving the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development and other NGOs in the U.K. See Henry Northover, “An Alternative Approach to Debt Cancellation and New Borrowing for Africa,” CAFOD, October 2003, and the references cited therein; available at www.cafod.org.uk/var/storage/original/application/phpQ5RY1l.pdf.
70. Debayani Kar, “G-8 Deal: First Step on a Long Journey, Jubilee USA Calls on World Bank/IMF to Expand Country List, Cut Harmful Strings,” Drop the Debt, Jubilee USA Network newsletter (Washington, D.C., Fall 2005), pp. 3, 4; available at www.jubileeusa.org/resources/newsletter0905.pdf.
71. Pope Benedict XVI, “Deus Caritas Est” (December 25, 2005), sect. 28a; available at www.vatican.va/holy_ father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html.
72. Cf. Thomas Massaro, S.J., “Don't Forget Justice,” America 194, no. 9 (2006), pp. 18–20.