Brisbane’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission will host a series of talks on the issue of trade justice by Suzette Clark rsc in the first week of August.
Suzette Clark rsc is Research and Projects Officer for the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council (ACSJC) and is an active member of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) and Jubilee Australia. She has also worked in education and health in both Australia and Zambia. She recently co-authored a paper on trade justice as part of the ACSJC’s Social Justice Series.
The Commission has invited Suzette to present talks in parishes in the Brisbane Archdiocese from August 1 to 7 to raise awareness about the impact of global trade arrangements on people in the least developed nations of the world.
The Commission’s Executive Officer, Peter Arndt, said that there was a need for more Catholics to become aware of the problems that the drive for free trade is causing for poor countries.
“The world’s most powerful nations are promoting free trade agreements which impose great hardship on people in poor countries and we, in Australia, should be aware of this and not just focus on the benefits for ourselves,” Mr Arndt said.
“If we want justice which promotes the dignity of all people, including the people of the world’s poorest countries, we should be promoting fair trade rather than free trade,” he said.
“In his 1967 encyclical Populorum Progressio, Pope Paul VI made us aware of the inadequacy of promoting free trade when trade relations between rich and poor nations are not equal,” Mr Arndt said.
“Suzette Clark’s talk will be an opportunity for Catholics to get informed about the issue and what Church teaching is saying,” he said.
“It will also be an opportunity for prayer, reflection and action on the issue of trade justice,” he said.
Suzette Clark will speak at St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Lawrence Street, North Ipswich on Monday 1 August at 7 p.m., at the O’Callaghan Centre, Robinson Road West, Aspley, on Friday 5 August at 7.30 p.m. and at Noosa District Parish, Moorindil St, Tewantin, on Sunday 7 August at 11.00 a.m.
Released by Catholic Communications Office