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Director's Report
The Great Jubilee Challenge
"At this time, how can we fail to lay greater emphasis on the
Church's preferential option for the poor and the outcast? Indeed it has to be said that
in a world like ours, marked by so many conflicts and intolerable social and economic
inequalities, a commitment to justice and peace is a necessary condition for the
preparation and celebration of the millennium jubilee."
(Tertio Millennio Advieniente, para 51)
These challenging and powerful words of Pope John Paul II have provided
the framework for CAFOD's five-year plan of activities launched at the beginning of 1997.
The "intolerable inequalities" of which the Pope speaks were
set out graphically at a lecture in London in June by James Wolfensohn, World Bank
President. Pointing out that total development aid from North to South has now hit the
lowest level for 50 years, he said:
* 3 billion people (half the world's population) subsist
on less than �1.25 per day;
* 150 million children receive no schooling of any kind;
* 1.3 billion people have no access to clean water;
* Year by year the number of individual billionaires grows whilst the
share of the world's income to which the poorest can claim continually shrinks.
The Pope's radical jubilee challenge led directly to CAFOD's proposal to
the Church of England and Wales to make this "option for the poor" explicit in
parishes and dioceses by drawing up a New Covenant with the Poor. By the end of
1997, 18 dioceses embraced the proposal. Dozens of parish communities followed suit,
making specific pledges regarding wealth sharing with the poor, campaigning for the rights
of the poor and including the poor regularly in prayer and liturgy. These initiatives won
explicit mention and praise from the Pope during the ad limina visit to Rome by
our bishops in October.
Interlocking with these pledges, CAFOD's millennium campaign, A Fair
Deal for the Poor, was launched in February, dealing with the unpayable debt owed by
the poorest countries and the slave-like working conditions endured by many Third World
workers.
At the end of 1997, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown,
invited Cardinal Hume and other church leaders together with CAFOD and other debt
campaigners to a consultation on the issue. There was a palpable sense that at last debt
forgiveness was unmistakably on the millennium agenda.
CAFOD and other bodies who form the Jubilee 2000 coalition on debt hope
that this awareness will foster new beginnings and new relationships within the global
community. One such new beginning was the signing in December by 122 countries of the
Ottawa agreement banning the use of anti-personal landmines. This was a colossal
achievement, in which CAFOD is proud to have played a part through vigorous campaigning
since 1995.
More global inter-relationships were brought into focus when chaos struck
the Asian tiger economies with stock market and currency collapses uncontained by national
borders. The Church's ability to respond locally to the needs of the poor was crucially
important, as tens of thousands of urban poor found themselves without a livelihood
overnight.
Although the nature of poverty and exploitation in Asia is now
significantly changed, the reality remains much the same; the benefits of the globalised
market are often no more than a mirage for the most dispossessed. This was the backdrop to
a review of CAFOD's major funding commitments in Asia which took place in the Philippines
in November.
Emergency relief activities monopolised our attentions early in 1997 with
the crisis on the Zaire-Rwanda frontier. CAFOD has been able to make a very significant
response because of the great generosity shown by parishes and individuals to the Central
Africa Emergency Appeal.
Drought in Kenya was a serious concern in the spring and involved major
grants for food and emergency supplies together with the threat of famine in North Korea.
The end of the year brought the reality of "El Nino" into focus, with the actual
and threatened calamities that will flow from this phenomenon of the heating up of the
pacific. CAFOD played a major part, for example, in responding to grave hunger caused by
exceptional drought and frost in Papua New Guinea.
Meanwhile, the decision was made that in 1998 CAFOD will have a presence,
in the form of an office and a staff person, in Nairobi (covering Kenya and Uganda) and in
Harare (for Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi). It is hoped that this will bolster partner
support and further strengthen CAFOD's Africa links.
CAFOD's work around the Third World, which you can read more about within
our web site, has been made possible by a wonderful response from the parishes, schools,
religious communities and thousands of individuals who offer their financial support so
generously and loyally.
Last year voluntary income from the public support to CAFOD's development
work rose by over 13%. If this growth in income can be at least sustained in real terms in
1998, 1999 and 2000 then the ambitious targets set down in our five year plan will be
within sight.
Julian Filochowski (Director)
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CAFOD Review of the Year 1997
