The 1976 U.S. Catholic Bishops' Call To Action Conference in Detroit

A.D. 1977
Detroit Recommendations
Nationhood

 

I Recommendation: Political Responsibility

We commend the bishops for their statement on political responsibility and for their past statements on the moral aspects of public issues. We urge the entire Catholic community, with the leadership of the bishops, to assume the prophetic role of the church for the development of Christian witness in public policy. Since public policy is formed not only by legislation but also by courts, administrative action, news media, schools, and ultimately, by public opinion, we recommend:

1. That parishes, dioceses, and other groups within the church such as educational and cultural societies and institutions, religious communities, professional and voluntary associations, continue or initiate programs of education aimed at greater understanding of. a) the way public policy is made; b) the relationship between public policy and the gospel of Jesus Christ and the traditions and experiences of the Catholic people themselves, and, c) the duties of citizenship. Such programs would seek to develop awareness, to clarify issues, and to mobilize support for public policies that best express our moral concerns.

2. That committees for political responsibility be designated at parish, diocesan, state and national levels. These committees should establish priorities for public policy, define the major issues at stake in elections, be representative of the poor and powerless, educate church members and the public regarding the moral dimensions of public issues and, where appropriate, work with other churches and civic groups to implement these goals.

These committees should be composed primarily of lay people, including the poor and powerless, and should work in cooperation with parish and diocesan pastoral councils and collaborate with appropriate local, state and national church organizations and agencies.

II Recommendation: Goals for Public Policy

This assembly recognizes and calls to the attention of our Catholic people the leadership of our bishops on the various issues of human life and rights, such as world hunger and world peace, housing, economic justice, racism and the aged.

We urge the entire Catholic community, working as church and in cooperation with the total community, to promote a critical reordering of national priorities and policies to give- primary consideration to human rights and human needs. Therefore, as one body of concerned Americans, speaking on behalf of the participants in the national Catholic bicentennial program, we recommend to the nation the following goals for public policy:

1. A national commitment to a policy of peace and to programs of disarmament that will release resources now committed to preparation for war to meet the basic social needs of peoples.

2. A national commitment to a policy that provides for the protection of human life from the moment of its conception and at every stage of its existence, a national policy which respects human life by providing alternatives to abortion and by working to eliminate its causes.

3. A national commitment to economic and social justice and the elimination of poverty and of racism as an effective means of reducing crime. This policy should include programs to involve citizens, neighborhoods and organizations in preventing crime and in monitoring the criminal justice system, especially aimed at humanizing the penal system; knowledge of the rights of the accused, adequate legal representation, representative juries, competent judges, speedy trials, due process and judicial integrity; just compensation to victims of crime; abolition of capital punishment; development of alternatives to prisons, rehabilitative services and reintegration of offenders into the community.

4. A national commitment to income security by providing opportunities for employment with sufficient compensation for all who can work and by providing adequate income for those unable to support themselves.

5. Reform of public policies to effect more equitable taxation at all levels of government by shifting the burden of taxation to those most able to pay

6. A public policy of comprehensive health care, as a fundamental and essential human right, for every person regardless of income, age, social status or place of residence.

7. Measures to limit speculation in land and excessive ownership of the land by individual and corporate interests; to promote conservation of natural resources and to protect the environment through stewardship of the land, water and air; to involve local communities in policy decisions about land use.

8. Speedy public action to insure decent housing at reasonable cost to all Americans.

9. A national foreign policy more resolutely and more explicitly supportive of the human rights and dignity of all peoples, a policy that restructures its activities in the areas of trade, investment and assistance in line with principles of justice and with the developmental needs and priorities of Third and Fourth World countries through, among other things:
a) Denial of military and economic aid or preference to any nation violating internationally recognized standards of human and civil rights,
b) Support for international commodity price agreements;
c) Opening of the United States' markets to exports from the Third and Fourth World;
d) A code of behavior for United States multinational corporations.

10. A national commitment to end racism in the United States by guaranteeing equal opportunity in education, housing, and employment for racial and ethnic minorities. As part of this commitment to racial justice, we urge cooperation with federal court decisions to desegregate school systems and we oppose the redlining and disinvestment isin vest nient of' neighborhoods that accompany racial change.

11. A commitment to quality education for all students so that they might enjoy meaningful work and lifestyles. This goal would include full recognition of student rights.

12. We promote full equality under the law for men and women in the United States and in every state of the Union. We endorse the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

13. A revision of immigration laws and policies to respond more fairly to present and future needs including:
a) Amnesty for undocumented aliens;
b) Acceptance of refugees, both economic and political;
c) Prompt reunification of families;
d) That any persons entering this nation over 30 years of age be extended the right to take the citizenship test in his native language since many come to work rather than to study.

14. Unconditional amnesty to all draft, military and civilian resisters to the Vietnam war.

15. Reform of public assistance to make it more adequate to meet the needs of the poor, to be supportive of their efforts toward self-reliance, to encourage community self-help to support family and neighborhood structures and to rectify disproportionate state and local welfare burdens by developing equitable and coordinated financing of federally-mandated welfare programs.

III Recommendation: Morality and Public Policy

We believe that the church in the United States has an obligation to stand in the nation as a prophet - that by strong and courageous action it must make visible in every case its option for the poor and powerless. In order to encourage the continuing formation of a public conscience on issues of national life, we recommend:

1. That this assembly and our bishops encourage individuals, groups, and the nation as a whole to scrutinize conscientiously and to criticize constructively national actions that effect respect for human life, especially on issues such as abortion, peace and disarmament, world hunger, racial discrimination and the plight of the poor and the weak who have a right to that decency and dignity implied in our common equality before God, who is recognized in the Declaration of Independence as the source of all our rights.

2. That we unite with the papal and episcopal teachings in calling for a prayerful critical analysis and a transformation of structures causing social injustice. Recognizing that many of the basic values of our present economic system appear to be directly in conflict with gospel values, we recommend that the teaching church draw the attention of Catholic community to the causal relationships between this economic system and social ills. We further recommend that the church support research exploring alternative and innovative economic structures that will distribute power more equitably.

3. That the Catholic communications organization (Unda), other coalitions and religious communicators, make citizens aware of present efforts to influence the human and the aesthetic quality of network and local programming and advertising, so that citizens can cooperate with these efforts. We further urge the Catholic bishops to provide resources to:
a) Aid in advocacy work that counteracts dehumanizing values and excessive consumerism of the media;
b) Aid in advocacy work to assure access to the media in the public interest;
c) Enable placement of positive programming and advertising of human aesthetic quality.

4. That government provide support, including financial support, for educational reforms aimed at promoting equal educational opportunity.

IV Recommendation: Ongoing Implementation

We recommend:

1. That the process of consultation (listening, responding, implementing) become a regular element of U.S. Catholic life, especially initiating, encouraging, enabling pastoral programs relating the ministry of the church to the broader community, the nation and the world.

2. That this process of consultation be continued as a normal process structured into diocesan and parish life.

3. That there be established local structures to enable people to participate in the decisionmaking processes so that trust can grow between: the bishop and the people; the pastor and the people; and the powerful and the powerless.

4. That the NCCB through the bicentennial office establish a representative task force drawn from delegates to this conference and this task force should be invited to be present at the bishops' meeting of the spring, 1977, to dialogue with the bishops concerning plans for the ongoing implementation of the recommendations of this conference:
a) To sustain the momentum of the Call to Action;
b) To promote the implementation of all the recommendations;
c) To set in motion another consultation within five years to evaluate the results of this program and to suggest goals for the next period;
d) To prepare consultations and workshops for priests and others to prepare them for participation in the ongoing Call to Action process.
e) The make-up of the task force should reflect the actual racial, ethnic and cultural make-up of the church in the United States.

5. That church leadership at national, regional, diocesan and parish levels commit adequate resources of money and personnel for the ongoing implementation of the Liberty and Justice for All process in cooperation with existing social and educational ministries.

6. That the delegates to the Call to Action conference commit themselves to promote the implementation of the recommendations of this conference.

7. That in order to implement the resoloutions of this conference we look to the words of Pope Paul VI that "no one is justified in keeping for his exclusive use what he does not need, when others lack necessities ... in a word the right to property must never be exercised to the detriment of the common good." And again when he says, "it is not enough to recall principles, state intentions, point to crying injustices and utter prophetic denunciations; these words will lack real weight unless they are accompanied ... by effective actions."

We, thereby, recommend that, reviewing each year until 1981 their property and other material possessions and divesting themselves of that which is unnecessary or not in keeping with "institutional simplicity."

 

Reprinted with permission of the Quixote Center.