From the Washington State
Catholic Conference

(From the Dec. 2, 1999 edition of the Inland Register)

“And you shall hallow the 50th year, and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, you shall return, everyone of you, to your property and everyone of you to your family.... For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. (Leviticus 25.-9b-10, i2a)

The tradition of the Jubilee year found in Leviticus 25 called for specific acts of justice that would honor Yahweh. In this Code of Holiness, the community of Israel was reminded that the land and the gift of freedom came from God who had led them out of Egypt and had made them a free people. The land belonged to God and Israel was God’s chosen steward of the land. In honor of God, the land should share in the Sabbath rest and lie fallow during the Jubilee Year. It was to be left uncultivated and unharvested, but all people were free to eat what grew naturally upon it. The land should be free and so should the people. Those who had lost their freedom to servitude because of economic misfortune were to be set free again. Ancestral property was to be returned to kinship ownership. Kinship ties were to be renewed. In this year of redemption, the social systems were to be brought to a new beginning. God’s people were to be brought to a state of freedom.

During the year 2000, people throughout the world will celebrate the passage of two millennia of Christianity. This will be a time to honor the past, make new beginnings and right old wrongs. As a people of faith, we will celebrate this year as a Jubilee year.

To prepare for the Jubilee year, we must seek justice for the poor and vulnerable, many of whom live in heavily indebted developing nations where the cost of international debt saps resources badly needed for education, health care and economic development. Our nation holds great power in the debate over debt relief, both as a creditor and as a world leader. Jubilee calls us as Catholics to ask our nation to forgive the debts of nations who are too poor to repay them.

Many poor nations are so burdened with international debt that they cannot afford to care for their own people. Hundreds of millions of their citizens suffer as these nations must spend scarce resources on insurmountable debts. As a result, hungry chlidren are denied food, the sick cannot receive care and struggling economies lack economic development. It is the people who live in these nations that pay the price for international debt. In Nicaragua, where the average annual income is $390, the average child is born owing a $2,000 share of their nation’s debt.

When we see the magnitude of this debt burden and how it perpetuates poverty in developing nations, our concern for the poor and our respect for the life and dignity of every person must stir compassion in us. Church teachings compel us to act in solidarity with those who suffer because of these burdens, even if they live outside our national borders.

By helping the people of poor nations, we will also provide for the international common good. Debt relief would do much to improve the lives and economic opportunity of the poor in heavily indebted nations. As a result, it will make these nations more politically and economically stable. Stable countries will be less prone to military conflict and less likely to use their natural resources in a way that endangers the world’s environment.

The call to recognize the year 2000 as a Jubilee year through international debt relief is driven primarily by moral principles. However, it is also reinforced by practical economic concerns.

Economists recognize that even if heavily indebted nations continue the struggle to make payments, their fragile economies will only allow them to pay a small fraction of their total debt. This means the actual losses that international creditors like the United States would incur by extending debt relief are limited to the small amount of debt that heavily indebted poor nations are capable of paying. Moreover, by extending debt forgiveness, creditor nations could benefit from the ability to trade with nations whose economies have been made stable by debt relief.

International debt relief is also vital to improving the relationship between developed and developing nations. Many developing nations regard debt relief as an act of justice, not charity. The debt burden of most poor nations cannot be blamed on their people. Much of today’s debt was accrued by leaders who came to power without popular support and left their countries long ago. In some cases, creditors loaned these leaders large sums of money seeking strategic advantage during the Cold War. In other cases, nations became unable to pay their debts when changes in the world economy devalued their currency, natural disasters occurred or economic development failed.

The United States Congress has a history of extending debt relief to suffering nations and an established process for doing so. However, we must do more. As Catholics, we must ask our leaders to support debt relief proposals that will benefit the poor and strengthen economic development during this Jubilee year.

Proclaiming Jubilee means more than support for international debt relief. It means practicing forgiveness and doing justice in our communities, schools, parishes, workplaces and homes. The opportunity to celebrate this Jubilee year is an important blessing and a time to open our lives to God. As the book of Leviticus instructed the Jewish people to “let the land lie fallow,” we should create room within our hearts and our schedules for God to work within us. We must practice forgiveness and do justice to the people in our lives, restoring relationships and spreading God’s peace. Doing so can help liberate our spirits to be open to God’s will.

As a Church we will look for opportunities to forgive debts. The Jubilee year should be a time when we build lasting ties that will foster dialogue and just relationships. For example, parishes may seek to build cooperative partnerships so that parishes gifted with economic resources can share them with parishes that serve great needs in their community. This kind of practice directs the gifts God has given us to the places of greatest need. Such practices can also demonstrate to society at large how we, as a Church, are doing all we can to celebrate the Jubilee year 2000.

The third millennium of Christianity approaches. Let us proclaim Jubilee!

“Thus, in the spirit of the Book of Leviticus, Christians will have to raise their voice on behalf of the poor of the world, proposing the Jubilee as an appropriate time to give thought, among other things, to reducing substantially, if not canceling outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many nations.” — John Paul II, “As the Third Millennium Draws Near”

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