The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1961-06-30
ON BR4CERO BILL:
BY r.. James Wizard

One of the pleasures
and rewards of the rural
apostolate is the oppor-
tunity to cooperate with
out reservation and in
warm brotherhood with repre-
sentatives of other faiths.
In matters which affect the
social, economic and moral
wellbeing of rural people
there is hardly one whit of
difference in either principle
or detectives between reli-
gious bodies which in other
areas may find themselves at
loggerheads.
TIME AND AGAIN at Con-
g~ressional hearings, confer
ences, and organizational
meetings, NCRLC representa-
tives find themselves ranged
side by side with Protestant
and Jewish spokesman who
speak with the same voice
and the same concern.
So, for instance, at recent
hearings on the Mexican farm
labor importation program,
the statement of the Nation
al Council of Churches could
easily have been written and
delivered, every word of it, by
a spokesman of a Catholic Or
ganization.
AGAIN, SEVERAL YEARS
ago representatives Of the
NCRLC made a joint presenta-
ton to a Senate Committee
on the sharing Of US, agri-
cultural abundance with the
needy, wherever they might
be.
SO it was with renewed
pleasure that, browsing
through the March 3, 1861,
Congressional Record, |
found reprinted there the
resolution adopted December
o, 1860, by the General AS
sembly of the National Coun-
ell of Churches entitled ETH
cal Issues in the lnternatlon-
al Age Of Agriculture"
THIS STATEMENT. SO
WELL reasoned and so elo-
quently written, is an almost
exact parallel of the NCRLC's
1856 policy statement "A
Program for Shared Album
dance" Identical moral and
religious principles inspire
both documents; through them
both shine the same Christian
spirit and concern for the
needy, Christ's brethren and
ours.
Because differences between
the Churches are so often
dramatized and TO often be-
come sources of mlsunder-
standing and conflict, ! think
it is important for Catholic
readers-and others-to be
able TO read for themselves
excerpts from this Protestant
document TO which we can
all say a hearty "Amen."
"Our Lord made perfectly
clear that mans duty to God
includes the production and
sharing of the material neces-
sites Of life. He described
the conditions of salvation
at the ultimate judgment to
include the fact tina we did
or did no-'fced the hungry
and clothe the naked
"In today's world the gar
is wide, and in some areas
widening, between the need
for food and available food
supplies. A large proportion
Of the worlds population still
lives in malnutrition and hun,
ger. A few nations enjoy
plenty: with us agricultural
SURPRISES are a continuing
problem.
"As a people, we inherited
an abundance of God-givef
natural resources for the pro.
duction of food. such as few
other nations enjoy. To many
hunger-ridden nations the use
of our abundance for our
selves, and our mounting sur.
pluses seem to indicate that
we are spiritually isolated
from their cry for food else.
where.
ITO others our donation
programs seem primarily mo.
tivatcd by q paternalism OF
for our national ADVANTAGE in
the cold war. Many hold thai
we could transform our sur.
pluses from a problem into
an asset by finding new uses
for their marketing, and new
ways Of sharing them. Thi.
would lessen the fears that
our surplus disposal programs
may disrupt world market:
upon which their own econ
must1~ 1nnan1