wfn.org | Catholic Bishops Use Internet to Call for Justice in Poultry Industry

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For Immediate Release
November 29, 2000

John Bookser Feister, editor, AmericanCatholic.org
513-241-5615, ext. 135
web contact: http://www.poultry-pastoral.org

Catholic Bishops Use Internet to Call for Justice in Poultry Industry

Just in time for the holiday season 41 Roman Catholic bishops are calling 
the nation's attention to patterns of injustice in the poultry industry 
that produces chicken and turkey products for homes everywhere.

Behind inexpensive poultry prices are, in many cases, dangerous work 
conditions in processing plants and difficult financial arrangements or 
ecological worries for the farmers who raise the birds.

The new pastoral letter, "Voices and Choices: A Pastoral Message on Justice 
in the Workplace from the Catholic Bishops of the South" was released 
during the general meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops 
on November 15. Several years of field research and testimony from workers 
and farmers led to the creation of the letter.

Since many poultry workers are Mexican immigrants, the letter is published 
both in Spanish and in English.

Using the poultry industry as an example, it raises awareness of issues 
such as justice in the workplace, human dignity, the vulnerability of 
immigrants and shared responsibility, Scripture, Catholic social teaching, 
the stories of workers are used to explore the Gospel mandate to recognize 
God present in each of our brothers and sisters. A reflection and response 
text is included to help individuals and parish groups discern their own 
call to address the issues.The letter was created for print distribution, 
but, several organizations have indicated they will  publish the document 
on their web sites.

Full text of the letter in English and Spanish is available at 
http://www.poultry-pastoral.org, a web address contributed by 
AmericanCatholic.org, web site of St. Anthony Messenger Press. That 
Franciscan publishing house is the principal distributor for the print 
edition of the pastoral.

Media contacts relating to the content of the pastoral are available at the 
web site,
  http://www.poultry-pastoral.org.