Response to: Papal Encyclical “Care for Our Common Home”

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) responds to the Papal Encyclical “Care for Our Common Home”

The Religious Society of Friends Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Hāhi Tūhauwiri, known as Quakers, welcomes the Papal Letter of Francis entitled Care for Our Common Home. It deals extensively with the position of people in relation to the natural environment and the economic and social systems by which we live.

Quakers call on all New Zealanders to support these concerns. We urge New Zealanders, personally, as families and communities, and through public and political action, to:

• recognise the responsibility that humans have to care for the earth and its life and to respect it as their home.

• change our ways of doing business, including treating responsibility to the community and the environment as very high priorities within the obligations of business .

• develop an alternative economic model that is based on respect for the Earth, valuing common and intangible goods.

• support our business leaders and all with influence to play a positive role for the welfare of all, so that narrow sectoral interests do not undermine political decision making.

• work urgently towards the use of resilient and renewable forms of energy.

• develop and implement policies and programmes that distribute the wealth of our nation more fairly.

• study the Pope’s encyclical in religious and other community gatherings as a stimulant for new thinking about creating a better future.

Note: The full English text of the encyclical is at

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

ENDS

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