Another Fair Trade Resolution from Church Leaders

Here at CRS headquarters, we are fond of sharing that the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops passed a resolution supporting Fair Trade a couple years ago at one of their annual meetings. We were as delighted to learn from our Constituency Relations colleague Christine Smith that the National Council of Catholic Women recently also passed a resolution in support of Fair Trade at the NCCW national conference.

NCCW is a Catholic women’s organization with over 5,000 individual members that acts as an umbrella organization for eight other Catholic women’s organizations, such as the Catholic Daughters of America. The NCCW mission is to act through its members to support, empower and educate all Catholic women in spirituality, leadership and service. Fair Trade has become an important part of diocesan and parish councils of Catholic women. Handmade crafts from Work of Humans Hands, coffee and chocolate are often sold at grassroots gatherings. Economic Justice is frequently spoken and prayed about during parish meetings and diocesan conferences. It is no surprised that the NCCW rallied around the following resolution:

Whereas, the NCCW can make a significant difference against world poverty by promoting fair trade practices,
Whereas, the USCCB Campaign Against Global Poverty seeks to promote an equitable international trade system,
Whereas, Farmers and Artisans in developing nations have a right to just compensation for their products traded on the world market,
Resolved, that the members of the NCCW purchase Fair Trade items and encourage such items be made available to the general public.

The women also supported a second resolution agreeing to support the Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty. But time at the national conference wasn’t all work. This photo shows Christine and our colleague from A Greater Gift, Serena Sato, enjoying themselves in the exhibit hall!

CRS Fair Trade is very grateful to NCCW for their leadership on poverty and justice issues, and encourage you to learn more about how they are working in your community. Of course, if you have updates on local NCCW activities, please comment on this blog to share the word!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 and is filed under Chocolate, Coffee, Events, Fair Trade, crafts . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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