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Contents

Chronicle

Dorothy Day chosen as outstanding Catholic of 20th century.

Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, was chosen the most outstanding lay Catholic in the world during the 20th century. A panel of church historians and theologians selected her. Some feel she is a saint but should not be proclaimed as such by the church. Besides Dorothy not wanting this beacuse she "did not want to be easily dismissed;" Dan Berrigan wrote, "Abandon all thought of this expensive, overly juridical process With the money thus saved, otherwise spent on ecclesiastical lawyers, expensive meetings and travel of experts, begin here and now feeding the multitudes Her poverty of spirit, a great gift of our age, would forbid the expensive puffing of baroque sainthood. We have here a saint whose soul should not be stolen from her peoplethe wretched of the earth."

Disparity between rich and poor continues to increase.

In a rapidly globalising era, the disparity between rich and poor continues to widen:

ó the wealth of the richest 225 people (= US$1 trillion) equals the income of 2.5 billion people.
ó the wealth of the 32 richest people exceeds the GDP of South Asia, Iran and Afghanistan.
ó 25 families are as wealthy as 2.3 billion people.
ó 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day.
ó The richest 20% of humanity hold 82.7% of the world's wealth.

New EU green certificates for carbon dioxide abatement.

As the 1997 Electricity Directive takes effect across the EU, governments are looking for new ways to support renewables in a dynamic way, reflecting market forces. One system emerging centres on the use of quotas and green certificates. Power producers generating electricity from renewable sources are allocated green certificates, while other electricity suppliers/consumers must acquire a certain number of these certificates to demonstrate that they have fulfilled their quota commitment. Green electricity is traded in the same way as electricity from the conventional sources, but the certificates are traded on a separate financial market.

Energy Update, Irish Energy Centre.

Nations need to act simultaneously to counter global forces.

The Simultaneous Policy is a new international campaign to counter the forces of globalisation and international competition. To break the vicious circle of global competition, both between nations and between corporations, all nations need to act simultaneously by implementing the Simultaneous Policy (SP)a range of measures to re-regulate global markets and corporations in order to restore genuine democracy, environmental protection and peace around the world.

Endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Helena Norberg-Hodge and Ed Mayo.

Simultaneous Policy, P.O. Box 26547, London SE3 7YT, UK. Fax: +44 (0)20-8464 2035. E-mail: info@simpol.org Website: http://www.simpol.org

Leg problems in broiler chickens due to over breeding

Modern broiler chickens have been pushedmainly through selective breedingto reach their slaughter weight in just 41/42 days. (Broilers are birds reared for their meat). This is twice as fast as 30-35 years ago. What grows quickly is the muscle (which is what is eaten as meat). The legs, however, fail to keep pace with the rapid growth and so cannot support the overdeveloped body. As a result, each year millions of broilers suffer from painful, sometimes crippling leg disorders. A British study in 1992 found that 26% of broilers were likely to be suffering from chronic pain as a result of leg problems. A more recent Danish study put the figure at 30.1%.

You can help by writing to your Minister of Agriculture urging that urgent action be taken to end the high level of painful leg problems in broilers. The Irish Minister is: Mr Joe Walsh, Department of Agriculture and Food, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

A letter from Brendan Forde in Colombia. Six massacred in his village.

"On July 8th we had another massacre in one of our communities, La Union. It is a small community of about 150 people. At 3 pm a group of armed men in army uniforms with balaclavas came in and rounded up the people. They separated the men from the women and children and then separated the men between 25 and 40. There were 6 and they shot them immediately on the village green. They then told the people that if they did not abandon the village in 20 days they would come back and kill more. The people were displaced before and don't want that experience again. They are also very poor and don't have anywhere to go. So they have decided to stay. I was supposed to leave for Costa Rica at the end of July but in the light of what has happened I have decided to stay. I will probably be here till November anyway.

As you can imagine, the situation is terribly tense. The people have no protection. We don't know what is going to happen but can only hope and prayThis afternoon we baptised 3 children and it seemed like holy act of defiance in the face of evil."

Brendan Forde is an Irish Franciscan priest. You can help by contacting the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and the American Embassy to express your concern and to press for action to be taken against the Colombian government.

Semipalatinska fate worse than Chernobyl

Semipalatinsk is in northern Kazakhstan, a vast country which lies between Russia and China. It has had over 500 nuclear tests carried out there since the atom bomb was first tested there in 1949. The consequences of these explosions have been much worse than those of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Chernobylover 2 million people became victims. Now the third generation of people are effected. They suffer from weakness of the immune system, and acute ontological, heart, hematological and psychological diseases. Despite the shutdown of the test site, many problems remain. Thousands of children and adults who were born as invalids are suffering extreme poverty.

Families are being sought to adopt or foster babies who could benefit from surgery.

Contact: Chernobyl Orphan Fund, Abbey House, 4 North Abbey St, Cork. Tel. 021-307328 / 087-2423148

Contents

Contents
Chronicle
Dorothy Day chosen as outstanding Catholic of 20th century. Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, was chosen the most outstanding lay Catholic in the world during the 20th century. A panel of church historians and theologians selected her. Some feel she is a saint but should not be proclaimed as such by the church. Besides Dorothy not wanting this beacuse she "did not want to be easily dismissed;" Dan Berrigan wrote, "Abandon all thought of this expensive, overly juridical process With the money thus saved, otherwise spent on ecclesiastical lawyers, expensive meetings and travel of experts, begin here and now feeding the multitudes Her poverty of spirit, a great gift of our age, would forbid the expensive puffing of baroque sainthood. We have here a saint whose soul should not be stolen from her peoplethe wretched of the earth."
Disparity between rich and poor continues to increase. In a rapidly globalising era, the disparity between rich and poor continues to widen: ó the wealth of the richest 225 people (= US$1 trillion) equals the income of 2.5 billion people. ó the wealth of the 32 richest people exceeds the GDP of South Asia, Iran and Afghanistan. ó 25 families are as wealthy as 2.3 billion people. ó 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day. ó The richest 20% of humanity hold 82.7% of the world's wealth.
New EU green certificates for carbon dioxide abatement. As the 1997 Electricity Directive takes effect across the EU, governments are looking for new ways to support renewables in a dynamic way, reflecting market forces. One system emerging centres on the use of quotas and green certificates. Power producers generating electricity from renewable sources are allocated green certificates, while other electricity suppliers/consumers must acquire a certain number of these certificates to demonstrate that they have fulfilled their quota commitment. Green electricity is traded in the same way as electricity from the conventional sources, but the certificates are traded on a separate financial market. Energy Update, Irish Energy Centre.
Nations need to act simultaneously to counter global forces. The Simultaneous Policy is a new international campaign to counter the forces of globalisation and international competition. To break the vicious circle of global competition, both between nations and between corporations, all nations need to act simultaneously by implementing the Simultaneous Policy (SP)a range of measures to re-regulate global markets and corporations in order to restore genuine democracy, environmental protection and peace around the world. Endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Helena Norberg-Hodge and Ed Mayo. Simultaneous Policy, P.O. Box 26547, London SE3 7YT, UK. Fax: +44 (0)20-8464 2035. E-mail: info@simpol.org Website: http://www.simpol.org
Leg problems in broiler chickens due to over breeding Modern broiler chickens have been pushedmainly through selective breedingto reach their slaughter weight in just 41/42 days. (Broilers are birds reared for their meat). This is twice as fast as 30-35 years ago. What grows quickly is the muscle (which is what is eaten as meat). The legs, however, fail to keep pace with the rapid growth and so cannot support the overdeveloped body. As a result, each year millions of broilers suffer from painful, sometimes crippling leg disorders. A British study in 1992 found that 26% of broilers were likely to be suffering from chronic pain as a result of leg problems. A more recent Danish study put the figure at 30.1%. You can help by writing to your Minister of Agriculture urging that urgent action be taken to end the high level of painful leg problems in broilers. The Irish Minister is: Mr Joe Walsh, Department of Agriculture and Food, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
A letter from Brendan Forde in Colombia. Six massacred in his village. "On July 8th we had another massacre in one of our communities, La Union. It is a small community of about 150 people. At 3 pm a group of armed men in army uniforms with balaclavas came in and rounded up the people. They separated the men from the women and children and then separated the men between 25 and 40. There were 6 and they shot them immediately on the village green. They then told the people that if they did not abandon the village in 20 days they would come back and kill more. The people were displaced before and don't want that experience again. They are also very poor and don't have anywhere to go. So they have decided to stay. I was supposed to leave for Costa Rica at the end of July but in the light of what has happened I have decided to stay. I will probably be here till November anyway. As you can imagine, the situation is terribly tense. The people have no protection. We don't know what is going to happen but can only hope and prayThis afternoon we baptised 3 children and it seemed like holy act of defiance in the face of evil." Brendan Forde is an Irish Franciscan priest. You can help by contacting the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and the American Embassy to express your concern and to press for action to be taken against the Colombian government.
Semipalatinska fate worse than Chernobyl Semipalatinsk is in northern Kazakhstan, a vast country which lies between Russia and China. It has had over 500 nuclear tests carried out there since the atom bomb was first tested there in 1949. The consequences of these explosions have been much worse than those of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Chernobylover 2 million people became victims. Now the third generation of people are effected. They suffer from weakness of the immune system, and acute ontological, heart, hematological and psychological diseases. Despite the shutdown of the test site, many problems remain. Thousands of children and adults who were born as invalids are suffering extreme poverty. Families are being sought to adopt or foster babies who could benefit from surgery. Contact: Chernobyl Orphan Fund, Abbey House, 4 North Abbey St, Cork. Tel. 021-307328 / 087-2423148