NEW YORK – Seventeen US bishops have thrown their weight behind a campaign to encourage Congress to redirect military spending towards helping the nation’s poor and marginalised. Those leading the campaign hope to see more bishops add their support.
For decades, Catholic peace advocacy organisation Pax Christi USA has advocated through its “Bread Not Stones” campaign for Congress to allocate more of the US defence budget to other areas of the federal government’s spending that will help the poor and marginalised. The campaign takes its name from a question Jesus asks his followers in Matthew 7:9: “Which of you, if your child asks for bread, will give them a stone?”
For the latest version of the campaign, the focus has shifted. While still addressing the federal government, the campaign is also directed at the nation’s Catholic leaders in an attempt to get them to become more outspoken about the “scandal of unfettered military spending”.
In December, Congress passed the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defence Authorisation Act, which allocated $883.7 billion in national defence spending. The total is more than $25 billion higher than the FY 2023 National Defence Authorisation Act allocation of $857.9 billion.
According to Department of Treasury data last updated 30 Nov. 2023, the federal government has spent $1.06 trillion so far in FY 2024, which began on 1 Oct. 2023. Of that money, $158 billion has gone towards national defence (15 per cent). Meanwhile, $36 billion has gone towards education training, employment and social services (3 per cent), the data shows.
“Pax Christi USA sees the US military budget, especially the part earmarked for weapons development, as offering stones when so many social programs in the US are underfunded, resulting in poor nutrition and hunger in our country,” In a statement to Crux
“In the recently concluded Advent season we heard the dream of the Prophet Isaiah about the day when nations would beat their swords into plowshares,” Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, the Pax Christi USA National Council President, told Crux in a statement. “We seem ever farther from that day with state-sponsored violence increasing day by day. It is time for followers of the Prince of Peace to work harder for the realization of this prophecy.”
As of 3 January, Pax Christi USA tells Crux they’ve reached out to about 80 US bishops, of which 17 have signed on to the campaign, including two cardinals and two archbishops. The organisation intends to reach out to every bishop.
The two cardinals who have signed onto the statement are Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, both of whom declined a Crux request for comment.
The FY 2024 National Defence Authorization Act includes $24 billion for the activities of the National Nuclear Security Administration. Money will also go towards the establishment of hypersonic weapons, nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles and nuclear weapons development programs.
The only category the government has spent more money on than national defence is social security.
Johnny Zokovitch, the executive director of Pax Christi USA, told Crux that the organization is grateful for the support of US bishops who have signed onto the campaign to encourage Congress to rethink the way it allocates the federal budget, and for “taking a clear, public stance to call out the immoral and outrageous military budget that depletes the funds necessary for human needs”.
Zokovitch adds that the organisation will continue to call for support from those Church leaders who have not yet backed the campaign, citing the Pope’s recent criticism of the global arms industry during his Christmas messages.
“We’re also committed to continuing to raise up the call of Pope Francis to our church leaders who declined to sign, calling on them to say an unequivocal ‘no’ to weapons manufacturers and warmakers and make explicit that our church stands with those who are poor and those who are in need,” Zokovitch said.
“Such a stance is perfectly aligned with the message at the heart of the gospel, especially as we celebrate this Christmas season, and our church needs to hear this preached boldly from those in leadership.”
Photo: The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the US Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the US federal government. (Photo credit: Mikhail Makarov; iStock by Getty Images.)
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