DEBT FORGIVENESS
Commentary on Faculty Colloquium

The Jubilee year was meant to restore equality among all the children of Israel, offering new possibilities to families which had lost their property and even their personal freedom…. The riches of creation were to be considered as a common good of the whole of humanity…. The jubilee year was meant to restore social justice…. If we recall that Jesus came to "preach the good news to the poor" (Mt 11:5; Lk 7:22), how can we fail to lay greater emphasis on the church’s preferential option for the poor and the outcast? (13, 51) John Paul II, Tertio Millennio Adveniente

The Jubilee year stimulated conversations and action on many issues. The themes of the Jubilee are rooted in Old Testament scripture and focus on social justice. As Professor Bulman notes, "while its roots were clearly theological, the Jubilee Year was still in essence an economic institution." The theological theme of forgiveness, from an economic perspective, raises the issue of debt forgiveness, personal as well as international debt relief.

The Jubilee year offered an opportunity for new thinking and action on the issue of debt. The United Nations (United Nations Millennium Declaration), the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (A Jubilee Call for Debt Forgiveness) as well as the Pope’s call to the Jubilee Year (Tertio Millennio Adveniente) called attention to this serious problem and offered hope that we could bring some relief to the poorest countries crushed by debt service. Historically, Catholic social thought offered a framework of principles and perspectives on this issue and several documents have been issued dealing with this topic in addition to the Jubilee documents. In the late 1980s Pope John Paul II spoke to this issue in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987) and the American Catholic Bishops also examined principles and practices in Relieving Third World Debt (1989) and in their pastoral letter Economic Justice for All (1986). A Third document, Putting Life Before Debt (1998), published by CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis also addressed this issue from the perspective of Catholic social thought. The Latin American bishops as well as African bishops addressed this issue in pastoral exhortations. As many people studied the debt crisis, the costs in human and moral consequences became clearer. Recognizing the great pain that the debt crisis was causing to the poor in the nations crushed by this debt, Dr. Adabayo Adedji, a former Under Secretary General of the United Nations, said: "Debt is tearing down schools, clinics, hospitals and the effects are no less devastating than war."

At a faculty research forum in early 2000, the faculty lifted up various dimensions of this topic, with an emphasis on an interdisplinary agenda. Professor Bulman examined the theological roots of debt forgiveness. Professor Jack Williams sought the moral imperatives of the debtor/creditor relationship rooted in scripture and noted that at the same time that the world community was examining the world debt crisis, the United States Congress was debating major changes in the Bankruptcy law in our nation. Professors Clark and Choi approached the issue of third world debt forgiveness from very divergent perspectives. These brief abstracts of their research offer the hope of stimulating more conversations and critical thinking.

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