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Waterloo MP Walter McLean (left), Father Mike Ryan and Rev. Terry O‘Connor listen as Janet Sommerville states her case during discussion Friday night on the Canadian bishops‘ statement. Mardi Wareham photo Spectrum of thought on bishops‘ statement Mardi Wareham Chronicle Special The controversial statement about Canada‘s economy published last January by six Canaâ€" dian bishops has thrown the church and theology into the public limelight. One man enthusiastically praised it as a "great document;"‘ another criticized it as not provocative enough. For twoâ€"andâ€"aâ€"half hours last Friday night, more than 120 people listened as a panel of four speakers in St. Jerome‘s College at the Univerâ€" sity of Waterloo discussed the statement. The bishops condemn high unemployment levels as a "social evil."" They urge the Canadian government to recognize unemployâ€" ment, not inflation, as the number one problem in Canada. It‘s not often that Canadian bishops are "catapulted to stardom," noted Dr. Michael Higgins, the panel moderator. He told the attentive crowd that controversy sparked by the statement lingers â€" people are still debating the merits and faults of the document. That debate continued Friday among panel members â€" Walter McLean, Waterloo MP and former minister of Knox Presbyterian Church in Waterloo, Janet Somerville, coâ€"editor of the Catholic New Times newspaper and former CBC radio producer, Rev. Terry O‘Connor, a deacon and theâ€" secretaryâ€"treasurer | of â€" the â€"100,000 member Ontario division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and Father Mike Ryan, a teacher at St. Peter‘s Seminary in London and an organizer of unemployment centres in that city. ' 1 ze s l & ie en e ce nds Ryan lauded the bishops for not merely paying lip service to general principle but applying the Christian principles of liberating the oppressed and recognizing the value of human work. His overall assessment: ‘"This is a great docuâ€" ment." O‘Connor, on the other hand, said the statement was not provocative enough. It has failed to capture the federal government‘s attention because the recent budget ignores almost all of the bishops‘ suggestions, he said. But McLean told the audience the bishaps‘ statement is often mentioned during House of Commons debates. It is "synonymous with concern for the human, in the midst of all this technology .‘ Rather than avoiding politics the bishops have applied their knowledge of theology by offering solutions to our problem economy, he said. ‘"We don‘t necessarily have to like the prescription. But the courage to put forwa rd the prescription means the start of a debate." Critics of the statement say it alltacks pMOFl‘ and they point out that the desire for profit "fuels"* the economy, Sommerville said. Some economists criticize the bishops‘ _ notion of eradicating unemployment without worrying about inflation. The two are inseparable, they Sa y â€" But recently Ssommerville has heard other economists declare that it is possible to separate inflation â€" and unemployment. _ The bishops‘ statement makes sense in economic terms, she‘s learned. say say it attacks profit he desire for profit merville said. Some Still, it‘s "galling" for hardâ€"pressed businâ€" esspeople, trying to meet a payroll, hear the church preach to them. "It is so seductive to come out with a good statement," Sommerville said. Statements can seem selfâ€"righteous and smug as can celibate clergymen who give advice about sex," she said. _ "At some point soon we‘re going to have to carefully, respectfully listen to the criticism and then go forward with a _brqader view." Sommerville thinks the bishops will probably make more statements. Few people realize this was approximately the 18th in a series, she said. The average is about two a year. 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