The archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland, Sean Brady, together with the bishop of Clonfert, John Kirby, and the auxiliary bishop of Dublin, Raymond Field, presented a pastoral letter of the bishops on international development in Dublin in recent days. In their letter, with the title “Towards the global common good”, the bishops appeal to the government “to strive to achieve, at the latest by 2010, the objective fixed by the United Nations of allocating 0.7 percent” of GDP to the developing countries”. “The central message of the pastoral letter explained Brady is the invitation to persevere in our commitment to the good of our neighbour, not only in personal, but also in national and global terms. This, in turn, requires a spirit of cooperation and the will to sacrifice personal or national interest for the salvation of the global common good”. Hence the need, added Kirby, to “combat poverty and promote peace, security and human rights”. He urged the government to “make pledges” to this end in the days ahead, on the occasion of next week’s 60th General Assembly of the United Nations.
