Lancaster - A Fairtrade Diocese

o       What Is Fairtrade?

In order to understand Fairtrade it is important to keep in mind the distinction between charity and justice. Buying Fairtrade goods is not about making a donation towards a charity. It's about entering into a just relationship with those who supply us with the food and craft-goods we use, allowing the producers to receive a fair wage for their work rather than paying them as little as we can get away with, as so often happens in our society. 

In practice Fairtrade means that small-scale producers receive a guaranteed payment for the products which is fixed above the "market rate". A proportion of the "premium" that they receive is re-invested in the local community, producing benefits such as improved schooling, health and sanitation. How to spend this premium is decided collectively by the producers themselves but what may seem like insignificant amounts of money to us can have dramatic effects in the Developing World communities affected.

o       Fairtrade and Spirituality

For the Catholic Christian, Fairtrade can also be an aid towards spiritual growth. Choosing Fairtrade products when we shop encourages us to reflect on our own lifestyles and the impact of our consumption on others. As we learn to look for Fairtrade alternatives we also become more conscious of the links which bind us to our poorer brothers and sisters around the world.

If that is true for the individual it is also true for the group - be that group a prayer-group, finance-committee, parish, school or diocese. Acts of love and solidarity with the poor are truly acts of reverence and devotion for the Lord, signs of God's Kingdom where the poor and the outcast can at last take their proper place at the Banquet of God's love.

Lancaster Diocese became a Fairtrade Diocese in June 2005.

o       What Can We Do?

Your parish or community can get recognition of its commitment to Fairtrade directly from Cafod (www.cafod.org.uk/howtoguides), provided you:

• Use Fairtrade tea and coffee for all meetings for which you have responsibility;

   

• Increase the use of other Fairtrade products, such as sugar, biscuits, fruit, etc.;

   

• Promote Fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight - and at other opportunities throughout the year.  

o       Practical Steps at Local Level

o        Why not get a small group together to guide the parish through this process and to plan your involvement in Fairtrade Fortnight? There are also plentiful suggestions of things to do on the Fairtrade Foundation website (www.fairtrade.org.uk).

o        This could be a good opportunity to involve particular groups within the parish (e.g. members of the Confirmation or Youth group) or to link up with what is happening in your local Catholic Secondary schools.

o        Consider setting up a Traidcraft agency in the parish (or working ecumenically with other local churches to run a stall). Details can be found on the Traidcraft website (www.traidcraft.co.uk).

o        Above all, try and include prayers for the world's poor and for Trade Justice in your Sunday liturgy, your prayer group, your parish newsletter or magazine, your school assembly

Practical Resources and Useful Addresses:

Diocesan Contact:

Joy Bosworth

36 Haig Road

Blackpool

FY1 6BZ

bizworthb@hotmail.co.uk

T: 01253 344008

Cafod
Romero Close,

Stockwell Road, London

SW9 9TY

www.cafod.org.uk
020-7733-7900

 
Fairtrade Foundation
Room 204, 16 Baldwin's Gardens, London EC1N 7RJ
www.fairtrade.org.uk
020-7405-5942

 
Traidcraft
Kingsway, Gateshead NE11 0NE
www.traidcraft.co.uk
0191-491-0591