A STATEMENT ON DEBT
West Yorkshire Church Leaders issued a public statement on Debt in Society on Ash Wednesday, 25th February, 2009.
Read the associated press release.
Read the associated background material.
Pastor Gloria Hanley, Chair of West Yorkshire Ecumenical Council and Chair of West Yorkshire African Caribbean Council of Churches, holds the church leaders statement on debt. She is surrounded by West Yorkshire church leaders. From left to right: The Revd. Dr. Elizabeth Smith, Chair of the Leeds Methodist District; The Revd. Graham Brownlee, Yorkshire Baptist Association; The Revd. Kenneth Evans, Chair of the Yorkshire District of the Moravian Church; Eva Pinthus, the Religious Society of Friends; The Rt. Revd. Stephen Platten, Bishop of Wakefield; Lieut. Colonel Bill Heeley, Divisional Commander of the Salvation Army in Yorkshire; The Revd. Peter Whittaker, Chair of the West Yorkshire Methodist District; The Rt. Revd. John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds; The Revd. Kevin Watson, Moderator the Yorkshire Synod of the United Reformed Church; The Rt. Revd. Colin Buchanan, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Bradford; The Rt. Revd. Arthur Roche, Catholic Bishop of Leeds; The Rt. Revd. Walter Jagucki, Bishop Emeritus of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain.
Further background material is available in these related papers by the Revd. Dr. Philip Bee of the Oastler Centre, Leeds:
Community Life and Debt
Understanding the Credit Crunch
Usury in Christian Tradition
Oastler Centre Newsletter
The Rt. Revd. Arther Roche, Catholic Bishop of Leeds, looks on as the Rt. Revd. John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, reads the church leaders' statement on debt.
