A CATHOLIC bishop last week launched a scathing attack on Government policies of spending on arms and new technology while neglecting the unemployed.
Bishop Joseph Cleary, auxiliary bishop of Birmingham, called for a radical rethink about unemployment and the social problems created by arms spending and technological advance, and urged the Church to take more action in parishes to translate thinking into tangible projects.
Speaking at a special Mass for the unemployed at St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham, the bishop said: "There will have to be a radical rethink about the whole nature of work and unemployment.
"Imaginative thought about society is needed now as never before. Capital investment goes into armaments and technological advance. Are we rushing ahead too fast without seeing the new social problems; above all unemployment?"
Bishop Cleary told the congregation that there should be an examination of overtime and job-sharing to help combat the problem. He said that unemployment could lead to such social problems as tension in marriage, and, for the young, the loss of a symbol of independence.
"Each man has the right to work, the right to develop all his qualities and his personality through the way he works.
"Just wages lead to a decent life not only materially, but socially, culturally and spiritually," he said.