New Bible highlights poverty and justice passages

by NZ Catholic staff
Poverty and justice are to be highlighted in the Catholic Church throughout New Zealand in the coming months.

The new Poverty and Justice Bible.

The new Poverty and Justice Bible.


Cardinal John Dew officially launched the Poverty and Justice Bible campaign on September 13, which coincided with the start of Caritas’s Social Justice Week. The campaign is jointly developed by Bible Society New Zealand and
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand.
This Bible includes more than 3500 highlighted verses referring to poverty and justice. It is based on the New Standard Revised Version Bible, which also includes an At the Core study section drawn from the New Zealand Year 12
religious education curriculum and Caritas resources. This enables readers to better understand the Church’s
teaching on poverty and justice.
Cardinal John Dew launched the Poverty and Justice Bible campaign.

Cardinal John Dew launched the Poverty and Justice Bible campaign.


The Bible is inspired by Pope Francis, who called on Catholics to “give a voice to the cry of the poor”.
Cardinal Dew said that Pope Francis is passionate about people living the Gospel of Jesus and has a deep concern
for those who suffer from injustice and live lives of poverty. The cardinal is president of the Bible Society of New Zealand.
The director of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, Julianne Hickey, added: “The Poverty and Justice Bible highlights
that love of neighbour and work for justice that are at the heart of our scriptural tradition.”
About 350 people, including priests, young people, secondary school teachers and Caritas supporters, are expected
to attend the nationwide launch.
Cardinal Dew blessed the specially developed Poverty and Justice Bible at an evening mass at Sts Peter and Paul
Mass Centre in Lower Hutt.
A practical aspect of the campaign is the buy one/gift one option which enables another Bible to be automatically
gifted to someone in need when one Bible is purchased.
“It’s been 50 years since the document Dei Verbum, the Word of God was released. One of the key messages of that document was price should never be a barrier to people having access to the scriptures, to the Word of God,”
Cardinal Dew said.
Bible Society New Zealand’s mission is to help create “easy access to sacred Scripture”, as called for in Dei
Verbum, and to enable greater engagement with it.

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