The Very Rev. David Giuliano

October 2008

Greetings in the name of Christ

This has been a busy fall! Besides the many events in our personal and congregational lives, we have just been through a federal election campaign. Across Canada in our various federal ridings, we may be feeling delighted, surprised, or even upset by election results. Sometimes we question whether our vote can really make a difference in a world of suffering and conflict. In the face of economic, ecological, and human rights concerns, it is certainly easy to feel powerless, to resign ourselves to lamenting and giving up. However, no matter how impossible the situation, we believe—as we say in “A Song of Faith”—that

God transforms,
and calls us to protect the vulnerable,
to pray for deliverance from evil,
to work with God for the healing of the world,
that all might have abundant life.

I am writing this letter to offer you a concrete way to “work with God for the healing of the world” by putting into action a new KAIROS* strategy, End Oil Aid! which is part of the Re-Energize campaign. As you know, The United Church of Canada is a member of KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. End Oil Aid! is KAIROS’s new advocacy strategy intended to point out that highly profitable oil companies are subsidized by the Canadian government. In the race for oil, from Ecuador to Indonesia to Canada, fragile ecosystems are degraded, Indigenous rights are violated, and greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. As consumers, we need to use far less energy and use it more efficiently. As citizens, we must ask our government to act.

This campaign urges all of us to let the Prime Minister know that, for the sake of the earth and its people, it’s time to end oil aid and to invest in energy conservation and sustainable renewable energy alternatives. Please raise this issue in your congregation and send a postcard to your Member of Parliament and to the Prime Minister in support of this campaign.

In the work of justice, Jesus himself challenged the powers of his day to stand with the vulnerable. He stands in a long line of prophets and activists in our scriptures and in our world who have spoken out about injustice. As people of faith, we believe that a new heaven and earth is possible and so we speak truth to power for the sake of the common good.

I commend this campaign to you in our ongoing commitment to realizing God’s mission of mending our world.

Yours in Christ,
The Right Rev. David Giuliano, Moderator

Note:  The Canadian oil industry turned a profit of $26.4 billion in 2007. Canada gave it nearly $1.4 billion in subsidies. The “Big Five” oil companies turned a global profit of US$123 billion in 2007. Export Development Canada, a government agency, supported $13.2 billion of overseas oil and gas projects, and the World Bank gave the oil and gas industry $1 billion in financing. That means that 5 cents of every dollar of oil profit made in Canada is public money. Global oil and gas exploration by private companies continues to be propped up by public money, and 1 cent of every dollar of their profit is public money.