The Conscious Consumer

Are our daily purchases an expression of our faith? Should they be? How can we really know what we are buying anyway?

As Christians, and as human beings, we are called to care for the poor and vulnerable. But how do we do this? Clearly direct aid is necessary, and many of us do this by donating our time and treasure to College Church and other charitable causes. But our time and treasure are limited, and the need can seem overwhelming at times.

There is another way of improving the lives of the poor – by purchasing products that promote their human dignity and economic development. There is an old saying: “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for life.” What if our purchases could give the poor and vulnerable a chance to earn a decent wage and live with dignity?

Consider a typical purchase – a chocolate bar. The chocolate, milk, sugar and packaging come from all over the world. Who grew and harvested the cacao beans, made the paper, or refined the sugar? Are they enslaved or exploited? Are they paid a fair wage? Are they able to support their families?

Given the complexity of our lives, we cannot research every purchase we make. However, thanks to the growing Fair Trade Movement, we can be sure that some of the products we buy were produced under guidelines that fairly compensate all the parties who produce them.

What is Fair Trade?

Generally, Fair Trade promotes justice by offering just compensation to producers and suppliers. The Fair Trade Federation offers this definition:

Fair trade means an equitable and fair partnership between businesses and organizations in North America and producers in the developing world. Fair trade businesses foster long-term and direct relationships with producers, because they know these connections are a highly effective way to help producers help themselves.

Wholesalers, retailers, and producers who are members of the Fair Trade Federation are fully committed to:

• Paying fair wages in local context
• Supporting participatory workplaces
• Ensuring environmental sustainability
• Supplying financial and technical support
• Respecting cultural identity
• Offering public accountability
• Educating consumers.

If you’d like to learn more, the Catholic Relief Services Fair Trade website is a good source for information.

Fair Trade at College Church

Two years ago, several graduates of the JustFaith program gathered to talk about a common interest: working on social justice in a global context. SFX’s Social Ministry was offering excellent local services to many in need in the area, but we are also called to live out our faith in a global context. We were enthusiastic about two possibilities:

• developing a “sister parish” or “twinning” relationship between SFX and a Jesuit parish in the developing world, and
• promoting fair trade as a relatively simple way to align some of our purchases with our Christian values.

Since then, we have established a sister parish relationship with a Jesuit parish in Guatemala, and created a small but active Fair Trade Committee.

One of the Committee’s first actions was to produce a series of educational articles on fair trade for the parish bulletin in the fall of 2007.

Our main activity is selling fair trade items in the church's lower hall on “Gathering Place” Sundays. Gathering Place is our name for coffee-and-donut Sundays, usually held once or twice per month. We sell coffee, tea, chocolate, cards, and some textiles. We promote our sales via the parish bulletin and presider announcements at the end of Mass. All profits from our sales go to our sister parish.

In each of the past two years, we held a larger holiday sales event in December. We invited other local fair trade vendors and collected 10% of their sales. In 2008, a parishioner who is a high school art teacher had her students make wonderful ceramic bowls and mugs that we packaged with chocolate, coffee, tea and fair trade Christmas ornaments. They sold very well. In both years, the holiday sales have been very successful.

It appears that most of our buyers are interested in the principle of fair trade and want a quality product, with price a secondary consideration. Many would probably seek out fair trade items regardless, so they appreciate the convenience of buying at church.

If you are interested in joining the fair trade committee, contact Vicki Simon at vsimon1@slu.edu.