Use Church land to train youths

by Letters Editor · June 24, 2010

From Christopher Grealy, Johannesburg:

Contrary to Alan Sauls (May 26), I believe selling off Church land is short-sighted.

All land belongs to God, and there are no borders in God�s world. It is the use of land that people are crying for, not land itself. When Christ said �you will want for nothing�, he was indicating whatever we �needed� was already here on earth. The sun shines and the rain falls and the earth produces food.

Currently, money owns the vast majority of land. Sell the Catholic holdings and they end up in the portfolio of some rich person.

Far better if the Church let the land to the landless for a portion of the produce (as laid out in Leviticus). This way control of the land and its products remains in the hands of those who need and grow the produce.

To sell the land would be to put it back into a system that has already failed the poor and, in fact, requires unemployed people to function.

A better way would be to establish a farming community along the lines of Girls� & Boys� Town, where those who think they would like to go into farming can learn the trade without the pressures of bank loans and ownership. All that would be required is some hard work. Produce from these farms could be used to supply Girls� & Boys� Town.

The problem now becomes who would run these centres? Vocations are at an all-time low and will probably stay that way. Perhaps farmers, retired or displaced, could be persuaded to plough their skills into the South African youth rather than in some far-off land.

I believe the Jews of the Old Testament had it right when they declared that all land given to God (the Church) would remain with God forever.