Archbishop says consumer concerns can have effect on globalization

Published: 2006-03-07

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- Consumer concerns over how designer products are made can have an important effect on globalization, Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told a conference on church social teaching. "When consumers begin to tell us that they are not just concerned with the designer label on their sports shirt, but also the labor conditions within which it was made, then the business community will respond more rapidly" to fix those working conditions, the archbishop said. He added that the church had a role to play in educating and enlightening public opinion in the area of social responsibility and in creating "new forms of international cooperation to provide realistic, but robust, norms for worker protection." "Conscience and social responsibility cannot be outsourced," said Archbishop Martin, who served in a series of international social justice positions before Pope John Paul II named him to work in Dublin in 2003. The conference at Croke Park Stadium March 2 was organized by the Irish bishops' Commission for Justice and Social Affairs.

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