Message for the 17th Farmers’ Sunday The Most Rev. Matthias Ri Iong-hoon, President of the CBCK Committee for Justice and Peace, issued a message on the occasion of the 17th Farmers’ Sunday, on July 15, 2012. In his message entitled, “My father is the vine grower” (Jn 15,1), Bishop Ri said that in the beginning, God fairly granted natural resources to all of us, but we have exhausted them so that we are suffering from shortage of food, imbalance of energy, and an urban-rural disparity have been serious these days, going against God’s will. Bishop Ri expressed his concerns that the free trade agreement(FTA) between Korea and USA taken effect on March in 2012 would lead to an aggravated imbalance between urban and rural areas. He said, “In accordance with the principle of the universal destination of goods, which is for the integral self-realization of a person, each should fairly use the goods of the earth that God granted to all of us, even from now the Korea-USA FAT should be revised for the good of the weak, fulfilling the universal purpose of the goods and common good.” Bishop Ri reiterated the importance of the “campaign for the rehabilitation of our rural areas”. He asked the faithful to build a community of solidarity as the first Christian community through this campaign in the context of the communion between urban and rural communities and sharing foods.
