The global good Samaritan

12 Jan 2008

By The Record

story3.jpgAs secretary general of a confederation of 162 Catholic aid and development agencies, that is Caritas Internationalis (CI), Duncan Maclaren has seen it all.

He has seen the kind of poverty that strips a person of their humanity, he has seen individual generosity grow worldwide and has seen nations pledge, only to decide tax breaks were a more efficient use of the country’s budget.

Yet the Scottish crusader for the world’s poor is also quick to correct that resolving the global issue of poverty is far beyond that of establishing economic goals.

He has seen first hand that creating a ‘Robin Hood’ scenario – where funds are shifted from those who have some to spare, to those less fortunate – only helps so much.