Denouncing new austerity plans and proposed “fiscal adjustments” that they say will adversely impact Puerto Rico’s poor and needy people, the island’s faith leaders on Monday called for debt relief and a resolution to the financial crisis that eschews further austerity.

With a working group restructuring plan due to be delivered to Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla on or before September 8, the letter from religious leaders (pdf) comes as the U.S. territory struggles to address crippling debt and double-digit unemployment.

Two recent reports, one commissioned by a group of hedge funds who purchased the island’s distressed debt and the other authorized by Puerto Rico’s own government, suggest new austerity plans to pay off portions of the debt—including reducing the minimum wage along with cuts to education and healthcare programs.

Citing the Biblical concept of debt relief, or Jubilee, the letter’s signatories express concern about “predatory hedge funds which seek to benefit from our distress and push our economy to the brink of collapse” while calling for full-scale debt restructuring “that invests in Puerto Rico’s people.”

“This debt crisis threatens to push more of our people into poverty and put people out of work,” stated San Juan Archbishop Roberto González Nieves, leader of Puerto Rico’s mostly Catholic population. “The religious community stands with vulnerable people and we call for the crisis to be resolved in a way that protects the poor and grows our economy.”