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November 20 , 2006 • VOL. 44, NO. 20 • Oakland, CA
Catholics embrace
campaign to end
extreme global poverty and hunger
The United
Nations millennium goal to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015
got a practical boost when more than 1000 Catholics gathered in San Francisco
last month to explore how to mobilize themselves and their fellow Catholics
to tackle the problem of economic injustice.
“I was struck by the magnitude of the problem,” said Gerry
Fried of St. Joan of Arc Parish in San Ramon after the two-day conference
at St. Mary’s Cathedral during which speakers from Third World nations
told of the devastating impact of poverty. “I am glad that the Catholic
Church is doing something abut this and encouraging parishes to get behind
the program.”
He was speaking of the Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty, a multi-year
advocacy initiative led by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and
Catholic Relief Services. (http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/globalpoverty/ )
The conference was part of their effort to develop new understanding of
the severity of the problem and encourage Catholics to direct their energies
towards broad solutions.
“There is something greater than we have been doing,” said
Tessie Velicaria, whose Epiphany Parish in San Francisco sells fair trade
items and strives to educate others about just treatment of workers. “It
is exciting to know that we can be bold. We can do a whole lot more.”
Marco Balducci, a recent graduate of USF’s Law School, said he’d
expected the conference to focus on public policy and was pleased that
speakers took a more “holistic approach,” putting a human
face on poverty. “These are human issues, and spiritual issues as
well as policy issues,” he said.
The conference drew participants from throughout the country, including
more than 60 from the Oakland Diocese.
Mary Kay Gobris, a member of a Just Faith group at Christ the King Parish
in Pleasant Hill, said the conference has motivated her to become more
active “in an advocacy role instead of doing only direct service.”
Maureen Wesolowski, one of six participants from St. Mary Magdalene Parish
in Berkeley, said her next step is to increase the number of people involved
in the parish’s social justice committee. ”There is such ignorance
of these issues. People haven’t even heard of the millennium goals”
that include achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality
and improving maternal health.
Mary Hurd, also of St. Mary Magdalene, echoed a common theme among participants
– that charitable work needs to gain a more global perspective of
“helping solve problems by looking at the major issues.”
“We are not the helpless people we sometimes think we are,”
she said.
To start, said Gobris, she will support a program promoted by keynote
speaker Jeffrey Sachs to end malarial deaths by giving sleeping mats with
mosquito netting to Africans. Each mat costs $5. “I have 10 nieces
and nephews who will all get bed nets donated in their names for Christmas,”
she said.
Jim Lissemore, a biology teacher from John Carroll University in Cleveland,
said he plans to weave the eight millennium goals into his classes.
Jesuit Father Stephen Privett, president of USF, said he wants to work
more collaboratively with other groups, especially in educational settings.
“Only one percent of the world’s population has a college
education,” he said. “This conference opens up possibilities
for cooperation.”
