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DECEMBER 2002 - FEBRUARY 2003 Return to NCC HomePage |
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DECEMBER 2002 - FEBRUARY 2003 Return to NCC HomePage |
| About This Special Three-Month Poverty Update This "Poverty Update" is the last until March, when there will be a special section for the NCC's 2003 "March: On Poverty." In the meantime please revisit the wealth of materials that have been posted month by month to this Web site. They include sermons, resources for ministry, models from ecumenical partners and facts about poverty in the United States. Here are links to Poverty Updates for: March 2002. . . April 2002 . . . May 2002 . . . June 2002 . . . July 2002 . . . August 2002 . . . September 2002 . . .October 2002 . . . November 2002 . . . December 2002 thru February 2003 Coming Events ... December 13, 2002 -- 9 p.m. EST, the PBS program "Now" with Bill Moyers will focus on the Long Island Campaign for Affordable Rental Housing, to which the Long Island Council of Churches belongs. January 2003 -- Poverty in America Awareness Month. With more than 34 million residents, Poverty, USA, is the second largest state in America. Today, nearly 12 million children -- 1 in 6 -- live in poverty. Yet a March 2000 Gallup poll found that only 5% of Americans believe poverty and homelessness are important problems for the country. To bring attention to this forgotten state, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) has designated January as Poverty in America Awareness Month. During this special month of observance, CCHD will devote its efforts to heightening the nation's understanding of the breadth and depth of the problems of poverty. March 10-16, 2003 -- Cover the Uninsured Week. Lack of access to affordable health insurance is one of America’s biggest health challenges. More than 41 million Americans are uninsured and their numbers are growing as the economy weakens. As a result, more people are living sicker and dying younger. And being uninsured is not just a problem for the unemployed. Eight out of 10 uninsured Americans are in working families. In response to this escalating crisis, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and some of the most influential organizations in the United States, including many faith groups, will cosponsor Cover the Uninsured Week (CTUW). This unprecedented weeklong series of national and local activities, March 10-16, 2003, will seek to raise public awareness of the uninsured to the level of top national priority and to demonstrate broad agreement that a solution must be found. Expect to see involvement by celebrities, national religious leaders and elected officials. Former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter have already agreed to serve as honorary co-chairs of this unique, nonpartisan effort. CTUW will conclude with interfaith activities, including prayer breakfasts around the country on Friday, March 14—events that will convene community religious leaders of many faiths to pray and speak together about the problem of uninsured Americans and to seek possible solutions. For more information on CTUW and/or planning interfaith activities in your community, contact Ginger Plummer at 202-572-2842. March 11-14, 2003 -- "The Witness of the Church Amidst Poverty and Plenty," SCUPE Congress on Urban Minisry, Chicago, Ill. Hundreds of urban ministry practitioners from across the country will gather in Chicago March 11-14, 2003, to nourish their witness in a land of economic extremes, to shine the gospel light on poverty and plenty. They will gather as the 2003 Congress on Urban Ministry, a biennial event sponsored by the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE). SCUPE, which is based in Chicago, is an interdenominational organization offering innovative programs of graduate and continuing education for urban ministers, service agency staff, community developers and others “seeking to do God’s work in the city.” For more information or to register for the 2003 Congress on Urban Ministry contact SCUPE at 200 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 502, Chicago, IL 60601. Phone: 3112-726-1200. E-mail: congress@scupe.com. Return to NCC Home Page |
Lutherans
Focus on Link Between Poverty, Wealth 'How Much Is Enough?' Why, in the face of unprecedented affluence, do so many of us feel discontented? Because possessions may capture the heart, but they fail to nourish the soul, says Arthur Simon. In How Much Is Enough? Hungering for God in an Affluent Culture, to be released Feb. 1, 2003, by Baker Books, Simon challenges readers to realize that our passion for material things far exceeds our compassion for others. This materialism leads to a spiritual emptiness that can’t be filled by the addiction of consumerism. “None of us is immune to the seduction of trying to slake what is really a spiritual thirst with things that money can buy, though doing so is like drinking saltwater from the sea,” says Simon. Simon, the founder and president emeritus of Bread for the World, a nonpartisan citizens’ hunger lobby, sees prosperity as a gift from God. His book points us to God’s grace in Christ and our call to discipleship. The importance of combining simpler living with justice for poor and hungry people is emphasized in How Much Is Enough?, and above all, Simon sees following Christ not as gritting teeth but as a celebration of joy. “That joy,” Simon says, “comes from a totally unmerited love that sets us free from all captivities and offers us true being in place of having.” ADVOCACY ALERT This means that when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 7, it will again face the issue of completing its work on the budget for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1, 2002. There probably will be more Continuing Resolutions before all of the appropriations work is finished. Including TANF in the short-term measure may mean that Congress intends to have the debate they should have had in 2002 and do a full reauthorization early in the next year. If that is the case, then advocacy between now and January is absolutely crucial. Please contact your Governor and state legislators to express your concerns. Ask them to contact your state's congressional delegation and urge that they not make the TANF program any harder for states to administer than it already is (such as by increasing the work requirement). Click here for more information. What If There Are No Jobs? That fundamental insight comes from The Employment Project, a New York-based faith-inspired organization with a vision for economic justice in our nation. The Project provides resources on employment issues and organizes meetings and conferences. The excerpt above is taken from the November 2002 issue of the organization’s newsletter No More Jobs, which includes compelling statistics from a wide variety of sources that elaborate The Employment Project’s viewpoint. For more information, contact The Employment Project, 130 Mac Dougal St., Apt. D, New York, NY 10012; 212-533-6945; fax 212-533-6973; e-mail economicjustice@mindspring.com |
NCC MEMBER COMMUNIONS African Methodist Episcopal Church African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Alliance of Baptists American Baptist Churches in the USA The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America Diocese of the Armenian Church of America Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Church of the Brethren The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America The Episcopal Church Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Friends United Meeting Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Hungarian Reformed Church in America International Council of Community Churches Korean Presbyterian Church in America Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Mar Thoma Church Moravian Church in America Northern Province and Southern Province National Baptist Convention of America National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America Orthodox Church in America Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Polish National Catholic Church of America Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc Reformed Church in America Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada The Swedenborgian Church Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America United Church of Christ The United Methodist Church NCC MINISTRY PARTNERS REGIONAL ECUMENICAL AND INTERFAITH
ORGANIZATIONS
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