Reflections from the interfaith press conference yesterday

At last, the needs of the global poor affected by climate change are getting some attention!  Yesterday, I was part of a press conference of inter-faith leaders discussing the effects of climate change on poor and vulnerable people around the world.  We focused on how we can help poor people adapt to climate change’s effects.  Lots of media joined in, which was great.  You can read some of the press coverage at CBS News and InterPress Service.
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Online Media Press Conference:

As Senate climate bill negotiations heat up, Catholics Confront Global Poverty is actively supporting legislation that helps poor and vulnerable people worldwide adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change in their communities.
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Catholic News Service reporting today on the G20 Summit:

“….With latest estimates showing 1 billion people around the world suffering from hunger as a result of the global economic recession, religious leaders believe that, by gathering together to speak for the world’s poor, they can impact those decisions,” CNS’ Patricia Bartos writes.

“Most people in high levels of government “really do want to do the right thing for the poor. They really do have a moral compass,” said Stephen Colecchi, director of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace, at a press conference in Pittsburgh Sept. 23″

Read the full CNS story here.

As I’m driving from Washington DC to Pittsburgh, I find myself reflecting on my trip to New York City on September 20. There I gathered with Catholic bishops and lay leaders from Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa at a mass celebrated by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York and chair of the CRS Board. The liturgy was moving. The congregation was diverse. And the homily by Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien of Scotland was powerful. The message of that gathering at the Church of the Holy Family, a stone’s throw away from the United Nations headquarters, was simple—don’t forget the poor members of the human family in addressing global climate change.
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In the coming days, you’ll probably hear much about the United Nations Summit on Climate Change in New York and the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh of leaders representing important industrial and emerging-market countries from around the world.
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What compels you to confront global poverty? What actions have you or your community taken? Please share your story with us.

Please tell us which of the seven Catholics Confront Global Poverty issues of focus are you most interested in learning more about and why.

__ International Assistance
__ Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding
__ International Debt Relief
__ Global Trade and Agricultural Policies
__ Natural Resource Extraction
__ Migration
__ Climate Change

Since the late 1990’s, debt relief amounting to well over $100 billion has been committed to 33 poor countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America. Countries receiving debt relief have increased substantially their spending for education, health care and other investments directed at improving the lives of poor and vulnerable people. The most recent success occurred on June 30 when Haiti, the poorest country in the Hemisphere, was granted $1.2 billion in debt cancellation by the major international financial institutions. Much of the tremendous progress that has been achieved in the past decade is due to the efforts of Catholics and other faith-based advocates in the United States and around the world.
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The U.S. House and Senate recess for the month of August and members return to their home districts.  The House is scheduled to recess on July 31 and the Senate is expected to follow on August 7.  Both chambers return on September 8.

The August recess is an excellent time to schedule meetings with members in their district or state offices and to attend local town meetings that are often held during the recess.  At town meetings you can ask questions that convey your concerns. From the perspective of Catholics Confront Global Poverty, two issues are especially timely: Israeli-Palestinian peace and climate change.
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This week is the feast day of Mary Magdalene. Present at the Crucifixion and the first to see the risen Lord, Mary Magdalene surely understood the full range of human experience in a most profound way.

Working for CRS for 22 years has given me a taste of both the cruelty humans inflict on each other and the generosity and love with which they can respond. Listening to a briefing recently on the potential for increased strife in the Sudan reminded me of my own trip there in 1990. I was nearly killed when a plane bombed the small town I was visiting. Thirteen innocent women and children did not survive. I know Mary Magdalene would have known what it was like for these people.
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