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[Back to index of July/August articles] ONE Campaign a singular opportunity By Jim Naughton Bishop John Bryson Chane is asking parishes throughout the diocese to join the Power of ONE campaign by holding a “One Sunday” sometime this summer. The ONE Campaign (theonecampaign.org) is a global initiative sponsored by religious and anti-poverty organizations, including the Episcopal Church, to combat global AIDS and extreme poverty. The campaign supports the international effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, eight anti-poverty standards embraced by the United Nations in 2000. In a letter to rectors and wardens Chane wrote: “We have it within our power to cut global hunger in half in the next decade. What is lacking is not resources, but political will. …. In the United States that means obtaining a commitment from Congress and President Bush to dedicate an additional 1 percent of the U.S. budget to helping poor countries such as Uganda and Madagascar fight poverty while combating corruption. I urge each of you to go to www.ONE.org to sign the ONE Campaign declaration and to obtain more information on how you can help.” Chane also devoted his column in this issue of Washington Window to the ONE Campaign. (See page 2). Resources for conducting a ONE Sunday appear in the sidebar. The bishop’s request came in the wake of “Hunger No More” an interfaith convocation hosted by the Diocese of Washington that drew some 1,500 worshippers and leaders of more than 40 faith communities to Washington National Cathedral on June 6. The service was part of “One Table, Many Voices,” a conference organized by Bread for the World and Call to Renewal, to highlight issues of domestic and international hunger and to call on President Bush and the United States Congress to commit to eradicating poverty worldwide. The Rev. David Beckmann, a Lutheran who is president of Bread for the World, described the convocation as an “unprecedented event” in the nation’s history. “This convocation is of God—bigger than any one of us,” he said. “God has made it possible in our time to reduce hunger and we need to get the job done.” Drawing on different cultures and traditions, the convocation featured a feast of readings and musical offerings that included a Zulu freedom song, gospel choir performances, a hymn from South Africa’s Xhosa tribe and texts from Sikh, Hebrew, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist sacred writings. Preaching at the convocation, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, primate of the Anglican province of Southern Africa, noted that despite the unprecedented growth in world economy, 800 million people were chronically undernourished and 30 thousand die daily of poverty-related causes. “Hunger in the U.S. has been on the rise for the last four years,” Ndungane said. “Yet with such need, proposals in the current budget debate to cut [federal government nutrition] programs and deprive hundreds of thousands of working families of food support cannot be justified and must be opposed,” he added, to a wave of applause. “This year, everywhere politicians turn, they will find poverty and hunger on the agenda,” he added. “They cannot escape! We must put all our weight behind this growing momentum for change because now we have the chance to make a difference... Politicians need to be left in no doubt that public opinion, domestic and international, demands justice in relation to poverty and hunger.” After three days of workshops and plenary sessions the “One Table, Many Voices” conference culminated on National Hunger Awareness Day, June 7, with a rally and lobbying on Capitol Hill. Participants were attempting to influence Bush and others leaders of the G-8 industrialized nations before their summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, this month. The Bush administration is a particular target of anti-poverty activists. The United States and Japan have typically committed the largest amounts of money to international development. However, the U.S. gives a smaller share of its national wealth to development aid than any other industrialized nation—0.15 percent, well below the 0.24 percent average for all Western countries. “Just one-tenth of that goes to sub-Saharan Africa, the region of the world most gripped by poverty, hunger and disease,” said Alex Baumgarten, international policy analyst in the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations (OGR). “If the U.S. were to spend just 1 percent more of its federal budget each year on development aid, that would bring U.S. giving to a 0.35 percent share of national wealth, halfway to the international target of 0.7 percent.” Last month, Bush rejected a proposal by British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the G-8 countries to double their aid to Africa by 2010. Bush announced that the United States would release money already appropriated by Congress for aid to Africa. In his newspaper column, Chane argued that increasing aid to developing nations is in the U.S.’s self interest. Poverty, hunger and disease “are not contained by a country’s borders or delineated by continents,” he wrote. “Their advance is not thwarted by oceans and seas. In failing to combat them, we not only facilitate the spread of manifold human miseries, we court the rise of terrorism and political violence that will eventually undermine our own society. The Homeland Security color code of yellow, orange and red ought also to be applied to hunger, poverty, disease and illiteracy; based on current statistics, we are definitely at ‘code red.’” Episcopal News Service and the Anglican Communion News Service contributed to this report. Make your ONE Sunday a success * Use the resources contained in the “Power of ONE” booklet during the service. The booklet can be downloaded for free at: http://www.bread.org/ONE_campaign/ONE%20handbook%20low-res.pdf * Put the bulletin inserts from the “Power of ONE” booklet into the weekly bulletin. The bulletin insert is available for free at: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/breadfortheworld/poofonebuin.html * Pause after the sermon to give congregants time to sign the ONE Declaration. If appropriate, collect the signed inserts in a basket and bring them to the front of the sanctuary, where someone may pray over the signed forms like during an offering, focusing on the people whose lives the ONE Campaign seeks to improve. The text of the declaration is available at: www.theonecampaign.org * Ask a missionary or person in ministry who has traveled or served in other countries experiencing poverty to briefly share his/her experiences Sunday morning, focusing on hunger, AIDS or poverty. * At the close of ONE Sunday, invite congregants to commit ONE minute every day for ONE week in prayer for the issues of global AIDS, extreme poverty and chronic hunger. Subsequent Sundays, ask people to share what God has shown them about these issues, or if they want to continue praying. * Incorporate the concerns of global hunger, extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS into adult and youth Sunday school and education classes. Connect with Bread for the World for curriculum ideas, videos, activities and biblical studies that connect faith to these world issues. One helpful exercise for all ages can be found at: * Encourage parishioners, especially youth and children, to wear the white band that symbolizes support of the campaign. Bands can be purchased for $1/piece in multiplies of tens or hundreds at https://store.one.org/donate.aspx * For other resources and suggestions visit [Back to index of July/August articles]
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