NEWS ANALYSIS: Religious Leaders Focus on Poverty

c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) On Jan. 19, Roman Catholic Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis, and Bishop Peter Rogness of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America made a series of appearances on St. Paul’s West Side in an effort to bring poverty in the city into focus. “This is a very interesting neighborhood, […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) On Jan. 19, Roman Catholic Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis, and Bishop Peter Rogness of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America made a series of appearances on St. Paul’s West Side in an effort to bring poverty in the city into focus.

“This is a very interesting neighborhood, which we see as a microcosm for the rest of society,” said Rogness in announcing that the two prelates would visit a child-care center, a free medical clinic and the Loaves and Fishes hunger program that feeds poor and needy people.


The visits coincided with the opening of the Minnesota state legislative session and in the midst of what the Roman Catholic Church’s Campaign for Human Development has dubbed Poverty Awareness Month.

It also came as President Bush prepares to release his $2.5 trillion budget for fiscal year 2006.

The two Minnesota bishops said they hope to reverse what they see as diminishing concern for the poor in political and social decision-making.

Even as the bishops were acting locally, scores of prominent evangelical leaders were urging Bush, in a letter, to include overcoming hunger and poverty in his understanding of moral values.

“Precisely that community that voted most heavily for President Bush’s re-election is demanding a greater emphasis on overcoming poverty,” said Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action, one of the initiators of the letter.

According to the Census Bureau, some 35.9 million Americans lived below the government-defined poverty level in 2003, an increase of 1.3 million from the previous year. that’s a poverty rate of 12.5 percent _ up from 12.1 percent in 2002 and from 11.3 percent when Bush took office. The Census figures were released last August and are the most recently available.

At the same time, the Census reported those without health insurance grew. Some 45 million Americans were without health care in 2003.


One out of every six children in the country lives in poverty and one out of every 10 families cannot make ends meet, according to the Campaign for Human Development’s analysis of the Census figures.

In the 1960s, a long economic boom and the government’s War on Poverty helped bring the poverty rate down from a high of 22 percent in 1960.

As defined by the Office of Management and Budget, the poverty threshold is $18,810 for a family of four.

A broad spectrum of religious groups pushed during last fall’s presidential election campaign to make poverty eradication a campaign issue. Two groups, the National Council of Churches and Call to Renewal, even sponsored and organized highly visible bus tours by religious leaders and activists to press the issue but to little avail.

According to a poll by the Catholic bishops that CCHD released as part of Poverty Awareness Month, 90 percent of Americans are concerned about poverty in the United States. But 62 percent of the 1,004 adults polled, said they felt there will be more people living in poverty four years from now despite signs of an economic recovery.

Additionally, 54 percent of those polled think it is the government’s responsibility to tend to the needs of the poor and to address other issues related to poverty in the Untied States.


Bush, who in his first campaign portrayed himself as a “compassionate conservative” and made increasing access to federal funds of more religiously oriented faith-based charities a centerpiece of his domestic agenda, will be under tougher constraints in his second term _ if he even wants to make fighting poverty a priority.

Among those constraints are two straight years of record budget deficits, including last year’s $412 billion in red ink and the war in Iraq, which is costing $1 billion a week.

In their letter, the evangelical leaders urged Bush to resist the pressure to cut “effective programs for poor people.”

They called on Bush to use either his Inaugural address _ now past _ or the State of the Union to address the plight of the 36 million poor.

The test of whether Bush hears the leaders of these two key constituencies _ evangelicals and Catholics _ will be played out in the next few weeks.

MO/JL DEA END RNS

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