May 17, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC – Bishop John Bryson Chane of the Diocese of Washington and Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa, will join other religious leaders from around the nation for the first Interfaith Convocation on Hunger, June 6 at 7 pm at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

The convocation is a culmination of the June 4-7 national conference called "One Table, Many Voices: A Mobilization to Overcome Poverty and Hunger." It will include a call for the President and members of Congress to join with them in a new national commitment to end hunger. The conference will consist of workshops, plenaries, and a lobby day on Capitol Hill.

Chane said the presence of hunger represents our failure "to love and care for one another as we are loved and cared for by our creator."

Ndungane will preach at the convocation urging U.S. policy makers to address the needs of over 36 million people in America who struggle to put food on their table. In 2004, he helped launch the American chapter of the Micah Challenge, a global campaign to mobilize Christians in 100 countries in support of the United Nation's eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that aim to reduce human suffering across the globe by the year 2015.

The three-day event is sponsored by America's Second Harvest: The Nation's Food Bank Network, Bread for the World Institute, Call to Renewal and the Interfaith Anti-Hunger Coordinators.

For more information call Bruna Genovese at 800.822.7323 ext. 207 or visit http://www.bread.org/.

To Read

A World with a Human Face: A voice from Africa by Njongonkulu Ndungane (Geneva, Switzerland: WCC Publications, 2003; 130 pages; $19.) From the publisher: The fall of apartheid was one of the most exciting events in recent history. The struggle against institutionalized injustice allowed heroes to come to the fore and brought great hope for the future. Njongonkulu Ndungane shared in that fight for freedom. Here, he tells of his youth under apartheid and of his imprisonment on Robben Island, where he was made to build the prison that would later house Nelson Mandela. During his captivity, he came to realize that apartheid's end would not bring about a perfect society and that a new South Africa would need heroes of a different kind – those willing to challenge poverty.

A World with a Human Face is a call to the South African and international community to work together to overcome social injustice, adverse economic forces and the weight of history to build a just society fit for all. Njongonkulu Ndungane is the Archbishop of Cape Town and the son and grandson of Anglican clergy in South Africa. He began adult life as a political activist and was imprisoned for three years on Robben Island, where he discovered his calling to the priesthood and his conviction that the enemy to confront was poverty. A patron of the Jubilee 2000 movement, the Archbishop has consistently campaigned for the cancellation of unplayable debts owed by developing countries. He is deeply committed to the fight against the abuse of women and children, and plays a leading role in the campaign to eradicate HIV and AIDS in Africa. Archbishop Ndungane is in demand as a speaker and broadcaster in the United Kingdom and throughout the world.

Episcopal News Service