May 17, 2007
by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE – An interfaith convocation on hunger organized by Bread for the World (BFW), a Christian anti-hunger group, will bring together a host of prominent U.S. religious leaders, including the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The second Interfaith Convocation on Hunger is scheduled for June 11 at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.

The event, part of a larger conference in the capital, will address hunger in the United States and around the world. Participants will urge President Bush and members of Congress to join Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of other faiths in a new national commitment to ending hunger.

Kirkpatrick said people of faith are called to care for hungry people.

"The ‘inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these' of Jesus Christ remains a constant imperative for the religious community to work for policy changes that provide food for poor and hungry people at home and abroad," he said. "That empower their self-development, and that enable all of God's people to be free from oppressive and unjust systems that fail to meet basic needs."

A celebration on the great lawn of the Washington National Cathedral will prepare participants for an "evening of inspirational music, solemn prayer and instruction from sacred texts," BFW officials said in a news release.

William J. Shaw, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA will be the featured preacher.

"The Interfaith Convocation on Hunger will be as much about passion as pageantry," said the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. "People in our nation are yearning for bold leadership from both our elected representatives and the heads of our religious communities. They want to see our leaders take real action to fight hunger and poverty. The Interfaith Convocation will energize this movement."

The event is part of a conference called Gathering 2007, Sowing Seeds: Growing A Movement. The Bread for the World Institute, and the Alliance to End Hunger are co-hosts with BFW of the June 9-12 conference at American University in Washington, which will include a "lobby day" on Capitol Hill.

Bread for the World is a lobbying group based in Washington, DC. The 58,000-member non-partisan organization is supported by 2,300 churches and more than 45 denominations and church agencies, including the PC(USA) and the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP). The "Bread" group lobbies Congress and the administration for public-policy changes to address the root causes of hunger and poverty in the United States and abroad.

Other leaders expected to attend:

Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern); Rev. Arnetta McNeese-Bailey, executive director, Women of the Church of God; Rabbi Alvin Berkun, president, The Rabbinical Assembly; Rev. Richard Cizik, Vice President of Governmental Affairs, National Association of Evangelicals; Sister Mary Dacey SSJ, president, Leadership Conference of Women Religious; Ven Bhante M.Dhammasiri, president, Buddhist Vihara, Washington, DC; Dr. Robert W. Edgar, general secretary, National Council of Churches of Christ.

Rabbi Jerome M. Epstein, executive vice president, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; Jamesina Evans, national president, Women's Missionary Society, African Methodist Episcopal Church; JosephFlannigan, national president, Society of St. Vincent de Paul; Commissioner Israel L. Gaither, national commander, The Salvation Army; Bishop William H. Graves Sr., Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; Elnora P. Hamb, president of the Women's Missionary Council, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Virginia Holmstrom, executive director, American Baptist Women's Ministries; Bert Lobe, interim executive director, Mennonite Central Committee; Rev. Dr. Leonard Lovett, director of ecumenical affairs, Church of God in Christ; Rev. John L. McCullough, executive director, Church World Service; Rev. A. Roy Medley, general secretary, American Baptist Churches, USA.

Presbyterian News Service