ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 17, 2008  

ELCA Synod Bishop Calls on Public Officials to Take Action on Poverty
08-159-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Elected officials and candidates for
public office should remember people living in poverty and
speak about specific proposals to alleviate poverty, said
the Rev. James F. Mauney, bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) Virginia Synod, at a Sept. 16 prayer vigil
on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
     The prayer vigil concluded "Fighting Poverty with Faith:
A Week of Action," Sept. 9-16, during which people representing
a variety of faith groups called on candidates and elected
officials in the United States to address poverty and related
issues.  A coalition of 21 churches and church-related
organizations, including the ELCA, participated.
     Mauney noted that there are 38 million people in the
United States living in poverty.  He cited statistics that
showed the United States spends $51 billion in an average
year on domestic feeding programs, serving nearly one in
five people, including nearly half of all infants.
     "How strong can a nation be if we can't care for our
weakest and most vulnerable infants?" Mauney asked. Candidates
must address prenatal care and care for infants in the first
year of life, he said.
     Mauney said elected officials and candidates must talk
not only about the U.S. economy, but include "economic stimulus
or recovery measures that are truly targeted (to) those people
and programs most in distress." He cited needs for food stamps,
unemployment insurance, child support enforcement, health care
and home energy assistance.
     The U.S. Congress should provide disaster relief where
needed, reform the child tax credit and lower the eligibility
threshold of family earnings of $8,500, Mauney said.  Lowering
the eligibility threshold will enable people living in poverty
to have more disposable funds, he said.
     Mauney also reported several examples of human need, such
as the Midlands Food Bank, Columbia, S.C., which he said can't
keep up with demand for food, and a rural life director in South
Dakota who collected 50,000 pounds of food.  That supply was
exhausted in only 45 minutes because of heavy local demand for
food, Mauney said.
     "We as Christians remember how St. Paul spoke to the
Corinthians: 'For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became
poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.' As our
Lord remembered and zealously died and rose for us, so let us
remember the poor and zealously act for them," Mauney said.
     Mauney was one of 28 ELCA synod bishops who attended a
briefing in Washington, D.C., Sept. 10-12, organized by the
ELCA Washington Office.  The bishops met with members of
Congress and staff to discuss poverty issues and other
concerns.
     Mauney was joined at the prayer vigil by seven other
speakers representing Bread for the World, Catholic Charities
USA, Islamic Relief USA, Jewish Council for Public Affairs,
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, Network: A National
Catholic Social Justice Lobby and Sojourners.

For information contact:
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