Global Relationships Crucial to Meeting MDGs, Griswold and Ndungane Say
Episcopal News Service. March 8, 2005 [030805-5]
Matthew Davies
Webs of relationship and global collaboration are central to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town and Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold affirmed during a March 8 interview with Kevin Eckstrom of the Washington, D.C.-based Religion News Service.
"One of the gifts of the Anglican Communion, when it's not focusing on divisive points, is that these webs of relationship exist across the world and extend right into the most immediate community," Griswold said. "We have a grassroots system of parishes and mission stations that take us right into the most local contexts and, using this vast network, there is so much we can do to show that the resourced parts of the world are aware of hunger, poverty and disease and are willing to share their resources generously ... in such a way that they really can be a model of reconciliation and collaboration and restoration across the world."
Ndungane was visiting Washington, D.C., as part of a two-week-long U.S. tour, during which he launched Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation [http://www.e4gr.org], a network that focuses on the MDGs and is committed to "God's mission of justice, wholeness and reconciliation in Jesus Christ."
Poverty and hunger -- morally wrong
"In our world today we are faced with the major challenge of poverty and ... the overall objective of the MDGs is to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015," Ndungane said. "It is not only sinful but also morally wrong that there are people who go hungry every day."
He explained that 852 million people go hungry every day and 121 million primary age children cannot go to school. "Then there's the AIDS pandemic," he said. "We know that 3 million people will die this year ... We know that TB will kill 2 million people. We know that malaria will kill 1 million people, 80 percent of them children."
So in a world that is so much in progress in terms of science, in terms of availability of resources, Ndungane added, "it is morally wrong that there are people who suffer in this way."
Outlining that there are people who are trapped in a cycle of poverty, simply by being born in the wrong place, Ndungane insisted that "it is a fundamental human right for every human being created in God's image to have all that is basic for human living, such as food, shelter, clothing, access to clean water, to health care, to education."
"Jesus Christ's clarion call is that he came to preach good news to the poor and so that's our calling and that's why I'm here," Ndungane said, "to try and encourage the powerful to make a meaningful contribution to the realization of these goals."
A fair world, a better life
The Secretary General of the United Nations has called on world leaders to come together in September to review the MDGs and make some concrete plans over the next ten years so that these can be realized, Ndungane explained.
"The British Government chairs the G8 and the European Union this year and Tony Blair has made it quite clear that this is going to be a development presidency with a focus on Africa ... From the church's perspective we have firmed up various networks," Ndungane said, citing Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation and the Micah Challenge -- a network of more than 260 not-for-profit organizations around the world -- as examples.
Asked why the world has been "dragging its feet" in responding to the needs of the world's poor and hungry, Ndungane said, "It's greed, it's selfishness and lack of political will.
"Part of our coalitions and the Christian voice is to say to the politicians that we want a fair world, we want a just world and we want a world in which people have a better life."
Griswold concurred: "I think self interest is uppermost in our minds and as we look at the president's budget, the people who are relatively voiceless are the ones most deeply affected: the poor, women and children, and the elderly."
Encouraged by at least 28 Episcopal dioceses that have set aside 0.7 percent of their diocesan income to be used for global development projects, Griswold asked the questions: How does a powerful nation and a resourced church deport itself in a world of such incredible needs, and how can we be better partners in mission with brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who are suffering?
"We really have to transform the world's community or be a part of its transformation," he said, "and that means sharing our resources in a much more generous way."
Anglicanism has always been fairly pragmatic and focused on incarnational realities, practical realities, Griswold added. "Anglican mission work has always been accompanied by education and various other services."
Solidarity in Communion
"There's an element in Anglicanism that we care for one another and that we seek to put into practice what Paul talks about in the notion of the body of Christ: when one part suffers we all suffer," Ndungane said. "That's part of being a Communion ... That kind of solidarity is part of the culture and the ethos of who we are. And that's why we have so many networks of support and fellowship for mutual enrichment."
Griswold added, "Being a body of Christ, with all those relationships and partnerships, is very tangible and very real and also stretches our consciousness and helps us to think globally."
Asked whether, as Primates, it frustrates them that the Anglican Communion is spending so much time on issues of human sexuality, Griswold replied, "I think the endless fixation on sexuality is the devil's work. So much energy goes into this one area that issues of hunger and disease, poverty, civil war, get overlooked ... It is not very life-giving and it leaves the poor and the diseased exactly where they were before."
Agreeing with Griswold, Ndungane said that "our God is not a single issue God and while issues of human sexuality are indeed important, nevertheless we face life and death issues.
"Mission is of the essence of our being a church," Ndungane said. "I think it's time that we are energized as Anglicans in faith and action seeking to do God's mission in the world."
Further information on the Millennium Development Goals can be found online at: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/