Hunger Meeting Reviews 1979 Lenten Program
Episcopal News Service. July 13, 1978 [78190]
ST. LOUIS -- The National Hunger Committee of the Episcopal Church met here June 21-24 to prepare for the Lenten Hunger Program for 1979 as a "special time for Episcopalians to pray, study, give, fast and work for the alleviation of hunger."
The Executive Council instructed the National Hunger Committee and its Staff Officer, the Rev. Charles Cesaretti, to prepare and coordinate this Church-wide effort.
The group, composed of members of the Hunger Committee plus one other person from each of nine provinces, endeavored to increase its knowledge and understanding of the hunger problem and to explore ways to transmit an understanding of the enormity of the situation and the need for Christians to address the issue. "The Law, the Prophets and the Gospel are broadcast with references stressing God's concern for the weak, the oppressed and the hungry and the importance of the just distribution of food," says the preface of the proposed curriculum for Lenten study.
Three consultants -- Br. Emmanuel Nicholas, Dr. Patricia Kutzner and the Rev. Scott Paradise -- assisted the panel in the areas of Third World problems, legislative and social action.
"The Committee's goal is to allow Episcopalians to take a good hard look at the issues," said Cesaretti. "Church people need to be aware of the dynamics involved, to gain a greater understanding of the forces that are at work in the overall hunger situation. Dealing with hunger issues is a matter of stewardship... what to do with the gifts that God has given us."
Each Provincial team will take its learnings back to share with diocesan task forces at September meetings. November will see diocesan leaders sharing with parish leaders their increased knowledge and the know-how to convey it to their congregations through the Lenten Hunger Study.
The Committee walked through the proposed study of hunger which is designed to be consistent with traditional elements of Lenten discipline: prayer, study, giving and action. The coordinated program includes a series of special meditations planned for Forward Day by Day emphasizing hunger, the malnourished and the poor. Special liturgical resources -- propers, prayers for the people and litanies -- are being prepared. Three sample sermons will be available to aid lay preachers or to suggest approaches to clergy.
The Committee sampled aspects of the adult study program which are in the works. There also will be a curriculum for family use at home which will require about a half hour weekly. The study program seeks to broaden understanding of world hunger with a simulation game, a guided trip to the supermarket, Biblical experience which relates Biblical teaching with the participants' feelings and experience, and study of the welfare situation, diet, land use, and finally, some options for the task ahead.
In the simulation game, Committee participants, who were given the responsibility of the survival of 150 million people, quickly became aware of the intractable nature of the problems when confronted with the dynamics of the world food situation.
The Lenten discipline of action will be incorporated into the study material by suggestions for 'home grown' projects... hunger marches, Meals on Wheels, legislative initiatives, patterns of giving. Each parish group will be encouraged to decide on and design what course to take.
The panel also noted that study materials for the Church School Missionary Offering, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief and the Good Friday offering will all provide opportunities for additional program focus and channels for giving.
Cesaretti stressed to the Hunger Committee that the broad study of the hunger problem will serve to validate the efforts now being made to alleviate hunger both in local situations and worldwide by church groups. "After all," he said, "there are still 500 million hungry people in the world. There is much less media coverage of the problem than a year or two ago, but the problem still exists. It is up to us," he stressed, "to keep the issue before the Church."
Following the Lenten Hunger Study, the Committee hopes to give the Church, when it meets in General Convention in Denver, the opportunity to build into its life a greater awareness of the hunger problem and an opportunity for the Episcopal Church to reflect in its life its concerns in this area and to be a symbol of hope for the hungry.