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NAINConnect 2008 Workshops |
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Theme: Making a Difference
MDGS - INTERRELIGIOUS COMMUNITY SOUGHT IN HELPING END POVERTY
WORKSHOP SUMMARY
The United Nations unanimous vote in 2000 supporting eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is the most concise yet universal call to end the bone-crunching poverty so very many endure and make a world that is comfortable for all. This workshop surveys the goals and how religious communities everywhere are working to meet them. Successful religious support to date will be reported and resources provided for taking the goals to your own community and beginning to generate support.
PRESENTERS
Herb Behrstock, Jon Denn, and George Wesolek
Herb Behrstock served the United Nations Development Program in New York and eight countries in Asian and Africa for more than 30 years. His work focused on poverty alleviation, sustainable human development, environmental protection, and international cooperation. Herb is currently President of one of the several chapters in the San Francisco area of the United Nations Association-USA – whose priority program theme is the MDGs.
Jon Denn is Co-Director of Trinity Conference Center in Connecticut. As an interfaith social justice activist and author, he is the Co-Founder of Millennium Congregation-Gathering Courageous Acts of Compassion. He champions the global repetition of the “Counting Prayer” - The world now has the means to end extreme pov-erty, we pray we will have the will - in the hope that millions of repetitions will provide an answer to the prayer.
George Wesolek is the Director of the Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. A teacher and writer about Catholic social teaching, he actively works against the death penalty. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed him to the San Francisco Planning Commission to Abolish Chronic Homelessness.
Workshop is interactive - please post a comment and note your interest
DISCUSSION AND COMMENTS
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OPENING STATEMENT
In 2000, the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals, a historic global social and economic compact. The MDGs call on all global stakeholders -- in partnership -- to reduce by one-half the proportion of people in extreme poverty (living on less than $1 per day). Other goals aim to reduce hunger, halt the spread of communicable disease, raise education for girls and boys, and protect the environment. Each goal has a quantified target, considered attainable by 2015.
Implementation at mid-point has been mixed. Some regions and countries are progressing well and will achieve most or all eight goals. Others lag, especially affecting African countries, but even some populations in the USA.
Do we have a stake, perhaps a leadership role? More specifically:
* How can we build on our respective values, teachings and long traditions to accelerate this remarkable thrust to achieve social justice?
* How has the spiritual and religious community already made a meaningful difference?
* How might we accomplish more through the collaborative voices, resources and activities of our faith and interfaith communities to provide leadership and practical results for emulation and replication?
* What are our most meaning roles (and responsibilities): Awareness raising? Action programs? Inspiring and engaging youth? Political advocacy and lobbying? Community leadership?
* What is, or could be, our more effective complementarity and collaboration with governments, secular organizations, and the broader civil society?
This workshop’s purposes are to probe these questions, sharing aspirations and informing each other of ‘best practices.’ The hope is that everyone can return home with greater awareness and better informed foundations for interfaith action.
Whether you will attend this session or not, would you please enrich the conversation and building blocks with ideas and responses to the questions. Also invited before July 24th are emails with concrete examples of activities and achievements that fulfill the goals, whether they’re designated as “MDGs” or social action and poverty alleviation.
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| Date |
Author |
Title |
Reply |
| 05/05/08 |
Herb Behrstock |
Inspiring Examples of Involvement |
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| Since this webpage went up, we learn week-by-week of inspiring activities by faith and interfaith groups to address the MDGs, to be heard, to really make a differenece.
Please post your ideas or questions on this site, and please share your case experience so we can network now and in SF, and then return home with wonderful examples of pilot projects or 'best practices.'
Initiatives underway reflect the many creative opportunities to impact poverty, hunger, preventable disease, literacy, and environmental protection. Sometimes they're new, innovative. Others are adaptation or replication of what the faith community has been doing for years.
Groups seem to be advocating with policy makers; praying; engaging in outreach and proje . . .
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| 05/20/08 |
Jonathan Denn |
The Counting Prayer |
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| "The world now has the means to end extreme poverty, we pray we will have the will".
Since 9/23/07 THE PRAYER VIGIL TO END EXTREME POVERTY has offered over 500,000 Counting Prayers, and pledged over 8,800,000 prayers through 2015.
We invite every person, and every congregation in every faith in every country to join the historic St. Paul's Chapel at Ground Zero in NYC and countingprayers.org to offer The Counting Prayer everyday and/or at every service until the Millennium Development Goals are met. Hundreds of thousands of prayers will turn into millions then billions, and as the prayers are answered the repetition of words will turn into advocacy then action, and finally a miracle.
Think of The Counting Prayer as a signpost to . . .
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| 05/20/08 |
Jonathan Denn |
MILLENNIUM CONGREGATION |
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| HELP SPONSOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM VILLAGE IN RWANDA, MALAWI, AND EXPAND GHANA'S VILLAGES
(Endorsed by DESMOND TUTU, MIROSLAV VOLF, JOAN BROWN CAMPBELL, SIR JOHN POLKINGHORNE, RABBI ARTHUR GREEN & JEFFREY SACHS)
Congregations can join together for as little as $50 a month to sponsor a Millennium Village that will empower 5000 people to sustainably lift themselves out of extreme poverty, and achieve all eight Millennium Development Goals. Fifty congregations pledging $500 a month for five years can sponsor their own village. There are eighty Millennium Villages up and running in ten African countries. There is no model with a better metric. Please make your congregation a MILLENNIUM CONGREGATION, and help end extreme poverty—one villa . . .
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| 06/14/08 |
Paul Chaffee |
international interfaith starting to pay attention |
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| A pub called "Religious Intelligence" just carried a story about Religions for Peace (global, headquartered in NYC) and the Archbishop of Canterbury were convening an international conference of religious leaders to promote engagement with MDGs.
You can read the story at:
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=2156
Just paste it into your browser.
Those gathering will be leaders, archbishops, chief rabbis and so on. The work the rest of us are doing is much more grassroots. Happening in small in hundreds, now thousands of different places.
My dream is that the hierarchs and the grassroots learn to work together on the issues. Till that happens our influence will be marginal. Joined together, the interreligio . . .
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