(Editor’s Note: At the request of the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta, Father Richard Kieran, Archdiocesan Secretary for Education and Chairman of the Council’s Moral Leadership Committee, recently addressed a meeting of the President’s Commission on World Hunger being held in Atlanta as one of several meetings scheduled throughout the United States. This begins a two-part series based on Father Kieran’s presentation to the Presidential Committee.)

We are most grateful for the opportunity to address the commission on behalf of the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta. The council is a federation of 25 Christian denominations in the seven-county metro area, which work together to serve better the metro community in Christ’s name.

The council adopted as its priority concern for this year, working to eliminate hunger and malnutrition locally, nationally, and internationally. It is addressing the issue of hunger and malnutrition in several ways:

-- Year-round emergency relief through its Christian Emergency Help Centers;

-- Special programs to feed the hungry at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some 6,000 people were given assistance this winter;

-- Legislative action -- such as working for increased funding in the State of Georgia for Aid to Families with Dependent Children;

-- And most importantly, moral leadership to enable local churches to respond to hunger and malnutrition at home and abroad as a moral issue.

The Moral Leadership Committee of the Council has prepared, as an aid for local church leaders, and Information/Action Package on the issue of hunger. We will present this package to the commission as our written comment. The package includes a position paper on moral leadership; a statement on hunger is a moral issue,” and Action Recommendations.

We regard the statement on “Hunger is a Moral Issue” to be the most important part of this package. I would now like to comment briefly on the moral dimensions of the issue.

We are convinced that the response of our nation to world hunger must be dictated primarily on moral grounds and that we will make little progress toward eliminating world hunger and malnutrition until we develop a comprehensive national food policy which takes into account the moral dimensions of the issue. Therefore, we see the religious community as having a major role to play in consciousness-raising and in encouraging local action to do what is demanded by conscience, to relieve the suffering of the millions who are starving or malnourished.

The failure of the religious community to respond to hunger as a moral issue opens the way for our people to evade their responsibility. They become satisfied with allowing governmental and humanitarian agencies to deal with hunger, feeling that they have done their part by paying taxes and making an occasional donation for hunger relief. This kind of response by our people is clearly inadequate.

The fact of widespread starvation and malnutrition internationally, nationally, and locally is well documented. However, our people remain very ignorant of the alarming proportion of the problem.

Food As A Sacred Trust

Conscience dictates that we regard food as a unique commodity, not simply another product to be used for profit. It is a sacred trust, closely linked to the right life for millions. The ability to produce it far in excess of our need, places upon us, as individuals and as a nation, awesome responsibilities.

There is much evidence to suggest that enough food can be produced to feed adequately the entire human family. The basic cause of hunger, therefore, is the unequal distribution of food. Better stewardship is needed.

The stewardship of this sacred resource is an increasingly complex, moral responsibility. However, it is incumbent on all to meet this responsibility individually and collectively. The basis for doing so is that the goods of the earth are destined by God for the use of the entire human family. Good stewardship demands that we manage this sacred trust so as to eliminate hunger and malnutrition.