Poverty programs too often about getting votes, speaker says

Published: 2004-02-24

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The United States has made such little progress in addressing domestic poverty -- particularly among children -- because the topic has become a partisan political tool, the president of the National Urban League told an audience of social ministers. "All too often the decisions (about anti-poverty programs) are about who will get the votes," said Marc H. Morial, league president and former mayor of New Orleans, during a Feb. 23 program at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington. "We need a new movement in this country" to mobilize against poverty, Morial said, adding that the example set by Catholic organizations doing social ministry would be a good starting point. "The work you do is not a political issue, it's not about getting votes," he said. Because the church's anti-poverty work is based in morality, it sets an example that crosses political lines, he added.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .