Faith community voices concerns for poor at services near convention

Published: 2004-09-01

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Members of the faith community who contend that national policies should be reordered to better serve the needs of the poor used the Republican National Convention Aug. 30-Sept. 2 in New York as a rallying point. Several hundred people gathered Aug. 31 at the Riverside Church, an interdenominational congregation in Manhattan, for an evening interfaith service to "lift our voice in a new vision for our nation and all its people." Earlier the same day, a "Service of Prayers for Hungry People" was held at St. Francis of Assisi Church, a Franciscan parish near Madison Square Garden where the convention was meeting. After the Riverside interfaith service, many participants carried flashlights out on the street to "shine a light" on poverty, militarism and "our leaders' abandonment of a politics that promotes the common good." The Catholic community was represented by Father John P. Duffell, a local pastor who is one of the more outspoken advocates of social justice in the Archdiocese of New York.

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