wfn.org | NCC, CWS Directors Address New York's The Riverside Church

["Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

October 16, 2003
For Immediate Release

NCC, CWS Directors Address New York's The Riverside Church on October 12

The inacceptability of poverty was asserted strongly by both the Rev. Dr.
Robert W. Edgar, National Council of Churches General Secretary, and the
Rev. John L. McCullough, Church World Service Executive Director, at The
Riverside Church in New York City on Sunday, Oct. 12.

"Misery is not part of God's created design for the world," said McCullough
in his sermon, The Chasm  between Poverty and Justice, which was rooted
in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).  The presence
and impact of poverty for the most part results from the actions of society.
We make decisions that place some people in purple and fine linens; and,
decisions that leave others at the gate, covered with sores, and longing to
satisfy their hunger.

In these days of obsession with the war on terrorism, McCullough declared,
"The real terrorism is when people wrapped in purple linen ignore the plight
of the poor."

The full sermon text is available at
www.ncccusa.org/mcculloughatriverside.html.

In an after-church forum, Edgar, also a United Methodist minister, urged
people to expand their notion of national security to include education,
health care and civil rights for all.  "In our lifetime, we will never have
a majority that cares about justice," Edgar said. "We need to be a
'remnant'."

The National Council of Churches is the nations leading ecumenical body,
through which 36 U.S. denominations comprising 50 million members work to
address peoples spiritual and social needs.  Church World Service is a
global humanitarian agency of the NCCs member denominations.

-end-

NCC Media Contact: 212-870-2252/2227; news@ncccusa.org

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