UK Female Clergy Join Fight Against Poverty

Female clergy from around 150 charities, unions and faith groups in England and Wales will come together to challenge Tony Blair and other world leaders to deliver trade justice, debt cancellation and more and better aid for the world’s poorest countries.

“The churches have been the backbone of virtually every major campaign against mass poverty over the last eight years or so,” said Martin Drewry of UK-based Christian Aid.

According to the organization, hundreds of female clergy from England and Wales will show their support on Thursday, Jan. 13 for the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign—a “real life campaign that is asking the UK public to send a white band message to the government urging them to make changes around debt, trade and aid that keep poor countries poor.”

Donning their dog collars and the campaign’s global symbol—a white band, the women will meet at St. Martin in the Fields (Trafalgar Square) where they will be welcomed by Dawn French—one of Britain's most popular television comedy actresses—and will hold prayers for the victims of the Asian Tsunami which has left more than 150,000 people dead and many millions homeless.

“To gather as Christians for a campaign such as ‘Make Poverty History’ is to affirm that God is somehow present even in the long-term poverty that goes unreported in the media,” stated Lucy Winkett, Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral. “We find in our determination to eradicate poverty, that we are brought together as human beings across all boundaries.”

For more information on the yearlong MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign visit www.makepovertyhistory.org.