Building Solidarity with the Hungry
Author: Father Cody Williams, Holy Cross Church
Building Solidarity with the Hungry
Father Cody Williams
Holy Cross Church
“It is impossible to be “local” in a healthy way without being sincerely open to the universal, without feeling challenged by what is happening in other places, without openness to enrichment by other cultures, and without solidarity and concern for the tragedies affecting other peoples,” says Pope Francis. This year I am embarking on a new opportunity for the people of Townsend to enrich their sense of global issues and find concrete actions to change the world. Too often today, as indicated by the quote by Pope Francis, we live our quiet comfortable lives without realizing the real challenges of the world. Once we open our horizons beyond the scope of our immediate concerns, the world becomes a place of wonder and fascination, a place of hope and charity, and a place of a common shared humanity. Often the phrase “social justice” gets mixed with ideologies. The true ideal of social justice is to bring the peoples of the world together into mutual understanding and solidarity. Only by broadening our mental borders and allowing ourselves to experience humanity on a global scale, do we grow in compassion, charity and a greater sense of our own human dignity.
This year Holy Cross Church is hosting a series of social justice-oriented events to help us engage with the challenges and joys of humanity on a global scale. Each month we will host an event centered on one of the social justice themes with both interactive events, dinner, and an outreach effort to put our theme into action. These events are open to all people and all ages.
Hunger affects more people than we realize. Access to health care, economic opportunities, resources, changes to weather patterns, and violence are all factors contributing to hunger. A few years ago a drought in East Africa caused an estimated 10.7 million people to severe famine. The number of people who experience severe hunger increases each year with 783 million in 2022. Often in the US, we consider ourselves wealthy by the standards of other nations. We convince ourselves that hunger is not a major issue for a prosperous and developed country like the US. Statistics indicate that roughly 1 in 5 children suffer from hunger in the US. Hunger is a prevailing issue for all the countries of the world.
On Monday, September 23rd starting at 6 pm in the Holy Cross Parish Center we are going to explore the topic of hunger through a variety of activities. The night will start with a hunger banquet to make real the inequality of food availability and distribution. Following our banquet, we will discuss the issues of hunger on a local and global scale with the goal of finding practical solutions that we can all participate in. Often, we picture events like this one as a shaming event or one to make us feel like we are part of the problem. The goal of solidarity and events like this one is to find productive ways to become part of the solution and guide us to greater thankfulness for the gifts we have, as well as recognize and respect the dignity of all. I encourage everyone to come and attend this event as a way of experiencing and educating yourselves on the issues of global hunger. You are welcome to bring canned foods which will be donated to the Townsend Food Bank or monetary donations for either the Food Bank or the World Food Programme, an international program to help end world hunger. May we all desire a greater experience of our shared humanity with those within and outside our community and grow in love for our neighbor.
