Diocese joins worldwide prayer to end hunger

Intermountain Catholic

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IC photo/Marie Mischel

The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City (left); Monsignor Colin F. Bircumshaw, vicar general (far right); and members of the diocese’s Pastoral Center gather at noon on Dec. 10 to join the worldwide "One Human Family, Food For All" campaign initiated by Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based federation of Catholic charities. Gatherings to pray for an end to world hunger took place at many Catholic institutions across the United States, including Notre Dame University, Purdue University, Fordham University, Manhattan College, and La Salle University in Philadelphia. At Catholic University in Washington, D.C., Church leaders including Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington; and Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, joined students and faculty to pray for an end to world hunger. In addition to the Dec. 10 event, Caritas is urging people take long-term actions such as raising awareness, advocacy, charitable work or other efforts to support food security. About 1 billion people worldwide suffer from hunger today. Dec. 10 marks the United Nation’s Human Rights Day; Caritas is asking the U.N. to hold a session on the right to food at its 2015 General Assembly, and also is requesting that governments enact national legislation to guarantee the right to food.