Challenge of hunger addressed at annual interfaith service

Geshe Lotin, left, and Ven. Dhamcoe Chopel of the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in Bloomington chant the dedication prayer from Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way during the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service on Nov. 25 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

Hundreds of candles lit from one flame symbolized the light of faith, the glow of hope and the fire of charity during the ninth annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service on Nov. 25 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis.

Participants represented the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist and Sikh faith traditions. (See a photo gallery from this event | Purchase photo reprints)

Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general, welcomed the gathering on behalf of Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, who was not able to preside at the interfaith service but joined them in prayer.

“We are coming from many different cultures, many different faith traditions,” Msgr. Schaedel said, “and we gather tonight to unite ourselves in the common spirit of thanksgiving, praying for unity and peace in our world. With one voice, let us all pray together.”

Ethnic music from many countries and cultures enabled the participants to experience hymns and chants from a variety of faith traditions as songs of praise and thanks to God.

Keynote speaker James T. Morris of Indianapolis, who directed the United Nations’ World Food Programme for five years from 2002 to 2007, reminded the gathering that people of all faiths and ages go hungry throughout the world every day.

Morris also initiated the Interfaith Hunger Initiative, a coalition of faith-based organizations working to end hunger in the U.S. and abroad.

“No child should ever be hungry,” Morris emphasized. “It’s not right, it’s not fair, not in this world of plenty, of goodwill, of huge brainpower and technology. We know how to feed the world’s population.”

Each day, he said, there are 850 million hungry people in the world and half of them are children.

An estimated 2 billion people live on less than $2 a day, Morris said, and another 1.25 million people live on less than $1 a day.

Tragically, 25,000 people die of hunger every day, he said, and of that number 18,000 are children.

Every five seconds, Morris said, all day long, someone dies of malnutrition somewhere in the world.

“During the five years that I had the extraordinary gift plus the pleasure and privilege of leading the United Nations’ World Food Programme,” he said, “which feeds more than 100 million people each year in 80 countries, and with a special focus on women and very vulnerable children, often I would come back [from fact-finding missions in developing countries] to Rome and my office, and be perplexed and bewildered and almost beside myself trying to understand why my children and my grandchildren had life so good [in the U.S.], and were so blessed and so fortunate, and why so many of the children around the world were so at risk. It wasn’t fair. Where was the equity? Where was the justice?”

Morris said he would often seek out clergy from various faith traditions to try to gain some spiritual understanding about the harsh reality of worldwide injustices.

“It’s not acceptable for a single child anywhere in the world to be lonely or sad, to be hungry and not loved,” he said, because God wants “the world [to] come together and accept as universal the notion that the life of any child, of every child, of any faith, anywhere in the world, is equally sacred, equally blessed and equally precious.”

Turning to the Bible, Morris said, “I would seek out support and encouragement in the holy Scriptures. … It seemed to me that the universal lessons that human life is created in the image of God, that what we are given must be shared with those who are in need, and that we can reach our highest potential through our sacred community with others, … these universal truths, were affirmed by all of the world’s great faiths.”

The prophet Mohammed taught that one of the five pillars of the Islamic tradition is feeding the hungry, Morris said, and giving the greeting of peace to everyone.

In the Christian tradition, he said, Jesus taught that what you do for the least among us you do unto me (Mt 25:45).

The Hebrew Scriptures cite the abundance of food in the world, Morris said, and how it is meant to be shared with all people.

“In the words of [Mohandas] Gandhi,” Morris explained, “the great Hindu leader said, ‘To a hungry person, God can only appear as a piece of bread.’ ”

The Buddhist tradition also identifies with the suffering of the poor, he said, and the Sikh tradition speaks of the need for social consciousness.

“Mother Teresa told us that ‘our humanity unites us,’ ” Morris said, “ ‘and if we don’t have peace it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.’ ”

The World Health Organization reports that hunger and malnutrition is “the single most serious health issue in the world today,” he said, but there is hope for a better future because the world’s people “have so much more in common than the artificial barriers that humankind has found to divide us. … We share the notion of giving and caring and sharing when we come together.” †