Press
Release
May 29, 2007
Massachusetts Catholic Conference Joins
National Campaign to End Poverty
Contact: Arlene
McNamee, Chair, Massachusetts Catholic Conference Subcommittee on Social Justice &
Human Services and Executive Director, Catholic Social Services, Diocese of Fall River, MA
Tel : 508 6744681; Email: aam@cssdioc.org
The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Catholic
Conference, the public policy office of the Roman Catholic Bishops in Massachusetts, voted
recently to endorse and join a national campaign against poverty launched by The Catholic
Charities USA.
The Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America is a multi-year,
multi-faceted approach to alleviating poverty in the United States. The goals of the Campaign are:
- To reduce poverty in the United
States by 50 percent by the year 2020.
- To call upon the government to do
more to serve those who are poor, and to improve public policies that strengthen and
support families.
- To educate policymakers and the
public about the struggles of those living in poverty and the good work of those who serve
them in local communities.
- To engage those who are most
impacted by government policies to be active participants in developing solutions to
reducing poverty.
- To work with individuals and
organizations across the country to address poverty in our country.
The details and goals of the Campaign are included in a white
paper, Poverty in America: A Threat to the
Common Good, available online at http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/
poverty/downloads/policy06.pdf, and more online materials are available at http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/poverty/.
The Catholic Bishops in Massachusetts urge all Catholic
citizens, parishes and social ministries to get involved with the Campaign to Reduce
Poverty.
To that end, information, resources and other tools created by
the Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America, and in conjunction with the four diocesan
Catholic Charities offices in Massachusetts, will be distributed by the Massachusetts
Catholic Conference and made available on its website, http://www.macathconf.org.
The Massachusetts Catholic Conference is the public policy
office for the Roman Catholic Bishops in Massachusetts, serving the Archdiocese of Boston,
and the Dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester.
Massachusetts
Catholic Conference
West End Place, Suite 5
150 Staniford St.
Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2511
(v) 617-367-6060
(f) 617-367-2767
(e) staff@macathconf.org
(w) http://www.macathconf.org