Nuns Team Up in Parliament Poverty Protest

Link to this article
Two nuns from Wiltshire will join up with around 1,000 members of religious orders and take part in a protest at Parliament today when they will be calling on MPs to “Make Poverty History”.

Sister Concepta from St Teresa’s Convent in Corsham and Sister Mary from St Michael’s Convent in Swindon are taking part in the special event organised by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD).

Sister Concepta said: ”This year is an unprecedented opportunity to end the needless poverty and hunger, and the human despair this brings. Many of us have worked in developing countries and seen the suffering of our brothers and sisters.

“The Gospels demand we take action against poverty. We are travelling to London to speak out on behalf of the 1.3 billion people worldwide living on less than a dollar a day. We will not stand by and let our politicians get away with this any longer.”

The event will be the first time religious orders have come together for a mass lobby of Parliament. Their message “to Make Poverty History” will be the first one heard by the newly elected Parliament as MPs return to work after the General Election.

CAFOD is a leading member of the Make Poverty History campaign, a coalition of 400 hundred British organisations calling for trade justice, debt cancellation and more and better aid.

CAFOD director Chris Bain said: “The numbers of religious men and women travelling from around the UK to make a stand for Make Poverty History is humbling. They are in a unique position to highlight the moral imperative of rich governments to make poverty history through trade justice, debt cancellation and more effective aid.

“Already nearly six million people have died of poverty this year and 30,000 children are dying every day. This year we can make a difference.”

Carmelites, Dominicans, Benedictines and Jesuits are just a few of the Orders who will form a procession from the Methodist Central Hall to the Houses of Parliament.

They have special access to the Great Hall to meet their individual MPs. The event will close with a service at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey.