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Pope Francis
“The measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need, those who have nothing apart from their poverty.”
Mahatma Gandhi
"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
Leith Anderson and Galen Carey, National Association of Evangelicals
"Aid from Western countries has also played a significant role in advancing health services, often in partnership with religious missions and nonprofits. In responding to the Ebola crisis, for example, the U.S. Agency for International Development funded the work of many private agencies, including Samaritan’s Purse. This public-private partnership accomplished more than either government aid or private charity could achieve on their own."
Leith Anderson and Galen Carey, National Association of Evangelicals
"As much as we may want to hunker down and focus on domestic concerns, this is an option our interconnected, globalized world doesn’t afford us."
Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo, CEO and President, Catholic Relief Services
“Our world is experiencing more frequent droughts, severe storms and floods, rising sea levels and other climactic shocks that are impacting agricultural yields of small farmers, expanding the geographic scope of disease, and exacerbating migration. These shocks impact developing countries disproportionately. If help is not provided, they could lead to more conflicts over scarce resources. The United States should heed Pope Francis’ call to a renewed and authentic stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to us by supporting the Green Climate Fund.”
The Rev. Dr. Jacqui J. Lewis, Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church, New York
“There is talk of America being great again. What makes us great is our position as a benevolent global neighbor. We must help improve the lives of those on the margins. When a child is hungry in Sudan, our stomachs growl. That is what it means to be American.”
Gary Edmonds, President/CEO, Food for the Hungry
“Poverty focused relief and development assistance makes up a mere one half of one percent of the federal budget, but brings vital food, health, and hope to millions across the globe. The faith community is on the front lines of addressing these needs among the most vulnerable. We see the valuable role faith-based organizations like Food for the Hungry play in being an implementing partner of US foreign assistance - enabling us to scale our work and broaden our impact to communities most in need."
Sister Deborah Troillett, RSM, Institute Leadership Team, Sisters of Mercy, Little Rock, Arkansas
“We don’t have a budget crisis in this country. We have a values crisis, a priorities crisis. We as religious, call on our country’s leaders to not push the most marginalized peoples off the ‘fiscal cliff,’ but rather to uphold the values that are at the heart of our national strength: compassion, fairness, and treating every life on this precious earth of ours with dignity and reverence.”
Rev. Dr. George Cummings and Rev. Heyward Wiggins, III, Co-Chairs, PICO National Network Steering Committee
“As people of faith, we encourage you to recall the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of m people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.’ Preserving ineffective tax cuts for the wealthy while cutting programs for the most vulnerable amongst us fulfills these criteria of injustice.”
Pope Francis
“[T]he mere fact that some people are born in places with fewer resources or less development does not justify the fact that they are living with less dignity. We need to grow in a solidarity which ‘would allow all peoples to become the artisans of their destiny’, since ‘every person is called to self-fulfillment’.” (The Joy of the Gospel)
Mahatma Gandhi
“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”