Bishops march through London

650 bishops wait for their bus to London


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Published: 24 July 2008

More than 650 Anglican bishops from around the world have marched through the streets of London today to call on governments to double their efforts to tackle global poverty.

In one of the most unusual spectacles ever seen on the streets of the Capital, the bishops were joined by their spouses, other Christian leaders and representatives of other faith groups marching down Whitehall, past the Houses of Parliament, across Lambeth Bridge and onto Lambeth Palace, which has been the London home to successive Archbishops of Canterbury since the 13th Century.

The bishops are marching “in a statement of solidarity with governments” following the adoption, eight years ago, of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - a series of eight pledges to half world poverty by 2015.

At the half-way stage, the Anglican Communion’s representative at the United Nations, Hellen Wangusa, says that while a lot has been achieved; governments are not making sufficient progress to reach their MDG targets within the 15-year time frame.

She says: ‘For the first time at last we can say all governments have collective objectives of what they want to do to solve world poverty and deal with human issues. Here is a collective effort that has been signed on to, within a time frame and they have made a list.

‘The walk of faith is a statement of solidarity with governments. We are saying as churches, and the Anglican Communion, that we recognise the progress made so far, but we also know that there is a daunting task ahead of us before 2015. So that walk will also be a walk to ask our governments to double their efforts.

‘We have made great progress so far, but 2008 is mid point and we haven't made progress enough to begin to celebrate that that 2015 will come round and we will have met the targets. So part of the statement being made through the walk is to say we should not be comfortable because what we have ahead of us is probably twice as much as what we have achieved.’

Wangusa called on governments to double their efforts and work in partnership with the churches to bring about change.

Her words were echoed by the Bishop of the Highveld in South Africa, the Rt Revd David Beetge, who spoke of an ‘amazing creative partnership’ combing the Church’s capacity to deliver with the funds available to governments.

He said: ‘There was a time when governments were afraid to work with faith based communities. That's Changing. And governments recognise that faith based communities are able to produce and deliver and meet people at the point of need. After all, we are the only organisation that has a place in every community, where we meet with the people every week.’

He added: ‘There is a huge significance in symbolic acts and I think this is a symbolic act by the Anglican Communion for whoever sees it. And I think even if somebody who is hungry sees it will know that the Anglican Communion cares about them. The fact that we can come from all over the globe and walk together is saying we can take the MDGs seriously and we want governments to do that and we want to be in partnership with governments in addressing this.’

He said the bishops would be marching in ‘prayerful mood’ - ‘giving thanks for the work we have been able to do but certainly remembering those who have not yet been helped by the MDGs.’

The bishops began their march at the top of Whitehall at 10.30am and gathered for a rally at Lambeth Palace attended by religious and political leaders. Later they had tea with The Queen in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.

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