Bamberg (Fides Service) - On February 29, first Sunday in Lent, the annual Lenten Solidarity Campaign launched by the charity organisation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Germany ,Misereor, will start with a solemn Mass at 10 am at the cathedral of Bamberg, Bavaria, broadcast on state television. After the Mass Archbishop Ludwig Schick will officially declare open the 46th Lenten Campaign which this year has the theme “Give us our daily bread…today.”
Every year during Lent Misereor encourages Catholics to show solidarity with poor and oppressed peoples in many parts of the whole. This year’s theme intends to highlight the problem of hunger in the world: 830 million people do not eat enough food and there is still a long way to go to reach the target set by the 1996 World Hunger Conference of halving this number by 2015. Misereor aims to increase awareness of the unfair distribution of the world’s food and also to call attention to hunger in the north of the world, where people have food in abundance but hunger for “life in abundance”.
Misereor also organises special awareness creating events for children and young people with regard to hunger in the world: Solidarity Marches and Races, Lenten Lunches and Study Days on sharing with justice. Misereor also publishes a Lenten Calendar with slogans and ideas to help families and communities reflect on the causes of hunger in the world. (MS) (Agenzia Fides, 27/2/2004 - 24 righe, 282 parole)