Christian leaders and policy experts from across the political and religious spectrum released a set of proposals Feb. 17 that they say will, if adopted, ease the strain on the poor and those facing poverty. The Poverty Forum, an 18-member committee headed by the Rev. Jim Wallis, president of the progressive Christian network Sojourners, and Michael Gerson, a syndicated columnist and former chief speechwriter to President George W. Bush, represents a bipartisan effort among faith leaders to put aside ideological differences and political point scoring, said Wallis. "It was about what is right and what works in terms of helping poor families," he said. "The moral test, the religious test, and the biblical test of any society is how we treat the poorest and most vulnerable," he said.

The following is a statement released Monday by former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed: I hope you will understand that after everything I have been through I am neither physically nor mentally capable of facing the media on the moment of my arrival back to Britain. Please forgive me if I make a simple statement through my lawyer. I hope to be able to do better in days to come, when I am on the road to recovery. I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares. Before this ordeal, "torture" was an abstract word to me. I could never have imagined that I would be its victim. It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways - all orchestrated by the United States government. While I want to recover, and put it all as far in my past as I can, I also know I have an obligation to the people who still remain in those torture chambers.

Almsgiving is a practice in generosity expected from all Catholics, but the focus of it is even stronger during the season of Lent. The Catholic Encyclopedia says almsgiving implies a material service rendered to the poor for Christ's sake. Promoting almsgiving in the current economic climate, however, creates a challenge, but the need for charitable giving couldn't be greater this Lenten season, said Father William A. Moorby, pastor of Blessed Trinity and St. Patrick's churches in Owego, N.Y. "Lent is a time for self-sacrifice and to be more aware of the poverty that exists in the world, so I'm hoping our parishioners will remember that during this year of economic turmoil, when so many people are in need," Father Moorby said. Click here to read our Just Words Blog entry about Ash Wednesday -- you can just click on the "Add New Comment" link at the bottom of the entry to contribute your own comments.

Once a crutch for the most needy, food pantries have responded to the deepening recession by opening their doors to what Rosemary Gilmartin, who runs the Interfaith Food Pantry here, described as "the next layer of people" - a rapidly expanding roster of child-care workers, nurse's aides, real estate agents and secretaries facing a financial crisis for the first time. Demand at food banks across the country increased by 30 percent in 2008 from the previous year, according to a survey by Feeding America, which distributes more than two billion pounds of food every year. And instead of their usual drop in customers after the holidays, many pantries in upscale suburbs this year are seeing the opposite.

Amid growing economic turmoil and a continuing war on terrorism, the government has ignored the pressing need to reform its immigration policies, according to immigrant supporters who gathered at a prayer vigil Sunday. Grace Hines said the country has changed drastically since her parents emigrated here from Ecuador in the 1950s. Legal immigration was easier in those days, and she said people seemed more accepting of those who wanted to join the United States. She was one of 23 people who gathered Sunday evening at All Souls Episcopal Cathedral's Parish Hall to pray for the local immigrant community and petition the government for political reform.

Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback, in a fundraising letter for a new Washington-based antiabortion group distributed under his signature, questioned whether six of his Democratic colleagues and the Speaker of the House are genuine Catholics. "Real Catholics need a new voice - not the likes of Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi who have campaigned as Catholics while voting to undermine the values that we hold most dear," according to the undated Brownback letter. The letter, carried in an envelope that bears Brownback's signature in a manner similar to official Congressional correspondence, was distributed on behalf of Catholic Advocate, a project of the Washington-based Morley Institute for Church and Culture, publisher of Inside Catholic, a conservative Catholic Web site.

Faith-based charities, which provide an enormous array of private social services to the nation's sick, elderly and poor, are facing unprecedented cutbacks from one of their biggest funders: the government. The nation's economic woes have led local and state government agencies across the country to reduce contracts and grants or delay payments to the groups, which have been forced to eliminate programs, lay off staff or try to borrow money in a tight lending market. Government leaders are also urging the organizations to increase their fundraising, but political leaders and the groups say that the economy is causing deep cuts in private giving.

Hard work, solidarity and other ethical values must be part of the world's response to the global economic crisis, said Pope Benedict XVI and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The pope and prime minister met Feb. 19 at the Vatican and their 35-minute private conversation included the economic crisis and "the duty to pursue initiatives benefiting the less developed countries," a Vatican statement said. Pope Benedict and Brown also agreed that efforts must be made "to foster cooperation on projects of human promotion, respect for the environment and sustainable development," the statement said. The Vatican also said the two leaders expressed hope "for a renewed commitment on the part of the international community in settling ongoing conflicts, particularly in the Middle East."

New York wants poor people to save money, so it is offering a big incentive to encourage them to do so: a 50% match of up to $250 if they put money from their federal earned-income tax credit into a savings account and keep it there for a year. In San Francisco, families can get $100 just for filing for the earned-income tax credit, which gives low-income workers up to $4,800 beyond their wages. New York's savings plan is the newest way the city is trying to reduce poverty by offering poor residents cash for good behavior. Improving the health, education and job qualifications of poor families, as well as their savings rate, will help "break cycles of poverty," says Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs, who oversees the program.

Michigan's safety net is failing a growing number of families during this economic slide, a human services advocacy group concludes in a report released today. Cash assistance for families lags well behind inflation, tougher eligibility requirements have cut the welfare caseload, and an increasing number of families are unable to meet basic needs as unemployment and home foreclosures rise, says the report by the Michigan League for Human Services. "It's startling when we look at what was provided in past recessions and what is available today," said Sharon Parks, president of the league. "The safety net in today's recession only covers the families in the most desperate situations and, even then, it doesn't cover the essentials for children and their parents living in those homes."

Capitol Hill may not be embracing bipartisanship, but some in America's faith community are making strides in that direction. Christians from the right and the left have begun bridging political and religious differences to seek solutions to one of the nation's most persistent problems: poverty. On Tuesday, a new bipartisan group called the Poverty Forum released a series of specific proposals aimed at reducing domestic poverty and keeping Americans hit by the economic crisis from joining the ranks of the poor. The group of 18 leaders - headed by the Rev. Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, and Michael Gerson, President Bush's former speechwriter and policy adviser - has worked since November to develop concrete antipoverty policies they hope will gain widespread support.

Pope Benedict XVI's much-awaited encounter this morning with U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, perhaps the most prominent pro-choice Catholic in America, amounted to a classic Vatican "both/and" exercise, striving to balance the demands of external diplomacy and internal church discipline. By meeting Pelosi, Benedict signaled that he wants lines of communication to remain open with the new American leadership, even if the Vatican has deep differences with its policies on the "life issues." The Holy See is a sovereign state with diplomatic relations with 177 states around the world, which, among other things, means the pope can't always act like the head of a special interest group.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Monday he has softened his stance on the death penalty and may sign a repeal bill if it reaches his desk. The Legislature is considering a measure that would abolish capital punishment and replace it with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Richardson said he would have vetoed such a bill just a few years ago. "Right now, I'd say it's probably a 50-50 proposition," the second-term governor told The Associated Press. "I'm struggling with my position, but I definitely have softened my view on the death penalty," he said. A repeal bill passed the House last week and is pending in a Senate committee.

Dozens met Sunday to pray, sing and rally at Munger Place United Methodist Church for what they described as sensible immigration reform that doesn't demonize or punish newcomers to this country. The Dallas gathering was one of more than 100 events nationwide sponsored by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition. They were planned for the scheduled congressional recess, when many members of the U.S. House and Senate were to be in their districts. Lori Stafford, a local organizer with United Methodist Women, said that all members of the North Texas congressional delegation were invited, as were members of the state Legislature. She said she wanted them to see "that their constituents want progress on humane and just immigration reform."

More than 37 million Americans live in poverty, and the vast majority of them are in line for extra help under the giant stimulus package coming out of Congress. Millions more could be kept from slipping into poverty by the economic lifeline. Many low-income Americans also are likely to benefit from a trifecta of tax credits: expansions to the existing Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit and a new refundable tax credit for workers. Taken together, the three credits are expected to keep more than 2 million Americans from falling into poverty, including more than 800,000 children, according to the private Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Whether a comprehensive immigration reform bill makes it to the front of Congress' agenda any time soon, there are plenty of things the three federal immigration-related agencies can do in the meantime to deal with some problems, according to a new study. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, under whose jurisdiction the three agencies fall, asked Jan. 30 for a review of a wide range of often-criticized elements of immigration policies and procedures, ranging from how criminal aliens are handled to detention practices and backlogs in applications for legal benefits. But before those reports can be submitted, the Migration Policy Institute has prepared its own analysis of some of those areas and other problems with current policies and practices. It's available online at: www.migrationpolicy.org.

The Redemptorist Fathers of the Baltimore province may have to "reduce, suspend or cancel" some of their ministries because of "significant" losses they suffered as clients of Bernard Madoff, the New York financier charged with defrauding thousands of investors in an elaborate Ponzi scheme. The Baltimore province of the worldwide order, officially known as the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, provided NCR with a statement Feb. 11 acknowledging the losses. The Redemptorists were among at least three Catholic groups included on Madoff's client list, released earlier this month by a New York bankruptcy court. The colossal $50 billion Ponzi scheme engineered by Madoff has been characterized, in part, as an affinity fraud because he seems to have exploited his Jewish connections in New York City, Florida and other parts of the United States and abroad.

The starting point for addressing the problem of migration is recognizing the unity of the human family, says the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers. Archbishop Agostino Marchetto said this Friday in Rome at a symposium on the theme "Human Dignity and Human Rights in the Time of Globalization," sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in cooperation with the Community Sant'Egidio. The archbishop began his talk, titled "Human Rights and the Dignity of Migrants in the Age of Globalization," by observing that migration "constitutes one of the most complex challenges of our globalized world." The archbishop explained that this is why the Church is "extremely attentive" to the welcoming and pastoral care of migrants, not forgetting that the phenomenon of migration also carries with it "a complex mix of duties and rights, the first of which is the right to migratory relocation."

The Justice Department's ethics office is in the final stages of a report that sharply criticizes Bush administration lawyers who wrote legal opinions justifying waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, according to department and Congressional officials. The report, by H. Marshall Jarrett, who leads the department's Office of Professional Responsibility, would be the first accounting for legal advice that endorsed interrogation techniques historically considered by the United States and other Western countries to be illegal torture. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. will have to decide whether to approve the findings and whether to make them public.

Gov. Martin O'Malley said Monday his effort to get the votes to repeal capital punishment in Maryland "is not done," and he asked the religious community to help by petitioning lawmakers facing a difficult decision. "I need your help, I really and truly do on this death penalty legislation," O'Malley told about 300 people attending the African Methodist Episcopal Church Legislative Day. "It is not done." The governor also urged repeal supporters not to take any votes for granted on the issue. O'Malley is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Wednesday, where his bill to replace capital punishment with life in prison without possibility of parole is scheduled to have a hearing. A similar bill failed on a 5-5 vote in 2007 on a committee where the swing vote still appears to be elusive.

Chicago-area religious persons began training volunteers Tuesday to take advantage of a new Illinois law allowing for more clergy visits to jailed immigrants awaiting deportation, an effort they say will shed more light on prison conditions faced by that population. Scheduled to go into effect in June, the Access to Religious Ministry Act will ensure detained immigrants inside state and county jails housing those caught in federal raids the same access to clergy as those imprisoned for other crimes, said state Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago), who co-sponsored a bill that passed both state houses unanimously in December. Currently, religious visits for the rotating group of about 750 illegal immigrants who await deportation in Illinois jails every day is restricted to two hours or less per month, said Sister JoAnn Persch, whose Sisters of Mercy order spearheaded the new law.

Some states, cities and counties that plunged into the immigration debate are having second thoughts. In Texas, Alabama and elsewhere, lawmakers have repealed or modified measures that cracked down on illegal immigrants or made English the official language. In Iowa and Utah, legislators are proposing similar reversals. They cite various reasons, including the time and expense of fighting legal challenges, the cost of implementing the measures while tightening their budgets and the barrage of publicity and accusations of racism that come with such laws. "For us to spend our time pitting neighbor against neighbor was a sacrilege," says Judith Camp, a city councilwoman in Oak Point, Texas, about 35 miles north of Dallas, who voted to kill the city's English-only resolution in December.

A national organization founded by Sister Helen Prejean and headed by a Jesuit priest is trying a new tactic to end use of the death penalty, state by state. The Moratorium Campaign, based at the Martin Luther King Jr. Catholic Student Center at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., hopes to convince physician licensing boards or medical societies in each state to declare it unethical for doctors to participate in executions, thus making it impossible for states to carry out their own protocols for capital punishment. The effort will focus especially on the Southern states, where 95 percent of all U.S. executions took place in 2008, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

President Barack Obama, signaling early in his administration that religion belongs in the public discourse, has promised to open a big tent to voices from across the spectrum of belief without crossing boundaries separating church and state. The Democrat's inaugural pomp was steeped in prayer, and one of his first proclamations included a shout out to "an awesome God." Last week, Obama used the platform of the National Prayer Breakfast to unveil a new-look White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that features a team of policy advisers from both religious and secular social service circles. Most are ideological allies, but not all. The question is whether such moves will amount to symbolic window dressing or progress finding common ground on moral issues without stepping on traditional culture-war land mines.

With the whole housing market in a deep freeze, it's perhaps not surprising that fewer low-income units - which require huge subsidies to get built even in flush times - are being constructed. But the slowdown is happening at a time when rising foreclosures are forcing more people into the rental market. "For a long time we've had a shortage of decent affordable rental housing and... there are a lot more people who are renters now," says Buzz Roberts, a senior vice president at the Local Initiatives Support Corp., the largest community development group in the US. "We need supply." The problem stems from the fact that the primary mechanism for expanding housing for the poor - tax credits - has collapsed. These credits, though little known, are responsible for financing as much as 70 percent of the cost of constructing new low-income housing.