The Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC) will hold its annual budget vigil on the legislature lawn 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 15. A wide range of religious leaders — Christian, Jewish, Muslim and others — are expected to speak about the link between their own faith and justice for the poor.

The annual event is typically linked to the provincial budget, but the budget is already written. So this year, proclaiming “No more turning away,” the point isn’t so much to advocate for specific budget measures, but rather ISARC wants to pray for poor people and their concerns, said ISARC co-ordinator Murray MacAdam.

“It’s an act of public witness that first of all reminds people from the faith communities and the public overall that in a sense this is our legislature and our government. The budget is a moral document,” he said.

It’s been a minor tradition that politicians from all three parties will stop by during the vigil — sometimes to speak and sometimes just to pray with the group of 30 or 40 people that usually gather.

Given that last fall the government released its second five-year plan for poverty reduction, ISARC is hopeful that this next budget will contain specific measures to raise families out of poverty, said MacAdam.

“If the government is serious about this, and we believe they are, there needs to be measures in the budget that really advance that goal, that really work on the deepening crisis of hunger, poverty and homelessness,” he said.

Catholic participation in ISARC includes the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Toronto, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of Providence and the Canadian Religious Conference Ontario Region