MILAN - The Holy See's official pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015, the newest edition of the every-five-years world's fair, will be a public space of relaxation and learning.

“Some people are starving around the world,” I used to say to myself, when an unfinished meal was thrown away. In the couple times I let this comment slip to other friends, the response was usually the same.

“It’s not like I can send them my food,” or “It’s my meal, I can do what I want with it,” both of which are valid points.

TORONTO - St. Francis Table is hungrier than ever for volunteers to feed those being starved by poverty.

TORONTO - The long hours thousands upon thousands of volunteers spend repacking food and stocking shelves in their parish food banks aren’t solving the problem of hunger, claims a union-and-Church-backed campaign demanding governments raise social assistance and minimum wage rates.

 

More than 800 million people around the world go hungry every day. In a Catholic Register special report, associate editor Michael Swan examines this human tragedy and takes a look at what some organizations are doing about it. Also included in the package is an article by Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Read all the articles below:

- The human tragedy of hunger

- 'Food is an inalienable right' by Cardinal Peter Turkson

- Farming locally, helping globally

- Food bank use continues to rise

- Chalice takes on the roots of poverty

ROME - Every human being has a right to food, and no business plan or economic policy can override that right, Pope Francis told world leaders gathered in Rome.

For some time, we’d noticed several big coolers and baskets by the front door of a neighbour. Sometimes, while walking our dog, we’d see someone pull into the driveway and drop some food in a cooler or basket. 

The people of South Sudan need to know they are not forgotten. 

You may not remember your first cherry, but Kedra and Destiny Kimiksana will always remember theirs. The young sisters got to try a cherry thanks to Sr. Faye Trombley, the missionary who runs Our Lady of Grace parish in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. At 69 degrees north and 133 degrees west, on a little reach of land that extends into the Beaufort Sea, cherries are hard to come by and expensive.

TORONTO - There’s only one union in Ontario demanding layoffs, willing to accept a wage freeze and hoping to be declared obsolete. The brand-new Freedom 90 Union of Food Bank and Emergency Meal Program Volunteers launched its demands at a downtown Toronto church May 7.

The Freedom 90 group of middle-aged and elderly veteran volunteers of Ontario’s food banks are asking Ontario’s government to “make Ontario’s food banks obsolete — before we volunteers reach the age of 90.”

TORONTO - Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you that you have from God and you are not your own, Faith Connections program director Vanessa Nicholas-Schmidt told participants at the Keeping the Temple Healthy event April 14.

“Glorify God in body and spirit,” said Nicholas-Schmidt, quoting Corinthians. “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything.”

Registered dietitian Ashley Nicholas led six participants on a grocery store tour at Loblaws focused on healthy eating as part of Faith Connections’ Eat, Pray, Share series exploring food and spirituality.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI urged the international community to address the problems of poverty and malnutrition in Africa's Sahel region.

"The Sahel was seriously threatened again in recent months by a notable decrease in food resources and by famine caused by a lack of rain and the resulting increase in desertification," the pope told members of the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel.

He said that for residents of the Sahel, "living conditions are deteriorating."

NAIROBI, Kenya - The year 2011 was not good for women such as Joan Ochieng. Just about everything was a struggle.

"We were not treated fairly," the Nairobi resident and single mother said of life in 2011, noting the many pressures, including spiraling food prices that caused her and her family of four children and one grandchild to often go to bed hungry.

When things like rice doubled in price in six months, a bowl of porridge was often the only salve in a day in which eating three meals was almost unheard of. Even eating two meals was often a rarity.

TORONTO - Marianne Moroney wants justice on the streets of Toronto — justice that can deliver a simple, cheap, satisfying meal. As executive director of the Toronto Street Food Vendors’ Association, Moroney has been fighting city hall for the rights of Toronto’s hot dog stands.

“City councillors have set out purposely to strangle this industry,” Moroney told The Catholic Register.

Moroney is a tenacious and tireless advocate for the mostly poor, mostly immigrant hot dog sellers of the city. It’s an endless and thankless task, but she derives her inspiration from a deep instinct for communion and her attachment to the Eucharist.

TORONTO - Close to 7,000 Catholic elementary students could lose their breakfast program if proposed City of Toronto budget cuts are passed, says Trustee Maria Rizzo.

Without the breakfast program, kids will be going to school hungry, she said, and would be detrimental to student learning.

“I hope (Mayor) Rob Ford can make sure they'll give them a little bit of gravy,” Rizzo told The Catholic Register.