British Churches combine to fight world poverty

BY A STAFF REPORTER THE role of Churches in Britain in fighting world poverty and aiding development is to be discussed at a conference at the Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire. from October 13-17.
It is being arranged by a joint committee set up by the Commission for International Justice and Peace, the British Council of Churches and the Conference of Missionary Societies in Great Britain.
Taking part will be representatives of all Churches and of mission orders and various ecumenical organisations, as well as a number of individuals with specialist knowledge and experience.
lhe conference will be essentially a "working consultation" with the number of speeches in plenary sessions reduced to a minimum and the majority of the time spent in seminar groups from which it is hoped clear plans for action will emerge.
Among the aspects to be considered will be means by which the facts about world poverty and the urgency of the moral challenge can be communicated to the Churches and the wider community, the challenge which world poverty presents to the Churches use of their own financial resources, and the methods by which the Churches should seek to influence public opinion.
Also to be considered will be specific immediate objectives in the fields of overseas aid and trade which the Churches should press the Government to accept and implement.
Hovercraft plan for missionaries
THE use of miniature hovercraft by missionaries in Africa is being considered by the Society of African Missions. Each would carry one or two people. plus adequate supplies for ten days, while priests travelled round their missions.
Fr. Michael Walsh. of the society's Manchester office. has recently visited the factory of Hatton and Bass at Peterborough, whose latest model, the Humming Bird, is the type of hovercraft the society has in mind.
Fr. Walsh said: "Many of our people in Liberia are using canoes, which can add a week in travelling time to a ten-day tour. I have just returned from Nigeria, where one of our fathers was cut off from his mission for a week by a flooded river."