Bishop’s Annual Address to Council
(portions relating to MDGs)
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…“Now
to the second challenge: I want to invite the Diocese of Atlanta to be a
leader among the dioceses of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion
in support of the Millennium Development Goals. At an earlier council we
embraced the MDGs, and this year we will be asked
to endorse the goals again and commend them to our parishes for support at
the local level. You will hear more about this later this afternoon. What is
exciting is that the MDGs are achievable. On that
much, pretty much every one agrees: From governments around the world
(including our own), to virtually every church, to civic clubs, to colleges
and universities, to individuals at all economic levels, the Millennium
Development Goals are achievable. This summer at the 75th General
Convention, teed up by Presiding Bishop Griswold and carried forward by our
new Presiding Bishop, the MDGs became a principal
focus of our church's mission and ministry for the next decade. What an
exciting time! When you think about it, to us has been given the privilege of
living in a time when pretty much everyone agrees that it is within our
reach, in the next decade, to eradicate the most severe forms of poverty and
disease worldwide. Seven-tenths of one percent of the world's resources, less
than one penny out of a dollar, redistributed to those in need, will
accomplish the MDGs. It is doable, and doing our
part costs us very little, comparatively speaking. The greatest cost to us
will not be the money, it will be the determination to follow through and stay
focused.
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