Anglican Communion News Service - Digest News

"True security is found not in military strength, but in ensuring every person has access to the essentials of a fully human life. This is the sort of security spending the world needs most."

So said Anglican Archbishop, the Most Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane, in New York the day after the US General Election [3rd November].

The Archbishop was invited to give the annual 'Hobart Lecture' at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, to clergy of the Episcopal Church of the USA this year. He used the opportunity to address, among other things, the responsibilities faced by the world's 'only superpower'.

" 'Normal life' was overturned on 9/11. The struggle over what is an appropriate response to changed circumstances still goes on...Surely it is for this great nation to give a lead in ensuring world affairs are governed through policies that uphold equity, fairness and the well-being of all humanity..." he said.

Archbishop Ndungane linked this plea to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, which include the reduction of poverty and hunger by half, by 2015.

"Economists tell us we can do all this. Alongside military spending, which this year will top a trillion dollars (a thousand billion), the cost is tiny! What is in question is whether we, our governments, businesses and institutions, have the will-power," the Archbishop said.

-ENDS-

For further information or a full text of the lecture, please 'phone Penny Lorimer, Media Liaison for Archbishop Ndungane, on 0027 (0)82 894-1522

Note to Editors: The Hobart Lecture is named after a prominent former Bishop of New York, John Henry Hobart and the Hobart Lecture was inaugurated in 2000. Former speakers: the heads of the Anglican Church in Australia, Canada, the United States and Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Wales, now the Archbishop of Canterbury.