[van-announce] Lower Mainland churches hold vigil for social justice

[Stephanie Smith]

A coalition of Lower Mainland Christian churches - including the
Anglican, Lutheran, Roman Catholic and United Churches - will
hold a 40-day vigil to call attention to the widespread suffering
caused by government cuts to the social safety net.

"The Christian faith calls us to stand with the poor and
vulnerable"  says Pastor Brian Heinrich of the Lutheran Urban
Mission Society. "Our experience is that so many people have been
affected by the financial and political agenda of governments.
The churches have to speak out."

Sister Victoria Marie of the Vancouver Catholic Worker movement
explains "The number of homeless people in Vancouver has doubled,
far too many people cannot access welfare, low-wage working
parents have to go to food banks to feed their families, seniors
and the disabled cannot get home care, education programs for
special needs children have been cut - the list of people
affected is huge. We must bear witness to this suffering and call
our public officials to account."

The idea for the vigil originated from the church members'
frustration with the deaf ear they encountered whenever they
attempted to bring the many problems they saw to the attention of
government officials.  "Effectively, we were silenced," says Rev.
Brian Burke of St. John's United Church. "We were told there was
no real problem, that one particular individual might have a
problem, but that overall, things were just fine. The people
suffering were also silenced by this dismissive approach."

The 40-day "Vigil for the Silenced" will take place on Robson
Street behind the Vancouver Art Gallery.  It will happen every
day (except Sunday) from noon to 1 p.m. throughout the season of
Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday, February 9th and ending on Good
Friday, March 25th . For more details, please contact Pastor
Brian Heinrich 604-682-2363; Rev.  Brian Burke 604-685-9726;
Sister Victoria Marie 604-255-1555 ; or Susan Henry, First United
Church 604-681-8365.