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Effort seeks to spread its message of service to people of every faith
By Colette M. Jenkins
Beacon Journal religion writer
Published on Friday, Oct 10, 2008
FAIRLAWN: J.T. Buck is involved in social service ministry at his church because he is committed to helping people in need.
''Everyday, we see people at our church who have fallen through the cracks. People who have lost their jobs. People who don't have food to eat. Young people who are struggling to make it through school. Folks who have all kinds of special needs from mental health to food and clothing'' said Buck, 30, of Akron. ''With all that's going on in the economy, the numbers continue to grow. I want to know what our next president is going to do to help the people who are falling to the cracks.''
Buck, a parishioner of First Grace United Church of Christ, went looking for an answer to his question from the Democratic campaign on Thursday at the Hilton Akron/Fairlawn, where former Indiana Congressman Tim Roemer led an intimate conversation on the role of faith, family and values in Sen. Barack Obama's life. The stop was part of a three-day ''Faith, Family and Values'' tour for Obama that started Thursday across Ohio.
''Barack Obama knows that people are really hurting. He is committed to green jobs, decent health care for people, worker training, investing in education, and not shipping our jobs overseas,'' said Roemer, a devout Catholic who served in Congress from 1991 to 2003. ''We've got a lot of scripture that speaks to treating people fairly and meeting the needs of 'the least of these' and Barack Obama believes in it.''
The faith tour, which was launched in September, is part of the Obama campaign's strategy to reach out to religious voters, particularly evangelical and Catholic voters in Middle America. The tour also aims to make a connection between the economy and faith and values.
The campaign's effort to mobilize faith groups also includes a merchandise component. Buttons, bumper stickers and signs, with messages like Believers for Barack; Pro-Family Pro-Obama and Catholics for Obama, are available for those who want to show their support as a person of faith for the Democratic presidential hopeful.
Summit County Councilman Frank Comunale wore a Catholics for Obama button and listened intently as Roemer described Obama as a man who lives out his faith by what he does.
''I'm a person of faith and in the true sense of Catholic social teaching, Barack Obama and Joe Biden resonate with the things that are most sacred to me — protecting and educating children, instilling them with hope and faith and being zealous about protecting them their whole lives,'' Comunale said. ''When he's elected president, we will have the first community organizer in the White House.''
In addition to Roemer, the tour includes conversations with Catholic Pepperdine University professor Doug Kmiec and evangelical leader Don Miller, who spent time at Kenyon College in Gambier; Denison University in Granville; Ohio State University and Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware on Thursday.
Before arriving in Akron to converse with the four people who showed up at Beau's, Roemer had spent time with larger groups of about 20 at Cafe Marie in Toledo and about 30 at Parma Ohio for Change Headquarters. The tour continues today in Tiffin, Toledo and Bluffton with Miller. On Saturday, Gov. Ted Strickland will have a town hall meeting in Zanesville and Miller will have another campus conversation at the University of Cincinnati.
''The intimacy of this conversation was incredibly powerful. To be able to sit around a table and specifically talk about issues of faith is huge,'' said Buck. ''I characterized myself as a 'McCain detractor' because I have fundamentally disagreed with him on policy after policy. But after this event, I am a much stronger Obama supporter.''
Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.
FAIRLAWN: J.T. Buck is involved in social service ministry at his church because he is committed to helping people in need.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 05:48 AM, 10/10/2008
http://news.yahoo.com/election/2008/dashboard
Akron, OH
Posted 11:19 AM, 10/10/2008
YAWN!!!!!!!!!
Posted 09:50 AM, 10/11/2008
wow, a yawn with exclamation marks. Talk about a confusing moment :)
