Feds say hunger rose in 2007. Hunger in America continued to rise last year, and participation in the food-stamp program is approaching record highs, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2007, 11.1 percent of U.S. households reported food insecurity, up from 10.9 percent in 2006. About 4 percent of households were severely food insecure, meaning one or more adults had to adjust their eating habits because the household lacked resources for food. The food stamp program now has more than 30 million people enrolled, an increase of 9.5 percent from 2006, and half of all babies receive supplemental nutrition from the Women, Infants and Children program, according to the report. “Even before this year's severe economic downturn, more households were struggling to put food on the table,” said David Beckmann, president of the anti-hunger group Bread for the World. “As the crisis continues, federal nutrition programs are working overtime to keep up with the need.”
Texas diocese leaves Episcopal Church. The Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, became the fourth to secede from the Episcopal Church when delegates voted to align with a more conservative branch of the Anglican Communion. Nearly 80 percent of clergy and lay delegates from the North Texas diocese voted to join a conservative Argentina-based Anglican body. Since last December, the dioceses of San Joaquin, Calif., Pittsburgh and Quincy, Ill., also have left the Episcopal Church to join the Argentine group. The Episcopal Church, which has about 2 million members, is the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Fort Worth and Quincy are the only two of the Episcopal Church's 110 dioceses that do not allow women to be ordained. Fort Worth also disagreed with the national church on the blessing of same-sex unions, as well as the 2003 consecration of an openly homosexual man as bishop of New Hampshire. Five of the Fort Worth diocese's 56 congregations and an estimated 4,000 of its 19,000 members will remain with the church, according to church officials. A legal battle over ownership of church property is expected.
Focus on the Family cuts workforce. Focus on the Family will reduce its staff by about 200 positions, citing economic conditions. The staff reductions, which will decrease the number of employees from about 1,150 to about 950, include 149 people whose positions will be eliminated and 53 vacant positions that will be cut. The ministry founded by religious broadcaster James Dobson also will stop publishing four of its eight magazines. The Colorado Springs, Colo.-based ministry encountered a $5 million shortfall on its $151 million budget in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger said. Donations provide 95 percent of the ministry's income. Earlier this fall, the ministry cut 46 other staff positions by outsourcing the department that filled orders and distributed books. All of the current changes are related to Focus on the Family, Schneeberger said, and not its political arm, Focus on the Family Action.
Compiled from Religion News Service