THE danger of people in under developed countries looking towards the Communists for food if it was not forthcoming from the West, was stressed by Fr. John Guerin of Manchester when he addressed a Freedom from Hunger Campaign Briefing Conference at Blackley, Manchester, on Monday.
Speaking on Christian responsibility for helping people in under-developed countries, Fr. Guerin said that if we were not willing to feed these people, other people were. But, he warned. " In this food there is poison ".
" We are living in a shrinking world, a jet age," he said, " where time and distance mean very little, and our Christian action and thinking must match the age we live in."
"At this moment while people in Manchester are thinking of such everyday things as 11-plus examinations, holidays and television," Fr. Guerin pointed out, " hundreds of people in other countries are dying of starvation."
First-hand information about living conditions in other countries were given by Mr. William Brice, a Lecturer in Geography at Manchester University, who spent several years in India and parts of the Middle East.