Patrick Regan said the government needs to do more to tackle the gap between rich and poor, and for political parties to talk to each other about alleviating child poverty, despite their differences.
He called for the church to alleviate poverty not only financially, but by building friendships with poorer people one-on-one.
He was speaking after a report from the Fabian Society, which has links to the Labour Party, claimed 3.6 million more people, of which 1.2 million are children, will live in poverty by 2030 unless the government takes "dramatic action".
This would be an increase in child poverty of nearly fifty percent (47%).
The report says cuts to welfare, and a growing gap in the amount people are earning, are the reason for the increase in poverty.
It calls for the government to create "very high levels of employment" and also "a high minimum wage and widespread uptake of the living wage."
The government says a record number of people are in work, and that they're cutting the budget deficit fairly, making sure the richest in society carry the heaviest burden.
Mr Regan told Premier: "Child poverty is a huge issue. We see kids and they look like they're in the most amazing clothes, and a lot of people come up to me go 'they're not poor'.
"But I know for many of them they'd rather look good and look cool and go hungry... a lot of these guys are missing meals, a lot of these are missing toiletries.
"All I can say is what I see on the streets and on the estates and I see life is really tough. I see Mums working two jobs trying to make ends meet... if you're a bloke... sometimes you get caught up in stuff, it might be gang stuff, it might be other stuff, in order just to try and provide money.
"Persistent poverty makes you angry. I've got kids who say to me, they look at the city and they look at how other people live and it makes them angry, and it can generate into... falling out of education, antisocial behaviour...
"What people in poverty need is friends. I wouldn't let my friend live in a cardboard box. I wouldn't let my friend prostitute herself because that's the only way she can get money for her kids."
Listen to Patrick Regan speaking to Premier here: