Latest OMI JPIC News
Consistent Life: Peace & Life Connections March 29, 2013 March 29th, 2013
We reproduce the Consistent Life “Peace & Life Connections” weekly newsletter on this website. If you are interested in more information, or in subscribing to the e-newsletter directly, please visit www.consistent-life.org/ Please note that we do not edit the content of this publication.
Kansas City Nuclear Weapons Election
It’s crunch time for your humble editor (Rachel MacNair) working on the April 2 election in Kansas City, Missouri: Question 3 stops the city from giving any more financial incentives to the local plant for making non-nuclear parts for new “modernized” nuclear weapons.
See foolish-investment.com for more details, and be sure to tell all your friends who vote in Kansas City, Missouri – and all your friends who have friends who do – how important it is to go vote yes on Question 3 this coming Tuesday.
Click here to read more »
VIVAT International Jan-Feb-Mar 2013 Newsletter March 29th, 2013
Please find the Jan-Feb-March 2013 online newsletter from VIVAT International here. (Download PDF)
Subjects covered include:
- Academia and Advocacy
- Human Rights & Big Business
- Land-grabbing
- Anti Human Trafficking
- Africa Faith & Justice
- 51st Commission on Social Development
- Post 2015
- Experience at VIVAT International
Peace & Life Connections: March 22, 2013 March 22nd, 2013
We reproduce the Consistent Life “Peace & Life Connections” weekly newsletter on this website. If you are interested in more information, or in subscribing to the e-newsletter directly, please visit www.consistent-life.org/ Please note that we do not edit the content of this publication.
Abby Johnson Endorses CL
In three prior issues (74, 111, and 148), we have reported on pro-life speaker and author Abby Johnson making connections among the different life issues. Now we are pleased to report that she has officially signed on as a CL endorser. Abby Johnson is a former Planned Parenthood clinic director who became horrified when she actually witnessed an abortion, and quit her job in order to work for life. She is involved in a number of pro-life projects, including And Then There Were None, which provides financial, emotional, spiritual and legal support to anyone wishing to leave the abortion industry.
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Nuclear Powers Skip Nuclear Weapons Conference; CL Endorsers Speak
Diplomats from 127 nations attended the Oslo Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons on March 4-5, hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Unfortunately, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, all designated as Nuclear Weapons States by the Non-Proliferation Treaty, all declined invitations to attend. However, two American CL endorsers – Martin Sheen and John Dear, S.J. – were speakers at the Conference. Our people “get it” even though our countries’ political leadership often doesn’t.
(Reminder: tell your friends who vote in Kansas City, Missouri, how important it is to get out for a yes vote on Question 3, dealing with nuclear weapons, on April 2).
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Dear Consistent Life Friends
A letter from subscriber Bruce Linton, in response to last week’s issue: “As always, you outdo yourselves. Seeing the ideological mixing that you’ve helped energize is a great spiritual joy. When people from all across the political spectrum can agree on our ethics, we make progress in the Kingdom of God. Consistent Life could be subtitled ‘living without regrets’ because that label sure fits.”
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Charles Comosy in Washington Post
Subscriber and Fordham professor Charles Comosy alerts us that The Washington Post has published an editorial he wrote where he makes the case for Democrats being more consistent with recognizing that being pro-life means protecting the vulnerable.
Photo by CL member Eli Cutler
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Quotation of the Week
Mary Elizabeth Williams
“So what if abortion ends life?” Salon, January 23, 2013
Editor’s Note: This is one of our quotations from people who actually favor abortion but make the connection to other forms of killing, so end up bolstering the case for the consistent life ethic even though they obviously oppose it.
We make choices about life all the time in our country. We make them about men and women in other nations. We make them about prisoners in our penal system. We make them about patients with terminal illnesses and accident victims. We still have passionate debates about the justifications of our actions as a society, but we don’t have to do it while being bullied around by the vague idea that if you say we’re talking about human life, then the jig is up, rights-wise.
issue #152 03.22.13 Consistent Life web page / Join or Donate / Previous Issues / Index
Regulators Warned Against Allowing Abusive Payday Lending March 22nd, 2013
The Oblate JPIC Office joined nearly three hundred national organizations, state and local organizations, and concerned individuals in a letter against payday lending abusers organized by the Center for Responsible Lending.
According to the letter, “Direct deposit “advance” loans offered by a handful of banks, including Wells Fargo, US Bank, Fifth Third, Regions, Bank of Oklahoma and its related banking divisions, and Guaranty Bank, are structured and function just like loans from payday loan stores – carrying a high-cost combined with a short-term balloon repayment. Research has long shown that payday loans trap borrowers in a cycle of expensive long-term debt, causing serious financial harm to borrowers, including increased likelihood of bankruptcy, paying credit card debts and other bills late, delayed medical care, and loss of basic banking privileges because of repeated overdrafts. Payday lending has a particularly adverse impact on African Americans and Latinos, as a disproportionate share of payday borrowers come from communities of color. High cost, short-term balloon repayments, and the consequent series of repeat loans, have long been identified by regulators as features of predatory lending.
Read the letter… (Download PDF)
March 22: World Water Day March 21st, 2013
World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Designated by the UN, it is an international day to celebrate freshwater.
In 2013, in reflection of the International Year of Water Cooperation, World Water Day is dedicated to the theme of cooperation around water.
In February of 2013, members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) held a Roundtable in New York on the Human Right to Water and Community Engagement. A gathering of companies, community representatives, investors and NGO representatives, the Roundtable was a successful beginning to a process of dialog around corporate impacts on scarce water supplies.
For information on the UN World Water Day events and materials, visit World Water Day 2013
To learn about the ICCR Water Roundtable, click here.
For Lenten faith resources on water, visit the Ecumenical Water Network of the World Council of Churches, which has an online compilation of biblical reflections and resources on water.
