News Archives » North America
Trafficking and the Super Bowl January 29th, 2014
ABC News recently featured efforts to deter human trafficking around the Super Bowl. The short segment may be accessed by clicking here.
Exploitation of Kids is No Game January 27th, 2014
Covenant House has developed a powerful new website to educate people about the problem of the exploitation of children by sex traffickers in the United States. It offers infographics designed to be shared through social media.
The problem of child homelessness and exploitation is a massive and heartbreaking problem. The stories are horrific.
Please visit and share this site with everyone you can. Let’s work together to protect our kids.
USCCB Delegation Examines Massive Youth Exodus from Central America January 27th, 2014
A delegation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently traveled to Central America and Mexico to examine and understand why unaccompanied migrant children are fleeing the region in such record numbers.
The situation has reached crisis level. Whereas the number of children apprehended on the U.S./Mexico border averaged 6,800 between 2004-2011, it jumped to over 13,000 children in 2012 and over 24,000 children in 2013. The projected number for fiscal year 2014 is 60,000-70,000. Most come from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
There are many factors that prompt these children to undertake such a perilous journey, and the delegation delves into those in their report. But simply put, these children are fleeing violence: generalized violence at both the state and local levels, which has led to a breakdown of the rule of law and created a culture of fear and hopelessness.
The delegation was led by Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, and included Jeanne Atkinson, Executive Director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC); Reverend Daniel Groody, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame, and consultant to the USCCB Committee on Migration; Jane Bloom, Director, Washington Office of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC); Kristyn Peck, Associate Director of Children’s Services, MRS/USCCB; Ashley Feasley, Immigration Policy Advisor, MRS/ USCCB; and Kevin Appleby, Director of Migration Policy and Public Affairs, MRS/USCCB.
Here are the full findings and recommendations.
Consistent Life Joined Thousands at the March for Life on Wednesday January 24th, 2014
Consistent Life members joined the March for Life in Washington on Wednesday, and shared their broad message of protection of life with other participants. Some thirty seminarians bunked down at the Oblate offices in Washington for a couple of days, while attending the March. A group of seminarians stays each year in the JPIC office space and other common areas of the OMI headquarters. We trust they stayed warm! Official Washington was shut down on Tuesday due to snow, and many area schools were still closed on Wednesday. The March for Life, however, proceeded as planned.
Here are some Roe Anniversary Events in the Media:
CNN offered an opinion piece by Christopher Hale, “Why Progressives Should Be Pro-Life.”
CL Endorser Shane Claiborne commented on the Roe anniversary in the Red Letter Christians blog.
BuzzFeed Politics did a photo essay on the Consistent Life contingent at the March for Life (CL and member groups Feminists Choosing Life of New York, Secular Prolife, and the Prolife Alliance of Gays and Lesbians, as well as friends at Life Matters Journal).
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Consistent Life Information Tables
Consistent Life exhibited at the Cardinal O’Connor Conference, the Students for Life of America National Conference and the March for Life Exhibit Hall, reportedly receiving a lot of favorable responses at all of these.
Call on Congressional Republicans to Adopt Family-Friendly Immigration Reform January 24th, 2014
Call Your GOP Member of Congress and Urge Inclusion of a Path to Citizenship for Immigrants and a focus on Family Unity in the Republican position on immigration reform
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives meet EARLY NEXT WEEK to plan their way forward on immigration reform. They could announce their reform principles by the middle of week.
Catholics and other supporters of immigrants and their families are strongly encouraged to call their GOP Members of Congress on Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 27 and 28, and ask that these two elements be included in their immigration reform principles:
- Include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
- Maintain family unity by preserving the family immigration system.
Use this toll free number, 1-855-589-5698, to be connected to your Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Thanks to the USCCB Justice for Immigrants for this Action Alert!
