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National Migration Week 2013 December 18th, 2012
National Migration Week will be observed January 8 – 14. The theme for the 2013 observance is “We are Strangers No Longer: Our Journey of Hope Continues.”
The Missionary Oblate JPIC Office is inviting you to use this opportunity to raise awareness and educate your communities on the issue of immigration and Catholic Social Teaching.
The 2013 theme, “We are Strangers No Longer: Our Journey of Hope Continues,” commemorates the 10th anniversary of the historic joint pastoral letter of the United States and Mexico bishops conferences; Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope.
The observance of National Migration Week began more than twenty-five years ago by the bishops in order to provide Catholics an opportunity to take stock of the wide diversity of the Church and to work for justice for immigrants.
Resources for National Migration Week 2013:
Resources at the National Migration Week 2013 of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website. (Available in English & Spanish for parish commemorations)
Pope Benedict XVI’s message – World Day of Migrants that will be celebrated Sunday, January 13, 2013.
Peace & Life Connections; December 14, 2012 December 15th, 2012
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.
HOLIDAY EDITION
Note: Due to the holidays, Peace & Life Connections will not be published on the next two Fridays, and will start a new year on Fridays in January.
Quotation of the Season: A Christmas Carol
John M. Grondelski, National Catholic Register, December 17, 2011
2 (Pro-Life) Christmas Classics:
A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life Carry a Message for All Seasons
Dickens’ Christmas Carol . . . is a polemical work: Dickens was sparring with the laissez-faire capitalists whose influence in industrializing Britain sought to limit concern for the poor to running poor houses and treadmills. . . His other target was Thomas Malthus. Malthus, the intellectual granddaddy of zero population growth, had argued that population increase would inevitably lead to disaster. . . Scrooge gives voice to the elite opinion of his day when, dismissing the businessmen who come to his office seeking charitable contributions, he opines that those who would rather die than go to a poorhouse “had better do it and decrease the surplus population.”
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Shopping After a Factory Fire December 13th, 2012
Squeezed between the news reports of Black Friday weekend, when U.S. consumers spent more than $59 billion dollars, and a Cyber Monday that was the busiest online shopping day ever, came the tragic news of yet another horrible fire in a garment factory…
Read Fr. Seamus Finn’s latest blog on Huffington Post.
Oblates Promote Social Empowerment in Sri Lanka December 13th, 2012
“Social inability” is widely recognized and accepted today as a root cause of poverty. Empowering people to think for themselves, and stand on their own, offers a solid and a permanent way out for people from poverty and social misery. The philosophy that it is better to teach a person to catch a fish than to offer him one is the philosophy behind “The Citizen’s Forum”(CF), which is successfully operating in Sri Lanka under the direction and guidance of the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR). CSR is the Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) institution of the Colombo Province of the Missionary of Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI).
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Isle of Man enacts legislation to outlaw vulture funds December 12th, 2012
Legislation to prevent the Isle of Man being used by ‘vulture funds’ to exploit the debts of some of the world’s poorest countries has this week received Royal Assent. The Isle of Man is known as a tax haven, but deserves recognition for this move toward greater transparency and ‘best practice’ regulation.
The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (Limitation on Debt Recovery) Act 2012 outlaws a practice that undermines international debt relief efforts.
The legislation prevents vulture funds from buying up poor nations’ debts for a fraction of their original amount and then using the courts to sue for the full value, plus interest and penalty charges.
Treasury Minister Eddie Teare MHK said the move was designed to send a clear message that the Isle of Man was a well-regulated, transparent and co-operative country.
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