News Archives » Economic Justice
Faith Based Community Organizers host Public Gathering on Foreclosure Crisis in Virginia October 6th, 2011
On October 30th VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement) member institutions will hold a public gathering with more than 1,000 people to celebrate progress on their recent campaigns, especially their work to address the foreclosure crisis in Prince William County, Manassas, & Manassas Park. The Oblates have supported VOICE’s work on foreclosures by having given the organization access to company meetings and connecting them with other faith-based shareholder activists.
The upcoming action will be an opportunity to celebrate successes (in Prince William County and across Northern Virginia) and to announce next steps to address local reinvestment needs.
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and senior bank executives will be in attendance.
Click here to read more »
Update from the United Nations September 26th, 2011
UN welcomes South Sudan as 193rd Member State
On July 14th the General Assembly admitted the Republic of South Sudan as the 193rd member of the United Nations, welcoming the newly independent country to the community of nations. South Sudan’s independence from the rest of Sudan is the result of the January 2011 referendum held under the terms of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the decades-long civil war between the North and the South. Learn more…
World Population Nearly 7 Billion!
As the world population approaches seven billion, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed in July that ending global poverty and inequality is the key to unleashing the great human potential for prosperity and peaceful coexistence, while protecting the planet and safeguarding the natural resources that sustain humanity. “Later this year, a seven-billionth baby will be born into our world of complexity and contradiction,” Mr. Ban said in a message to mark World Population Day, observed annually on 11 July. Learn more…
UN Reports Progress Toward Poverty Alleviation
Some of the world’s poorest countries have made impressive gains in the fight against poverty, but the least developed countries still lag in efforts to improve living standards, the United Nations said in a report by DESA, showing significant overall progress towards achieving the global targets against extreme poverty.
67 Million Children Deprived of Education
67 million school-aged children are deprived of education, mainly due to financial or social hardship, in many cases stemming from poverty or armed conflict. At the opening of the high-level segment of the ECOSOC Council’ Annual Ministerial Review on 4 July, Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro warned that “getting kids into school is only half the battle.”
Statement on Nuclear Weapons
Papal Nuncio to the UN, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt made a significant statement on the Church’s rejection of nuclear war and nuclear weaponry at the 3rd Session of the Prepatory Committee for the UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Go to: www.holyseemission.org and click on press releases.
Faith Groups urge Congress to Protect the Poor from Foreign Aid budget Cuts September 26th, 2011
A broadly ecumenical group of faith organizations has urged Congress to preserve humanitarian and poverty-focused foreign assistance and civilian diplomacy from further cuts as they implement the Budget Control Act of 2011.
The groups, which include the Missionary Oblates, argued in the letter that: “Deep cuts to humanitarian and poverty-focused foreign assistance, which totals only one percent of the federal budget, will not make a significant contribution to deficit reduction. But it could cost millions of lives, undermine global human security and harm U.S. and global interests in helping build a more stable and secure world for all people.”
ICCR and IAF Community Organizers Join Forces Against Foreclosures September 16th, 2011
Interfaith Center on Corporate responsibility (ICCR) members, including the Missionary Oblates, have been working with Metro Industrial Areas Foundation affiliates to get Bank of America & Wells Fargo to take action on foreclosure issues in Prince William County, VA and Milwaukee, WI. This collaboration has produced results:
- In Milwaukee, CommonGround, Metro IAF’s affiliate has organized successfully, forcing banks including Wells Fargo and Bank of America to commit $15.2 million to finance blight removal, a 100+ new Nehemiah homes development, and jobs in the Sherman Park neighborhood hard hit by foreclosure.
- In Prince William County, VA, Metro IAF’s affiliate, VOICE, organized and directly confronted Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan at the 2011 annual shareholders meeting. This resulted in Bank of America senior leadership requiring reform of loan modification practices that has resulted in 250 backlogged modifications being resolved. Bank executives also committed to negotiate on VOICE’s demands that Bank of America fund housing counselors and reinvest hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild Prince William County neighborhoods devastated by foreclosures.
VOICE is organizing a 1,000 person public action on Sunday, October 30th with Senator Mark Warner (Senate Banking Committee) and bank officials.
Watch this moving video of an anti-foreclosure rally organized by VOICE in Northern Virginia last April:
JPIC Distance Learning Program Now Available! September 12th, 2011
The Spiritan-owned Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania launched a JPIC Distance Learning Program in mid August 2011. The program, available in English, was designed by the Spiritan’s former JPIC Promoter in Rome, John Kilcrann CSSp, and has been in a testing phase for the past year.
This year the program will present four courses:
- Foundations of Theological Reflection
- Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding 1
- Economics and People
- Water, Environment, and Development
In subsequent years, additional JPIC-linked courses will be added, covering eventually more than 20 central areas of JPIC concern. This will ideally provide pastoral workers, clergy and religious with a ‘tool-box’ of skills to minister more effectively in this important pastoral area.
The course is self-learning in design; the level is pitched at post high (secondary) school level and is in English. Participants set their own pace during each course, studying at a speed suitable to their already busy schedules. When participants complete a required number of courses they will be awarded a certificate by Duquesne University. Registration in the course will also enable participants to use Duquesne’s vast electronic library services free of charge and so permit them to access and download hundreds of thousands of articles in many disciplines from a wide selection of journals, as well as book chapters.
The course is offered free of charge and is the first of its kind available via the internet. Prerequisites include a reasonably good internet access and an adequate fluency in English. You can find detailed information on the program and contact details at http://www.duq.edu/jpic.
