News Archives » Human Dignity
Revel in the Revolution! September 8th, 2014
Please join the 8th Day Center on Saturday, September 20, as they celebrate their 40th Anniversary! This year’s Revel in the Revolution will feature keynote speaker José López, the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, and the presentation of the 4th Annual Mary Elsbernd Award to Rasmea Odeh of the Arab American Action Network. This 40th birthday will be celebrated with dancing, lunch, raffles, and a silent auction. Please join in the fun!
Saturday, September 20, 2014
2:00 – 5:00pm
Jean Marie Ryan Center
Misericordia Campus
6300 N. Ridge Avenue
Chicago
Please Support UN Resolution for an International Bankruptcy Process September 5th, 2014
We would like to share this prayer and action request from our colleagues at Jubilee USA. JPIC Director, Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI co-signed the recent Jubilee letter on this issue to Ambassador Power:
Friends,
On Tuesday, the United Nations General Assembly could vote on a resolution to not only stop vulture funds, but to actually prevent the world’s poorest economies from defaulting. A majority of countries support it – thanks to the work we have done together, the world is largely united against predatory behavior.
Yesterday, Jubilee’s executive board officers sent a letter to the United States UN Ambassador Samantha Power urging her to support this resolution.
Please pray for Ambassador Power as she weighs her vote, and we hope your entire faith community will pray for the UN process this weekend. We would be honored if you would share your prayers with us by replying to this email.
This resolution is an opportunity to win a financial reform Jubilee USA has championed since our inception: an international bankruptcy process for countries. As the Argentina case highlights so clearly, we need a bankruptcy system to stop predators and end the specter of default. Winning this resolution moves us closer to building an economy that serves, protects and promotes participation of the most vulnerable.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
A Test for all Americans: Unaccompanied Children Deserve a Compassionate Response September 3rd, 2014
Children at the Border;
Photo credit: Catholic Charities,
Archdiocese of Dubuque
“Maria would rather die than return to El Salvador,” notes the child psychiatrist who evaluated the 13-year-old near the U.S./ Mexican border. The girl is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression after escaping rape by a gang member, as well as threats to her grandparents’ lives back in El Salvador. With her in mind, and others like her, it is unthinkable that U.,S. policy proposals would roll back protections afforded to unaccompanied children under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. It would give border patrol agents the power to immediately render deportation decisions, and if this happens, children like Maria won’t have the opportunity to even talk to doctors. Read “Vulnerable and Alone: Children Crossing the Border” (PHR), here. The U.S. Bishops are calling for a humanitarian response. Watch this You Tube.
Learn more and spread the word: Watch the three-minute video, Why People are Fleeing Central America, from Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, that succinctly explains the root causes of the migration spike. The children are predominantly coming from Honduras (with the #1 homicide rate in the world), El Salvador (#3) and Guatemala (#8), known collectively as the Northern Triangle. Reportedly, street gangs from the 90’s now work closely with the drug lords and increasingly use “join or die” tactics with these children. Watch the video.
Click here to read more »
Dominican Sisters in Iraq Struggle as Refugees August 26th, 2014
We are sharing these messages from the Adrian Dominican Sisters in the US about the Dominican Sisters in northern Iraq, who are now refugees. The Sisters asked, “Please share the letter with other people. Let the world hear the cry of the poor and the innocent.” (Download a PDF of the Letters)
The first message was received on Saturday, describing the plight of refugees in the wake of the attacks by ISIS. A second email came a short while later from Sister Luma, describing a terrifying journey that involved one of the Sisters walking miles beyond the protection of the Erbil checkpoints into the Nineveh Plain to rescue her elderly parents, who had fled Qaraqosh and were stranded with little food or water by the banks of the Al-Khazi River.
Your prayers and support are deeply appreciated.
Here are the letters sent from Iraq:
Click here to read more »
Archbishop Tutu: My plea to the people of Israel: Liberate yourselves by liberating Palestine August 21st, 2014
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, in an exclusive article published over the weekend in Haaretz, the liberal Israeli newspaper, called for a global boycott of Israel and urged Israelis and Palestinians to look beyond their leaders for a sustainable solution to the crisis in the Holy Land. South Africans – along with people across the world – have turned out in massive demonstrations in opposition to the disproportionately brutal bombing of Gaza.
The Archbishop said, “I asked the crowd to chant with me: “We are opposed to the injustice of the illegal occupation of Palestine. We are opposed to the indiscriminate killing in Gaza. We are opposed to the indignity meted out to Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks. We are opposed to violence perpetrated by all parties. But we are not opposed to Jews.”
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