News Archives » Resources
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.
Sign up for the Oblate Earth Literacy program: “Exploring the Sacred Universe” January 24th, 2014
Daily, all of us, members of the Earth community, are reminded that we live on a rare, precious, threatened planet. At the same time we realize that at its root, ecological devastation is a spiritual issue. Our weeklong “Exploring the Sacred Universe” program addresses our current situation in a spiritual context. Past participants consider the program to have been a transformative learning experience, as they were invited to broaden their vision and include our numinous Universe in all aspects of life.
The dates for the 2014 Earth Literacy Program are August 3-10. Information is available here, or on the La Vista website.
Interested in learning more about a different perspective now? Watch “The Known Universe”, a marvelous video from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It will help you experience the awesome scale of the known universe, as mapped through astronomical observations. In the video, you start at the Himalayas, move through Earth’s atmosphere and the black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang.
Oxfam Releases “Good Enough to Eat” Index January 22nd, 2014
Last week the global hunger and development organization Oxfam released their Good Enough to Eat index. This informative resource assesses food security, food quality, affordability, and dietary health across 125 countries.
Number 1? The Netherlands. Last Place? Chad.
We feature this item in the spirit of the Caritas call for “One Human Family, Food for All” and our own effort to better understand chronic world hunger.
Thanks to National Catholic Rural Life Conference for this information. Learn more about NCRL and subscribe to their e-newsletter.
