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OMI UN Update – February and March 2013 February 20th, 2013
The United Nations Commission on Social Development recently concluded its 10 day session in a call to give the poorest and most vulnerable populations the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty
According to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report on promoting people’s empowerment, nearly 80% of the world’s population is without adequate access to social protection, leaving those feeling powerless to improve their position. The report also states that while more than 600 million people have overcome poverty since 1990, 1 billion people are still struggling to reach that goal by 2015. Globally 200 million people were unemployed at the end of 2011, an increase of 27 million jobless persons since 2007 and 621 million young people are neither in employment, school or training nor looking for work.
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WOLA Researchers Question Border Security Rhetoric February 20th, 2013
In a talk sponsored by the University of Chicago Human Rights Program, Adam Isacson and Maureen Meyer of the Washington Office on Latin America, a non-governmental organization which the Oblates support, said the voices in Washington calling for further buildup of border security mechanisms as part of comprehensive immigration reform are wrong. Their year-long study has shown them that what those voices call a “crisis” on the border, a “war-zone” with violent criminals, “illegal aliens” and terrorists streaming over the border into the U.S. does not exist on the U.S. side. The people in actual and terrifying danger are undocumented migrants passing through Mexico and crossing the border.
Read more about their findings here.
USCCB Launches New Campaign Against Human Trafficking February 20th, 2013
The USCCB Coalition of Catholic Organizations against Human Trafficking is developing a new initiative called The Amistad Movement. The campaign, which is being developed during 2013, will work on both prevention and helping people after they have been trafficked to reintegrate into supportive communities.
The Amistad Movement
If you are interested in partnering with USCCB to roll out any aspect of The Amistad Movement, or to contribute to the content development, please be in touch with the Anti-Trafficking Unit in the Migration and Refugee Services Department of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Email: MRSTraff@usccb.org
Peace & Life Connections; February 15, 2013 February 15th, 2013
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.
Cemetery of Innocents, Garden of Justice
Patrick Grillot reports: Like many pro-life student organizations, Students for Life at Saint Louis University annually displays crosses in a prominent area of its campus to commemorate the number of lives lost to abortion. This year we modified our “Cemetery of the Innocents” display to include five subjects, many of which do not traditionally align with what people think of when they think of pro-life issues. Our “Cemetery of the Innocents” was a visual representation of five offenses against the dignity of the human person: abortion, capital punishment, rape, physician assisted suicide and poverty. To make the display more impactful, we used specific, local data where possible, such as abortions on college-aged women in Missouri and the number of people living below the poverty line in St. Louis. See story and photos.
Because we are not only committed to destroying a culture of death, but also cultivating a culture of life, we created a “Garden of Justice” to represent different movements toward restoring the dignity of every human life, from conception to natural death. Paralleling the subjects of the “Cemetery of the Innocents,” the “Garden of Justice” comprised color-coded flowers to represent the number of students aided by SLU’s Pregnant and Parenting Student Assistance, states that had repealed the death penalty, Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network affiliated crises centers in Missouri, states that have outlawed physician assisted suicide, and meals served by Campus Kitchens nationwide.
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Truth, Justice and Mercy Meet February 15th, 2013
“Truth and Mercy have met together
Justice and Peace have kissed.” (Psalm 84)
“In these two short lines there are four important concepts and two powerful paradoxes. The concepts kept running through my mind as I watched the peace process unfold [in Nicaragua] in its fits and starts. I noticed for the first time that the Psalmist seemed to treat the concepts as if they were alive. I could hear their voices in the war in Nicaragua. In fact, I could hear their voices in any conflict. Truth, Mercy, Justice and Peace were no longer ideas. They became people. And they could talk.”
John Paul Lederach, a Mennonite Christian, is an influential author and practitioner in the fields of conflict transformation and peace building. He has written a little play – “a liturgy of sorts” as Lederach calls it, based on his experiences in working with conciliation groups in Nicaragua who often used Psalm 84 for their biblical reflections. We would like to share it with our readers as a good mediation piece for Lent. (Download the PDF)
