Dear Sisters, Associates and Sojourners,
Advocacy and prayer are ways to be compassionate, meaning a willingness to ‘suffer with’ the least among us. We see more clearly the need for these responses in regard to refugees, migrants, climate and healthcare! We must be vigilant and engaged, locally and nationally and internationally because We Are One in the Body of Christ.
A BIG THANK YOU, to all Sisters, Associates and Sojourners that joined the Women’s March. (See the latest blog for a reflection & photos.) The energy and commitment will continue. We are invited to follow-up by promoting, every 10 days, with an action on an issue we all care about. The first action is sending a POSTCARD to your Senators about what matters most to you - and how you’re going to continue to ‘advocate and pray’ for it in the days, weeks and months ahead. A printable postcard for you to download and use is attached here.
Be creative in the actions we choose--go it alone, or consider inviting some friends or neighbors for a drink or dinner sometime in the interim ten days to talk about the issue and fill out your postcards. (https://www.womensmarch.com/)
Now, we are again facing an environmental and political challenge. Both with the denial and suppression of years of positive climate initiatives and with local pipeline advances. Please be supportive of the Lancaster Against the Pipeline, and sign the pledge card and send in SOON! Sister Martha Wachtle gave the invocation at the most recent We Are Lancaster, STAND resistance. (http://www.wearelancastercounty.org/)
Physicians for Social Responsibility alertes us to a serious bill that needs support. Their Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the iconic "Doomsday Clock" was moving a half-minute closer to midnight. Aware of the dire consequences of a potential nuclear war, on January 24, Congressman Ted Lieu (CA) and Senator Edward Markey (MA) introduced the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act which would prohibit the President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress. So, please encourage your Senators to support this bill. (See a sample text here.)
Peace,
Sara
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FEBRUARY is BLACK HISTORY MONTH
The theme for 2017 focuses on the crucial role of education in the history of African Americans. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) provides an Executive Summary of the Crisis.
Click here for more>>
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Human Trafficking Resources
February 8th : International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking.
The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the International Union of Superiors General as an annual day of prayer and awareness against human trafficking. February 8th is the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, who was kidnapped as a child and sold into slavery in Sudan and Italy. She learned from Canossian nuns that she was created in the image of God and possessed human dignity. Once she asserted herself and refused to be enslaved, Josephine became a Canossian sister and dedicated her life to sharing her testament of deliverance from slavery and comforting the poor and suffering. She was declared a Saint in 2000.
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On the radar...
If you have access to Netflix, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has nominated Ava DuVernay’s film “The 13th” for an Oscar! Her film is a magnificent, heart-wrenching, shocking, and inspiring meditation on the American criminal justice system and racial discrimination from the Civil War to the modern day. The movie reveals how “the dots between corporate influence and public policy, between the Koch Brothers and powerful institutions like ALEC...have real world effects with lasting and often devastating impacts on people’s lives.” The truth is not ‘alternative facts.’
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Remember to see the JPIC webpage for a list of all resources.
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