Dare to Care Jan 21st 2022

Laudato Si’ Quote

13. The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. Here I want to recognize, encourage and thank all those striving in countless ways to guarantee the protection of the home which we share. Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest. Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded.

For reflection:

  • When I think about the world right now, do I know and believe “that things can change”?
  • That “the Creator does not abandon us, never forsakes God’s loving plan or repents of having created us”?
  • Where do I place my hope? How can I personally act on this hope?

For action: Watch the first video in the AMSSND “Integral Vision” series here

Justice for Immigrants

Many of the roughly 75,000 Afghan refugees currently in the US are children. Imagine the trauma – of the war, of leaving everything behind, of processing. Watch a short six-minute video from PBS News Hour with Lutheran Immigration Refugee Services (LIRS) about the ongoing resettlement work. 

Climate Change

At the intersection of race, poverty, and climate change/environmental degradation, lives are in jeopardy. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, may his memory be a blessing, called this “climate change apartheid.” Read more here. He was interviewed in 2010 by Kristen Tippett (NPR) on the program “On Being.” For hope and challenge, listen to the recording here, updated after his death. Don’t miss his laughter – it was part of his action as well!

Dismantling Racism

Racism is not only about our personal attitudes and decisions but about the structures that keep it in place. Institutional racism is cooked into our criminal justice system, particularly when race and the death penalty intersect. To learn more about structural racism and the death penalty (and the work of Eileen Reilly SSND on the issue) click here. 

Ending Human Trafficking

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Take the time this month to become more aware and to share your awareness with others.  President Biden signed an executive order this week to combat human trafficking and violence on Native lands, where violent crimes are double the national average. For more information on this from the USCSAHT, read here. 

The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking finds that most Atlantic Canadians are unaware of human trafficking, the signs of human trafficking, or that victims are often trafficked by people they know.  For more information click here or for more on the Canadian Centre click here

The USCSAHT urge you to contact your Representative to co-sponsor the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victim Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2021 (TVPRA) HR 5150 bill. Programs currently funded by the previous TVPA are set to expire soon.

For more information, and for an easy to use online form to contact your Representative, click here. 

Partnership in Haiti:

One of the most important projects within the SSND -Beyond Borders partnership in Haiti is the work to stop the trafficking of children.  Take a moment to listen to the stories of two of the beneficiaries of counter-trafficking partnership work.   Listen to the story of Helia and Mireille click here

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