In conjunction with the secular holiday National Maritime Day on May 23, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced that the U.S. Church will observe the annual National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Mariners and People of the Sea. All are encouraged to pray for and remember all those “who are seafarers, fisherman, and those whose occupations require them to spend most of the year away from their families, in the high seas, and sometimes facing dangerous situations,” remarked Bishop J. Kevin Boland.
As 90% of the world’s goods are transported by sea and the waterways, it is important to remember the 1.2. million seafarers worldwide that make this possible. In addition to praying for and remembering them, we must also be aware of the harsh conditions and danger that they sometimes face.
modern slavery at sea […] occurs at all stages of the seafood supply chain, from catching the fish to processing and shipping it for export. The virtually unregulated fishing industry in many countries, coupled with the global demand for cheap seafood, create the lawless condition under which trafficking at sea flourishes.
CCOAHT reports that trafficked workers are subject to extremely long work-days, hazardous conditions, starvation, disregard for medical needs and injuries, beatings, torture, and even killings. Workers can be lured into modern slavery “by false promises of living-wage and incur crippling debts that then become their trafficking situation,” and migrants are especially vulnerable.
Donate or take action with Apostleship of the Sea, an Catholic charity that seeks to “provide practical and pastoral care to all seafarers, regardless of nationality, belief or race.”
Pray with us:
Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Mother of God and our Mother, you know all the dangers of soul and body that threaten mariners. Protect your sons and daughters who work and travel on the waters of the world, and protect also their families that await their return. Star of the Sea, Mother of the Church, give light and strength to those chaplains and lay ministers who bring the love of your Divine Son among mariners. Fill their hearts with a supernatural and life-giving zeal for the apostolate. Star of the Sea, light shining in the darkness, be a guide to those who sail amid the storms and dangers of life. Enlighten the hearts of ardent disciples and bring us all to the safety of heaven’s port. Amen. – Apostleship of the Sea
How does your college or university engage with anti-maritime trafficking efforts? Let us know!
This Earth Day, consider making it a tribute to God’s beautiful work in Creation! To make your Earth Day holy and thank God for His creation, be sure to check out this plethora of resources and ideas from Catholic Climate Covenant (CCC):
Watch CCC’s video on Trees for the Earth, an Earth Day Network initiative to plant 7.8 billion trees by 2020, to help mitigate the effects of climate change, support communities, and protect biodiversity.
Watch Catholic Relief Services’s video, El Niño and Ethiopia: Year of Extremes?, which explains the extreme drought caused by climate change, how it has been exacerbated by El Niño, and the effects of the drought on Ethiopia’s agricultural systems and the families that depend on them.
Download an Earth Day Program Guide, filled with prayer ideas, Scripture readings, videos, discussion guides, and activity ideas for your community, parish, school, or university
Download an Earth Day Flyer to advertise your activities and events
Since its inception, the Church has been a staunch defender of human dignity. One violation of this God-given quality is human trafficking, which the UN Office on Drugs and Crime defines as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force […] for the purpose of exploitation,” which can include forced prostitution, other types of sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, or forced removal of organs. The UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute estimates that there are 2.7 million victims of trafficking around the world.
The pervasiveness and horror of this crime make the issue particularly pressing. Pope Francis says, “It constitutes a grave violation of the human rights of those victimized and is an offense against their dignity, as well as a defeat for the worldwide community.” He calls for “a shared sense of responsibility and firmer political will to gain victory on this front.” Human trafficking clearly calls for a response from Catholics, especially as a violation of the Catholic Social Teaching principles of human life and dignity, human rights and responsibilities, preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, dignity of work and workers’ rights, and solidarity.
These principles guide many Catholic colleges and universities in their involvement in anti-human trafficking work and research. Saint Vincent College (SVC) received a Global Solidarity Grant for their anti-human trafficking project, “Connecting the Local Community to the Global Issue of Human Trafficking.” The grant, offered jointly by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and Catholic Relief Services, funded a special opportunity to learn about human trafficking to the college’s annual Campus Ministry Spring Break Service Trip to Brazil. On that trip, participants prepared meals, worked with orphans and abandoned elderly, served at an AIDS clinic, taught language, and played with the children at the Missionary Sisters of Christ’s schools in São Paulo. In addition, they heard presentations on human trafficking in Brazil from the Sisters, who work closely with survivors of human and sex trafficking. Speakers shared their firsthand experiences of sheltering survivors and educating the vulnerable population about the threat of human trafficking. Fr. Killian Loch, director of campus ministry, says it was “very powerful being with [the Sisters] and seeing their joy, and listening to them speak of true freedom.”
Saint Vincent College students listen to the Missionary Sisters of Christ tell their stories. Photo courtesy of Saint Vincent College.
To engender true freedom for all victims and survivors of human trafficking, it is essential to raise awareness on the issue. On the SVC campus, the Global Solidarity Grant also went towards assisting students on an anti-human trafficking committee in observing the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, patron saint for victims of slavery and trafficking. The feast day coincides with the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking, with students attending Mass and an awareness campaign. In addition, the committee hosts a Day of Awareness in April, which includes informational displays and activities such as prayer sessions, art demonstrations, letter-writing to trafficking victims, and speakers from external organizations like the Pittsburgh-based Project to End Human Trafficking. Overall, the events on campus as well as the spring break service trip flow from a desire among students and faculty “for ways to become more connected to Catholic Social Teaching,” says Fr. Loch.
Another example of deepening connections to CST in the area of human trafficking is found at the College of St. Benedict (CSB)in Minnesota. In 2016, CSB Campus Ministry’s Alternative Break Experience (ABE) ministry coordinates a yearly service trip on sex trafficking awareness in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Participants and coordinators partner with Breaking Free, a St. Paul-based nonprofit organization that helps women and girls “escape systems of prostitution and sexual exploitation” through survivor-led and victim-centered “services, housing, and education.” The trip’s effects are lasting; in a reflection from last year’s ABE, one student wrote, “Breaking Free and the reality of sex trafficking demonstrated the importance of communities so powerfully and I will be very intentional about engaging and being a part of my community.”
CSB Campus Ministry’s Spirituality and Social Justice (SSJ) ministry coordinates a yearly Sex Trafficking Awareness Week, including a collection at Mass for a Sexual Assault Center; presentations on topics such as “Transforming Porn Culture,” sex trafficking basics, and advocacy. Carley Castellanos, assistant director of campus ministry, reports that around 200 students, staff, and faculty members participated in the activities, including the Handprint Campaign. Castellanos says the Campaign encourages the campus community “to stamp their hand and commit to ending sex trafficking.”
Participants also partake in advocacy by encouraging their senators and representatives to cosponsor the Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act, an initiative led by the CSB Catholic Relief Services Ambassadors. Castellanos writes that the activities flow from both CST and Benedictine Values, including Awareness of God, Community Living, Dignity of Work, Hospitality, Justice, Listening, Moderation, Peace, Respect for Persons, Stability, and Stewardship.
Another unique example of anti-human trafficking efforts at Catholic colleges is found at the University of San Francisco (USF) within the School of Management. Professor Marco Tavanti, Ph.D., director of the Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) program, president and co-founder of the World Engagement Institute (WEI), and director of the Academic Global Immersion (AGI) program, spearheaded the May 2015 USF for Freedom Symposium (USF4Freedom) with colleague Dr. David Batstone, who founded the Not for Sale campaign. Tavanti says USF4Freedom was organized by the students who participated in the AGI-Rome program, an immersion trip for MNA students “in collaboration with Jesuit Refugee Services on international practices and global policy challenges facing refugee service management, forced migrations, and human trafficking,” the program’s website states. The Symposium consisted of a day of lectures given by leaders in various Bay Area nonprofits that serve human trafficking and modern slavery victims, such as Jesuit Refugee Services, Not for Sale, and others that seek to “accompany and advocate for the underrepresented.”
Tavanti emphasizes that USF4Freedom, AGI-Rome, and the partnership with the WEI seek to inspire and equip students to act. He says USF4Freedom and AGI-Rome inspired the development of a Professional Graduate Certificate in Humanitarian Emergency Management “as a way to build capacity in building careers in this field.” He also notes the influence of USF’s Jesuit animation on USF4Freedom: “It sprang from the importance of addressing the Jesuit values of ‘accompaniment’ along with advocacy and service, to inspire our reflections and preparations.” Pope Francis also played a large role: Having met with the Holy Father in January 2016 during the second AGI-Rome, Tavanti and his students “have been further inspired by Pope [Francis’s] call for social justice and human dignity.”
A final example of a campus working against human trafficking is Loyola University New Orleans (LOYNO). LOYNO’s Modern Slavery Research Project (MSRP), founded and directed by English Professor Laura Murphy, Ph.D., “is working toward emancipating victims in Southeast Louisiana and the U.S. from modern slavery through data-based research and training that better serves victims and supports the advocates who make escape possible,” the project’s website explains. In addition to research and training, MSRP works on legislative advocacy and education in partnership with the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives; runs the Make Escape Possible campaign; publishes reports such as its latest on Trafficking Among Homeless Youth; coordinates events such as book talks, storytelling, and film screenings; and works with the Greater New Orleans Human Trafficking Task Force in a project funded by the Department of Justice.
Undergraduate research assistants and interns are involved significantly in the MSRP. The lead intern, Lauren Stroh ’17, is “happy to be on board and working alongside the rest of [the] team to collect real data on the issue” to better inform a range of audiences, from legislators to “individuals involved in combating this issue firsthand.” Stroh has become one of those individuals as she has “had the opportunity to listen to survivor narratives at length” and has found that “there is truly no one who understands what these survivors have gone through better than they do, and hearing them speak about their experiences has done wonders to educate [me] about […] modern slavery.” Stroh hopes to extend her experience with this issue “beyond the United States to the world abroad” through a potential Fulbright scholarship.
From these examples, it is evident that Catholic higher education fosters a thirst for knowledge and a desire to act on human trafficking issues. The animation of charisms such as the Jesuit values of accompaniment and solidarity or the Benedictine principles of the dignity of work and respect for persons has allowed students, staff, and faculty to soar in their work against modern slavery. Pope Francis has said that part of our response to human trafficking must be to “provide victims with… the possibility of building a new life.” As we continue to contemplate the New Life given to us this Easter season, let us follow the example of Catholic higher education in providing that new life for our sisters and brothers in modern slavery.
Justine Worden is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University and the Peace and Justice Intern at the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.
In addition to the Catholic higher education institutions recently profiled, Villanova University has also been deeply involved in education, advocacy, and service activities around the Syrian refugee crisis.
To begin the academic year, the CRS Partnership, CRS Ambassadors, the University’s Law School Clinic for Asylum, Refugee and Emigrant Services (CARES) and the College of Nursing’s Center for Global and Public Health joined together to produce a forum on the Syria and Iraqi Refugee Crisis. On October 21, 2015, over 250 members of the Villanova community gathered to hear from representatives of each of the sponsors as well as the founder and director of the University’s Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, a former UNHCR Protection Officer in the Middle East, and a Syrian CARES client applying for asylum. Among the topics addressed were the migration path, push factors, laws governing protection, adjudicating refugee cases, impacts of refugees on the region, and what we can do in the United States. During the event, Kathleen O’Hara, Global Health and Migration Coordinator for Villanova’s CRS Ambassadors, encouraged the audience to advocate on behalf of the refugees by writing letters to President Obama and their state legislators.
To finish the fall semester, the CRS Ambassadors hosted a “Season of Solidarity” Interfaith Vigil for Syrian and Iraqi Refugees on December 3, 2015. As part of the Season of Solidarity, the Ambassadors’ ongoing awareness, service, and advocacy campaign in support of Syrians and Iraqis fleeing violence, the Vigil brought together the Villanova community to hear from University President Fr. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, CRS Student Ambassadors, Assistant to the President Fr. Kail Ellis, a refugee who fled Syria two years ago, and other CRS representatives. Together, participants and speakers prayed for the safety of those fleeing violence and for peace.
One exciting upcoming event is the “Run for Refugees 5k,” which will take place on April 15, 2016. Planned by the CRS Campus Ambassadors, all Villanova students and student organizations are invited to run or assist with the 5k, which will include opening remarks, an opening interfaith prayer, and education around the refugee crisis throughout the run. Runners will be asked to play a role as a refugee and may be stopped at a border, before they can begin running again. Runners may be asked to run carrying a baby or remove their shoes, replaced with sandals, while running. Through the 5k, the CRS Ambassadors hope to create empathy for the refugees. Register to run or volunteer!
The breadth and depth of Villanova’s efforts to increase awareness and action around the Syrian and Iraqi refugee crisis is impressive and inspiring. How is your college or university engaging in the Syrian refugee and migration crises? Let us know!
Today, we invite you to join us in a prayer for peace in Syria:
Almighty eternal God, source of all compassion,
the promise of your mercy and saving help fills our hearts with hope.
Hear the cries of the people of Syria;
bring healing to those suffering from the violence,
and comfort to those mourning the dead.
Empower and encourage Syria’s neighbors
in their care and welcome for refugees.
Convert the hearts of those who have taken up arms,
and strengthen the resolve of those committed to peace.
O God of hope and Father of mercy,
your Holy Spirit inspires us to look beyond ourselves and our own needs.
Inspire leaders to choose peace over violence
and to seek reconciliation with enemies.
Inspire the Church around the world with compassion for the people of Syria,
and fill us with hope for a future of peace built on justice for all.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace and Light of the World,
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
This and other prayers for peace can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website.
Pope Francis has released a video asking for prayers for Creation. In a project called The Pope Video, an initiative sponsored by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, also known as Apostleship of Prayer, Pope Francis’s videos have been broadcast all over the world in an effort to increase universal prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions.
The latest video, Care for Creation, accompanies Pope Francis’s desire for the entire month of February to be dedicated to prayer for Our Common Home. In the video we hear his voice pleading for the world to bow our heads in prayer “that we may take good care of creation–a gift freely given–cultivating and protecting it for future generations.”
In the spirit of the recent Joint Declaration of Religions Leaders Against Modern Slavery, signed by Pope Francis, The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops officially invites you to participate in the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking. On February 8, 2016, the world will join in prayer for victims and survivors of human trafficking and an end to the atrocity.
For those of you in the Washington, DC area, you are all invited to join the USCCB Anti-Trafficking Program for an Interfaith Prayer Service on Monday, February 8. The event will take place at St. Gabriel’s Church in Washington, DC.
For those of you who will not be able to attend, please visit the Program’s website for promotional fliers and links to resources so that you can promote the Day of Prayer and host your own local event.
If you plan to attend or host a local event or have any questions about the Day of Prayer, please contact the Anti-Trafficking Outreach Coordinator at cljungquist@usccb.org. The Program would love to hear about all the local activities going on.
What is your campus planning for the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking? Let us know!
From January 3-9, 2016, the U.S. Bishops observe National Migration Week, calling special attention to the needs of migrants. This year, the theme centers on the Gospel call to welcome the stranger among us. In honor of the week, USCCB has shared several prayer and policy resources on the National Migration Week website. Read more about the Catholic Church’s response to migration on the latest post to the To Go Forth blogTo Go Forth blog.
I’ve heard the phrase “too close to home” more in the last few days than I pray I ever will again. My wife and I live in Redlands. She works at a nonprofit in San Bernardino down the street from the center where the recent mass shooting took place. I work in Redlands near the neighborhood where the shooters’ apartment stocked with weaponry was discovered. The shooting rocked our community, our sense of safety, and our sense of being at home. The fact that it may in part have been designed to do just that makes it worse. The fact that the killers are dead gives us no solace. Only our friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, and love for one another can provide that.
The person and the place you call home is determined most by bonds of love and generosity. Much less by the things we oppose, and even less still by what we hate. Our hatred doesn’t define us; it doesn’t make us powerful. Only our love can do that.
When watching the news release the names of the shooters, our hearts sank. We feared the killers might be identified as Muslims and that this might bring a fresh wave of inhumane hatred with their act of inhumanity. It’s a double crime to betray your community with horrific violence and at the same time corrupt the names of good and peaceful religious people who are among the creative citizens who call America their home. Such an act does violence to truth as well as to flesh and blood.
We have personal as well as social reasons to fear. My wife is Muslim and I am Catholic. We met 8 years ago and got married for the first time nearly two years ago. I say “for the first time” because we were married three times to each other – once civilly (and within 90 days of legal entry) in accordance with American law, once in accordance with Islam, and once in accordance with the Catholic Church. We’ve made an art of reconciling requirements, statutes, and limitations, and turning them into a beautiful journey we can share together on our way to creating a life of joy and family and service to others.
Is ours a story of immigration, of interfaith union, of overcoming odds and obstacles? Maybe it is, but that’s not how we see it. To us, ours is a love story like any other. Have we encountered bigotry and unintentional insult? Yes. Do we live in a safe world? Sometimes it is and sometimes it’s not. Do we live in a world that supports our most glorious aspirations or one that’s hostile to our deeply held dreams? Both. What about the country we call home? It often lives up to its reputation and sometimes it falls short. Does any of this paralyze us? Almost never.
And neither will the mass shooting here in San Bernardino. The day after the shooting, people lined up at a local blood bank down the street from the building where the shooting happened to donate blood for the victims. We’re a people that literally bleed for each other when one of us is in trouble. That’s a beautiful thing and something that greatly pleases the God who made us, no matter by what name we address Her or by what prophet He speaks to us.
In the wake of the violent events that unfolded, we were both drawn back to the silent prayer of meditation. Meditation is a practice common to both our faith traditions that we regularly share together. When chaos struck, meeting God at the point of stillness within us helped us to remember the innermost essence of who we are and who we are called to be in the world. Meditation reminded us of the open disposition toward others we should have even at the times when it’s most difficult to have it.
Much will be said about things we should do to make it more difficult for people to commit acts of mass murder like the one that happened here. We should talk about those things and we should do more to prevent these acts. But we should also do more to foster communities of hospitality, respect, and resilience. We should do more to be a haven for refugees, immigrants, and the poor. We should do more to live up to our highest ideals and not lower our standards in the interests of self-interest and self-protection. In the end, that doesn’t make us safer – only smaller.
Many and specific will be the calls to respond. And if we must respond to extremism in the extreme, let it be thus: to extend friendship with those different from us, to welcome the stranger from foreign lands, to give when we haven’t enough ourselves, to learn more about the people we find most difficult to understand, to serve one another when it makes us most uncomfortable, and to forgive when we would rather take vengeance. At this time, I’m reminded of the words of a Jesuit priest who spoke at mass on the day of my Georgetown graduation. While I don’t remember his name, his words I’ll never forget. He said, “The quality of your life will be determined by the quality of your loving.” No words I’ve heard feel truer to me now than these.
Brian St. Clair (SFS’06) is a Georgetown University alumnus and lives in San Bernardino, CA. St. Clair was one of the original student leaders at Georgetown’s establishment of the John Main Center. This article was originally posted on the John Main Center website on December 8, 2015.
The John Main Center at Georgetown University upholds meditation as prayer for the 21st century. The center aims to promote meditation integration into education, business, and healthcare. While particularly focused on meditation in the Catholic tradition of John Main, we promote the practice amongst all traditions, faiths, and secularly. Through lectures, seminars, programs, and courses we wish to make meditation universal in daily life.
ACCU wishes you and your family a happy Thanksgiving! We would like to share this special Thanksgiving prayer from Xavier University. You can find this prayer, a printable prayer card, and several other prayers in honor of Thanksgiving in their online prayer resource.
Remembering Others
O God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
help me to destroy my complacency;
bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.
Amen.
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