SCC at SOA

Sisters Janice, Juliana and Mary Clement were among the thousands who converged at the gates of Fort Benning, GA yesterday.  You can catch a glimpse of them in several of the official photos (available here).  Click here to read a media release from yesterday.  We remember them in prayer today as they return to the gates and we pray for an end to the U.S. taxpayer-funded training of Latin American soldiers who return to their countries as members of death squads who torture, extort and execute their people.

Closing the SOA

Sisters Janice, Mary Clement and Juliana will be representing the Sisters of Christian Charity at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia at this year's vigil and nonviolent protest to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC.  Please pray for all who will be in attendance from November 22-24 and for their cause, the closure of the "school" that has taught so many commandos to commit atrocities against their own people.   Click here for an Evening Prayer prepared to prayerfully accompany these protestors.  For more information about the vigil and protest, go to the SOA Watch website.

Remembering the Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador

On November 16, 1989 at the University of Central America (UCA) in El Salvador, six Jesuits and two laywomen were murdered by the Salvadoran military.  Because these Jesuits stood for a different type of society and a Church of the poor, they lost their lives.  We remember these victims prayerfully and we continue to oppose the U.S. training of commandos who continue to commit such atrocities.  That is why we support the efforts of those who want to close the School of the Americas at Fort Benning.  Click here to read a brief, informative article written in 2009 by Dean Brackley, SJ, one of the Jesuits who volunteered to minister at the UCA after the killings.

November Issue of Stop Trafficking

Click here to access the November issue of the Stop Trafficking newsletter, highlighting the November 2-3 Vatican Seminar on human trafficking. 

What were they thinking?

Click here to read Nicholas Kristof's recent NY Times Op-Ed, "Slavery isn't a thing of the past,"  focusing on the approximately 60,000 human trafficking victims in the United States.  Reflecting on the popularity of the recently-released film, 12 Years a Slave, Kristof concludes, " I fear that a century from now someone may put together a film about slavery in 2013, leading our descendants to shake their heads and ask of us: What were they thinking?"

Typhoon Haiyan: How can we help?

We are aware of the incredible devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.  How can we help?  Go to the Catholic Relief Services website learn more.  Be sure to scroll down the page to learn how to donate and to be informed about the facts.

Sister Maria Dolores and Sister Theresia, the Sisters of Christian Charity in the Philippines, and the girls and staff of Margaretha Home there have sent the following message: "May we please ask you to pray for the victims of the great typhoon here in Bicol and Visaya area?  Here is Quezon City, we are experiencing heavy downpours of rain, but no flooding, thank God.  So far, we are all okay here.  There was no school today.  Let us pray together so that the people in Bohol area who just had a great earthquake will be able to cope with this strong typhoon.  Thank you."

In the Company of the Poor

Dr. Paul Farmer and Father Gustavo Gutierrez have co-authored In the Company of the Poor, released on November 1.  Click here to preview a chapter of the book on the Partners in Health website.  This excerpt demonstrates Paul Farmer's masterful understanding of the intersection between theology and medicine, as he expands his understanding of preferential option for the poor from a hermeneutic of generosity to a hermeneutic of hope.  The title of the books plays on the "theology of accompaniment" espoused by both Farmer and Gutierrez.