Every month, one of our Sisters or Associates writes a reflection on a topic related to social justice. We welcome you to read and reflect on these essays, contemplating your own thoughts on these important issues of our day.
This was the title of the March 2012 symposium conducted by Simone Campbell, SSS (Executive Director of Network), and Jan Novotka (Retreat Director and Composer), sponsored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and attended by Dominican Sisters of Peace Judy Morris, OP, and Pat Twohill, OP. This workshop aimed to help participants look beyond the "knee jerk" reactions and the "political posturing" all too prevalent in society's political discussions.
It's the other side of paradise - the Jamaica few ever see. It's not Negril with its seven mile beach or Montego Bay, the island's tourist capital, but Kingston, the real capital, on the other side of the island.
Ohio is at the center of the child sex trade - a hub of human trafficking. A recent report found that 1,800 people are trafficked into Ohio every year. Besides the 800 immigrants who are annually brought in for sex and labor, recruitment for trafficking victims goes on as well. An estimated 1,000 American-born children in the state are annually forced into prostitution and then kept in it against their will.
January marks the fourth year I have worked as a chaplain at the Federal Detention Center in Florence, Arizona. It is an immigration detention center for persons in deportation proceedings.
Every day, we have a population of 1200-1300 detainees. Some of them are housed at our facility while others are sent to various other prisons, other detention centers, or a county
jail nearby. Florence is a small town,but it has at least seven detention or prison facilities.
Have you
ever had a prized possession or heirloom taken from you? If you have, then you
have a glimpse into the Palestinian-Israeli quagmire. The Palestinians are
being pushed off their land. Around the globe land and cultural identities are
intimately related. The remnants of our American Indian tribes witness to the
consequences of forced removals from land which has been foundational to shared
values, family bonds, and identity. Refugees are people displaced from their
land with consequent broken cultural relationships of family, ethnic ties, and
history of place.
Dust, smoke, fire, siren, and panic all occurred under the
cover of beautiful blue skies. Being
born 14 days before the assassination of then President John F. Kennedy, many
of us in my generation considered that the worst act of terrorism on our soil. How
shocked we were as a nation when we watched the horrific terror of 9/11
unfold. Disbelief would be the word to sum up the day. Later, President George
W. Bush made a proclamation that would literally take our armed forces to the
ends of the earth to find those responsible for the attack on the United
States - THIS WAS WAR.
My first week of summer was one I had never
envisioned myself experiencing prior to my years at Dominican Academy. My
teachers, Ms. Katie Leo and Ms. Lindsey Sudeikis, 11 fellow classmates and
friends, and I traveled to Duran, Ecuador, on an immersion trip. My experience
is one that is very difficult to convey in a few paragraphs, and even more so
when venturing to explain to loved ones at home that we were not going to
Ecuador to "do," necessarily, but to "be." I think this distinction is a tricky
one to make at first, but is essential to differentiating my trip from
Jesus
says, "Pray for your enemies... Do good to those who hate you... Forgive seventy
times seven those who offend you." I confess: those are not the lines of scripture
that first come to mind when I am hurt or dismayed about some real or perceived
injustice. Yet upon reflection, they have been critical components when, reluctantly,
I have been challenged from reaction into response. The invitation to stand in
forgiveness has entered my consciousness as a shock. But forgiveness has been given
to me as the recognized place to stand as I negotiate coming to a new place in relationship
"Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between
good and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great. It pleased God that Solomon should have asked
for this." I Kings 3:9
One
special memory of rekindling has guided this reflection for the past
month. At the 2009 Chapter we were
moving steadily and smoothly through the passage of the commitment statements
until we came to "promote justice through solidarity with those who are
marginalized, especially women and children - ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND
CHILDREN…" As I recall, those four words
seemed to stir something within the assembly that prompted some embers to come
alive. I remember wondering: "Why?"
COLUMBUS, OH - During the first week of May, Dominican Sisters of Peace Valerie Shauland Thoma Swanson and Associates Ann Hall and Rev. Tim Ahrens attended a press conference on gun violence in Columbus, Ohio. Our thanks to Associate Rev.
