March-April 2012 Mercy justice highlights published every other month
EARTH Mercyhurst University Takes St. Francis Pledge Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, has become a Catholic Climate Covenant Partner by endorsing the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor. The university offers a new major in sustainability studies and uses wind power to meet 100 percent of its electric needs. In 2007, President Tom Gamble joined several hundred college and university presidents in signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which obligates Mercyhurst to a goal of carbon neutrality. Learn more about Mercyhurst’s sustainability efforts here.
Keystone Pipeline Advocacy Continues The Sisters of Mercy joined environmentalists and other activists in celebrating President Obama’s decision to reject a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Dozens of Sisters, coworkers, and college students participated in rallies and actions against this proposed pipeline at state hearings and at the White House. Nearly 300 people sent messages to President Obama through the Mercy email advocacy network, asking him to reject the proposed pipeline out of concerns about dependence on the “dirty” tar sands oil it would carry and about its passage through sensitive environmental and agricultural areas. After the president’s decision, dozens more signed petitions to members of Congress opposing efforts to get around the presidential rejection. Now the president has expressed support for building a shorter segment of the pipeline to carry a glut of oil between Cushing, Oklahoma, and Port Arthur, Texas. You may send him a message here to express your concerns and to urge him to ensure that this project gets a thorough review for its environmental and climate change impacts.
Students Trained as “Dreamer” Facilitators
Twenty-five students and several faculty members returned early to Georgian Court University from semester break in January to participate in the “Awakening the Dreamer Symposium” and to learn skills that will allow them to be facilitators for the program. Creativity and enthusiasm were high as they explored together possible ways to offer this experience for others on campus, and a student wrote about the experience on the Sisters of Mercy blog. Tech-savvy students generated terrific ideas to engage their peers in discovering this program and moving to action on behalf of Earth. There also is a strong commitment from the administration to find ways of integrating Awakening the Dreamer into campus life.
Church Speaks Out Against Mega-Mining in Argentina The bishops of Patagonia Argentina and all the Pastoral Areas of the region once again have issued a statement expressing concern about the repression of peaceful anti-mining protests and about the government’s inattention to the legitimate demands of the population. In their statement they demand an open and national dialogue, limits and clear controls on mining, protection of nature, and the rights of the people and the territory of indigenous peoples. Sister Ana Maria Siufi (a member of the Institute Extended Justice Team from the Caribbean, Central America and South America Community) participates in the Social Ministry Team of her diocese, which has been reporting and supporting protests against mega-mining conducted by neighborhood assemblies in many localities in the region for many years.
MIS Signs onto Carbon Action Initiative Mercy Investment Services' commitment to Earth has gone one step further as it became a signatory to the Carbon Disclosure Project Carbon Action initiative. This initiative engages companies and asks for the establishment and disclosure of emission reduction targets, investment in emission reductions and the reduction of emissions in company supply chains. In addition to Carbon Action, the Carbon Disclosure Project focuses its efforts on creating systemic change related to water sustainability. CDP Water Disclosure asks companies in water-intensive industries to consider water risks such as scarcity, pollution and flooding in its organization and supply chains and potential water-related opportunities for its operations and to provide annual reports on the company's assessment of its water impact.
Hospital Reports Success with Recycling For the past 3 to 4 years, Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City has been working to expand its
recycling program by placing numerous recycling containers for paper, plastics and aluminum in appropriate locations throughout the facility. One staff member has been assigned to empty receptacles and transport recyclable materials to the waste pick-up area, and co-workers have been encouraged to use the receptacles. In 2011, Mercy recycled 218,000 pounds of cardboard; 183,925 pounds of paper; 34,805 pounds of plastic and aluminum and 8,278 pounds of reprocess items (oximeters and DVT sleeves) for a total of 222 tons. In late November, Mercy provided every patient room with a recycle container to capture plastic and aluminum items such as bottles, cans, IV bags and tubing, basins and medication cups. That increased the monthly collection of recyclable plastics and aluminum from an average of 2,573 pounds each month to 6,496 pounds in December. In total, the recycling program diverted approximately 18% of the Mercy Health Center waste stream away from landfills in 2011.
Anti-Mining Efforts Promoted in Philippines Sisters of Mercy are represented on the DIOPIM Committee on Mining Issues of six dioceses in the Philippines. They live near the open-pit mines in Mindanao and continue on the march to fight mining corporations both foreign and local. They also are supporting efforts like that of stakeholders and participants to the First Visayan conference on mining and ecology, which called for a moratorium on mining. The proposal not only called for suspension in the processing and approval of mining applications but also in all large-scale mining operations. throughout the Philippines. The conference delegates stressed the importance of scrapping the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and the mining revitalization program. Instead, they said lawmakers must work on the enactment of the Philippine Mineral Resources Act of 2011 that defines the policy on mining.
IMMIGRATION Private Prisons and Human Rights Examined Mercy Investment Services has been looking at the issues surrounding private prisons through the lens of human rights. Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group are the largest private prison companies. In addition to local contracts, many private prison facilities have contracts with the federal government to provide detention for immigrants. Resolutions and dialogues have asked these companies to be transparent about their policies related to human rights and adopt improvements where needed to comply with United Nations standards on protection of human rights. Shareholders have explored issues impacting those in detention, such as access to health care and legal advice, appropriate training for prison workers and adequate programs for prisoners, to name a few. Other colleagues of Mercy Investment Services through ICCR have also been filing resolutions asking for disclosure of political contributions and lobbying expenditures as a way of bringing transparency to lobbying and political efforts of these companies.
Immigration Conference Focuses on States Sister Reg Mckillip, OP, of the Institute Justice Team and several Mercy Sisters and co-workers attended a conference on immigration sponsored by Justice for Immigrants, the U.S. bishops’ campaign for just and humane immigration reform. The conference examined the restrictionist Arizona and Alabama immigration laws, and potential copycats in other parts of the country.
Sister Patricia Pora, who ministers with immigrants in Maine, reflected after the conference that the effects of these laws are heartbreaking in that they break up families and deny legal personhood to those who are undocumented.
Mercys Support NYS DREAM Act Sisters of Mercy and Sisters of St. Joseph from the Rochester, NY, area focused on immigration at their first meeting to consider joint justice work. They are joining with other immigration advocates in supporting a DREAM Act in New York State that would allow undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. before the age of 18, are below the age of 35, have resided in New York State for at least two years, graduate with a high school diploma (or its equivalent), and have no felony convictions to be eligible for state- and city-funded financial aid programs. A second part of the legislation, to be introduced later, would provide undocumented students with some form of an identification card. A Mercy student traveled to the state Capitol in Albany to testify before the state Assembly in support of the legislation.
Weekly Prayers Held for Immigration Reform Up to 40 people have gathered at 7:30 a.m. each Wednesday since June 2008 in front of the Department of Homeland Security in Detroit to hold up a sign that says “God’s love has no borders! Immigration reform must be just.” Only two Wednesdays have been missed -- one for a temperature of 20 degrees below zero and the second for a blizzard. The group usually numbers only 4 or 5; sometimes 7 or 8; one Wednesday, 40. Participants include Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of St. Joseph, lay women and men who take out their rosaries and pray the joyful mysteries. They end with a short closing prayer that focuses on the need for just immigration reform. Following the prayer, some share updates on other immigration events and issues.
NON-VIOLENCE Coalition Supports Military Budget Cuts The Sisters of Mercy are participating in the New Priorities Network, a coalition of peace and human services groups working to “move the money” from the Pentagon to community needs. The most pressing issue currently is ensuring that the nearly $1 trillion in military cuts required over the next 10 years by the Budget Control Act passed last summer remains in effect. Please contact your senators to express support for current law that would require those cuts, and that would leave critical funding available for community needs and to help reduce the deficit. Letters to the editor would also be helpful to generate support for this movement. Please contact Marianne Comfort at mcomfort@sistersofmercy.org to get a sample letter that you could submit to your local newspaper.
Pray for Those Executed and Their Victims There were 6 state-sponsored executions in January and February of people convicted of murder. We invite you to pray for those executed, their victims and all of their family members. You may find here a list of those executed and their victims, and the state in which they were executed.
Honduras, Panama Human Rights Abuses Addressed Mercy advocates have been speaking out about human rights abuses in Panama and Honduras, where Sisters are living and ministering. More than 150 U.S.-based advocates contacted their U.S. Representatives to ask them to sign a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging the State Department to address the ongoing human rights crisis in the Aguán region of Honduras. In Panama, Sister Tita Lopez and other Sisters of Mercy in early February accompanied the indigenous Ngöbe people in their week-long nonviolent protest to oppose a mining law that would open their traditional lands to mining and hydroelectric development. The police used excessive violence in response to the occupation of the Pan-American highway, resulting in a death and many injuries. More than 100 U.S.-based advocates contacted Panama President Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal to express concerns about this violence, and the president agreed to negotiations in response to the resistance of the Indigenous peoples.
POVERTY Advocates Help Extend Unemployment, Payroll Tax Cut About 100 Mercy advocates contacted their U.S. Representatives and Senators to urge them to pass an extension of Unemployment Insurance (UI) and the payroll tax cut, without restrictions and without cutting the Child Tax Credit. In mid-February, Congress passed, and President Obama signed into law, legislation that does just that.
Mercys Add Voices to Rio+20 Preparations Mercy congregations around the world have been lobbying their governments to include an ethical framework for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in June. The Institute Leadership Team sent a letter to President Obama urging the U.S. government to “play a positive role in helping move the process toward a just, sustainable and peaceful future for our global community.” Sister Ana Maria Siufi, a justice coordinator for the Caribbean, Central America and South America, last fall represented Mercy at a meeting in Santiago, Chile, in advance of the Conference. She reported that most of the nations present and some non-governmental groups expressed suspicions that the term “green economy” will reduce sustainable development to mere economics, ignoring the environmental and social bases.
School Honors King’s Efforts Against Poverty
Students, staff and volunteers at Mercy-sponsored Mater Christi School in Burlington, VT, focused on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s efforts to end hunger in the U.S. and around the world, during a celebration of the famed civil rights leader’s legacy. The school showed videos of King pleading for an end to poverty and war and engaged students in activities that gave them a taste of the injustice of some people going without while others have plenty. A concluding prayer assembly resulted in a decision to hold a canned goods drive for a local food shelf, and students wrote postcards urging the Vermont Legislature to pass a bill that would expand the free school lunch program to all low-income children.
WOMEN Domestic Abuse Concerns Addressed Sister Rosemary Welsh, the director of Casa de Misericordia (a domestic violence shelter in Laredo, TX, for abused women and their children), has expressed concerns for undocumented persons who are victims of domestic abuse and witnesses or victims of crime and thus covered under provisions of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and Victims and Witness Assistance Act. In response to her request, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the area gathered to discuss a strategy for identifying victims as well as for providing the necessary support for the victims once they have been identified. Casa de Misericordia hosted the event.
Mercy Participates in UN Women Commission
Sister Rita Parks, above, sits in the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations before the opening of the 2012 session of the Commission on the Status of Women. She is assisting with Sister Aine O’Connor’s work as Mercy Coordinator of Mercy Global Action at the UN. During the session, they hosted at their office students from St. Catharine Academy in the Bronx, who
are attending some of the Commission meetings. The students were accompanied by Sister Pat Wolf, academy president, and Melissa Bullock, assistant principal. The Commission’s primary theme this year is empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges. Sister Donna Ryan, board chair of The Justice Project in Kansas City, was scheduled to participate in a three-person panel addressing issues of international sex trafficking.
Case Highlights Trafficking Concerns in Argentina The trial against the 13 accused of the kidnapping and disappearance of Marita Veron is underway, after her mother, Susana Trimarco, fought 10 long years to find and bring to light the mafia’s long chain of complicity and corruption (police and judicial as well) to enslave women and prostitute them. This mother saved hundreds of kidnapped women, but unfortunately she could not find her daughter, who is thought to have been killed. In this trial dozens of witnesses are testifying about the perversion and the terrible torture that is inflicted on the victims and the frequent cases where if the police were asked for help, they returned victims to the kidnappers, or, too, cases where judges were clients of the brothel. The Sisters of Mercy – especially Estela Gomez and Deborah Watson, who live in a border area with high incidences of human trafficking -- are engaged in the work of prevention, education and reporting about such abuses.
Trafficking Newsletter Highlights Challenges, Hope The most current issue of STOP Trafficking features news about domestic workers, the powerful role of drivers in prostitution and the growing involvement of gangs in sex trafficking. More hopeful signs include the California Trucking Association announcing steps to combat trafficking and Hyatt beginning training of its hotel employees on the indicators of human trafficking. The Sisters of Mercy are among dozens of congregations of women religious who co-sponsor this monthly newsletter.
Anti-Trafficking Coalition Initiated in Philadelphia In January a few sisters from various religious communities in the Philadelphia area gathered to discuss the possibility of working together on the issues of immigration and human trafficking. Many are already working on these issues in their local communities and the hope was that they might be able to have a greater impact if they worked together. The inspiration and impetus for uniting their efforts for justice goes back to the impact religious women had by working together during the recent Visitation. They contacted Carol Zinn, SSJ, from Region 3 of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and through a survey of members discovered that there was a great deal of interest in addressing justice issues together. An invitation has been extended to eight additional area justice coordinators to attend a meeting in April to discuss joint efforts on immigration and human trafficking.
Erie Sisters Address Trafficking Concerns
Sisters at the Motherhouse in Erie and at Mercy Terrace Apartments in late January sent a total of 90 letters expressing concerns about the possibility of an increase in sex trafficking in Indianapolis during the Super Bowl, held Feb. 5. Some of the letters went to Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana and others went to hotels in the area.
Chestnut Hill College Hosts Anti-Trafficking Event Several Sisters and Associates for the Mid-Atlantic Community attended a film and discussion on human trafficking at Chestnut Hill College, which was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph. The presenters included the director of Covenant House, who spoke about the increase in the number of teenagers trafficked. Sr. Teresita, a Medical Mission sister, who was instrumental in opening Dawn’s Place, a safe house for women located in the Philadelphia area, spoke about the mental, medical, social and healing services offered there. The home is supported in large part through donations from religious communities of women in Philadelphia and its suburbs.
PROMOTING CRITICAL CONCERNS
Election Process Promotes Common Good
This year, Catholic voters face critical choices as we decide who will lead our nation, states and communities. The stakes have never been higher. As faithful citizens guided by the Gospel command to protect those who are most vulnerable and hold accountable those with power, we know we cannot afford to “sit this one out.� Realizing this, a collaboration of national Catholic organizations -- which includes the Sisters of Mercy, and other religious congregations and organizations -- has developed a process called Catholics Vote for the Common Good to engage Catholics in creating platforms for the common good for each state and the District of Columbia. Small groups are gathering throughout the country to discuss issues they feel is important for their legislators to address. In each state, a list of local concerns will be compiled into a state platform which will include a national preamble to be distributed to candidates and the wider public. Above, Sister Diane Guerin participates in a session hosted by the Sisters of Mercy in Merion, Pennsylvania, that drew about 50 participants from nine congregations of women and men religious. To participate in your area, contact Reg Mckillip at the Mercy Institute Justice Office, at rmckillip@sistersofmercy.org or 301-587-0423 ext. 2250.
Institute Justice Team Member Visits Omaha Marianne Comfort of the Institute Justice Team, pictured below, recently visited Omaha to meet with administrators and staff at the College of St. Mary and at Mercy High School. She and Sister Kathleen Erickson, a justice coordinator for the West Midwest Community, talked with college students preparing for a Texas-Mexico border experience in March, with faculty members integrating justice into their classwork and with administrators talking about how they foster educational opportunities for low-income students at the high school and for single mothers and Latinas at the college. Educators also are exploring how to incorporate Awakening the Dreamer themes into programming. Marianne later met with the Community Leadership Team and with Sisters at Mercy apartments and at the retirement center to inform them about Institute advocacy efforts.
SUGGESTED RESOURCES New Resource Available for Christian-Muslim Dialogue JustFaith Ministries has released an educational module called In the Spirit of St. Francis and the Sultan: Muslims & Christians Working Together for the Common Good. The program lays out a dialogue for groups composed of equal parts Christians and Muslims. The premise is that it is especially critical to develop genuine trust and understanding between faith traditions in these times of growing political posturing, fear, suspicion and dangerous stereotyping. Groups already completing the module tell of great benefits and surprising gifts they have realized from the experience.
Call to Repentence Focuses on Injustices A Maryknoll lay missioner reflects on Ash Wednesday and the repentance we are called to throughout the season of Lent. His questions lead us to consider how our use of money and our consumption prolong or ease others’ misery. The reflection is one of the articles posted once or twice a week on the website maintained by Faith, Economy, Ecology Transformation, a coalition that includes the Institute Justice Team.
SAVE THE DATES
Come to Washington! Your Voice is Needed! The Sisters of Mercy are among the co-sponsors of Ecumenical Advocacy Days, March 23-26, that examines social justice issues through the lens of faith. This year’s conference will explore the economy and the budget through theologically grounded presentations and workshops on topics that cover dozens of topics including the privatization of prisons, the moral implications of mountaintop removal and hydrofracking, modernday slavery and the extractive industry, and
alternatives to Wall Street capitalism. Participants also will learn about effective advocacy and get the chance to meet with their members of Congress or congressional staff.
SOA Watch Days of Action in April SOA Watch is hosting a week of trainings, strategy sessions and legislative advocacy to get anti-militarization on the national agenda. The Days of Action include a skills training camp, strategy sessions for the election year and meetings with members of Congress to urge them to co-sponsor HR 3368, which calls for closing the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas). SOA Watch particularly invites college students to participate.
April 2012 Immigration Conference The publishers of National Catholic Reporter are hosting a conference in Tucson April 11-13, 2012, for pastors, preachers, liturgists and social activists. The conference, "Eucharist Without Borders: God's Welcoming Table and Comprehensive Immigration Reform," acknowledges that the Church cannot celebrate Eucharist and ignore the plight of undocumented immigrants. It will make evident that what happens in worship is directly linked to what happens on our nation's borders and in our communities. They are offering a special rate for Mercy Sisters.
Tell Us How You are Working on the Critical Concerns Please send newsletter items and photos to Marianne Comfort of the Institute Justice Team at mcomfort@sistersofmercy.org Also, read the Institute blog and check out the Sisters of Mercy Facebook page to learn more about what’s going on in Mercy.