Women Religious of Various Congregations Work Together to Abolish Human Trafficking

Our Sr. Betsy Goodwin recently attended the fifth annual anti-trafficking symposium offered by the women religious of  the Boston area. Sr. Joanne Gallagher, CSJ, director of communications for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston, kindly shared the press release and the photos with us. An article was also published in The Pilot, the newspaper from the Archdiocese of Boston.

On Saturday, May 5, over 225 participants gathered for a symposium on consumerism and the many faces of human trafficking. This was the fifth such event offered by the Boston Unit of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) Anti-Trafficking Coalition since 2008.  The Mission Statement of the coalition states its commitment to

¶          raise awareness through education,

¶          collaborate with others to ensure necessary services with compassion,

¶          advocate for justice,

¶          pray for victims and all affected by human trafficking. 

Topics have ranged from an introduction to human trafficking globally, nationally, and locally; to looking at what one person can do; to the latest topic of how our buying power as consumers can become a tool for addressing human trafficking. 

Most Americans wonder if there is really anything they can do to combat the crime of human trafficking.  This question was addressed as participants watched a brief YouTube video titled Where Am I Wearing? by Kelsey Timmerman. As the morning progressed, presenters continued to address the way all of us are inadvertently complicit in human trafficking by the products we use every day.

Fr. David Couturier, OFM Cap., past president of Franciscans International, a NGO at the United Nations. and former director of pastoral planning for the Archdiocese of Boston, was the first keynote speaker. Fr. David has written and lectured extensively on social forces impinging on contemporary secular and religious culture. In addressing the group on consumerism and the supply chains of human trafficking, he asked, “What can we do?” and offered a concrete action.

“We must,” he said, “undertake an examination of consciousness when it comes to corporate human trafficking:

¶          Do I care whether the products I buy or use are tainted with human slavery?

¶          Are the price, convenience, and availability of goods more important to me than the possibility that those goods might be the result of slave labor?

¶          How much time and effort am I willing to invest in determining whether a product is the result of trafficked labor?

¶          How willing am I to make this problem of human trafficking personal?

¶          How willing am I to work with others to eradicate slave labor from my home and dinner table?’

The second keynote presenter was Kate Price of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at Wellesley College (See photo at top of page). Kate, a social scientist specializing in the cultural constructions of childhood, brought a rich background to the symposium.  As a survivor of childhood sexual exploitation and a living example of resilience and strength, she now uses her personal experience to inform and educate others. Kate spoke about buying power and how consumerism and the sexualization of children put all children at risk. She offered very ordinary everyday examples of ways in which cultural images create a demand for goods and services connected to human trafficking.

Toward end of the symposium, Kathy McCluskey, CSJ, former executive director of the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, summarized the work of the collaborative efforts of the federation to address human trafficking as it exists in hotels throughout our country. Karen McLaughlin, a major architect of the Massachusetts Anti-Trafficking Law passed in November 2011, thanked the coalition for their advocacy and persistence in making this law a reality.

Women religious congregations in the greater Boston area have been offering educational opportunities on the issue of human trafficking since 2008. In May 2009 they issued a statement against human trafficking which in part states: Today women religious all over the world are addressing the crime of human trafficking. Our religious congregations have NGO representatives at the United Nations who address the issue at a global level. We women religious leaders in the greater Boston area are committed to speak out locally because we are human beings, because we are women, because we are women religious with a history of Catholic social teaching, and because we live and work in the Boston area where the trafficking trade is a real though hidden crime.

What the Boston Anti-Trafficking Coalition has learned over the past few years is that human trafficking is an evil that must be eradicated and despite the many challenges to achieve this, silence is not an option.

Sr. Betsy Goodwin addresses attendees at the Boston-area trafficking symposium.

Fr. Davis Couturier, OFM Cap., explained how consumerism supports the supply chains of trafficking.

Pentecost: Celebrating the Birthday of the Church!

Sisters and friends from the surrounding area joined the sisters at our motherhouse last Saturday evening for a special Eucharistic liturgy to celebrate the vigil of Pentecost. We had been invited to wear something red, yellow, or orange if we had them and, as a result, the chapel was a sea of red!  The liturgy was beautiful and somewhat reminiscent of the Easter Vigil with a series of Old Testament readings and responses before the New Testament reading and Gospel.

At the Universal Prayer, the intercessions were read by seven different sisters in seven languages--Gaelic, Italian, Spanish, Swahili, German, Hebrew, and English--definitely recognizing the universality of the Church. Of course, the music was wonderfully celebratory as usual--our sisters love to sing, even those like me who don't have very good voices! We also love to celebrate and after the liturgy, we gathered in our ABC Room (Assisi Room, Blessing Room, Copper Beech Room--which can be made into one large room for gatherings) and shared some delicious refreshments.

If ever you are in this area (we not too far outside of Philadelphia and also not far from Wilmington, DE), let me know. We'd love to have you drop by for a visit. I'll give you the grand tour of the house and the grounds!

Practice Makes Perfect--Picture Perfect, I Hope!

I recently bought myself a gift with money I received as jubilee gifts--a digital camera. Years ago when I was a yearbook moderator, I used to take fairly decent photos with a 35 millimeter camera. But a digital camera seems to have been beyond my ability to grasp. The constant motion on the screen baffles me and when I finally get up the courage to push the button, the result is usually a blurry photo. Several years before he died, my brother bought a digital camera and explained that it had what he called an image stabilization feature. So...when I decided to buy one, I knew that I wanted one with that feature. Actually I understand that the camera has a number of very nice features but I decided that until I get more comfortable with it, it's better to just use the basic Auto setting.

Yesterday afternoon I set out to do some practice shots. The plant to the right was one of my first efforts. It's the cactus plant in my office and as you can see, I seem to have beheaded it. Guess I'll need more practice.

The photos below are from the main corridor in our motherhouse. Around the time of our 150th anniversary (2005), we put up a wall display in the corridor using quotes from our foundress, from St. Francis, and from St. Clare of Assisi and added an array of photos that depicted our sisters and the various ministries in which we have served over the years. We also have a small "Heritage Room" (used to be part of the phone room) where we have a variety of of artifacts on display. There is also a mannequin wearing our original habit. When I first saw here, I wondered why we didn't get a better looking one but somehow she seems to have grown on me! I've even given her a name--Sister Bona Provindencia--which I think means something like "good providence or good care." Our mission statement ends with "Filled with trust in the goodness of God, we move forward." This is based on a quote from our foundress, Mother Francis Bachmann.

As you can see, there is a lot of room for improvement--but at least they're not  total blurs! And...they've given you a bit of a peek as to where I'm coming from and who this wonderful Franciscan family is that I belong to!

If it doesn't rain today, I'm going out to walk around the grounds at lunchtime and maybe get some practice out there. My big aim is to be able to take some photos during jubilee weekend. Our congregational celebration is the weekend of June 8-10. The jubilarians all come to spend the weekend here at the motherhouse. I understand that we all get together for snacks Friday evening and just sit around and talk about old times and what's happening in our lives now. There are 3 diamond jubilarians (not sure if all of thim will be able to come), 25 of us golden jubilarians, and one silver jubilarian. Saturday is kind of a free day--and knowing us we'll spend most of it talking and laughing-- and Saturday evening there is a special dinner just for the jubilarians. Sunday morning is the jubilee liturgy and our sisters come to the motherhouse from hither and yon to celebrate with us. Then we have a really nice lunch--usually set up in three different to accommodate the large number. Introvert that I am, I still love our special times together. As we have always said, "We are at our best when we're together."

Red Hill Farm: Purple Martins Landlords!

Purple Martin (Photo credit: juvethski)

The following article by Brendan Stiteler  was originally published in the Red Hill Root, the newsletter from our CSA, Red Hill Farm. Brendan is one of our faithful farmers. Our new farm manager is Angela Kidder.

The other day I was ambling the farm and thinking about how early spring came this year. As the calendar told us one thing; the daffodils and forsythia were speaking a different truth. Having time to gaze about, I noticed a bird perched on a pole that in season holds the purple martin gourd-houses. I must have been projecting but he seemed to be saying “Hey, dude, where’s my house?”

“Angela, when do the purple martins come back?” I asked, realizing I couldn’t identify a martin from any other bird. Angela, perplexed, agreed that we should be expecting them. The question and conversation receded into the rhythm of the day’s tasks but the following week the gourds were up! Red Hill’s martin enthusiast Doris had been told that the martins had been sighted. Doris faithfully looks out for the martins and prepares and readies their gourds. 

Purple martins are the largest member of the swallow family—all voracious, migratory insectivores. Martins migrate yearly to Brazil. It turns out that with the gourd houses and our colony of martins, Red Hill Farm can be considered purple martin “landlords.” This would not be possible without Doris’s help in banding last year’s colony before they returned to their wintering grounds in Brazil.

The colony does not migrate together; in fact, what links them is their tendency to return to favored nest sites or sites where they hatched. The individuals of a colony actually compete for both nest sites and mates. They also compete for nests with house sparrows and European starlings (non-native species). Good landlords used to provide gourds for nesting, a practice that was passed on to European colonists. Thanks to this—and to competition with nonnative birds—eastern martins now nest only in housing we provide.

Martins are voracious insectivores and can help reduce some pests but their reputation as mosquito predators is overblown. The martins are beautiful—the adult males in their iridescent purple black and the females and fledglings with the white on their bellies. Their manner of flight is graceful, marked by a showy flutter of the forking tail and rapidly flapping wings. The martins also fill the farm with welcome chatter that makes their presence known.

Knowing this, I feel obligated to play my part with the martins, giving them shelter and protection from predators. Here at Red Hill, we are a community that includes them, blessed to have them grace our skies and eat surplus insects. I would encourage you as members to take notice of the martins this year before they return to Brazil.

Thoughts for Inspiration and Reflection

I found this video on YouTube and thought it had such words of wisdom! The thoughts are both beautiful and very positive. I particularly liked the one that explains that God never gives us anything that we don't need and never takes away anything that we can't do without.  I found that particularly thought provoking. The more I thought about it, the more I think I came to realize that as life goes on my needs change. Maybe what I couldn't have lived without some years ago is something that is no longer quite as necessary to my life. I wonder if that is true when we lose someone we love. I knoow that that doesn't lessen the pain but maybe it is helpful to understand that we do have the strength to continue on.

Did any one of these thoughts resonate with you more than others? I'd love to hear your thoughts on them!

United in Praise: Living Out God’s Love With All Creation - Busted Halo

United in Praise: Living Out God’s Love With All Creation - Busted Halo

Finding the God With--In Self and Others!

So often I've written about how music moves me to prayer. The two songs below are typical of that. When I first heard the song "You  Needed Me" I thought of St. Francis  and the way he was able to see God in people that others thought of as the "last, the least, and the lowest."  Francis came to realize that he did not have to "bring" God to people. God was already there. Francis had to help people discover the God who was already within each one of them.  I oftten think that if I could, in my lifetime, help just one person to discover the god within--to give that person a greater sense of self-worth and dignity, I would have done something worthwhile!

I think "You Raise Me Up" carries much the same message. Most certainly it is God who raises us up, who gives us strength to deal with difficult situations. But I also believe that God often comes to us to do these thing in the body, love, and support of other people. I know that I certainly experienced that this past year during my illness. The visits, the cards, the phone calls, the promise of prayers, sometimes just the gift of time for letting me voice my fears and frustrations were to me the words and love of God coming to strengthen me through the kindness of other people.

God definitely is within each of us--not so much because we deserve it--but because it is part of who we are as human persons. What a gift! What is sad is that each of us so often loses sight of that fact. Maybe that is our role as fellow human beings-- to remind one another of the God who is always there within each of us!