The Barbara and John Jordan Center announces Virtual Showing of California’s Forgotten Children
The Barbara and John Jordan
Center for Children of Trauma and Domestic Violence Education
Cabrini University is pleased to announce the virtual showing of
California’s Forgotten Children
Let Their Voices Be Heard
Survivor Focuses on Red Flags of Human Trafficking
Cabrini University’s ECG Anti-Human Trafficking class, the Barbara and John Jordan Center and the Cabrini Action & Advocacy Coalition (Cabrini Closet) recently organized an evening at Cabrini University with guest speaker, Tammy McDonnell, an activist, advocate and human trafficking survivor. The following are excerpts of the account of the presentation which appeared in Catholic Philly.com.
Human trafficking survivor Tammy McDonnell shared her experiences on November 6 at Cabrini University and, through a panel discussion that followed, raised awareness among students and residents about the crime of trafficking — a form of modern-day slavery — its prevalence in Philadelphia-area communities and how to combat it.
Human trafficking occurs when force, fraud, or coercion is used to control another person for the purpose of engagement in commercial sex acts or soliciting labor or services against that person’s will.
“Slavery is death,” said McDonnell, who is also an activist for Covenant House in Philadelphia. Human trafficking treats people as disposable, she said.
“Trafficking happens in your own backyard,” she said, adding that it is so prevalent, “you can be sitting next to a survivor, and not even know it.”
Her human trafficking story began when she sold her car for $800 to a man that she now realizes was a “recruiter,” an intermediary who referred her to someone who could give her a job that she needed, which “was the start of everything.”
Looking back, she now realizes her trafficker was a predator who took advantage of her vulnerabilities. She felt trapped and was too afraid to break away because she needed to protect her family from the trafficker, who made threats against her mother and her children.
Then one day, she said, “this cosmic mental switch went off, and I said, ‘I’m done.’” She fled Philadelphia for New Jersey, where she was homeless and subsisted by committing petty theft crimes, such as breaking into parked cars and stealing items which she sold to purchase food and drugs.
The crisis center referred McDonnell to a women’s recovery program, where she lived with Catholic nuns for 18 months. During her recovery, one of the sisters recommended McDonnell for a position as survivor advocate for Covenant House in Philadelphia. Now, her role has been expanded also to include outreach worker.
“I can raise awareness because it’s so necessary,” McDonnell said. She advocates for laws to prevent human trafficking in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “I knew nothing about the law, except how to break it.” But now she attends community college, pursuing paralegal studies, and hopes eventually to attend law school. “My life is helping other people,” she says.
Our Mission Calls Us to Awareness and Action
Our Cabrinian mission calls us to reach out to others, especially the marginalized, the outcasts and the less-fortunate. We need to be a haven for them to feel safe, to feel the love of God. We live at a time where fear and abuses are rampant. It’s hard to believe that in this day and age, human slavery still exists, people fear that they will be deported and separated from their children, and the number of reported violent crimes has risen.
Cabrini Immigrant Services (CIS), Dobbs Ferry, wanted to reach out to its clients and to some members of the community. During October, we held three different presentations: Domestic Violence (DV), Know Your Rights (KYR) and Anti-Human Trafficking. All three topics have staggering statistics. The presentations on DV and KYR were done by CIS staff and the Anti-Human Trafficking was done by Olga Brandenberger, a Senior Case Manager at Catholic Charities, and Jessica Beladino, a Children and Youth Counselor from Hope’s Door. This presentation was offered to our adult tutors and some members of the Dobbs Ferry community.
As hard as these topics are, it is important for us to be aware that these horrors exist in our world, in our state and in our neighborhoods. Education is power. We need to do all we can to get the word out there. We need to do all we can to protect the victims of these horrendous crimes.
Human Trafficking: A Crime Against Humanity
Human trafficking is a “crime against humanity,” because it denies the human dignity of the victim, seeing him or her only as a piece of merchandise to be used to enrich or give pleasure to another, Pope Francis said.
Human trafficking, “in its multiple forms, is a wound in the humanity of those who endure it and those who commit it,” the Pope said April 11, addressing the closing session of a Vatican conference.
The Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development organized the conference April 8-11. The office brought together more than 200 bishops, priests, men and women religious, project coordinators, pastoral workers, representatives of Catholic organizations and foundations and trafficking experts from around the world to brainstorm and coordinate efforts to stop trafficking.
“Trafficking,” the Pope said, is “an unjustifiable violation of the victims’ freedom and dignity, which are integral dimensions of the human person willed and created by God. This is why it must be considered, without a doubt, a crime against humanity.”
Francis praised women religious, in particular, but also all Catholics working to stop human trafficking and assist the victims.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister, told participants the crime of human trafficking “does not have borders. It violates human rights without discrimination,” ensnaring children, women and men around the globe. “It is inextricably linked to statelessness, conflict, misery, corruption, a lack of education as well as migration and smuggling.”
To read the complete article: https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/francis-chronicles/human-trafficking-crime-against-humanity-pope-says
From Liberty to Captivity
On March 13th, Cabrini University, in collaboration with the Cabrini Action and Advocacy Coalition (CAAC), hosted a premier film debut which places an intensive focus on sex trafficking in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members “walked the red carpet” to attend this special screening.
From Liberty to Captivity, explores the tragic reality of sex trafficking through the stories of victim survivors and abolitionists fighting to end this crime against humanity. Woven into the film is a message of justice and hope for the future. Reflecting on the powerful effect of the abolitionists in the 19th century, this film documents one state’s fight for freedom from slavery.
With its proverbial lens, From Liberty To Captivity zooms-in on Pennsylvania’s booming and profitable sex trafficking industry, which is threatening to destroy the principle of “liberty and justice for all”. This feature-length film reveals the reality and complexities of sex trafficking crimes and this social justice issue and present the very real hope of conquering it.
Cabrini Responds to Forced Labor
In honor of St. Josephine Bahkita, the Patron Saint of Trafficking Victims, an event was held at Cabrini University (Wolfington Center and Campus Ministry) entitled Cabrinian Responses to Forced Labor.
Sr. Christine Marie Baltas, MSC, began by sharing information about St. Josephine Bahkita’s life and showed a documentary about St. Bahkita. A prayer to end human trafficking and reflection followed.
Karol Brewer, of the Cabrini Action and Advocacy Coalition (CAAC), spoke on human trafficking and MSC Corporate Stances and shared information about the Cabrini Closet located at The Cottage in Radnor and the agencies with whom the CAAC collaborates. [Read more…]
Human Trafficking Calls for Action from All of Us
~by Jeanne Christensen, RSM, Global Sisters Report
In 2004, for the first time, I met prostituted women who had survived and were moving successfully into recovery. I was awed by their stories, but more so by their strength, courage and resilience. How could anyone survive what they had experienced and still have hope? One told me, “God reached into hell and pulled me out.” I wanted to say, “Yes, but give yourself credit.” She now operates a nonprofit, helping other victims and survivors.
When younger, these women were among those at great risk — runaway youth. The National Conference of State Legislature cites studies showing that “youth age 12 to 17 are more at risk of homelessness than adults”; “one in seven young people between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away”; and “75 percent of runaways are female.” If runaways or homeless youth are on the streets without a safe place to go, their abduction is likely within 48 hours, according to public safety officials. They often run from or are forced out of terrible home situations. Many believe nothing could be worse. Unfortunately, they are usually wrong. [Read more…]
Josephine Bakhita – Patron Saint of Human Trafficking Victims
St. Josephine Bakhita – Patron Saint of Human Trafficking Victims – Feast Day, February 8, 2019
For many years, Josephine Bakhita was a slave but her spirit was always free and eventually that spirit prevailed.
Born in Olgossa in the Darfur region of southern Sudan, Josephine was kidnapped at the age of 7, sold into slavery and given the name Bakhita, which means fortunate. She was resold several times, finally in 1883 to Callisto Legnani, Italian consul in Khartoum, Sudan.
Two years later, he took Josephine to Italy and gave her to his friend Augusto Michieli. Bakhita became babysitter to Mimmina Michieli, whom she accompanied to Venice’s Institute of the Catechumens, run by the Canossian Sisters. While Mimmina was being instructed, Josephine felt drawn to the Catholic Church. She was baptized and confirmed in 1890, taking the name Josephine. [Read more…]
Catholic Organizations Playing a Role in Family Reunification
Some of the migrant children under age 5 separated from their families by the government were reunited with loved ones [last week] with help from Catholic organizations.
About two dozen families in all were brought back together on that date with help from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, Catholic Charities USA and a network of other agencies from around the country.
In all, the Catholic agencies will help reunite 55 families by mid-July and provide short-term care, such as food and shelter, said Bill Canny, executive director of MRS.
“Protection of families is a foundational element of Catholic social teaching and this moment calls on all people of goodwill to lend a hand to reunite these children with their parents,” said a joint statement issued the same day by MRS and Catholic Charities USA.
The children and families were earlier separated by a policy implemented by the Trump administration at the U.S.-Mexico border, seeking to deter illegal border crossings. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in May that people risking improper entry would be subject to having their children taken away, if caught.
The Catholic Church, along with much of the country, condemned the policy and has been advocating for the families’ reunification. After much public outcry and widespread condemnation of the family separation policy, President Donald Trump signed an executive order June 20 saying families would no longer be separated but may be detained together during the process of prosecution and deportation at the border.
The U.S. bishops have expressed concerns with that possibility, asking for alternatives to detention, but seemed intent on lessening the damage already done.
The families of children under 5 that the Catholic organizations helped were reunited at government facilities and then transferred into the care of Catholic Charities organizations around the country, as well as the Annunciation House in the El Paso, Texas/Juarez, Mexico, border region.
They will be assisted with follow-up care for two months as many will leave the facilities and head toward a destination with family or a sponsor somewhere in the U.S.
Canny said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as well as the Office of Refugee Resettlement reached out to the Catholic organizations, as well as the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service in early July to help with the reunifications.
Immigrant children are released from detention in McAllen, Texas.”They know we are able to tap into a vast Catholic network across the country, which proves valuable for humanitarian and disaster response,” he said.