Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

World Trafficking Day

July 29, 2021

Every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit, or destination for victims. Traffickers the world over continue to target women and girls. The poor and the vulnerable are most at risk. The vast majority of detected victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and 35 per cent of those trafficked for forced labor are female. Conflict further exacerbates vulnerabilities, with armed groups exploiting civilians and traffickers targeting forcibly displaced people.

COVID-19 has amplified trafficking dangers. Loss of jobs, growing poverty, school closures and a rise in online interactions are increasing vulnerabilities and opening up opportunities for organized crime groups.

The crisis has overwhelmed social and public services, impacted the work of law enforcement and criminal justice systems, and made it harder for victims to seek help.

And yet in these difficult times, we see the best of humanity: frontline heroes, men and women risking their lives and going above and beyond to provide essential support for human trafficking victims.

The United Nation’s announced this year’s theme for the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons highlights the importance of listening to and learning from survivors of human trafficking. Survivors are key actors in the fight against human trafficking. They play a crucial role in establishing effective measures to prevent this crime, identifying and rescuing victims and supporting them on their road to rehabilitation.

Many victims of human trafficking have experienced ignorance or misunderstanding in their attempts to get help. They have had traumatic post-rescue experiences during identification interviews and legal proceedings. Some have faced revictimization and punishment for crimes they were forced to commit by their traffickers. Others have been subjected to stigmatization or received inadequate support.

Learning from victims’ experiences and turning their suggestions into concrete actions will lead to a more victim-centered and effective approach in combating human trafficking.

U.S. Church Missing Opportunity to Add ‘People on the Move’ to their Flock

June 30, 2021

~ by Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON – With upward of 70 million Catholics in the United States, one might think the U.S. church would have its hands full tending to their pastoral needs. And, that may be so.

There are millions of others in this country for whom a fixed address is less of an expectation than an aspiration. They include refugees, migrants, people whose work demands that they travel, and victims of human trafficking. That doesn’t even count the 79 million international visitors to the United States in a typical year.

The U.S. Catholic Church, though, may be missing out on an opportunity to increase its ranks if dioceses and parishes don’t reach out to these groups. The Census Bureau’s General Social Survey estimates that of all foreign-born residents of the United States, 40% are Catholic, nearly double Catholicism’s reach in the entire U.S. populations.

The U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers commissioned the Center or Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) in Washington to learn about the scope of such outreach efforts. The result is a report titled, “The Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers: Worship Site Inventory and Demographic Study” which was issued in June.

One trend that was noted is that there is a real gap between what the diocese self-reports and what the research indicates.

Migrant and refugee groups often go unnoticed by local parishes and diocese. At least that is what the data may suggest,” said Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Washington, chair of the subcommittee. “There may not be a felt imperative to go out greet and meet. Many parishes may simply be waiting (for them) to show up and many may not be attitudinally prepared to reach out to new arrivals who are Catholic.”

He added, “What might be notable is where people are moving. Note the metropolitan areas where folks are moving. The diocesan surveys when compared with the census data may suggest a need for more intentional outreach for families moving from one part of the country to another.

“Often these folks may be more affluent families moving around due to their corporation, their profession or work,” Tyson said.

The CARA survey asked about resources and best practices.

The Diocese of Austin, Texas, replied with a best practice – the “Our Kids at Heart” initiative, a tuition support program with the objective to inspire hope and transform lives, and make stronger families and communities through Catholic education for Hispanic youth.

Asked to share one pastoral resource that could be emulated elsewhere, the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, replied that “through the Humanitarian Respite Center,” the diocese “is answering the call to care and restore human dignity to individuals upon their release from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention centers seeking refuge or asylum.”

Asked to share an educational resource: the Diocese of Lafayette, Indiana, replied: “In nine parishes, Hispanic immigrant families have been integrated to their parishes through a program named Parent Leadership Formation. This program is offered in the setting of small communities of support that allows them to share their lives, their immigrants’ difficulties and parental challenges, and to enlighten them with the Gospel.”

Bishop Tyson, asked, “Are we missionary? Are we reaching only the people who pass through the doors of the church, or are we finding the folks that are already there.”

When Pope Francis speaks of a missionary option, he said, “that missionary option is to go out of ourself. If people don’t come into the church, we go out to them. …It really requires a shift in attitude and understanding” with the parish becoming a “mission center,” Tyson said.

“We’re distracted with whatever’s in front on our plate, but there’s some deeper mission questions that are going on. It’s a tough one. This was started before COVID. Nobody knew COVID was going to erupt and we finished this study during COVID. A lot of us are thinking about how we bring people back to church.”

Tyson, who earlier this year spent time with a priest and diocesan seminarians in migrant worker dorms in Yakima, said that “there’s some good things going on” in ministry outreach but “there’s a long journey ahead.” To read the complete article, please click here

Human Trafficking Awareness Walk at Cabrini University

April 28, 2021

We are very proud of and grateful for the students of Cabrini University’s ECG 200, Voices for the Voiceless class. They helped organize a Human Trafficking Awareness walk at Cabrini University on April 26 and had “stations” where they shared much info on Human Trafficking. Guilherme “G” Lopes, Campus Ministry, gave the reflection and closing prayer by Sr. Veronica Piccone, MSC. The entire Cabrini U. men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, as well as, field hockey team members were in attendance and were joined by many other students and staff from the University community.

The “station speakers” reported that they have learned so much about Human Trafficking from this class and that their efforts will not end when they graduate! They will continue to due be part of ending human trafficking. What wonderful examples they are of Cabrini University’s theme, “Live with Purpose”!

Why We Walk – Walk to Learn about and Help Human Trafficking Victims

April 26, 2021

Cabrini High School Fights Human Trafficking with “Sun’s Up, Dress Up” Day

April 22, 2021

Cabrini High School
Fights Human Trafficking
with “Sun’s Up, Dress Up” Day

NEW ORLEANS – Cabrini High School helped fight human trafficking on Friday, April 16, 2021 by participating in “Sun’s Up, Dress Up.” In place of the school’s annual Dressember promotion against human trafficking, Cabrini was inspired with the spring weather for “Sun’s Up, Dress Up,” a collaboration among all students leveraging fashion and creativity to promote the dignity of all women and stand in solidarity against the modern injustice of human trafficking.
Founded by Mother Cabrini, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus support two corporate stances, “To support the rights and dignity of all immigrants” and “To stop human trafficking.” This is the driving force behind Cabrini High School’s efforts to fight human trafficking. In keeping with Mother Cabrini’s own service to immigrants and migrants, today’s Missionary Sisters have prioritized work against human trafficking in their mission, in part, because studies show that migrants and immigrants are one of the more significant demographics to be victims of human trafficking.

“Sun’s Up, Dress Up” is a day to dress and advocate by keeping four important points in mind: dignity, fashion, modesty, and femininity. Students could pay two dollars to dress up with dignity, modesty, femininity, and their own fashion. These words guide the Cabrini dress guidelines for every occasion.

Throughout the school, Cabrini raised $307.72 for “Sun’s Up, Dress Up.” All money collected will be donated to the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart’s anti-human trafficking initiatives.

According to Campus Minister, John Smestad, “In keeping with this mission a priority of the Cabrini family, Cabrini High School takes a week each year to educate, pray, and take a stand against the crime and sin of human trafficking. One of the concrete efforts is to raise funds for the anti-human trafficking initiatives of the Sisters. ‘Sun’s Up, Dress Up’ provides an opportunity for students to dress up, make a donation and make a difference.”

Prior to “Sun’s Up, Dress Up,” Cabrini High School has been participating in anti-human trafficking efforts through Dressember since 2014. Dressember is a national collaborative movement leveraging fashion and creativity to restore dignity to all women. Before Dressember, students were educated on facts about human trafficking and slavery, and prayed as a community to end this horrible crime against humanity.

Cabrini High School continues to pray for victims of human trafficking.

Chasing a Dream Because of a Rumor

March 31, 2021

~ by Rhina Guidos, Catholic News Service

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (CNS) Father Hector Maldonado of El Buen Pastor Parish in Apancoyo, El Salvador, said he recently tried to convince a family of five from his parish, who told him of their plans to leave [for the U.S. border], not to undertake the dangerous journey.

They sold all their possessions, the Catholic priest said, and he told them what he had heard and read: that people were being turned away at the border. But the family seemed intent on chasing the dream of entering the United Sates despite the dangers, full of hope because of the rumor that U.S. President Joe Biden had said that he would allow anyone who entered the U.S. within the first 100 days of his presidency to stay. The rumor is rampant.

The only this that Fr. Maldonado could convince them of, in the end, he told Catholic News Service (CNS), was not to turn over the deed to their house to smugglers as a down payment. The family needed to have a place to return to if they were deported, he told them.

Scalabrinian Father Mauro Verzeletti who works with migrants in Latin America told CNS that he thinks the rumor of a border open to all began because of a mixed message sent by the Biden Administration when it announced a 100-day moratorium on most deportations.
“I think Biden sent a confusing message with the moratorium and others changed the conversation to say ‘the border is open,’” said Fr. Verzeletti.

And now it’s a message that is hard to reverse, he said.

Some smugglers have taken advantage of the rumor, offering among their services a drop-off of families and unaccompanied children and teens to border agents, telling them the agents will process them and allow them to stay in the U.S. as long as they turn themselves in.

At the migrant shelter he operates in Guatemala, Father Verzeletti said he has seen in recent days an increase in people fleeing as the consequences of multiple crisis are hitting Central America.

Crop destruction from storms produced by climate change, the pandemic’s destruction of small and medium businesses, and political upheaval in parts of Central America has accelerated the movement of people from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua as they flee poverty and hunger, Father Verzeletti said.

Migrant houses run by the Scalabrinian religious order and other Catholic groups are seeing children weighing half of what they should, said Father Verzeletti. Other countries should take notice because climate change and destruction of nature in Central America, as well as political strife, will only increase the movement of people. To read the complete article click here

Virtual Anti-Trafficking Conference Provides Way to Combat Trafficking

March 18, 2021

~ by Soli Salgado, Global Sisters Report

Spotlighting the root causes and intersections of human trafficking, the Shine the Light

virtual conference demonstrated the range of people and concrete actions needed to combat trafficking effectively.

The March 8-9 webinar, for which more than 450 people registered, included a variety of voices: survivors with moving testimonies; sisters experienced in helping victims create new lives; experts who can speak to the unseen complexities exacerbating the problem; legislators who pass bills to curb the causes and religious organizations and volunteers who raise awareness by localizing the issue. Hosted by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd National Advocacy Center, the conference began on International Women’s Day.

Speaker Sr. Winifred Doherty, who represents the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd at the United Nations, emphasized how economic systems and force migration compound the issue of labor and sex trafficking, with marginalized groups such as non-white people most often falling prey.

Doherty considered how the coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on the “fault lines in society, showing ever more clearly the structural and systemic issues that we have known, ignored or chosen not to address,” she said. The looming threat of climate change, which is also without regard for borders and boundaries, is simultaneously exposing similar inequalities.

Doherty continued, “We must connect with and challenge the very system that perpetuates abuses, exploitation and injustices including gender inequality. We must look at the big picture – the interconnectedness of the web of all existence – the planet and its peoples.”

Missionary of Jesus Sr. Norma Pimentel illustrated Doherty’s point of interconnectedness as she shared her experience of ministering to migrants on both sides of the U.S. – Mexico border. Sr. Norma spoke of the mistreatment and abuse migrants encounter on one side of the border only for it to continue when they cross frontiers.

Pimentel choked back tears of joy as she share her experience witnessing refugees in the Matamoros, Mexico, camp finally cross the bridge into the United States last week after two years of living in uncertainty, having fled their homes but being unwelcome in the United States.

During the conference’s second day which focused on calls to action, a panel of guests highlighted a few U.S. parishes that can serve as examples for how to raise awareness and help trafficking survivors through efforts in local churches.

The sum of the conference affirmed Sr. Doherty’s opening speech calling on all to tackle the many individual causes that ultimately contribute to the phenomenon of trafficking.

“We must raise our voices for new systems and new structures that seek to uphold the sacredness of life through advocating for economies of care, gender justice, eco-justice and social justice,” Doherty said.

For those of who were unable to view the conference at the scheduled times, you can now access the recordings for our 2021 Shine the Light Human Trafficking Conference: Root Causes and Intersections on Human Trafficking:

Day 1: https://youtu.be/5GlE_rnuox4

Day 2: https://youtu.be/Lrtg0YGAPJU

They also are embedded in the Digital Toolkit page, as well, https://www.gsadvocacy.org/human-trafficking-conference-packet.html

To access the Corporate Stance of the Missionary Sisters on Anti-Human Trafficking

Please click here

Immigration Advocates Call on Biden to Address Border Crisis

March 18, 2021

~ by J.D. Long-Garcia AMERICA Magazine

Some things have changed on the southern border, but a lot of things remain the same, according to Catholic humanitarian groups on the ground.

The Biden administration last month began processing the asylum applications of migrants under the current Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a policy of the previous administration that empowered immigration officials to return thousands of asylum seekers to Mexico to await court decisions in the immigration court system. The highest concentration of migrants have been waiting in Ciudad Juarez, just south of El Paso. Texas

Dylan Corbett, the Executive Director of the Hope Border Institute, has noted an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors in the area. “The United States is obligated to receive, to ensure their safety and to keep them in the least restrictive setting possible – and to reunite them with their families of sponsors in other parts of the country,” h e said. But because of the overload at the border, some minors are exceeding a 72 hour court-mandated limit for detention with the Border Patrol.

Families with children are also showing up at the border in El Paso. “For the most part, nobody is being allowed [into the U.S.] through this sector, except for folks who are cleared for return under MPP or unaccompanied minors,” Mr. Corbett said.

The changes to MPP, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, let to a lot of confusion among immigrants and asylum seekers south of the border, according to Rev. Pat Murphy, Director of the Casa del Migrante shelter in Tijuana.

“All they heard was [that] the border was open, that asylum was open, when in fact it was only for those who have been on ‘Remain in Mexico’ for the last two years,” the Scalabrinian priest, said. “They think that being there, the government is just going to say, ‘O.K., just come on in.” But, they’re not going to say that,” he said.

There is a lot of misinformation, and sometimes that misinformation is done purposefully by the coyotes [human traffickers] in the south, and they say, ‘Go to the border; go north. If you go to the border and wait in line, they let you in,” Fr. Murphy said. “The desperation of the people is moving them to do anything.” But, the Biden administration has yet to open the border to asylum seekers.

In the Mexican city of Nogales, Sara Ritchie of the Kino Border Initiative said they are also experience an increase in the number of migrants. Asylum seekers in border campus and vulnerable people seeking to flee Central America “have been enduring the pandemic for a year,” Ms. Ritchie said. Many of them have been out of work and cannot “sustain being unemployed” any longer, their poverty making them especially susceptible to pressure and threats from criminal gangs.

While she knows that MPP cases area being processed in California and Texas, she said few if any are being processed in Arizona.

Father Murphy expects changes to immigration and asylum policies will not come quickly.

“Biden can’t overturn everything in a month or so,” he said. It’s going to be a long haul process. Biden is going to get it from both sides. The people on the ground are going to want him to move really quickly and the people who are anti-immigrant are going to say he’s moving too quickly.”

But the immigration crisis is not going away.

“The reality is that migrants are going to continue to come to the U.S.-Mexico border fleeing a toxic cocktail of causes, whether it’s climate change, or it’s political instability or violence or unemployment and the effects of the COVID crisis, or the hurricanes that recently hit Central America,” Mr. Corbett said.

It is a time for the Catholic Church to step up its efforts, he said. “We need the moral voice of the church right now to make the case to the nation and our policy makers that this is about welcoming Christ in the stranger.”

To read the complete article click here

VIRTUAL 2021 Human Trafficking Conference – March 8 and 9, 2021

March 4, 2021

VIRTUAL 2021 Human Trafficking Conference
March 8th & 9th, 2021

The National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd (NAC) invites you to its VIRTUAL 2021 Shine the Light Human Trafficking Conference: Root Causes and Intersections on Human Trafficking.

The conference, which is free of charge, will be held over two afternoons, March 8 (12 noon to 3:00 pm EST), and March 9 (12 noon to 1:30 pm EST). We also are organizing a Call-to-Action Day on Trafficking for March 9.

Building on the success of our previous in-person Human Trafficking Conferences in 2018 and 2019, this year’s participants will hear from survivors, service providers and other experts. An additional advocacy panel will share easy and ongoing actions that can be taken to combat trafficking.

In the spirit of bi-partisanship, we welcome our Congressional Honorary Co-chairs, Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO-02) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA-02).

Day 1: will feature an overview of human trafficking that speaks to the various root causes. Panel presentations on both sex and labor trafficking with domestic and international components will follow.
Day 2: will focus on advocacy campaigns and how all of us can make a difference. Additional details are available on our Conference webpage.

*Dates of Conference: Monday, March 8, 12:00 – 3:00 pm EST & Tuesday, March 9, 12:00 – 1:30 pm EST. *Advance registration is required. *There is no fee for the conference.
Congregation/Community:
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd
Website:
https://www.gsadvocacy.org/human-trafficking-conference.html
Contact Information:
Patricia Kelly, Good Shepherd Volunteer: gsv@gsadvocacy.org
National Advocacy Center: 301-622-6838

High Profile Events Exacerbate Human Trafficking

February 3, 2021

As COVID-19 cases surge, another hidden issue is taking its toll on our country’s most vulnerable. Human trafficking cases have risen 185% compared to this time last year, according to Cast (one of the nation’s largest providers of services for survivors). Cast has also seen a dramatic rise in homeless clients since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. One-hundred percent of its cases classified as “urgent” human trafficking cases have been comprised of homeless survivors during the pandemic. This desperation has led to more people being tricked into modern-day slavery.

Another upcoming concern where Human Trafficking will take place in the US is during the Superbowl, which will be played on Sunday, Feb. 7 in Tampa, Florida. With Florida ranking third among U.S. states in volume of human trafficking victims, this is a high-priority issue.

High-profile events that draw big-spending, out-of-town visitors, even during a pandemic that has curtailed the crowd sizes and party scene, are natural targets for traffickers. In Atlanta two years ago, the FBI reported that an 11-day pre-Super Bowl operation yielded the arrests of 169 people, including 44 alleged traffickers, and the rescues of 29 juvenile victims.

Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody stated that her office is providing virtual training to Uber drivers and hotel staff members to help educate them on the signs of human trafficking and how to report it. They will also put warnings on buses, billboards, and all-around town to let people know what trafficking signs to look for.