Jan, Feb March Stop Trafficking! Newsletters

March 2017

Awareness  : The Internet: Locus of Human Trafficking and Locus of Efforts to Stop it

• Senate Report: Role of Backpage.com
• Polaris Report on Extent of U. S. Trafficking
• Las Vegas Statistics
• Sold on Backpage.com in Exchange for Transportation
• Law Enforcement Confronting Sex Trafficking

Advocacy    : 

• Hackers Help to Find Traffickers
• Law Enforcement Resources:
• 'Spotlight' App
• 'TraffickCam'
• 'PhotoDNA'

Action         :

• Citizens' Resources:
• 'GraceCity' App
• 'BAN Human Trafficking' App
• Freedom! App
• 'SafeNight' App
• The 'STOP'App
• 'TIP Line' App
• 'Redlight Traffic'

Click here for the March Stop Trafficking! Newsletter

February 2017

Awareness  : Globally, It Doesn't Stop!

Sexual Exploitation--Prostitution--Sex

Trafficking--Victimization of Women/Children

• UNODC Report
• Women and Children in Armed Conflict
• Women and Girls Suffer Untold Abuses
• Myanmar Army Takes Young Rohingya Women as Sex Slaves
• Forced and Sham Marriages
• Sold for Ransom or Killed for Organs
• Forced to Perform Illegal Acts

Advocacy    : 

• Anti-Trafficking Progress through UN Efforts
• 'GLO.ACT'
• 'Free the Slaves' - An Example of Efforts to Advocate for Victims

Action         :

• Short Clips to Educate Oneself & Others About Slavery
• What is 'Red Hand Day'?
• Depicting Child Soldiers: Boys vs. Girls

Click here for the February Stop Trafficking! Newsletter

January 2017

Awareness  : America, It Doesn't Stop!

Sexual Exploitation--Prostitution--Sex

Trafficking--Victimization of Women/Children

• Human Trafficking Rampant in Canada
• Aboriginal Abuse
• Will Laws Work in Canada?
• Are Women People?
• Deadly Human Trafficking Business on Mexico-US Border
• Human Trafficking Flourishes in U.S. Cities

Advocacy    : 

• Convention Against Sexual Exploitation

Action         :

• Consumer Power Matters
• Fighting the Porn Industry
• Defending Women Who Are Exploited
• NYC Taxis Help Sell Exploitation

Click here for the January Stop Trafficking! Newsletter

4th Week of Lent

Forth Sunday of Lent

“Lord, that I might see” 

Jesus encounters a man blind from birth. Jesus touches him and his life and the lives of many are changed.  There is a new clarity and awareness.  There is a moment of enlightenment and light…the eyes of many are opened.  This story, as with many of the stories of transformation, healing and conversion, reminds us of the power of forgiveness and repentance.  It is the same in our own lives.  First we encounter Jesus. In this encounter with Jesus we “wake up”! Our encounter and our new sight impels us to go forth with new life. We go forth, washed and  cleansed. We recognize and know Jesus.  We believe!

  

“Open my eyes, Lord, help me to see your face.

Open my eyes, Lord, help me to see.”

3rd Week of Lent

Third Sunday of Lent

“the water that I will give will become a spring of eternal life”

Encountering Jesus, we thirst for that which Jesus has inspired within us… faith, hope and love.  Along our Lenten journey we encounter Jesus in some of the most unlikely places and people.  We are challenged to cleanse our hearts and minds that we can see contemplatively the presence of our God and follow.  Our Lenten purification washes away our prejudices, biases, fears and anxieties. We are freed so that we may “Go to all peoples” and “Announce the Good News”.  May the waters of our Baptism flow like a mighty river that our discipleship be real.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus says:

“For anyone who drinks it, the water that I shall give

will become in you a spring welling up to eternal life.”

Jn 4:13-14

2nd Week of Lent

Second Sunday of Lent 

“transfigure us, O Lord… transfigure us O Lord”

Jesus leads Peter, James and John up a mountain and is transfigured before them.  There is wonder and joy in recognizing Jesus.  It is good for us too to experience mystical moments with Jesus.  To recognize the ‘beloved’ sent by the Father in the people and events of our lives.  We fast and pray that we may listen and respond to Jesus’ call, ‘Come follow me’.  We commit ourselves to be a follower, a disciple of Jesus. We pray to be transfigured, changed and converted.  That our heart of stone be broken open and become a heart of compassion, mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation. 

First Sunday of Lent

First Sunday of Lent

“lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”

Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert and is tempted by the devil. With Jesus, we call upon that same Spirit to lead us in moments ofdryness and withered spiritual life.  Lent calls us to recognize thetemptations in our lives and humble ourselves to call upon the Lordin our weakness.  In these desert moments we recognize our thirstand hunger to know and love our God more  deeply, more completely. Today Jesus continues to offer us the bread of heaven and the livingwater of His Living Word.

Cluny School Closing

Cluny School Closing

  

The Cluny Sisters announced Wednesday that their sponsored ministry of Cluny School in Newport, RI, will be closing in June at the end of this academic school year.

“It is with a deep sadness that we announce the closure of Cluny School,” said Sister Luke, President of the Cluny School Corporation and Provincial of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, an international missionary and religious congregation. The congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny has approximately 2600 sisters in 57 countries with communities and missions across 5 continents, working in education, health, evangelization and social action.

The St. Joseph of Cluny Sisters’ School  first opened as a small kindergarten in September, 1957 in response to a request made to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny from military families stationed at Fort Adams. A grade was added each year thereafter until the first Cluny eighth grade graduation in 1965. The school operates on a portion of land donated to the Diocese of Providence by the estate of the late Arthur Curtiss James, which was deeded to the Diocese of Providence in 1941.

“Despite the best efforts of so many over the past few years to reverse the trend in declining enrollment, the school’s leadership reached the conclusion that we did not have sufficient resources to continue our mission of educating and empowering our students to live lives of integrity based on Gospel values,” said Sister Luke.

Richard Smith, Chairman of the Cluny School’s Board of Directors said in yesterday’s announcement that, “Cluny School would not be the exceptional educational and faith community it is today without the support of so many who generously donated their time, talent and treasure to its advancement since the school’s founding. This tradition of generosity began with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny who, without remuneration, staffed the School through much of its history and have not only inspired its mission, but provided significant financial support, including increased assistance in recent years as the declining enrollment placed added financial pressure on the school.”

Sister Luke added that the closure of Cluny School will not overshadow its rich history nor the important contributions our graduates have made, and will continue to make, in this world. No matter where you are, ‘Once a Cluny, ALWAYS a Cluny!’.  We are doing all we can to assist our families, faculty and staff to stay strong, finish together and celebrate the gift of Cluny School has been to the local church and civic community and the many students, families, faculty and staff over these 59 years of Catholic education in the spirit of Anne Marie Javouhey, Founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny.