June Editorial - Seeds

On May 27, 2015 the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word held a communal prayer service and published our Corporate Stance Against Human Trafficking.  And then on June 14, 2015 Pope Francis presented his encyclical: Laudato Si, about caring of our common home.  These two anniversary dates that have just passed give us many reasons to reflect, pray, act, and celebrate!  

Can you believe it has been a year already!?  It has certainly been a year filled with learning, commitments, collaboration, and inspiration.  As the Congregational Office for Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation we have tried to concretely respond to these areas of focus.  With human trafficking we have joined networks of groups working against human trafficking.  From this we have been able to make this crime more visible including providing information to diverse social and faith based groups.  This has helped to create a culture of prevention, especially for those most vulnerable (girls age 12-17) by increasing awareness about the connection to sexism, discrimination and violence against women and girls, so as in the words of Pope Francis to 'prevent this crime against humanity.' 

Laudato Si motivated us to come together as a family to share and reflect.  We had many wonderful gatherings talking about our precious mother earth where we shared honestly about our awe before the beauty of God's creation and our responsibility in confronting its destruction, as well as the conversion to an integral ecological spirituality needed in our lives!  It is precisely from listening to these reflections and so much of the personal, communal, familial, and institutional work that is being done for sustainability that calls us to discern and take action together as a Congregation for the care of creation.  In these weeks, as a response to these initial reflections illuminated by Laudato Si, we are hosting a series of Sustainability Workshops where everyone will have the opportunity to choose this corporate action of sustainability in response to the cries of the earth.  

In this edition, we also share with you our third Theological and Social Reflection, which is focused on immigration.  This is a situation that demands our attention because migration isn't a crime, the crime is many of the reasons why people are forced to migrate in the first place.  We hope that this reflection helps us to continue responding to the needs of our immigrant brothers and sisters as we take on the risks of solidarity and work for a more just and dignified world for all.  

We invite you to take some time to share with others: How are you living our corporate stance against human trafficking?  What has Laudato Si inspired you to do?  How is the reality of migration in the world calling you to respond?