Bilingual Prayer and Webinar on Human Trafficking Prevention

Human Trafficking is a modern slavery.  This is happening in the world where people can be blindsided by how we are all participating.  It can be happening within one's home or in the school, and even how we patronize the products we buy.  Are we buying items that give back to what is fair to the workers?  Are the workers being paid little without benefits so that the items you are eyeing online can be cheap maximizing the value of your savings. This is the importance of being aware of our involvement in capitalism where the prizes need to be low which is good for competition but not to strip off the dignity of another individual to be fulfilled and compensated for his or her work.  There are also pornographic materials to which the youth, and vulnerable people are subjected, being forced to do something beyond their conscience and disregarding the respect that any human being deserves with the use of fear and coercion.

One of the ways we can help end this is by advocacy so that no person will have to be trapped and for those who are in this forced servitude, we are here to let them know that there have been people who were able to leave their traffickers and rebuild their lives.

Saint Bakhita is the patron saint of trafficked victims and survivors.  During her time, she was sold several times and finally found refuge with the religious congregation.  She did not want to go back to the family she was sold for service.  Everyone is invited to our Annual Virtual Bilingual Prayer Service on the Feast of Saint Bakhita, February 8, 2025 6:30PM.  This is the designated feast of Saint Bakhita.  The Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation will be hosting this service with hope that we can reflect on what action to take and also spread this invitation for others to know and take action as well.

Below is the invitation to (1) bring a pair of shoes as a symbol of human trafficking and (2) pray, listen, and reflect with us by signing in to https://christushealthvideo.zoom.us/j/95327154834

It is a hope that through this webinar, you can learn something to take and advocate for the cause.  It might also inspire you with something that you might have not thought of.  When we have hope for a better and just world, it moves us to take action so that a person does not have to suffer the loss of dignity, respect, and justice that every human being deserves to live with.

Pope Francis's encyclical Fratelli Tutti's article188 captures this message as an invitation for the political and social systems to be aware of human rights.  Raising this awareness, the politicians become responsible for combatting the structure and the unjust practices that exploit vulnerable and innocent individuals through human trafficking.  These unjust practices, greed, and selfish and unchecked desires, a person in need becomes a means or instrument for organ sale, prostitution, crime, and disordered desire for more.  When we desire what other people have or the goal becomes toward disordered ambitions stepping on other people's dignity, we missed to respect humanity.  Every individual belongs to a society.  An individual can be part of a just system or can take its position to be just by being an informed member of such systems to be able to uphold and live the right standards.  Consciences must be formed according to the recognition that everybody has basic human rights.  Our institutional and political systems must be responsible and effective in taking advantage of their academic, social, and technological strengths.  The advances in technology and science are not to hinder the protection and preservation of these rights.  These are to look into reality, searching for pragmatic solutions to be in communion and to be more human, beyond the fears and restrictive mindsets that are unproductive.

Report Human Trafficking through the National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888 or through text messaging Text* 233733.

More information on the Alliance to End Human Trafficking: U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking Announces New Name, Initiatives - Alliance to End Human Trafficking : Alliance to End Human Trafficking

Fratelli tutti (3 October 2020) | Francis

Event: Climate and Faithful Resiliency

An Invitation from Interfaith Environmental Network of Houston

We hope you’re able to join us!

Thursday, February 6, 2025 6:00 PM - Thursday, March 13, 2025 7:00 PM

Faithful Resilience: A Study on Climate Resilience for Faith Communities

Register

Laudato Si' Invitation to Contemplate on the Spiritual Crisis as the cause of Socio-Ecological Crisis

Polarization, war, climate change, political and civil instability, homelessness, gun violence, racism, nationalism, extremism, regionalism, fascism, materialism, fundamentalism, and moral degradation are all symptoms of spiritual crisis.  

Life is not about possessions.  In Luke 12:15, Jesus said to them, 'Watch out! Be on our guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.'  Are you holding on to material things rather than relationships?  We have forgotten that the most important treasure we hold as humans is our ability to love.  We are one human family.  If we have lost this ability, what is the value of everything we hold as precious?  We have seen our relationship with jobs, bank accounts, houses, luxurious items, and other material wealth as more important than our ability to love our brothers and sisters, and the nature to which we all belong. As Pope Francis in Laudato Si said in article 119, the vast desert in our heart, which is our spiritual crisis, caused this climate change and humanitarian crisis.  This is a desert.  This is a purgatory that stops us from reaching heaven.  It is a purgatory stopping us from being free.  These are the attachments that our hearts contain rather than the love from which we are created.  We failed to love our brothers and sisters.  We would rather protect which invisibly and visibly destroying nature. 

...A misguided anthropocentrism need not necessarily yield to “biocentrism”, for that would entail adding yet another imbalance, failing to solve present problems and adding new ones. Human beings cannot be expected to feel responsibility for the world unless, at the same time, their unique capacities of knowledge, will, freedom and responsibility are recognized and valued. (LS118)

Nor must the critique of a misguided anthropocentrism underestimate the importance of interpersonal relations. If the present ecological crisis is one small sign of the ethical, cultural and spiritual crisis of modernity, we cannot presume to heal our relationship with nature and the environment without healing all fundamental human relationships. (LS 119)

In 1 Corinthians 13:13, there is an invitation to ponder what is enduring: "The three most important things to have are faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of them is love."  What is eternal is love.  We need faith and hope to help us in moving forward. It is love that is the fruit and cause of all virtues.  When we reach the fullness of life, we have come to the fullness of love.  We are struggling in this fullness.  As Fr. Ron Rolheiser said, the symphony is not finished and we are unfinished symphony.  The question is how unfinished business within ourselves that we can hold or keep?

Whatever relationship you hold dear, I invite you to look into your heart, mind, and spirit.  We are here to journey each other carrying the burdens of all whether we like it or not.  Everything we breathe, we drink, we walk into are common goods.  Even if you think water is yours, we cannot have clean water if we have failed to protect it from being polluted or contaminated.  We all drink from the same stream of nature.  We are at the mercy of nature.  I invite you to be generous in love.  That is the only thing that can hold us together.  You can start from wherever you are. 

This year is the 10th year of  Laudato Si.'  Pope Francis wrote this encyclical to highlight that all are interconnected.  If we fail to care for one part of this creation, we fail nature, which includes all of us.  Starting February 25 6 am NYC / 11 am London / 12 pm Rome / 2 pm Nairobi / 7pm Manila for 10 hours, all people of the world are invited to contemplate with the hope that we may feel Christ in our hearts, we may see Christ in our brothers and sisters and Christ in all Creation.  It is with hope that we can find our oneness with nature. May we truly incarnate love hidden in the core of our hearts into our lives.

Information on the Contemplative Vigil on Zoom here: Laudato Si’ 10th Anniversary Contemplative Vigil - via Zoom - Contemplative Outreach, Ltd.

Image of the Martin Luther King Jr March on January 20, 2025, with Incarnate Word University Community.

January is the National Human Trafficking Prevention Month

Have you ever wondered why some products are so cheap?  Be aware of the origin of your cheap purchased items.  Someone could be suffering from forced labor, sweatshops, and child labor.  This is what we call social injustices, trade injustices, and most of all human slavery.  Not all of these laborers may even receive wages for their work.  Items with a mark of fair trade may be pricey but it gives you an assurance, that you are not supporting a human trafficking business.  

January 2025 is the National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. President Biden calls upon organizations, families, and American people to recognize our duty in ending human trafficking.  By observing this month as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, given the programs and events to end all forms of human trafficking, we are on our way to liberating people from this modern-day slavery and preventing it from happening to those who are at risk.  You may not know who is at risk, so do not take the chance.  Do not let the traffickers take away one's dignity.

Human Trafficking is a $150 billion money-making industry.  The United States is a significant destination for trafficked victims.  This is happening before our eyes using the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and services we patronize, among other things. 

If you would like to support this advocacy of ending human trafficking, you can wear blue, post it on your social media using the #WearBlueDay (hashtagWearblueDay) and share your photo with us jpic.office@gmail.com so we can feature you in our JPIC social media.  You can participate in this blue campaign, particularly on January 11 which is dedicated for National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

Read more: 

Slavery Footprint
Alliance to End Human Trafficking - Ending Slavery is Everyone's Work : Alliance to End Human Trafficking
The Fight Against Human Trafficking | Global Sisters Report
Talithakum
National Human Trafficking Prevention Month 2025 - Preventing and Addressing Child Trafficking Project
Interfaith Toolkit to End Trafficking | UNICEF USA
A Proclamation on National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, 2025 | The White House
DPS Recognizes Human Trafficking Prevention Month | Department of Public Safety

"Hatred is a contagious and destructive disease," Presentations coming to San Antonio the week of Feb. 16, 2025

 

 The daughters on the beach.  Now Daughters for Life Foundation honors them. 

Dr.Izzeldin Abuelaish, an internationally recognized medical researcher, human rights and peace activist, will be in San Antonio to present and discuss his research on “Hatred as a Contagious and Destructive Disease.”

PRESENTATION DATES, TIMES, AND LOCATIONS, FEBRUARY 17-20, 2025                          Some sessions will be livestreamed and links will be posted here as soon as possible.  

Information for donations at the bottom. 

Feb. 17, Monday

9 am to 10:15 am, University of the Incarnate Word Bonilla Science Hall 129. Dr. Abuelaish on "Hate as a contagious and destructive disease" with discussion.  WRITE kirk@uiwtx.edu if you wish to bring a class because seats are a limited. 

Gatherings on Feb. 17, 10:30 am to 9 pm and Feb. 18, 9 am to 5 pm will be in the University of the Incarnate Word Student Engagement Center Ballroom.

10:30 to 11:15 am Dr. Abuelaish on "Hate as a contagious and destructive disease" with discussion 

12:00 – 1:15 pm  Part of the recent documentary "I Shall Not Hate"  and time for questions with Dr. Abuelaish.

1:30- 2:45 pm Abuelaish on "Hate as a contagious and destructive disease" with discussion 

3 – 4:15 pm Part of the recent documentary "I Shall Not Hate"  and time for questions with Dr. Abuelaish.

5:45 pm. Buffet Benefit Dinner.  Lift a Daughter--for Life.  Help build a San Antonio Scholarship for a Middle Eastern Woman through the Daughters for Life Foundation which was founded by Dr. Abuelaish. 

Registration required. https://uiw.givepulse.com/event/550319   Open and free parking on the UIW campus west of the UIW Student Engagement Center.

 

 7:00 PM Doctors’ Round Table: Hate as a Dis-Ease

Student Engagement Center Ballroom, University of the Incarnate Word.

Free and open to the public. No registration required.

Optional dinner buffet prior to Doctors’ Round Table. See above details at 5:45 PM.

• Dr. Junda Woo, Round Table Facilitator, City of San Antonio’s Medical Director/Public Health
• Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, Visiting Canadian-Palestinian Doctor; Professor, Global Health/Clinical Public Health, University of Toronto; Author, I Shall Not Hate

• Dr. Adam Ratner, Chair, The Patient Institute; Professor, UIW School of Osteopathic Medicine
• Dr. Cathy Woodward, VP, Health Advisory Board of HEAL Palestine
• Dr. Kenneth Kemp, MD, Senior Pastor, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church
• Dr. Matthew Dasco, Director, UT Health Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics; Active Member, Consortium of Universities for Global Health
• Dr. Moshtagh Farokhi, UT Health Dentistry, Dental Director at SA Refugee Health Clinic

                                                     

All Tuesday presentations until 5 pm are in the UIW Student Engagement Center Ballroom

Feb. 18, Tuesday, 9 – 10:15 am Dr. Abuelaish on "Hate as a contagious and destructive disease" with discussion 

10:30 – 11:45 am  Part of the recent documentary "I Shall Not Hate"  and time for questions with Dr. Abuelaish.

12:00 – 1:15 pm Abuelaish on "Hate as a contagious and destructive disease" with discussion 

1:30 – 2:45 pm Part of the recent documentary "I Shall Not Hate" and time for questions with Dr. Abuelaish.

3:00 – 4:15 pm  Dr. Abuelaish on "Hate as a contagious and destructive disease" with discussion 

Feb. 18, 6:30 to 8:30 pm CHRISTUS Heritage Hall at the Village at Incarnate Word.    Lift a Daughter--for Life.  Delicious Middle Eastern food, music. Dr. Abuelaish speaking.  Learn of  Our Scholars – Daughters for Life Foundation  Help build a San Antonio Scholarship for a Middle Eastern Woman through the Daughters for Life Foundation which was founded by Dr. Abuelaish.  Registration required.https://uiw.givepulse.com/event/547165-Lift-a-Daughter-for-Life-Dinner-Feb.-18-630-to-830-pm-CHRISTUS-Heritage-Hall

 Students can request scholarships. For information, write  kirk@uiwtx.edu or call 210-883-5934.

 

Feb. 19, Wednesday. Presentations are being scheduled throughout the day through the Peace Center at Northwest Vista College. See their web page for growing information. https://www.alamo.edu/nvc/experience-nvc/community/peace-center/

Feb. 19, 5:30 – 7:30 pm Executive Book Review, "I Shall Not Hate" by Dr. Abuelaish,  at CHRISTUS Heritage Hall at the Village at Incarnate Word. Please register https://executivebookreview.com/  

 

Feb. 20, Thursday    @TheIntersection; 8-8:30 AM virtual. For the link, please write Ann Helmke (DHS): Ann.Helmke@sanantonio.gov

Feb. 20  Open for events until 5:30 pm. 

 

Contact for interviews with Dr. Abuelaish or for information: Sister Martha Ann Kirk kirk@uiwtx.edu  210-883-5934

Dr. Abuelaish's book, I Shall Not Hate is available at The Twig Bookstore at the Pearl. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, an internationally recognized medical researcher, human rights and peace activist, will be in San Antonio to present and discuss his research on “Hatred as a Contagious and Destructive Disease.” The San Antonio delegation to the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates were inspired by him in Monterrey, Mexico, in September.

A life-long cultural bridge-builder born and raised in Gaza, he was one of the first Palestinian doctors to work in both Israeli and Palestinian hospitals. He believes that health care providers can be human equalizers, socializers, harmonizers and stabilizers.

In the Gaza war of 2009, three of his teen-aged daughters and his niece were killed. He has transformed this tragedy into an even stronger commitment to heal hatred and revenge with peace and forgiveness. Abuelaish’s book, “I Shall not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity,” has been translated into 23 languages and made into a film. He holds twenty honorary doctorates and has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Laureate, wrote of Dr. Abuelaish book, I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity, "This story is a necessary lesson against hatred and revenge."

Turning trauma into opportunity, Dr. Abuelaish started Daughters for Life Foundation in their memory. The foundation gives scholarships to young Middle Eastern women. He is dedicated to healing hatred and educating young women and believes women are a key to transforming and healing the Middle East.   

He currently lives in Toronto where he is a full professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

Prof. Abuelaish has overcome many personal hardships, including poverty, violence, and the horrific tragedy of his three daughters’ and niece’s deaths in the 2009 Gaza War. He continues to live up to the description bestowed upon him by an Israeli colleague, as a “magical, secret bridge between Israelis and Palestinians” and in the world. He is now one of the most outspoken, prominent, and beloved researchers, educators and public speakers on peace and development in the Middle East. 

The Office of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word of San Antonio, Texas, is bringing Dr Abuelaish to San Antonio because they carry forward their tradition as healers. The Incarnate Word Sisters founded the first public hospital in San Antonio, Santa Rosa, in 1869, in response to a plea from the mayor to stop rampant contagious disease that killed 10% of the city’s population. 

The San Antonio Delegation with Dr. Abuslaish at the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, Monterrey, September 2025. 

 

Dr. Abuelaish with Teo Reyes, Assistant Director of the UIW Center for Civic Leadership and Sustainability named for Sister Dot Ettling. 

As President Jimmy Carter put it, “In this book, Dr. Abuelaish has expressed a remarkable commitment to forgiveness and reconciliation that describes the foundation for a permanent peace in the Holy Land.”

Dr. Abuelaish with Jacky Zavala Aguila of the UIW Office of Research and Graduate Studies. 

If you wish to donate as we try to develop a San Antonio scholarship for the Daughters for Life Foundation:

Checks to the University of the Incarnate Word   and mail to Sister Martha Ann Kirk, UIW, 4301 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209. 

If you wish to pay by credit card, then please go to https://www.uiw.edu/give/  See the box  “Other—please apply my gift to” there type in Liturgical Outreach. Thank you.  

 If you have questions, kirk@uiwtx.edu   210-883-5934. 

Jesus Christ in the Rubble: A Cold Manger in Our Time

It has been 452 days since the war in Gaza erupted.   Statistics are shocking.  More than half of the fatalities are women and children among more than 45,000 of them in total, buried in the graves, buried in the rubbles of Gaza, or whose body lying on the ground waiting.  What the human race is losing, the longer this war takes, are lives, and the value of humanity.  People have mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, children, friend, etc.  Suddenly, by the strike of a missile or bomb, their loved one is gone.  In some cases, their loved ones are gone.   

When will this war be over?  I sometimes think, without weapons, people will not die that easily in masses.  I asked myself several times what can I do when I am here?  The Palestinians in Gaza died not only because of weapons, bombs, or missiles.  Technically, these weapons killed the majority of them.  The billion-dollar business of manufacturing weapons is an infrastructural and social sin.  It feeds families, puts children to school, and puts food on the table.  Those are not the reason for infrastructural sin but those instruments are used to kill in the battlefield.  The battlefield is in Gaza with people who are innocents.  These businesses are instruments to these thousands of fatalities.  For people to act on justice, we have to face the reality.  The people of Gaza are not only dying from starvation, injuries, lack of medical attention, cold, but indifference to stop the instruments from being used to kill the people.

On Christmas, Rev. Munther Isaac of the Lutheran church in Bethlehem in Gaza, spoke of Jesus in the rubble.  One-third of the victims are children and there are still children who are suffering from starvation.  Palestinians have been a witness of historical persecution, and discrimination. He talked about how the United States commercialized Christmas, displaying staggering lights.  People spend money and time on gifts, sometimes unnecessary while the country continues to send bombs and weapons to Israel.  Israel is by far the biggest recipient of military aid from United States.  Palestinian armed groups including Hamas took hostages indiscriminately while Israel also cut off electricity in Gaza.  Now, there have been 1.9 million displaced Palestinians with more than 45,000 killed and more as the people are under the rubbles of buildings struck down by missiles, thousands of people who have been amputated, disabled, and facing a dire threat of famine every day.  We know the story.  We can see this in the news from all media, conversations, and movements in universities, organizations, communities, etc.  Has this genocide been normalized and this war still continues to perpetrate before the eyes of world?

It has been more than one year since Israel defended itself against the Hamas attack.  People have left their homes forcedfully.  These people have been displaced several times.  Some are living on the streets or in tents.  On the other side of this complex situation, we, the faithful are praying for the nation's leaders to consider the immediate ceasefire, reconciliation, diplomatic talks, and arms embargo.

As a people of faith, we bring light to the world.  The following are just a few of the things that you can do to help with the situation in Gaza.

1. Write a letter to President, contact congressmen/representatives regularly about ceasefire, arms embargo and support humanitarian works.   
2. Write a letter regarding the concerns on US military support to Israel and call for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid access to editors to newspapers you are subscribed to.  You can refer to this guide if needed.
3. Be aware of the companies benefiting from the war and the occupation.  AFSC's investigation on the matter is here.
4. Be aware of what is happening.  Free ebooks on understanding the Gaza here.
5. Raise awareness in social media and with your friends and family and write a blog about the situation Gaza
6. Support humanitarian organizations such as Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Palestinian Children Relief Fund, the United Nations Relief and Workers Agency (UNRWA), United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations World Food Programme,  Women for Women International, International Rescue Committee

Incarnate Word Sisters' Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) is coming up with an event soon to bring the Palestinian Canadian Physician, Dr. Abuelaish, a human rights and international peace activist, for a speaking engagement.  He lost three of his daughters, and niece in one incident to an Israeli shelling that hit his residence in Gaza.  He lost other relatives to this conflict.  Regardless of this painful situation, he continues to work for peace.  In his book "I Shall Not Hate", he exposed hatred as a contagious and destructive disease.  

We are eagerly looking forward to having you at this event to create a more just and peaceful world.  We are interested in hearing from you.  If you are interested in collaborating and supporting the event, please drop JPIC an email (jpic.office@gmail.com) or reach out to Sr. Martha Ann Kirk (kirk@uiwtx.edu).

• Demand a ceasefire by all parties to end civilian suffering - Amnesty International
• Tell Congressman to embargo arms, and weapons used in Gaza conflict.
• NBC News | Two young brothers in search of food join the crowds waiting outside the only functioning bread shop left in Khan Younis in Gaza. More at... | Instagram
• Donate to Help Children in West Bank and Gaza | Save The Children
• PCRF
• UNICEF, for every child
• UN World Food Programme (WFP)
• Palestine | Women For Women
• Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) | International Rescue Committee (IRC)
• Christ in the Rubble preach

Christ in the Rubble in Lutheran Church, Bethlehem on Christmas