Social Justice

Priority Issues

Racial Justice, Human Trafficking,
Gun Violence, and Juvenile Delinquency.

“May the Spirit of God accompany us all, govern and assist us so that in all places we fulfill His Holy and Perfect Will.”

-Saint Katharine Drexel

"Love does not consist of great sweetness of devotion, but in a most fervent determination to strive to please God in all things."

Saint Katharine Drexel

To all SBS and ASBS:

Please see this Social Justice Action Alert from the Sisters of Mercy in support of an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

“Please. Countries at war, all of them, stop the war.

Look to negotiate. Look for peace.”
— Pope Francis

We invite you to sign your name to an open letter from Roman Catholics across the United States that cries out in lament for recent horrors and for decades of injustice in the Holy Land. It also pleads for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. In addition to signing on yourself, please share this request with other Catholics you know and urge them to join you. The call comes from the Catholic Advisory Council of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), Pax Christi USA, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, the Franciscan Action Network, and Sisters of Mercy.

Thousands of U.S. Catholics have already signed on to an open letter calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of hostages and political prisoners, the distribution of robust humanitarian assistance, and a political solution to the longstanding conflict. The full letter, with the names of over 2,000 signatories to date—including bishops, priests, women religious, academics, and lay people is available through the link below.

Please answer the call of the Holy Father, Prince of Peace. To sign onto this letter, go to:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYZFq1ld0pndQbF1rWt2TW01f0MHhadh8Y2mYTKLcrzYz5Qw/viewform

Voting Rights Resources

Voter suppression laws that disproportionately impact people based on their race or ethnicity, gender, age, or income are developing all over the country at an alarming pace. If we don’t fight back, more and more Americans will become disenfranchised and lose their voice in our democracy.

These “Resource Groups” may assist voters to fight back against proposals across the country that make it harder to exercise their constitutional right to cast a ballot. Whether it’s extreme identification requirements, questionable purges of voters from the rolls, voter intimidation, new and extreme voter registration processes, or anything that makes voting harder, they are there to lead the fight against it.

www.aclu.org/issues/voting‐rights

www.advancingjustice.aajc.org/election2020

www.brennancenter.org/issues

www.commoncause.org

www.866ourvote.org/resources

www.fairfight.com

https://www.lwv.org/

www.letamericavote.wpengine.com/about

https://naacp.org/find-resources/know-your-rights

www.ncai.org/policy‐issues

www.socialjusticeresourcecenter.org

www.thekingcenter.org

www.spreadthevote.org

www.whenweallvote.org

www.vote.org

Legislative Resources

Here are a few simple things you can do to make sure your correspondence gets to the White House, your U.S. Representative, or U.S. Senator as quickly as possible:

Sending a letter to the White House:

If you write a letter, please consider typing it on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of
If you hand-write your letter, please write as neatly as possible with an ink
Include your return address on your letter as well as on your
If you have an email address, please share it with us
And finally, please be sure to write on the outside of your mailing envelope the complete address to make sure your letter gets to them as quickly as possible:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20500

Sending a letter to your U.S. Congressman:

Find Your U.S. Representative

Not sure of your congressional district or who your member is? This service will assist you by matching your ZIP code to your congressional district, with links to your member’s website and contact page – https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.

Find Your U.S. Senator

Not sure who your Senate member is? This service will assist you by matching your State to your Two (2) Senators, with links to your Senator’s contact page –

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Contact Your Elected Officials

Locate your City, County, and Town Officials

State and local governments | USAGov or https://www.usa.gov/state-local-governments

Dear SBS and ASBS,

The SBS Social Justice Committee recommends the following as the “Book of the Month.”

On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service, by Anthony Fauci M.D.

#1 New York Times Bestseller

Anthony Fauci may be arguably the most famous – and most revered – doctor in the world today. His role guiding America sanely and calmly through Covid earned him the trust of millions during one of the most terrifying periods in modern American history, but this was only the most recent of the global epidemics in which Dr. Fauci played a major role. His crucial role in researching HIV and bringing AIDS into sympathetic public view and his leadership in navigating the Ebola, SARS, West Nile, and anthrax crises, make him truly an American hero.

His memoir reaches back to his boyhood in Brooklyn, New York, and carries through decades of caring for critically ill patients, navigating the whirlpools of Washington politics, and behind-the-scenes advising and negotiating with seven presidents on key issues from global AIDS relief to infectious disease preparedness at home.

This book is available in hardback, paperback, or Kindle through various sources including Target, Amazon, Walmart and Thriftbooks.com.

Childhood, given its fragile nature, has unique and inalienable needs. Above all else, there is the right to a healthy and secure family environment. … They have the right to be children.

—Pope Francis, Message for the 103rd World Day of Migrants & Refugees, 13 October 2016

Help Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth

Dear SBS and ASBS,

Please click here to write to your Congressional representative and senators, urging them to cosponsor the Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Act. Due to legal categories for immigration applicants, children in urgent need of protection who already qualify for permanent residence must wait years to receive permanent residence. The Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Act would remove the cap on the number of children we can protect in this way. Contact your legislators today!

Working together to welcome everyone,
Mercy Justice Team

Send a message!

Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
Assembly 2022
In Communion, we embrace God’s Promise

Attentive to God’s call we move forward, promoting racial, social, and ecological justice through collaboration among ourselves; with and for others.

Document of SBS “Share the Bread” …address to a greater extent the structual causes of social injustices. …relationship between racism, economic injustices and militarism and to see their interconnectedness locally, nationally and globally.

One of Catholic Social Teaching’s principles, The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers, says “The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected – the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to private property, and to economic initiative.”

How can we help ensure the dignity of work and rights of workers? We can purchase fair trade products; in the upcoming holiday seasons, when cocoa and chocolate are staples, we can purchase online or locally fair trade products from one or more of the companies listed at the end of this reflection.

By purchasing fair trade products, we avoid chocolate produced through the exploitation of child labor. Fair trade is a system of certification that aims to ensure a set of standards are met in the production and supply of a product or ingredient. For farmers and workers, fair trade means workers’ rights, safer working conditions and fairer pay.

Fairtrade changes the way trade works through better prices, decent working conditions and a fairer deal for farmers and workers in developing countries.
https://www.fairtrade.net/about

sistersagainsttrafficking.org

Social Justice Committee: Gary Scott, ASBS, Chairperson; Sr. Faith Okerson, SBS Leadership; Joyce Hadley, ASBS; Hilda Wiltz, ASBS; Kathy Scott, ASBS; Madeline Tymes, ASBS; Ernest Tymes, ASBS; Sr. Geraldine Mikulec, SBS; Sr. Patricia Rogan, SBS; Sr. Patricia Downs, SBS