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Edition No. 31   February 3, 2017
SSJ Welcome Center
Supporting Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers

The SSJ Welcome Center in the Kensington area of Philadelphia offers opportunities for newly arrived immigrants to improve the quality of their lives through education, support services and programs leading to self-sufficiency.

On Tuesday, January 31, 2017, the staff at the Welcome Center gathered outside to pray for all immigrants and refugees in our country and in the Welcome Center. Braving light snow showers and cold, in various languages, they prayed and chanted together: “We are all one family in God. We are one family, Immigrants and Refugees and all are welcome here.”

CLICK HERE to see it on video.

Photos courtesy Pat Madden SSJ
March for Global Unity  Chestnut Hill College
 
On Thursday, February 2, 2017, faculty, students, staff and friends were invited to participate in a March for Global Unity at Chestnut Hill College.

Prior to the march, Ms. Trachanda Garcia, M.L.A. Director of Global Education, addressed all those assembled in the Rotunda. “Today at the college we annually welcome global ESL and academic students, staff and faculty from 40 countries into our inclusive Catholic Community as our dear neighbor . Visitors to our campus experience the dear neighbor love as a warm welcome, smiling faces, friendly hugs and handshakes, the willingness to continually go above and beyond, the ability to listen and empathize and the respect that our students, staff and faculty members display for one another. During this time of uncertainty, in light of the recent executive order coming from the new administration, I implore you to remember that our dear neighbors are not just those you pass in the hall, live next to or sit by you in a class or a meeting. Our neighbors also include those whom we have never met, close and extended families, our enemies as well as our friends and those who have different passports, religions, gender, skin tones, social class or political views from our own. As a college, we develop better and stronger relationships when we share the talent, culture and expertise that our international community imparts on us.”

The group then marched from the Rotunda, through the front circle, along Northwestern Avenue, down Germantown Avenue and into the main entrance of the College. Gathering at the Peace Pole on the lower front lawn, Sister Carol Jean Vale SSJ , President of Chestnut Hill College led a prayer.

    We are Brothers and Sisters

  Don’t look at me
As though I am an alien or a stranger,
Don’t let the dagger of antipathy
Fly out of your eyes.

  I am your neighbor.

  Don’t call me a foe, an antagonist or a rival,
Don’t roll up your mistrustful sleeves for a fight.

  I am your friend.

  Don’t hold this murderous weapon in your kind hand,
Don’t deny me the right to work, to eat, or to live.

  I am your brother , your sister.

 
CLICK HERE for a short video of the event
"Each of us affects the whole membership in a unique way since we influence both present and future as spirit and heritage become ever more deeply expressed in our lives."
                                                                                — SSJ Constitutions #97-98

Editor, Sister Carole Pollock SSJ | 215.248.7269 | cpollock@ssjphila.org | http://ssjphila.org/new/