VeryTopShalom News North America  

An instrument of hope, formation, and action

concerning priority matters of social justice.

In This Issue
Laudato Si'
Climate Crisis
Great Lakes
Global Education
COVID-19 Response
DACA
Asylum
Racial Justice
Racism and Trafficking
Human Trafficking
Nonviolence
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Sanctions
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July-August/2020
         
  
Thank you for all you do to promote solidarity and protect the dignity of all life during these challenging days. May the resources in this newsletter help you in your efforts. Have a blessed summer!   
       
  
Shalom North America Contacts
Click here for our printer-friendly (pdf) version of the newsletter. You can expect your next newsletter to be delivered on August 28.

Integrity of Creation              

Laudato Si' User Guide        
To mark the five-year anniversary of Laudato Si', the Vatican announced the release of a "user guide" for both parishes and public officials on how to implement the document, including such concrete measures as a balanced diet, carpooling to reduce energy consumption, recycling, and "drip-by-drip" irrigation to curb water waste. The document calls on legislators and governments to adopt eco-friendly policies and advocates for poverty relief, prison and healthcare reform, and the protection of human life from conception to natural death.  Learn more.  
 
 
  
Integrity of Creation              

Climate Crisis       
While our attention these days has been rightly focused on dealing with the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing racial injustice, we cannot afford to lose focus on another global crisis that imperils all of God's creation, the climate crisis. We invite you to take time this summer to commit to doing more to help safeguard our common home. Click here for a replay of the Global Catholic Climate Movement webinar Breathing in a Time of Crisis and here for a SSND Climate Crisis Resource and Engagement Packet. Sign-up for monthly on-line prayer services.     
     
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Integrity of Creation           

U.S. and Canada State of the Great Lakes Report   
The latest State of the Great Lakes  report, from Environment and Climate Change Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, assesses Great Lakes water quality as "fair and unchanging." While progress to restore and protect the Great Lakes has occurred, including the reduction of toxic chemicals, challenges cited in the report include invasive species and excess nutrients that contribute to toxic and nuisance algae. Learn more.

Human Dignity             

2020 Global Education Report        
This year's report shows that layers of discrimination on the basis of gender, remoteness, wealth, disability, ethnicity, language, migration, religion and other factors deny students the right to be educated with their peers or to receive education of the same quality. It identifies an exacerbation of exclusion during the COVID-19 pandemic estimating that about 40% of low and lower-middle income countries have not supported disadvantaged learners during school shutdown. Learn more, read full report.

 
 
         
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Human Life and Dignity              

A Canadian Response to COVID-19   
As we continue to respond to the COVID-19 health crisis and prepare to rebuild, organizations across Canada want the governments to know that we cannot go back to the way things were.  Over 150 Canadian organizations have endorsed six principles for a Just Recovery that puts the health and well-being of all peoples and ecosystems first. Learn more
 
Human Life and Dignity          

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of DACA           
On June 18, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the Trump Administration unlawfully terminated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects hundreds of thousands of young people (Dreamers) who were brought to the U.S. as minors from deportation-many of whom are essential workers in this pandemic. While this ruling offers some relief to Dreamers and their families and communities, it is not a permanent solution for them - Congress must act. Join us in urging our Senators to take up S.874 and vote "yes" to protect Dreamers!  
         
Human Life and Dignity              

The End of Asylum at the Border?   
"The Trump administration has used the COVID-19 pandemic to gut the right to asylum and implement far-reaching changes to our immigration system," according this reflection shared by Hope Border Institute. "While some alterations to the immigration system are necessary to adapt to COVID-19 and keep people safe....a raft of new asylum regulations will make securing protection effectively impossible to win."  What can you do? Read and reflect on Bishop Mark Seitz' Remarks on the Suspension of Due Process at the Border. Then consider submitting comments challenging the Administration's proposed new asylum restrictions - before the July 15 deadline. CLINIC has a resource page to make submitting comments easy - you can find it here. Read LCWR's submitted comments here.

 
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Human Life and Dignity               

Promoting Racial Justice   
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."  These words of abolitionist minister Theodore Parker, paraphrased by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964, are a poignant reminder of the work that remains for us to do to achieve racial justice. This summer, let us take time to reflect on difficult but key moments in the struggle for racial justice in the U.S. that occurred during these months in history.Click here for reflection resource links and here for a prayer resource. Also consider Smithsonian's 158 Resources to Understand Racism in America and How Canadian Catholics are responding to Black Lives Matter.  


     
Human Life and Dignity              

Reflecting on Racism, Colonialism, and Trafficking  
This month's U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking reflection examines human trafficking as a continuation of the persistent legacy of slavery and exploitation going back to European colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade. The reflection invites us "to learn more about this history of slavery, racism and colonialism; lament for the harm done; repent for our complicity both past and present; and begin to make reparations so that this legacy of slavery, abuse, and exploitation finally ends." Read the entire reflection here.  Learn about the role the Doctrine of Discovery played in helping enable this ongoing exploitation.
 
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Human Life and Dignity               

World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
On July 30, we observe the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons - a day to recommit ourselves to anti-trafficking efforts, to pray for the 40.3 million trafficking victims, and to honor the survivors of modern-day slavery. We invite you to read "Human Trafficking and COVID-19 in Marginalized Communities" to learn about the effect of the pandemic at the intersection of race and human trafficking in the United States. Click here to learn about efforts being made in Canada to prevent human trafficking from worsening during the pandemic. For a prayer to end human trafficking, click here. To read the U.S. State Department's 2020 Trafficking in Person's Report, click here. To let your voice be heard, click here.  


Peace and Non-Violence              

An Appeal to Pope Francis       
The General Council of the School Sisters of Notre Dame has endorsed a message to Pope Francis thanking him for his leadership during this time of crisis and urging him to consider authoring an encyclical on nonviolence as a companion to Laudato Si'.  The message, being circulated by the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, says that "Active nonviolence - a spirituality, a way of life and a program of societal action - is key to this global shift...to the future envisioned in Laudato Si'." Both individuals and Catholic organizations are welcome to endorse the statement before July 31. Learn more/endorse here.  
 
Peace and Non-Violence              

Hiroshima and Nagasaki 
75 years ago, on August 6 and 9, 1945, President Truman, in an effort to bring about Japan's surrender in World War II, authorized the detonation of two nuclear bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These bombs took the lives of over 210,000 people within the first year. Many others suffered indescribable pain, grief, and fear for the unknown effects on their children and grandchildren. Throughout the month of July, as a part of the global campaign to abolish nuclear weapons, Peace Boat will hold Hibakusha testimony events to provide opportunities to listen to the first hand stories of atomic bomb survivors. Learn more/sign-up here. Use this toolkit to promote awareness of the anniversary and action. Click here to learn about Pax Christi's Peace Ribbon 2020 initiative.   
 
The Real Cost of Nuclear Weapons - Pax Christi International
The Real Cost of Nuclear Weapons - Pax Christi International
 
            
Peace and Non-Violence              

Sanctions: Nonviolent Tool or Lethal Weapon?         
Our friends with the Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns recently shared a very thoughtful See/Judge/Act reflection concerning the use of sanctions. Economic sanctions are often presented as a nonviolent alternative to military action by governments seeking to influence or coerce foreign leaders. Too often however, the use of sanctions seems to violate Catholic values of nonviolence and just peace by failing both to protect the vulnerable and to effectively advance the cause of reconciliation and sustainable peace. Read more here.  
  
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The SSND International Shalom Network witnesses to the Gospel with audacity and hope as we collaborate to build just relationships and respond to the urgent needs of our times. 

Shalom LogoShalom News North America is an e-publication of the Shalom North America Contacts (SNAC) of the School Sisters of Notre Dame - Arlene Flaherty, Ethel Howley, Jeanne Wingenter, Kathleen Bonnette, Rose Mary Sander, and Tim Dewane. Your comments, suggestions, and feedback are always welcomed. Email us at tdewane@ssndcp.org.

Please only print this e-publication if necessary.