Current Issues of Social Justice
Current Issues
- BVM Hunger Fund Contributions
- Congress and the Budget
- Immigration/Worker Rights
- Human Rights/Women and Children
- Opposition to Death Penalty
- Peace & Nonviolence
- Justice Alerts
BVM Hunger Fund Contributions
The BVM Hunger Fund commits funds each year to organizations abroad that work toward systemic change to alleviate hunger and/or for emergency relief.
In Autumn of 2011, contributions were sent to ten projects:
To Brothers of St Charles Lwanga to assist an orphanage and primary school in Uganda with a water harvesting system, and with agriculture/farming activities. $1,500
To Franciscan Sisters of St Joseph, to provide a feeding program for children in St Theresa’s Kindergarten and Nursery School in Kenya. $1,000
To Sisters of St Louis in Brazil, for purchasing oil, coffee, rice, sugar, milk and snacks for those infected with HIV/AIDS. $1,000
To St Joseph parish in Haiti to help cover the cost of the school lunch program. Some 1250 students receive a noon meal, combined with deworming medicines and iodized salt. $2,000
To Sisters of the Holy Cross for some 220 children in their Ghana school, to help provide them with two meals a day. $2,000
To Daughters of Mary Sisters in Tanzania to bring clean water and small vegetable gardens for some 78 students, the teaching staff, the sisters themselves at the diocesan District Vocation Training Centre. $1,000
To Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Ecuador to provide medications and food for Hansen’s disease patients and their families. $2,000
To Sisters of Notre Dame deNamur in Nicaragua to expand a yogurt project which develops nutritious food products for the poor and creates jobs for handicapped workers . $1500
To Kuya Centre for Street Children in the Philippines for the Hunger Program for children at the Centre, those in community-based programs and hundreds in the streets. $2,000
To Society of the Holy Child Jesus to help feed the children who come to their mission school in Dominican Republic. $1500
Congress and the Budget
As congress considers ways to make budget cuts, there is fear that these cuts will affect the vulnerable among U.S. citizens. NETWORK, a national Catholic social justice lobby, warns that the House is contemplating reductions in funding for affordable housing programs and increases in defense and homeland security programs. Such reductions will harm those most affected by the recession-- those who have lost homes, those facing food insecurity and unemployment-- and such reductions will not serve the common good.
Immigration/Worker Rights
In the face of mounting antipathy to immigrants, especially those of Hispanic origin, the congregation bases its position on the gospel values of love and justice. While we recognize the right of countries to control their borders, we also recognize the needs of people to migrate in search of work that will sustain life and hold families together. We support dialogue toward comprehensive immigration reform in the United States.
The National Farmworker Ministry (NFWM) celebrates its 40th Anniversary in 2011. For 35 of those 40 years, BVMs have been involved with the ongoing struggle for justice for farmworkers. Their labor puts food on our tables. Visit National Farmworker Ministry. In 1976 BVMs became members of the NFWM, with one BVM representative appointed to the Board of Directors. Membership has given the congregation a way to be involved in this justice issue on a continuing, sustaining basis. Current board member Carol Cook has served for many years in this role, keeping the congregation apprised of national movements to support farm workers in their organizing efforts.
Human Rights/Women and Children
BVMs are supportive of decent, affordable housing as a human right, and we especially focus on the needs of women and children for safe shelter. Maria House and Teresa Shelter in Dubuque, Iowa, are among the ministries the congregation helped to found and has continued to support.
Opposition to Death Penalty
We believe that all life is sacred. We stand in opposition to the devaluation of human life by capital punishment and the use of violence to exact retribution from the perpetrators of violent acts.
We oppose the state-sanctioned executions of our brothers and sisters done in our name and reject the argument that the death penalty is a deterrent to violence. We assert that violence only continues the cycle of violence and that only through love and nonviolence can we end violence. BVMs are committed to the work of abolishing the death penalty in the United States.
Each date of a scheduled execution, the bell from the Old Motherhouse at St. Joseph Prairie is tolled. This is in solidarity with a national initiative, For Whom the Bells Toll, among religious organizations. The community email distribution list carries the name(s) and state(s) of the condemned.
Visit the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Peace & Nonviolence
Following the gospel value of nonviolence to which Jesus gave witness, we oppose war as a means of dealing with conflict and execution as a means of punishment. We promote justice through dialogue and peaceful protest, upholding the human dignity of all involved. We belong to and support organizations which further the development of humankind.
The BVMs have long been involved with the School of the Americas Watch movement, which began in 1989 when 4 Churchwomen were martyred in El Salvador at the hands of those who had been trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning, GA. Each year, thousands gather at the gates of Fort Benning to call for a close to the School and to remember the lives of those lost at the hands of its graduates.
In 2011, the BVMs entered a partnership with Loretto at the UN. "The Loretto Community at the United Nations advocates on the international level for the issues and values of concern to the community, including disarmament and peace issues, the rights of women & girls, the rights of indigenous peoples, the rights of migrants and victims of trafficking, and social & ecological development. Having an office at the UN allows the Loretto Community to advocate for and empower those whose voices are often neglected in the world system."
For 37 years, the BVMs have been members of 8th Day Center for Justice, a grassrootes faith-based coalition of religious congregations. The Center, rooted in the values of nonviolence, mutuality, and cooperation, works as a critical alternative voice to oppressive systems. Visit 8th Day Center for Justice to find out more about current issues of peace and nonviolence.
Justice Alerts
Action alerts from several sources often request adding the signature of organizations or individuals to a letter or a petition going to the President or Congress. NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby in Washington and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) regularly send updates on current issues. These requests are posted via emails to BVMs and associates.
Whether responses come from the BVM Leadership, the BVM Congregation, or from individuals, they are specific ways of taking action on political issues that affect the lives and wellbeing of many people on local, national and international levels.