Two ways you can make a difference this week
The week’s events will climax with the Vatican’s celebration of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on Sunday, September 26. In his letter announcing this year’s theme, Towards an ever wider “we”, Pope Francis emphasized that “this focus calls on us to ensure that after all this, we will think no longer in terms of ‘them’ and ‘those,’ but only ‘us” (Fratelli Tutti, 35).
U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking invites you to join the universal church as together we seek to break down the barriers that divide and objectify some who are our brothers and sisters. We know that people on the move, migrants, and refugees, are often exploited by human traffickers because of their precarious social and economic circumstances.
Xenophobia, anti-immigrant rhetoric, fear of refugees, and punitive government policies push immigrants and refugees further into the shadows and give a chilling advantage to traffickers who will steal their labor or coerce them into the sex trade. We call on Catholics, and all people of goodwill, to take prophetic action consistent with Pope Francis’ call to pray for, welcome, protect, promote, and integrate migrants and refugees into our hearts and our communities.
If you have time: read about how human trafficking intersects with migrants, refugees, and displaced people with this three-page guide.
If you don’t have time: please say this 42-second prayer each day this week:
