Our response to injustice calls us to personal and social transformation
We see spirituality and justice as one and commit ourselves to live this out in all our relationships. Systemic evils deprive people of their intrinsic rights and working to help restore these rights is the work of justice.
Information from the Office of Peace, Justice and
the Integrity of Creation
If you would like to receive the JPIC updates in email form from the Office of Justice, Peace, Integrity of Creation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, NY, please click here to open the form. Or if you are interested in joining our Justice, Earth Matters, Racial Justice Working Group Committees or Non-Violence Reflection Group, contact S. Susan at jpic@csjbrentwood.org.
US Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph
The U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph joins the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in condemning racism and sexism in all their harmful forms — whether the violent acts of white supremacists and misogynists or the daily acts of hate and discrimination that diminish us all.
We grieve with the citizens of Atlanta and the Asian-American and Pacific Island communities. We mourn with those who have lost loved ones to hateful acts of violence, with all who live in fear, and with all whose dignity is threatened by xenophobia and chauvinism. We lament the racism and sexism that continue to afflict our communities, threaten neighbors, and denigrate all we hold dear.
We acknowledge our own complicity in institutional racism and sexism. We vow to use our Gospel Charism and mission of unifying love for the healing and transformation of the world to commit ourselves to cleanse our hearts and rid our land of these twin evils. We promise to continue to use our collective voice and energy to build God’s beloved community where all are one.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS ISSUE AND HOW TO GET INVOLVED, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO VISIT AND DONATE TO THESE ORGANIZATIONS:
- Asian American Advancing Justice- Atlanta: a nonprofit legal advocacy group protecting the rights of Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in Georgia and the Southeast
- AAPI Women Lead and #ImReady Movement: supports AAPI women and girls with workshops and and research, and promotes movements such as #ImReady, which addresses issues like gender-based and racial discrimination and sexual harassment in the community
- Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: a national organization, founded in 1974, working to protect and promote civil rights for Asian-Americans
Long Island Jobs With Justice
You can act for justice starting this week. Too LI many essential workers, such as undocumented immigrants, who lost their jobs or work hours due to COVID-19 have gone almost a full year with NO supports from the federal or NYS governments. You can change this by supporting the NYS Fund for Excluded Workers (FEW) so they can receive retroactive weekly payments comparable to Unemployment Insurance (to which many contribute but cannot receive.)
We need to get this bill into the NYS 2021 budget by April 1st. Read the bill here. This fund will be paid for by increased taxes on NYS millionaires and billionaires that are part of the Invest in Our New York campaign. You can learn about Invest in Our New York here.
Participate in weekly FEW Friday calls to elected officials. Beginning Friday, February 26th, and each Friday until the end of March, call Governor Andrew Cuomo (1-518-474-8390) and your NYS senator and assembly member to urge passage of the FEW bill (S4543/A5421). To get the contact information for your senator, look here. To get contact information for your assembly member, look here.
Network Lobby and New Ways Ministry
NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby group in Washington, DC, is working with Family Equality, a secular LGBTQ organization, on the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act, a piece of legislation that would protect LGBTQ youth in foster care from discrimination, harassment, and conversion therapy, as well as make sure that they have access to culturally competent care.
New Ways Ministry has endorsed this legislation, and now we invite you to do so, as well. NETWORK is looking for vowed religious and clergy to put their names to a sign-on letter that Family Equality has prepared. A copy of the is also attached. If you would like to sign on as an individual faith leader, click here. In addition to signing on, please share this information with other faith leaders and organizations and encourage them to sign, too. Thank you for your support of LGBTQ youth!
Ignatian Solidarity Network
The UN has designated March 21-27 as a Week of Solidarity with Peoples Struggling Against Racism and Racial Discrimination, calling on the international community and all of us to redouble our efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.
Congregation of St. Joseph UN-NGO
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 65 (2021) convenes 15-26 March 2021. It is the formal UN entity working to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. Read the latest report from S. Marianne Sennick here.