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It’s Silence That Kills the World

[caption id="attachment_5732" align="alignright" width="233"] Blog by Sr. Amy McFrederick, OP[/caption] It seems that every day I read or watch our daily news, I am grieved to learn more about what is being done in the name of Homeland Security to persons fleeing to our country to escape violence, oppression and poverty. The dream of building a new life for themselves and their family in a land of opportunity and freedom impels them to walk miles to reach their goal.  But upon arrival, our military meets them at our borders and treats them as criminals; separating their families, taking their children from them, and holding them indefinitely in detention. Thousands of these children are unaccounted for and may never be reunited with their parents and family again. What happens to them? It seems we are adopting tactics used in the concentration camps by European Leaders determined to eliminate the Jews. Millions of non-Jews remained silent during the ‘holocaust’. What kept them silent? Was it fear? A learned powerlessness? Indifference? Preferred ignorance? What about us? [caption id="attachment_4953" align="alignleft" width="150"] Conni Dubick, OPA[/caption] Associate Conni Dubick, Chair of  our Immigration Reform Congregational Committee, participated in the 16th annual Ecumenical Advocacy National Gathering taking place in Washington, D.C. last April 20 – 22 weekend. I asked her to write a short blog about her  experience to share with our readers. Preach Truth With Our Voices And Break the Silence by Conni Dubick, OPA Please find a quiet place to sit and then read and ponder these words:
  • “Go forth from your country and I will be with you.”
  • “I don’t want to walk no more.”
  • “I had to leave a piece of myself at the door.”
  • “They thought that they buried us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.”
  • “It eats me alive every day.”
  • “It cannot be from God that some have all and others have nothing.”
  • “We have forgotten how to weep.”
  • “The fierce urgency of now.”
These quotations and phrases are taken from my list of 59 which touched my heart, mind and soul at the Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington DC in April 2018. Ecumenical Advocacy Days were two days of meetings and presentations which culminated in a march to Capitol Hill to meet our representatives with our “EAD Ask”.  Please read this EAD statement and consider sending it in an email (your voice) to your congressional representatives. (https://advocacydays.org/2018/04/18/ead2018-week-congressional-ask-announced/ Preaching Truth and breaking the silence with emails, letters, peaceful protest actions and engaging in prayerful dialog with others who disagree with us is living the Dominican charism. Many Dominicans today ‘carry Scripture in one hand and the newspaper in the other’ to preach the Word of God in this complex world.  In a recent Sojourner magazine article/video entitled “What About Jesus?” several Christian elders from across many traditions proclaimed the need to “reclaim Jesus” rather than be “complicit and silent”.   Richard Rohr OFM stated in the video that “Each human being is made in God’s image……we cannot accept neglect of the poor and children……we must reclaim His holy name.”         https://sojo.net/articles/what-about-jesus

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