The season of Lent invites us to respond to the call of Love Cannot Wait "to deepen the contemplative and prophetic dimensions of our lives by grounding who we are and all we do in the love of the Triune God."  It is a time for focusing within to rediscover what grounds us and inspires and motivates us. But Love Cannot Wait also calls us to "hold all in common", not only with each other as sister but also with the broader community, the congregation, and with our divided and broken world.  And we are called to do it with "audacity and hope".  

What is something audacious, something daring or bold, that you might do this Lent to address those calls?  How might you bring hope to the despair and apathy so prevalent in our world? 

Any day now, the House of Representatives is expected to consider S. 47, the Senate-passed Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA). This legislation includes the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), which was adopted by a vote of 93-5 during Senate consideration of S. 47. The House will first consider a Substitute Amendment to S. 47 that is a narrower approach to VAWA reauthorization, and which does not include the bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.  Should that substitute fail to pass, the House is expected to move to a final vote on S. 47, with the TVPRA in it. Learn more/take action.   

U.S. poverty-focused international assistance makes it possible for Catholic Relief Services and others to deliver food and care to impoverished children and families all around the world. It funds programs that teach new farming practices which increase production, preserve the land, and help keep more girls and boys in school.

You can support these children and millions of our brothers and sisters around the world right now by raising your voice. Call on Congress to protect U.S. poverty-focused international assistance. Urge them to avoid an automatic five percent reduction to this lifesaving assistance. This aid is less than 1% of the federal budget. Cutting this assistance will not balance the federal budget, but it will cost lives. Learn more, take action.    

On February 25 Christian leaders involved with the Circle of Protection initiative released a pastoral letter to President Obama and the leaders of Congress calling for an end to the political brinksmanship that is slowing the nation's economic recovery. The letter represents the latest effort by the Circle of Protection to protect programs that serve the poor and vulnerable from devastating budget cuts. 

On March 20 faith groups large and small from across the country will participate in a day of action to raise the voices of our communities and demand a moral budget that asks the wealthy to pay their fair share. Whether it's a press conference outside your legislator's office delivering a basket of loaves and fish or a discussion in your congregation about federal budget priorities and social media push, you can help illustrate the miracle of the loaves and fishes to influence the budget debate in Washington. Learn more/take action.    

President Obama pointedly brought the issue of immigration reform to the country's attention and now Congress is being pushed to act on it.  But not all the action is in favor of what the Catholic Bishops have proposed for comprehensive immigration reform.   News reports say that opponents are flooding Congressional offices with daily calls and emails. Unless many more supportive voices are heard, we will lose this fight for comprehensive immigration reform. We need you to step up now and call, email or write your Senators and Representatives urging them to support immigration reform.  

One simple way is to send the Justice for Immigrants electronic postcard. (Click on the postcard below.)     

   

But since a personal note carries more "clout" than a form letter, we also urge you to send a personal email, daily if possible, restating in your own words some of the reasons you support immigration reform.  Repetition is important to get the message across. To find the email of your Senators and Representative go to www.senate.gov and www.house.gov 

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The issue of racial intolerance came to a head recently when a food fight broke out in a local St. Paul area high school with a racially diverse student population. Apparently it started when, during the first lunch shift, someone threw a milk carton or other container at another student, one or the other being Somali. 

While that incident was addressed without much further disruption at the time, emails and tweets among the student body blew it way out of proportion so that, by the third lunch shift, it became fodder for a major scuffle involving dozens of students and staff and police intervention.  The underlying conflict was a growing feeling by some of the Somali students that they are not being accepted and their culture not honored. The opposing viewpoint is that Somali students and others of diverse cultures should simply assimilate the American culture.     

         

March 21-28 is the United Nations Week of Solidarity with Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination. Now is the time to re-examine our own level of tolerance or acceptance of those whose beliefs or practices are different from our own.  

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World Water Day on March 22 is a good time to reflect on the threats to international waters. "Without ever making a conscious decision to do it, we are losing unseen habitats whose equals on land would include the giant redwood glades of North America, the baobabs of Madagascar and Amazon rainforest," writes Callum Roberts, a marine biologist. Enough long lines with tens of thousands of hooks are set every night to wrap around the globe 500 times. The "great ocean garbage patches" of drifting plastics and other refuse, along with increasing climate change and ocean acidification, threaten sea creatures.  Bottom trawls used by deep sea fisheries cut down animals hundreds or even thousands of years old. Read more at The Observer #1 (London) and The Observer #2 (London). You can help by downloading and using the Monterey Bay Sustainable Seafood Guides. 

On March 23 at 8:30 p.m. local time, hundreds of millions of people around the world will turn off their lights for Earth Hour, the world's largest collective display of commitment to protect the planet.  Earth Hour is a simple idea that has quickly turned into a global phenomenon as people around the world turn off their lights for one hour on the same night to focus on the one thing that unites us all-our planet.  It is easy to forget how much we depend on Earth for food, water and fresh air and that the actions we take - from the energy we use to the food we buy - have an effect on the world. Earth Hour is our chance to show our commitment to protect our planet not just for one hour a year, but every day. Click here to make your pledge -join us!  

In case you missed it because of limited coverage in mainstream media, the February 17 climate change rally was the biggest in U.S. history as over 50,000 people gathered in Washington, DC to demand that President Obama block the Keystone XL pipeline and move forward on climate action.  Van Jones declared that Keystone is the only presidential decision anyone will care about in 20 years; Chief Jackie Thomas explained the toll the tar sands are taking on her neighbors and promised that they would never allow a tar sands pipeline west to the Pacific. You might get energized by watching parts of this video of the event! 

Forward on Climate Rally - February 17, 2013

And you can still call on President Obama to reject the Keystone pipeline using the White House contact form. 

A diverse coalition is asking for leadership from the White House to host a solutions-focused national summit on climate change. Catholics are an important voice on this issue. If you would like to add your name to support this effort, click here to review and sign-on to a letter to President Obama.