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Fast for Justice at Taco Bell |
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Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.)
Taco Bell Boycott Resource Office
17 Dyke Rd. ~ Setauket, NY ~ 11733
631-751-7076 ~ boycott@pcusa.org
www.pcusa.org/boycott
[posted 1-15-03]
The Rev.
Noelle Damico, Program Associate
FAST FOR JUSTICE AND FAIR FOOD AT TACO BELL HEADQUARTERS BEGINS FEB. 24,
2003
In June 2002 the General Assembly of the PCUSA
endorsed a consumer boycott of Taco Bell restaurants and products. This
boycott is an effort to bring Taco Bell, Florida tomato growers and farm
workers together for three-way negotiations to address wages and
working/living conditions. (For details visit
www.pcusa.org/boycott)
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a
community-based workers organization led by and composed of Immokalee
farmworkers, has received PCUSA support for the boycott with gratitude and
joy. In November Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick visited Immokalee and met
with more than one hundred workers. Congregations and members across the
nation have been boycotting Taco Bell and writing to its president, Emil
Brolick.
Now the CIW invites Presbyterians to
support the workers in their latest public witness, a hunger fast at the
doorstep of Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine California. The fast calls upon
Taco Bell to take responsibility for the sweatshop conditions in the fields
where its tomatoes are picked. The fast will begin Monday, February 24. A
massive, peaceful rally by supporters will take place Friday, February 28
from 11:00 - 3:00PM. Here are some ways you can support the workers in their
fast:
-Remember the workers and pray for an end
to exploitation in the fast food and agricultural industries.
-Send a representative from your
congregation to the week-long event or to the rally to either fast with the
workers or support their efforts.
-Conduct a solidarity fast or other
prayerful action in your local area to draw attention to the boycott and the
issues that lay behind it. For some fasting ideas and other resources visit
www.pcusa.org/boycott. Please let
us know you are fasting or holding events by emailing
boycott@pcusa.org.
-Make a financial contribution to support
the workers who are fasting. They will be missing work, traveling to CA, and
also need to keep paying rent in their absence. Make a check out to the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers, earmark it "hunger fast", and send it to:
Coalition of Immokalee Workers, P.O. Box 603, Immokalee, FL 34143 or donate
online by visiting the fast page at
www.ciw-online.org.
-If you are in the Irvine area, house
and/or provide showers and/or meals for the support team working with those
observing the fast. Contact the Rev. Noelle Damico, PCUSA Taco Bell boycott
coordinator for more information at
boycott@pcusa.org or 631-751-7076.
-If you are in California (even way up
north) and would like some of the workers who are not fasting to speak at
your congregation during the week of the fast, contact the Rev. Noelle
Damico (info above).
For more information on the fast as well as
background and resources on the boycott, visit
www.pcusa.org/boycott. To let us know of
your support, your ideas or if you have questions please email
boycott@pcusa.org.
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Visit
our lively
new website! |
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GA actions
ratified (or not) by the presbyteries
A number of the most important actions of the 219th
General Assembly have now been acted upon by the presbyteries,
confirming most of them as amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order.
We provided resources to help inform the
reflection and debate, along with updates on the voting.
Our three areas of primary interest have been:
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Amendment 10-A,
which removes the current ban on
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender persons being considered as
possible candidates for ordination as elder or ministers.
Approved! |
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Amendment 10-2,
which would add the Belhar Confession to our Book of
Confessions. Disapproved, because as an amendment
to the Book of Confessions it needed a 2/3 vote, and did not
receive that. |
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Amendment
10-1, which adopts the new Form of Government
that was approved by the Assembly. Approved. |
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If you like what
you find here,
we hope you'll help us keep Voices for Justice going ... and
growing!
Please consider making a special
contribution -- large or small -- to help us continue and improve
this service.
Click here to send a
gift online, using your credit card, through PayPal.
Or send your check, made
out to "Presbyterian Voices for Justice" and marked "web site," to
our PVJ Treasurer:
Darcy Hawk
4007 Gibsonia Road
Gibsonia, PA 15044-8312 |
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
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John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
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Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
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