|
| |
|
Along the US - Mexico Border |
|
A poem "to the fallen in the deserts
of death"
Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase
has sent this note to his
U-C: What I See e-list.
[4-11-05]
Brothers and Sisters,
I spent this week in northern Mexico with a group of five Executive
Presbyters who came to learn about the situation on the border. We spent one
night sleeping on the floor (that's right - your executive presbyters!) at a
migrant shelter run by the Catholic Church in the small city of Altar, about
60 miles south of the border. Altar is the point of departure for thousands
of migrants each week who are headed into the desert to walk across the
border in search of a job in the U.S.
There is a new monument in front of the shelter, which is called the
Community Center for Assistance to Migrants and those in Need (CCAMYN). It
is quite tall and made of plates of steel, into which the words of a poem
have been stamped. Here's my rough translation of the poem (unofficial,
unauthorized and unchecked by use of a dictionary).
TO THE FALLEN IN THE DESERTS OF DEATH:
In memory of those who, when seeking a better life,
found only death,
In memory of those who risked everything and lost it,
Who went with hope in their eyes and challenge in their souls.
The sun calcified them, the desert devoured them,
and the dust erased their name and their face.
In memory of those who will never return
we offer these flowers . . .
To them, with respect, we say:
Your thirst is our thirst.
Your hunger is our hunger.
Your pain is our pain.
Your discomfort, your bitterness, your agony
Are also ours.
We are a shout that demands justice. . .
In order that No One, ever again, will have to
Abandon their lands, their beliefs, their dead, their children
their parents, their family, their race, their culture, their identity. . .
We are a silence that has a voice . . .
In order that no one will have to look for their destiny in other lands.
In order that no one will have to go to the desert and be consumed by
loneliness.
We are a voice in the desert that cries out:
Education for all!
Opportunity for all!
Work for all!
Bread for all!
Liberty for all!
Justice for all!. . .
We are a voice that the desert cannot drown. . .
In order that the country offers equality to all its children
The opportunity for a decorous and dignified life. . .
"For the right to live in Peace"
Mexico, Winter - 2004
Othon Perez (Poet)
--
Posted by Rick Ufford-Chase
to
U-C: What I See at
4/8/2005 06:52:00 PM
|
| Moderator Rick
Ufford-Chase is speaking out on border deaths
[9-1-04] The Moderator of
the 216th General Assembly, Rick Ufford-Chase, has recently been
published in Christian Century - a powerful statement entitled
"Dying to Get In,"
on the crisis on the Mexican border, as more and more would-be migrants die
in the heat of the desert trying to find a decent life for themselves in the
U.S. He cites "No More Deaths" (www.nomoredeaths.org)
as one sign of hope on the border, as church people organize to offer help
to migrants by going to them in the desert. |
| Churches in Tucson area again provide
aid to illegal border crossers
[12-19-00]
The Rev. John Fife, former moderator and pastor of
Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, is working with a number of
other congregations in southern Arizona to provide help to the growing
number of people crossing into southern Arizona from Mexico. The
crossing is difficult, and so dangerous that 74 people have died there
during the federal fiscal year ending in September.
This has led a number of congregations to offer aid,
somewhat in the tradition of the Sanctuary movement aiding Central
American refugees in the 1980s. It is in large part a humanitarian
effort, but demonstrates a note of protest, too, against immigration
policies which some regard as harsh and unjust.
Click
here for the full story in the L. A. Times |
| |
|
Visit
our lively
new website! |
|
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:
 |
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! |
|
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. |
|
Amendment
10-1, which adopts the new Form of Government
that was approved by the Assembly. Approved. |
|
| |
|
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 |
| |
|
Some blogs worth visiting |
|
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. |
| |
|
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. |
| |
|
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. |
| |
|
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. |
| |
|
Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
| |
|
