Answering Pope Francis’s Call: An American Catholic Response to Modern-Day Slavery - Update

 

In the words of Pope Francis, "human trafficking is an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ." It is a difficult topic often filled with an endless supply of stories of human tragedy. The mood here at CUA - where our National Catholic School of Social Service has been hosting (with Catholic Charities-USA, Catholic Charities D.C., and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) an important conference on the faithful responding to human trafficking - is both serious and passionate. The vision of Dean William Rainford was to bring together people from every diocese across the nation to learn about trafficking and how their diocese, organization, or parish can respond. After nearly two days, he has achieved his goal. The conference is filled to capacity with hundreds of participants hearing from a tremendous list of speakers from all disciplines.

Instead of blogging about the conference in a narrative form, I suggest interested readers follow the action via twitter at #stopslavery. However, I did want to highlight some of the comments that really brought together Catholic social teaching and this issue.

So many speakers have recognized the important role of Catholic grass root organizations, and women religious in particular, in combatting human trafficking. Amy O'Neill Richard from the Department of State described the work of faith based organizations as "critical," noting that the voice of Pope Francis on this issue has been "enormous." Sr. Margaret Nacke, founder of the Bakhita Initiative outlined so many organizations of women religious on this issue including, but not limited to U.S. Sisters Against Trafficking; Unanima International, Via Christi Health, Talitha Kum, and Coalition of Religious Congregations to Stop Trafficking. These are examples of not only tremendous work, but of work in a variety of disciplines including direct service to survivors, healthcare work, services to homeless teens, and policy work. She quite rightly noted, "We can find sisters with feet on the ground in cities throughout the world and sometimes they are the first line of help."

Some of the most compelling statements were from survivors and organizers themselves who reflected upon how member of the Church helped them. Gerardo Reyes Chavez, from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers noted that one of the first meetings of this amazing organization was held in a room of a Catholic church. Most moving were the comments of survivor Tina Frundt, founder of Courtney's House who shared that one of the first people to help her when she was being trafficked was the Catholic Worker house in DC where she described the power of non-judgment.

I had the good fortune of speaking this morning and tried to capture some of the energy of the room. While this blog could go on, suffice it to say the conference was a tremendous opportunity to see how the law interweaves with other disciplines and faith. While Tina Frundt chillingly reminded us that trafficking occurs right in our own parishes ("if we are not helping inside our parishes, how can we help outside?"), Gerardo Reyes Chavez summed it all up by noting, "consciousness + commitment = change."

While the faithful have always been a part of the work responding to human trafficking, the Pope has given us a new call. This conference has helped us spur forward to continue to work on this issue – the major social and moral issue of our generation.