JPIC Office Blog

April 3, 2007

Dear Friends,

Peace and all good to you!

Our thoughts and prayers are with you as we experience in a special way, the sacred journey of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Remembering these struggles and opportunities for new life, we call on his guidance to be more conscious of how we can be in solidarity with those in need.

On April 11th, the National Franciscan Family Steering Committee will again meet to discern further how to create a National Franciscan Advocacy Presence that honors our global connections. I am delighted to remain on this committee with other Franciscans, who enthusiastically embrace the challenge to establish the framework for an Action Center in Washington, D.C. and a Broad-Based Commission within 6 to 12 months.

Thanks to all of your efforts, progress is being made with the International Affairs Budget. The Senate passed the Smith-Dodd Amendment that calls for a $2.2 Billion increase in the budget.  This increase is vital to protecting key humanitarian and poverty focused assistance programs.

We continue to keep our elected leaders in prayer for a peaceful resolution to the War in Iraq. The words of wisdom from former General and President of the U.S., Dwight David Eisenhower, provides guidance for our country at this time: Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. (April 16, 1953).

The UN reports some hopeful signs with beginnings of a resolution to the Darfur Genocide. The joint communiqué was signed in Khartoum, Sudan in which the Government pledged to support, protect and facilitate all humanitarian operations in the strife-torn region. Other resolutions have been passed before and not honored. The specifics in this resolution are observable and immediate. Ongoing pressure continues through the Save Darfur Coalition. For more information please go to www.savedarfur.org/content

Legislation is in process which would increase the minimum wage from $5.15/hour to $7.25/hour. This would include a tax cut for small businesses. The conference committee cannot agree on how much these tax cuts should be. Productive negotiations are needed.

Earth Day, April 22, will be honored by our corporate ministries. Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, Inc. will be publicizing all the tremendous work our associates have been doing to make our hospitals a healthy environment. Franciscan Ministries, Inc., our affordable housing ministries, will be planting trees on our housing properties on that day. We will join our system in prayer on this day and continue our advocacy efforts for care of the environment. For more information please go to www.earthday.org/

Cover the Uninsured Week (April 23- 29) will focus on insurance coverage for children. Both the House and Senate have passed budget resolutions calling for up to $50 Billion over five years for the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which covers over 4 million children. We are also calling for adequate funding to reach out to millions of children who are uninsured and eligible for SCHIP or Medicaid, but not enrolled. By some estimates we could need an additional $10 Billion over the next five years. For more information please go to www.covertheuninsured.org/

Confronting Global Poverty: According to the World Bank, more than one billion people live on less than $1 per day and another 1.6 billion live on less than $2 per day. The United States reaffirmed its commitment to combating this global blight in 2000, when it joined more than 180 other countries in working towards the UN Millennium Development Goals. To these ends, Representatives Adam Smith (D-WA) and Spencer Bachus (R-AL) reintroduced H.R. 1302, The Global Poverty Act on March 1, 2007. This act would require the President to develop and enact a comprehensive strategy to advance the stated U.S. foreign policy goals of reducing global poverty, elimination extreme and moving toward the Millennium Development Goal of halving global poverty by 2015. For more information on this Act click here.

We are watching the early stages of some upcoming legislation: comprehensive immigration reform, farm bill, trade and debt cancellation. Preliminary information is on our website @ http://www.wheatonfranciscan-jpic.org/currentactionalerts.html Congress will resume sessions on April 16.

Thanks for all your prayers and for all you are doing to make this world a better place.

Sr. Sheila Kinsey, OSF
JPIC Coordinator
Wheaton Franciscans

Blog Archives
October, 2006
November, 2006
December, 2006
January, 2007 and the 2007 World Social Forum
February, 2007
March, 2007

...

JPIC Office Blog - Our Vision of Justice & Peace - Action Alerts & Legislation - Current Events & Information
Mother Earth Sister Peace - Dinner & Dialogue with the Wheaton Franciscans - Integrity for Nonviolence
JPIC Office Publications - Recommended Links
...