Join Catholics across the country in prayer and action for immigration reform in the seven days leading up to Pentecost (June 1-8).

May the feast of Pentecost rekindle in our hearts the fire of God's love for all, and energize us to continue the work of immigration reform in partnership with our immigrant sisters and brothers.

• Let us pray that God will touch the hearts of our representatives, and that our country's leaders will work together to bring about immigration reform that preserves and benefits struggling families in our nation.  
• Let us be moved to action in support of our immigrant brothers and sisters.

The House of Representatives is running out of time to fix the broken immigration system. 

Contact your U.S. House Member now and ask them to:

• Vote for immigration reform
• Support a path to citizenship
• Preserve family unity
• Employ safe and humane immigration enforcement practices.

• To send a pre-written, instant e-mail to Congress visit:  www.justiceforimmigrants.org.
• Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121. Ask to be connected to your Members' offices.     
• For more information, visit www.house.gov.
  
  

Ask President Obama to address the continuing mass deportations in the absence of immigration reform. 

• Call the White House at 1-866-473-5915
• Submit an online letter at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments.

Sample Script:         

"I am from [City, State], and as a Catholic, I urge President Obama to stop the pain and family separation caused by deportations. The President has the authority to allow more of our undocumented community members to stay in the United States without fear of deportation. I ask that he use his discretion to end federal-state enforcement programs such as Secure Communities. End the use of methods that deny due process. Reform deportation practices to ensure that returnees are safe. Expand programs that provide alternatives to detention."

This action alert is sourced from the resource, On Fire for Immigration Reform: A Pentecost Toolkit. It was created by the Justice for Immigrants Campaign and can be found on the OCSJM website at: http://www.catholicsocialjustice.org/immigration.html

On Saturday, June 21st the Brake the Cycle of Poverty cycling team will be on their bikes once again, riding through the state of CT to raise awareness about poverty in our state and the entire US.  This will be their 11th annual ride, culminating at Mercy House in Hartford on Thursday, June 26, where they will gather with supporters and invited legislators.  

Throughout the ride, from the hills of eastern CT to the streets of southern CT, they will visit poverty centers, soup kitchens and shelters where they will speak with clients to learn first-hand about the stories of those who experience poverty on a daily basis. Their evenings will be spent sharing these stories, along with information about poverty in CT, with members of faith-based communities along their route.

The current schedule of presentations includes:

St. Bridget Parish, Cornwall - Sunday am, June 22

St. Bartholomew Parish, Manchester - Sunday pm, June 22

St. Elizabeth Seton, Rocky Hill - Monday pm, June 23

St. Joseph Parish, Bristol - Tuesday pm, June 24

St. James Parish, Stratford - Wednesday pm, June 25

If you see the team pedaling along the roads of Connecticut, cheer them on as they advocate for poverty awareness. A little prayer wouldn't hurt either! 

Congratulations to Northwest Catholic High School for completing the Catholic Relief Service Helping Hands Project! After participating in the Helping Hands event at the Catholic Youth Spectacular in September, 2013, the students from Northwest decided to bring the project to their school. More than 50 students and faculty volunteers turned out for the school's project on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Helping Hands is a hands-on volunteer meal-packaging event developed by Catholic Relief Services and Raleigh, NC-based Stop Hunger Now.

During the event, Northwest Catholic students, parents, and faculty worked in teams to assemble meal packages of rice, soy flour, vitamins and dehydrated vegetables, weigh them, seal them, pack them in boxes, and load them onto a truck for transport. The group packaged 10,000 meals during the two-hour event. The packages are destined for a village in the West African country of Burkina Faso.

"There was so much energy on the part of the kids and there were so many ready to help," said Director of Campus Ministry Kristina Gillespie. "We have a lot of students who really have a heart for service and this was a unique and fun way to serve and strengthen our school community."

Throughout the Lenten season, members of the Northwest Catholic community were asked to give up something each week, such as a cup of coffee, and donate the money they saved to the project. The total raised for Helping Hands, over $5,000, paid for the food and will help fund programs and initiatives to enable the people of Burkina Faso learn to grow their own food and better their lives and their community.

If you would like to know more about Helping Hands, or are interested in planning an event for your own youth group or parish, come to the "Youth in Action" workshop at the Bishop Peter Rosazza Social Justice Conference or contact Sarah Hillier at (203) 777-7279 or sarah.hillier@aohct.org.

At its core, the environmental crisis is a moral challenge. It calls us to examine how we use and share the goods of the earth, what we pass on to future generations, and how we live in harmony with God's creation.
USCCB, Renewing the Earth, 1991

Over 800 people gathered in downtown Hartford on Sunday, April 27th for the 2nd Riverfront Earth Day, co-organized by the OCSJM Environmental Justice Team and the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network. 

Moved by the urgency of climate change and the awareness that an environmental crisis constitutes a moral and religious crisis, the Riverfront Earth Day Committee started the afternoon with prayer.  The Interfaith Prayer Service gathered 130 people from throughout the archdiocese and region to pray that we might care for creation.  

Mary O'Brien, OCSJM global solidarity coordinator, and members from the Hamden Social Action Committee staffed a "Fair Trade and the Environment" booth, offering free samples of fair trade coffee and chocolate. OCSJM Board member Lou Terzo, and other Brake the Cycle members, provided a bicycle escort as the group marched from the prayer event to the Riverfront Plaza. A special thank you goes to Mary Ann Fagan, her confirmation students, and their parents who joined us from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Rocky Hill, and to the Hartford Catholic Worker for bringing the beautiful puppets for our march through downtown Hartford! 

Although the day was a bit cloudy and we were sprinkled with (some holy) rain water as we marched to the plaza, the afternoon was a wonderful opportunity to be together in prayer and community to learn about different environmental justice issues and the groups working on topics such as transportation and composting in Hartford. A very important aspect of this event was the recycling!  Riverfront Earth Day was the first event at the Mortensen Riverfront Plaza to include designated recycling and composting stations! 

While it is fun to come together to celebrate Earth Day in April, it is important to remember that we must work to "live in harmony with God's creation" every day.  As our Catholic Social Teaching urges us, we must care for God's creation.