The Sister Ann Mary (SAM) Trust – named after Sister Ann Mary Carolissen – is a Public Benefit Organisation formed by a group of her former pupils to honour her legacy by continuing the work she did at St. Augustine’s Primary School, Durban. The trust was founded on the premise that young boys  and  girls  of  colour  have  a  place  in  the working   world   given   their   potential   to   be successful professionals.  The trust’s work involves four key pillars: Education, Skills Development, Entrepreneurship and a Bursary programme.
Besides its partnerships with other non-profit organisations, SAM especially  reaches  out to alumni of St. Augustine’s  primary school (Durban)  as possible benefactors  of the school’s ongoing  efforts in nurturing and advancing future generations of children.
The SAM Trust seeks to be the guardian of these impressionable young minds. Based on the ‘pay it forward’ principle, the SAM trust is not only about helping these youth – it is also about empowering them with the intention that they, in turn, will impart their acquired knowledge and tangible support to the next generation. The SAM Trust vision is to become mentors and to build a network of change agents committed to skilling and empowering  young adults, progressing them to successful professionals and economic independence.
          Colette Steeneveldt
 
INVITATION TO ALL ST. AUGUSTINE’S ALUMNI
The 11th February holds great significance for St. Augustine’s school. It is the 111th anniversary of the school’s foundation, this year, and the first anniversary of the death of Sr. Anne Mary (former principal). In celebration of this important day the SAM Trust, together with the school, hosted a special celebration.   A birthday/anniversary Mass was con-celebrated by two former pupils of the school – Frs. Joe Money and Alan Hendricks (both OMI).    This was followed by  a  dance during which the Trust was introduced and launched.  The purpose of this delightful event was to reunite classmates, teachers, families and friends from every era since the school’s inception.   This was a very happy event where tables and seats were sponsored, speeches were made, prizes won, dances danced and generally bridging the years took place. All proceeds were forwarded to the school as a tribute to the work the school has done over the years and to honour Sr. Anne Mary’s influence in so many lives.
           

Thank you Colette Steeneveldt, Ros Vilbro, Coletane Carey, Lynn Sander, Carmen Le Grange and Shannon Gunkel founders of the SAM Trust, for your stirling work to offer a positive environment for future generations of our people.

Their Legacy lives on….
 

Dear Sr Joy,
When our dear aunt, Sister Bernadette Boulle, passed away in April of 2012, we, her nieces and nephews, explored various possibilities as to how best to honour her memory. Because Bernadette had worked so hard to establish soup kitchens
and feeding outlets in Khayelitsha, and because children and education had always been close to
her heart, we decided to make an annual collection and send it to the Peninsula School Feeding Association. Believing that you can’t teach a hungry child, the PSFA feeds 28,715 children at 159 primary schools in the Western Cape each year, and performs a vital role in some of the really high poverty areas.
Sixteen family members across two generations contribute to this fund each year, and as a result of our donation, thirty three children receive a cooked nutritious breakfast and lunch on every day that they attend school.
We draw inspiration from the fact that through our giving, children in need are being supported, and that our beloved Bernadette’s memory lives on in each of those children.
Love Cathy Lincoln
“Thank you to Bernadette’s family for your loving and generous support of the many hungry children you feed. God bless you all.”
(From Weavings – The  official publication  of the Holy Family in South Africa)

Indian Unit – Ramanakkapeta Holy Family Tailoring Centre organised valedictory celebration for the young school dropout women on 18th of March 2017. There were forty students enrolled, received tailoring skills training and received the certificates. Among them fifteen of the unmarried poor young girls were sponsored free sewing machines for the enhancement of their livelihood. Sr. Jeya coordinator of the project guided these young women during the eight months training programme. We are grateful to PBN foundation for the financial assistance and support.
 

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
IN ITALY FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE 60th ANNIVERSARY OF THE TREATY OF ROME

Friday, 24 March 2017
Distinguished Guests,
I thank you for your presence here tonight, on the eve of the sixtieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaties instituting the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. I convey to each of you the affection of the Holy See for your respective countries and for Europe itself, to whose future it is, in God’s providence, inseparably linked. I am particularly grateful to the Honourable Paolo Gentiloni, President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Italy, for his respectful words of greeting in your name and for the efforts that Italy has made in preparing for this meeting. I also thank the Honourable Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, who has voiced the aspirations of the peoples of the Union on this anniversary.
Returning to Rome, sixty years later, must not simply be a remembrance of things past, but the expression of a desire to relive that event in order to appreciate its significance for the present. We need to immerse ourselves in the challenges of that time, so as to face those of today and tomorrow. The Bible, with its rich historical narratives, can teach us a basic lesson. We cannot understand our own times apart from the past, seen not as an assemblage of distant facts, but as the lymph that gives life to the present. Without such an awareness, reality loses its unity, history loses its logical thread, and humanity loses a sense of the meaning of its activity and its progress towards the future.
25 March 1957 was a day full of hope and expectation, enthusiasm and apprehension. Only an event of exceptional significance and historical consequences could make it unique in history. The memory of that day is linked to today’s hopes and the expectations of the people of Europe, who call for discernment in the present, so that the journey that has begun can continue with renewed enthusiasm and confidence.
This was very clear to the founding fathers and the leaders who, by signing the two Treaties, gave life to that political, economic, cultural and primarily human reality which today we call the European Union. As P.H. Spaak, the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs stated, it was a matter “indeed, of the material prosperity of our peoples, the expansion of our economies, social progress and completely new industrial and commercial possibilities, but above all… a particular conception of life that is humane, fraternal and just”.[1]
After the dark years and the bloodshed of the Second World War, the leaders of the time had faith in the possibility of a better future. “They did not lack boldness, nor did they act too late. The memory of recent tragedies and failures seems to have inspired them and given them the courage needed to leave behind their old disputes and to think and act in a truly new way, in order to bring about the greatest transformation… of Europe”.[2]
The founding fathers remind us that Europe is not a conglomeration of rules to obey, or a manual of protocols and procedures to follow. It is a way of life, a way of understanding man based on his transcendent and inalienable dignity, as something more than simply a sum of rights to defend or claims to advance. At the origin of the idea of Europe, we find “the nature and the responsibility of the human person, with his ferment of evangelical fraternity…, with his desire for truth and justice, honed by a thousand-year-old experience”.[3] Rome, with its vocation to universality,[4] symbolizes that experience and was thus chosen as the place for the signing of the Treaties. For here – as the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, J. Luns, observed – “were laid the political, juridical and social foundations of our civilization”.[5]
It was clear, then, from the outset, that the heart of the European political project could only be man himself. It was also clear that the Treaties could remain a dead letter; they needed to take on spirit and life. The first element of European vitality must be solidarity. As the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, J. Bech stated, “the European economic community will prove lasting and successful only if it remains constantly faithful to the spirit of European solidarity that created it, and if the common will of the Europe now being born proves more powerful than the will of individual nations”.[6] That spirit remains as necessary as ever today, in the face of centrifugal impulses and the temptation to reduce the founding ideals of the Union to productive, economic and financial needs.
Solidarity gives rise to openness towards others. “Our plans are not inspired by self-interest”,[7] said the German Chancellor, K. Adenauer. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, C. Pineau, echoed this sentiment: “Surely the countries about to unite… do not have the intention of isolating themselves from the rest of the world and surrounding themselves with insurmountable barriers”.[8] In a world that was all too familiar with the tragedy of walls and divisions, it was clearly important to work for a united and open Europe, and for the removal of the unnatural barrier that divided the continent from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic. What efforts were made to tear down that wall! Yet today the memory of those efforts has been lost. Forgotten too is the tragedy of separated families, poverty and destitution born of that division. Where generations longed to see the fall of those signs of forced hostility, these days we debate how to keep out the “dangers” of our time: beginning with the long file of women, men and children fleeing war and poverty, seeking only a future for themselves and their loved ones.
In today’s lapse of memory, we often forget another great achievement of the solidarity ratified on 25 March 1957: the longest period of peace experienced in recent centuries. “Peoples who over time often found themselves in opposed camps, fighting with one another… now find themselves united and enriched by their distinctive national identities”.[9] Peace is always the fruit of a free and conscious contribution by all. Nonetheless, “for many people today, peace appears as a blessing to be taken for granted”,[10] one that can then easily come to be regarded as superfluous. On the contrary, peace is a precious and essential good, for without it, we cannot build a future for anyone, and we end up “living from day to day”.
United Europe was born of a clear, well-defined and carefully pondered project, however embryonic at first. Every worthy project looks to the future, and the future are the young, who are called to realize its hopes and promises.[11] The founding fathers had a clear sense of being part of a common effort that not only crossed national borders, but also the borders of time, so as to bind generations among themselves, all sharing equally in the building of the common home.
Distinguished Guests,
I have devoted this first part of my talk to the founding fathers of Europe, so that we can be challenged by their words, the timeliness of their thinking, their impassioned pursuit of the common good, their certainty of sharing in a work greater than themselves, and the breadth of the ideals that inspired them. Their common denominator was the spirit of service, joined to passion for politics and the consciousness that “at the origin of European civilization there is Christianity”,[12] without which the Western values of dignity, freedom and justice would prove largely incomprehensible. As Saint John Paul II affirmed: “Today too, the soul of Europe remains united, because, in addition to its common origins, those same Christian and human values are still alive. Respect for the dignity of the human person, a profound sense of justice, freedom, industriousness, the spirit of initiative, love of family, respect for life, tolerance, the desire for cooperation and peace: all these are its distinctive marks”.[13] In our multicultural world, these values will continue to have their rightful place provided they maintain a vital connection to their deepest roots. The fruitfulness of that connection will make it possible to build authentically “lay” societies, free of ideological conflicts, with equal room for the native and the immigrant, for believers and nonbelievers.
The world has changed greatly in the last sixty years. If the founding fathers, after surviving a devastating conflict, were inspired by the hope of a better future and were determined to pursue it by avoiding the rise of new conflicts, our time is dominated more by the concept of crisis. There is the economic crisis that has marked the past decade; there is the crisis of the family and of established social models; there is a widespread “crisis of institutions” and the migration crisis. So many crises that engender fear and profound confusion in our contemporaries, who look for a new way of envisioning the future. Yet the term “crisis” is not necessarily negative. It does not simply indicate a painful moment to be endured. The word “crisis” has its origin in the Greek verb kríno, which means to discern, to weigh, to assess. Ours is a time of discernment, one that invites us to determine what is essential and to build on it. It is a time of challenge and opportunity.
So what is the interpretative key for reading the difficulties of the present and finding answers for the future? Returning to the thinking of the founding Fathers would be fruitless unless it could help to point out a path and provide an incentive for facing the future and a source of hope. When a body loses its sense of direction and is no longer able to look ahead, it experiences a regression and, in the long run, risks dying. What, then, is the legacy of the founding fathers? What prospects do they indicate for surmounting the challenges that lie before us? What hope do they offer for the Europe of today and of tomorrow?
Their answers are to be found precisely in the pillars on which they determined to build the European economic community. I have already mentioned these: the centrality of man, effective solidarity, openness to the world, the pursuit of peace and development, openness to the future. Those who govern are charged with discerning the paths of hope – you are charged with discerning the paths of hope – identifying specific ways forward to ensure that the significant steps taken thus far have not been wasted, but serve as the pledge of a long and fruitful journey.
Europe finds new hope when man is the centre and the heart of her institutions. I am convinced that this entails an attentive and trust-filled readiness to hear the expectations voiced by individuals, society and the peoples who make up the Union. Sadly, one frequently has the sense that there is a growing “split” between the citizenry and the European institutions, which are often perceived as distant and inattentive to the different sensibilities present in the Union. Affirming the centrality of man also means recovering the spirit of family, whereby each contributes freely to the common home in accordance with his or her own abilities and gifts. It helps to keep in mind that Europe is a family of peoples[14] and that – as in every good family – there are different sensitivities, yet all can grow to the extent that all are united. The European Union was born as a unity of differences and a unity in differences. What is distinctive should not be a reason for fear, nor should it be thought that unity is preserved by uniformity. Unity is instead harmony within a community. The founding fathers chose that very term as the hallmark of the agencies born of the Treaties and they stressed that the resources and talents of each were now being pooled. Today the European Union needs to recover the sense of being primarily a “community” of persons and peoples, to realize that “the whole is greater than the part, but it is also greater than the sum of its parts”,[15] and that therefore “we constantly have to broaden our horizons and see the greater good which will benefit us all”.[16] The founding fathers sought that harmony in which the whole is present in every one of the parts, and the parts are – each in its own unique way – present in the whole.
Europe finds new hope in solidarity, which is also the most effective antidote to modern forms of populism. Solidarity entails the awareness of being part of a single body, while at the same time involving a capacity on the part of each member to “sympathize” with others and with the whole. When one suffers, all suffer (cf. 1 Cor 12:26). Today, with the United Kingdom, we mourn the victims of the attack that took place in London two days ago. For solidarity is no mere ideal; it is expressed in concrete actions and steps that draw us closer to our neighbours, in whatever situation they find themselves. Forms of populism are instead the fruit of an egotism that hems people in and prevents them from overcoming and “looking beyond” their own narrow vision. There is a need to start thinking once again as Europeans, so as to avert the opposite dangers of a dreary uniformity or the triumph of particularisms. Politics needs this kind of leadership, which avoids appealing to emotions to gain consent, but instead, in a spirit of solidarity and subsidiarity, devises policies that can make the Union as a whole develop harmoniously. As a result, those who run faster can offer a hand to those who are slower, and those who find the going harder can aim at catching up to those at the head of the line.
Europe finds new hope when she refuses to yield to fear or close herself off in false forms of security. Quite the contrary, her history has been greatly determined by encounters with other peoples and cultures; hers “is, and always has been, a dynamic and multicultural identity”.[17] The world looks to the European project with great interest. This was the case from the first day, when crowds gathered in Rome’s Capitol Square and messages of congratulation poured in from other states. It is even more the case today, if we think of those countries that have asked to become part of the Union and those states that receive the aid so generously offered them for battling the effects of poverty, disease and war. Openness to the world implies the capacity for “dialogue as a form of encounter”[18] on all levels, beginning with dialogue between member states, between institutions and citizens, and with the numerous immigrants landing on the shores of the Union. It is not enough to handle the grave crisis of immigration of recent years as if it were a mere numerical or economic problem, or a question of security. The immigration issue poses a deeper question, one that is primarily cultural. What kind of culture does Europe propose today? The fearfulness that is becoming more and more evident has its root cause in the loss of ideals. Without an approach inspired by those ideals, we end up dominated by the fear that others will wrench us from our usual habits, deprive us of familiar comforts, and somehow call into question a lifestyle that all too often consists of material prosperity alone. Yet the richness of Europe has always been her spiritual openness and her capacity to raise basic questions about the meaning of life. Openness to the sense of the eternal has also gone hand in hand, albeit not without tensions and errors, with a positive openness to this world. Yet today’s prosperity seems to have clipped the continent’s wings and lowered its gaze. Europe has a patrimony of ideals and spiritual values unique in the world, one that deserves to be proposed once more with passion and renewed vigour, for it is the best antidote against the vacuum of values of our time, which provides a fertile terrain for every form of extremism. These are the ideals that shaped Europe, that “Peninsula of Asia” which stretches from the Urals to the Atlantic.
Europe finds new hope when she invests in development and in peace. Development is not the result of a combination of various systems of production. It has to do with the whole human being: the dignity of labour, decent living conditions, access to education and necessary medical care. “Development is the new name of peace”,[19] said Pope Paul VI, for there is no true peace whenever people are cast aside or forced to live in dire poverty. There is no peace without employment and the prospect of earning a dignified wage. There is no peace in the peripheries of our cities, with their rampant drug abuse and violence.
Europe finds new hope when she is open to the future. When she is open to young people, offering them serious prospects for education and real possibilities for entering the work force. When she invests in the family, which is the first and fundamental cell of society. When she respects the consciences and the ideals of her citizens. When she makes it possible to have children without the fear of being unable to support them. When she defends life in all its sacredness.
Distinguished Guests,
Nowadays, with the general increase in people’s life span, sixty is considered the age of full maturity, a critical time when we are once again called to self-examination. The European Union, too, is called today to examine itself, to care for the ailments that inevitably come with age, and to find new ways to steer its course. Yet unlike human beings, the European Union does not face an inevitable old age, but the possibility of a new youthfulness. Its success will depend on its readiness to work together once again, and by its willingness to wager on the future. As leaders, you are called to blaze the path of a “new European humanism”[20] made up of ideals and concrete actions. This will mean being unafraid to take practical decisions capable of meeting people’s real problems and of standing the test of time.
For my part, I readily assure you of the closeness of the Holy See and the Church to Europe as a whole, to whose growth she has, and always will, continue to contribute. Invoking upon Europe the Lord’s blessings, I ask him to protect her and grant her peace and progress. I make my own the words that Joseph Bech proclaimed on Rome’s Capitoline Hill: Ceterum censeo Europam esse aedificandam – furthermore, I believe that Europe ought to be built.
Thank you.
 

On November 20, the contemplative community celebrated the 50th anniversary of its return to The Solitude.   Three Sisters who lived through that event share the joy of the experience.  
Sr. Teresa describes the return to The Solitude.
The community of Sainte Hélène was delighted when Sr. Claire Julien,  Superior General, announced her intention of bringing “The  Solitaries” back to The Solitude where they were founded and which was the first home of the first little Holy Family contemplative community. The date was settled.  The move would take place on 28 October 1966, the eve of the Feast of Christ the King.
The Solitude was still being renovated but that didn’t matter.  There was so much to see in this holy place which the Good Father intended to be home for all the members of his Family.  Gradually, normal life began.  We had to get used to the kitchen, the store-room, the laundry, gardening, picking and storing vegetables and fruit, looking after the house and caring for the sacristy to ensure the smooth running of our liturgical prayer and Eucharistic adoration.   There were lots of changes but we were so happy! 
The first year, we helped to harvest the grapes.  As “well-formed” young Religious we applied ourselves to the work seriously.  We had to learn a different rhythm of work because working as a team means adapting to others’ abilities! It was a good formation for community life. I remember marvelling each morning at the sun rising on the red grapes covered with dew drops.  They were like pearls inviting us to work with joy.
We were freer to make jam and conserve vegetables using the produce of the garden.  We could also make cakes. There were no rules and regulations like there are today!  Sr. Marie-Mélanie used to go to the international market of Brienne in Bordeaux very early in the morning.  Sr. Félicité worked with some of us in the kitchen and helped us with her amazing calmness and patience whenever something unexpected happened at the last minute – larger-than-expected groups arriving, or not turning up at all! Today we wonder how we were able to do all that work and still have time for prayer. But everything was so different – space, rhythm, atmosphere etc!
We also had times of recreation.  These were very different from what we had in our lovely little garden in Sainte-Hélène – walks, picnics in the woods, in the “Valley of the Angels”, having a boat ride around the Island in the “Good Angel”.  Each one was also able to have a day of solitude on the Island in the company of the Good Father and Our Lady of All Graces.  There was no bridge there then. The only way we could get to the island was to pull ourselves over in the boat using the chain that was attached to the hulk. 
How could we not be happy and grateful to our Good Father for having created this “holy place” of The Solitude with the Island of Our Lady of All Graces? Our roots had been here since the foundation of the first community of Solitaries in 1859.
We had been very happy in Sainte Hélène and we were just as happy during our first years in The Solitude even if they brought great changes, the need to adapt, abandonment and hope for each one and for the community as a whole.
A Few Words from Sr. Teresita:
From the time I entered the community of Sainte-Hélène I was always convinced of my call to Holy Family contemplative life.  I was as happy as a fish in water.  When I came to The Solitude I needed time to adapt, through humble prayer, in order to get to the essential and not lose my way.  It was a time when the Church was inviting Religious to return to their sources and come to the understanding that our life, with all its demands, could be lived only from the heart.
Today I love Sunday Mass because it brings us close to other Christians from the Graves region.  When I see the way they greet one another before the celebration, I say to myself, “This is a family gathered in the name of the Lord.” 
When we were in Sainte-Hélène, our belonging and communion with the life and mission of the Family of Pierre Bienvenu Noailles were expressed more through information, news and visits from the Sisters of the Generalate.   Here in The Solitude we meet different members of the Holy Family from all over the world.  We have lots of different meetings. We are close to the whole world through our prayer and through the people who come here, and that draws us into the contemplative missionary dimension of our life.
50 years of life in The Solitude?  I am still as happy as a fish in water, happier than ever! And I thank the Lord because he journeyed with each one of us who came from Sainte-Hélène and with those who joined us over the years.   To young people I say, “Trust in God because everything is grace.  The Lord will be with you always and will make you happy.”
Sr. Elena tells a Happy Story
Like Abraham who set out without knowing where he was going, we arrived at The Solitude.  It was a new living space for all of us.  We did not know how or where to begin settling in to our new home.   The Solitude was a new experience for all of us.
I had a strong sense of the Good Father’s presence and a call to live even more deeply as his daughter in the Holy Family in this place where our contemplative life began.
It was like a rebirth, a time to trust in the Lord and abandon ourselves to him.  Our days were filled doing all the different things needed to live our vocation in everyday community life – community and personal prayer, perpetual adoration and times of work and recreation lived in a prayerful way.  Every moment was different and enriching.  I experienced God as Love leading us on a sure path as individuals and as a community.  God needed us.
Soon I will have been 50 years in The Solitude!  Today, in my room in the infirmary surrounded by my Sisters, I abandon myself to the Lord.  And I thank him for the strength and the life that he has given me which enabled me to follow him daily with joy and gratitude.
I offer you three little phrases :
Live God’s life
Live for God
Live with God
That is the way of life for everyone.
 “To inherit a history means having the desire and the will to prolong it creatively and fruitfully.”

Headlines such as Nun’s work for peace brings her MBE award and Former Ballinascreen nun receives MBE stood out boldly on local newspapers in Ulster early in the year when the New Year Honours List was published in 2017. The nun in question is Holy Family Sister Rose Devlin, currently a member of the Magherafelt community. The MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) is awarded by Queen Elizabeth of England for an outstanding achievement or service to the community that will have had a long-term, significant impact and stand out as an example to others.
Sr. Rose has been awarded an MBE for her cross-community work in schools across Northern Ireland. She became involved in peace and reconciliation work more than 20 years ago. In the Christian Education Movement (CEM), she worked alongside Presbyterian
Ministers organizing, facilitating and delivering conferences for secondary school children from different religious backgrounds. Exploring difference and celebrating diversity were the overarching themes of these conferences as they tried to break down community tensions. During the dark days of the “the troubles” she was often on the road as early as 6.30 am travelling to schools across the province. The welcome extended to her by Principals and Heads of Religious Education, as well as the mutual understanding and friendships that developed made it all worthwhile.
Another bonus was the welcome extended to her, a woman and a Catholic religious sister, by a group that, up to then, had only had men involved. The award came as an unexpected, but pleasant, surprise to Rose. She accepted it on behalf of those who had supported her in her work, among them her own Holy Family sisters and Lay Associates, the people of Ballinascreen, and the SPRED (Special Needs Religious Education) helpers.
Although no longer involved in cross-community work in schools, Rose believes it needs to continue. “I pray daily,” she says, “for greater mutual understanding, not only among the youth but especially among adults, whose influence is immense.”
We rejoice with Rose and thank God for her giftedness as we await the Award Ceremony which will take place in Buckingham Palace on 2 March 2017.
Adapted from Derry Post and Mid Ulster Mail

WHAT IS TRAFFICKING?
An accepted international definition of trafficking is found in the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children supplementing the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime which says:
 
“Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at the minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs;

THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM
Who are trafficked?
Women and children are the key target group, because of their marginalization, limited economic resources and predominance in the “invisible” informal sector.
People from impoverished and low income households in rural areas and urban slums, especially women engaged in small farming, petty trading, vending, as labourers, scavengers and in other low status work and services.
Ethnic minorities, indigenous people, hill tribes, refugees, and illegal migrants, People with low levels of education, a few years of formal schooling, some primary school education, or illiterate.

Young girls running away from home, or girls from families that expect their daughters to financially contribute to their support are easy targets for traffickers. People who lack awareness of their legal rights, their exploited situation, and have no channel for seeking redress. Women and children of varying ages, ranging from babies to women in their seventies.
Trafficked for what?
A wide range of purposes: a large percentage for prostitution; the entertainment industry; sweatshops; illegal adoption of children; organ transplants; forced marriages; mail-order brides; domestic work; forced labour e.g. in construction; drug trafficking; begging; other exploitative forms of work. 
Expectations?
Promise of higher incomes; to improve economic situation; support parents and families in villages; escape from conflict situations.
Working environment:
Deplorable conditions; physical facilities are often below acceptable standards; conditions of work and treatment often involve slavery-like practices and prison-like environments, long working hours, little rest or recreation; low wages or no wages; earnings are often unknown to workers and withheld by traffickers or employers; prolonged indebtedness to traffickers, employers, brothel owners, and lack of knowledge of debt terms; exposure to hazardous work; almost non-existent access to health and medical facilities; physical and sexual abuse is common.
Harmful Effects to Women and Children (Both Short and Long-term):
Health: women and girls risk repeated pregnancy, maternal mortality, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS. Drug and other addictions: associated physical and mental deterioration. Threat to emotional well-being: constant fear of arrests, isolation, deprivation of family life and social support systems; humiliation and abuse result in serious emotional scars and many psychological consequences
Threat to physical safety by unscrupulous agents, police, customs officials, employers and others. Apprehension by authorities: detention, prosecution, forced deportation
Difficulties in social integration for those returning to their communitiesEconomic slavery: women have to pay the money which the traffickers demand for their travel and documentation.
THE CAUSES OF TRAFFICKING
Looking at both the supply and demand factors that foster the growth of trafficking can identify some of the causes of trafficking. Such causes can be further categorized into different aspects of life such as socio-cultural, economic and political.
SUPPLY SIDE
Socio-cultural
Illiteracy, and inadequate educational and employment opportunities as well as lack of gender perspective in education. Patriarchy, which is the main cause for the discrimination of women and girl-children. Erosion of traditional family values, and the pursuit of consumerism encourages the sale of women and children. Racial discrimination, racism and related intolerance which makes the women from such communities more vulnerable to traf-ficking. The media and new technologies which through advertising and the commercialization of sex, present women’s bodies as objects solely for sexual pleasure.
Economic
Economic disparities within countries, and between countries and regions which is the primary cause for the growth in trafficking in women. Feminization of poverty because women constitute 70% of the world’s poor and they sup-port their families through precarious employment in the growing in-formal sector. Globalization and its differential impact on women through economic restructuring and transition with cuts on social spending which affect women. Economic liberalization which relaxes con-trols, opens borders between countries, facilitating population mobility and illegal migration.
Political
Feminization of International Migration as women enter the labor market, together with the lack of regulation for labor migration which provides increased opportunities and channels for trafficking. Civil and military conflicts push people to flee their countries. Of the 25 million refugees in the world 80% are women and children. They become an easy prey in the hands of the traffickers. The growth of transnational crime, and the expansion of drug trafficking networks act as mechanisms for other forms of exploitation. Weak law enforcement mechanisms and measures to penalize traffickers. Corruption by police, law enforcers, officials and peacemakers.
DEMAND SIDE
Socio-cultural
Male attitudes and perceptions of women in society, and women’s unequal socio-economic status. Pornography and its role in the growth in demand for sex. This is coupled with an ever increasing use of the internet as its vehicle and as a means for traffickers to market women and children. Patriarchy resulting in the unequal power relations between men and women and in the discrimination of women. Consumerist behavior with the commodification and commercialization of sex leading to the consideration of women’s bodies as commodities and objects of sexual pleasure.
Economic
Demand by employers for an unskilled and cheap labor market. Women’s labor is usually in low status work in the domestic and entertainment spheres and in the informal sector. An expanding commercial sex industry and increased demand for sex. The variety of ways it merchandises women and children are: prostitution, sex trafficking, sex tourism, mail-order brides, strip clubs, topless bars and so on. The growth in the child sexual exploitation is due to male clients’ preferences for younger women and girls because of the fear of HIV infection. Development policies promoting tourism, and patterns of development that depend on temporary migrant workers.
Political
Military bases both past and present have created an enormous prostitution infrastructure. Unequal and exploitative political and economic relations dictated by the Northern hemisphere which results in the deterioration of conditions of life in the Southern hemisphere. Restrictive migration policies which have decreased the possibilities for regular migration. Sales of arms and the increase of armed conflict within and between countries with the consequent increase of displaced people and refugees who fall victim to traffickers. Weak law enforcement mechanisms and measures to penalize traffickers and ‘customers’.

THE WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY and throughout the year 2017
Reconciliation 
The Love of Christ Compels Us 
(cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14-20)

The search for unity: throughout the year
The traditional period in the northern hemisphere for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is 18-25 January. Those dates were proposed in 1908 by Paul Wattson to cover the days between the feasts of St Peter and St Paul, and therefore have a symbolic significance. In the southern hemisphere where January is a vacation time churches often find other days to celebrate the week of prayer, for example around Pentecost (suggested by the Faith and Order movement in 1926), which is also a symbolic date for the unity of the Church.
BIBLICAL TEXT FOR 2017
2 Corinthians 5:14-20
For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
The text used above is from the New Revised Standard Version which is the agreed English translation always used for our materials. However, the writers felt that “the love of Christ compels us,” the rendering of verse 14 from the New International Version made a stronger title, and therefore we use this title and phrase in these materials.
The Theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2017
When the German national planning committee met in the autumn of 2014, it quickly became clear that the materials for this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity would need to have two accents: on the one hand, there should be a celebration of God’s love and grace, the “justification of humanity through grace alone”, reflecting the main concern of the churches marked by Martin Luther’s Reformation. On the other hand, the materials should also recognize the pain of the subsequent deep divisions which afflicted the Church, openly name the guilt, and offer an opportunity to take steps toward reconciliation.
Ultimately it was Pope Francis’ 2013 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”) which provided the theme for this year, when it used the quote: “The Love of Christ Compels Us” (Paragraph 9). With this scripture verse (2 Cor 5:14), taken in the context of the entire fifth chapter of the second letter to the Corinthians, the German committee formulated the theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2017.
The Biblical Text: 2 Cor 5:14-20
This biblical text emphasizes that reconciliation is a gift from God, intended for the entire creation. “God was reconciling the world (kosmos) to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” (v. 19). As a result of God’s action, the person who has been reconciled in Christ is called in turn to proclaim this reconciliation in word and deed: “The love of Christ compels us” (v. 14, NIV). “So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (v. 20). The text stresses that this reconciliation is not without sacrifice. Jesus gives his life; he died for all. The ambassadors of reconciliation are called, in his name, to give their lives similarly. They no longer live for themselves; they live for him who died for them.
The Eight Days and the Worship Service
The text, 2 Cor 5:14-20, shapes the reflections of the eight days, which develop some of the theological insights of the individual verses, as follows:
Day 1: One has died for all
Day 2: Live no longer for themselves
Day 3: We regard no one from a human point of view
Day 4: Everything old has passed away
Day 5: Everything has become new
Day 6: God reconciled us to himself
Day 7: The ministry of reconciliation
Day 8: Reconciled to God
In the Ecumenical Worship Service, the fact that God in Christ has reconciled the world to himself is a reason to celebrate. But this must also include our confession of sin before we hear the Word proclaimed and draw from the deep wellspring of God’s forgiveness. Only then we are able to testify to the world that reconciliation is possible.
Compelled to Witness
The love of Christ compels us to pray, but also to move beyond our prayers for unity among Christians. Congregations and churches need the gift of God’s reconciliation as a wellspring of life. But above all, they need it for their common witness to the world: “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21).
The world needs ministers of reconciliation, who will break down barriers, build bridges, make peace and open doors to new ways of life in the name of the one who reconciled us to God, Jesus Christ. His Holy Spirit leads the way on the path to reconciliation in his name.
As this text was being written in 2015, many people and churches in Germany were practicing reconciliation by offering hospitality to the numerous refugees arriving from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, as well as countries of the Western Balkans, in search of protection and a new life. The practical help and powerful actions against hatred for the foreigner were a clear witness to reconciliation for the German population. As ministers of reconciliation, the churches actively assisted the refugees in finding new homes, while at the same time trying to improve the living conditions in the countries they had left behind. Concrete acts of help are just as necessary as praying together for reconciliation and peace, if those who are fleeing their terrible situations are to know some hope and consolation.
May the wellspring of God’s gracious reconciliation overflow in this year’s Week of Prayer, so that many people may find peace, and so that bridges may be built. May people and churches be compelled by the love of Christ to live reconciled lives and to break down the walls that divide!
 

 
Nearly 250,000 modern slaves in SA according to the Global Slavery Index. The Global Slavery Index examined practices such as forced labour, human trafficking, debt bondage, child exploitation and forced marriage, and placed SA in the 27th spot, with Trindad and Tobago. The research in South Africa was conducted in 2015 using a random, nationally representative sample. It sought to identify instances of both forced marriage and forced labour within the general population.
Sexual exploitation.
About 103,461 victims of modern slavery in South Africa, identified in the survey, were, or are, subjected to commercial sexual exploitation. Although buying sex is illegal, the sex industry thrives on the street, in brothels and private homes. South African women, together with women from neighbouring states, and Tai, Chinese, Russian and Brazilian women, were identified as likely victims of commercial sexual exploitation in South Africa. South African women were also being trafficked abroad, predominantly to Europe. Throughout 2015, the Hawks continued to identify Nigerian sex trafficking syndicates operating between the North West, Gauteng, and Kwazulu-Natal, according to the report. The report revealed that 10,631 women were victims of forced marriage.
“Although Unicef data from 2015 reveals that South Africa has one of the lowest rates of child marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa, the persistence of some traditional practices have been noted by academics as fuelling early and forced marriage.
Forced Labour.
More than 10,000 workers were subjected to forced labour in South Africa. Both women and children were employed as domestic workers. “The legacy of apartheid, leaving many African and Coloured women without education, has created a labour pool of unskilled workers who are funnelled into low-paying domestic work. Economic necessity is the key driver of women accepting work in the domestic service sector,” the report stated.
Domestic workers in South Africa had reported employers withholding wages, unpaid overtime, and physical, sexual and psychological abuse. While the Basic Conditions of Employment Act set the minimum age for employment at 15, young children were found to be working in agriculture, food services and street vending and were being forced to beg. “Children in South Africa are trafficked from rural to urban areas, including to Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg,” the report said.
International Stats.
There were an estimated 45.8 million people living in slavery globally. More than half of them, 58%, were in China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. Incidences of slavery were found in all 161 countries in the index. India had an estimated 18.4 million slaves among its population of 1.3 billion. North Korea ranked highest on scale, with one in every 20 people – or 404% of its 25 million population – in slavery. The governments of North Korea, Iran, Equatorial Guinea and Hong Kong were doing the least to combat slavery. The Netherland, the United States, Britain, Sweden and Australia were the most proactive in combating it.
Sent in by Sr. Melanie

Pope Francis Meets Ex-Priests in Gesture of Mercy
By Josephine McKenna, Religion News Service 11-14-2016
Pope Francis on [Nov. 11] made a surprise visit to meet several men who took the controversial step of leaving the priesthood and starting a family.
A Vatican statement said the pope left his residence in the afternoon and traveled to an apartment on the outskirts of Rome, where he met seven men who had left the priesthood in recent years. The pontiff also met their families.
It was one of the pontiff’s final gestures in his Jubilee Year of Mercy, which concludes at a Mass in St. Peter’s with new cardinals on Nov. 20, and it was one of the most unusual.
One Friday a month, during the jubilee year, Francis has made a surprise visit to a different group of people — the elderly in a nursing home, refugees, or infants in a neonatal unit.
Earlier Friday, for example, Francis met with thousands of homeless and marginalized people at the Vatican, and asked for their forgiveness.
“I ask your forgiveness if I have ever offended you with my words, or for not having said something that I should have,” the pope said, according to Catholic News Service.
“I ask your forgiveness for all the times that we Christians stand before a poor person, or a situation of poverty, and look the other way,” Francis added.
The meeting later Friday, with men who have left the priesthood to marry, was much more intimate, and no less poignant.
Former priests lose the close ties to the church they once had, and their status raises controversial questions about ordaining married priests, or permitting those who have left to marry to return to the clergy.
The Vatican said Francis wanted to express “his closeness and affection” to the men — five Italians, a Spaniard, and a Latin American — and their families.
“They spent months and years wrestling with uncertainty and doubts, before coming to the decision they had made a mistake by becoming priests,” the statement said, “then decided to leave the priesthood and create a family.”
The pope was greeted warmly by the ex-priests and their children, and listened to their personal stories, the Vatican said.
The Vatican said the men had made the difficult decision to leave the priesthood, despite opposition from other priests or their families, saying periods of “loneliness, misunderstanding, and fatigue” had prompted them to reconsider their vocation.
His latest Friday visit may hearten those in Italy, and around the world, who have urged the pope to review the church’s long-standing policy of mandatory celibacy.