ST. CHARLES ADVOCACY TOPICS— 5/27/2014
jus...@stcharleschurch.org
ST. CHARLES ADVOCACY TOPICS— 5/27/2014
I. LOCAL
I. A. County Board Meeting Thursday 5/29
II. STATE
II. A. Success Story: Shared Work Bill SB 110 Signed by Governor
III. NATIONAL
III. A. Mass on Thursday, 5/29
III. B. National Call-In Day 5/29
III. C. Week of prayer & action 6/2-6/8
IV. INTERNATIONAL
IV. A. Virginia Interfaith Center petition for Nigerian school girls
IV. B. Prayer & action for Central African Republic
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I. LOCAL
I. A. County Board Meeting Thursday 5/29
In an effort to advocate for increased affordable housing buildings in Arlington VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement) with the help of St. Charles has been actively monitoring and attending community meetings in proposed areas. The Site Plan Review Committee will be meeting on Thursday May 29th at 7 pm at the County Board meeting room (2100 Clarendon Blvd, 3rd floor) to discuss the development of one of these proposed locations, The Gables. As we know, there is great power in numbers; therefore I invite you to join us at this meeting. Your presence will show decision makers the magnitude of people interested in the development of affordable housing options in Arlington.
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II. STATE
II. A. Success Story: Shared Work Bill SB 110 Signed by Governor
For three years, SALT (Social Action Linking Together) has proposed & worked with Senators George Barker and William Stanley to enact a short-time compensation program in Virginia. Rather than discharging some workers during economic slumps short-time compensation (STC), known also as shared work, permits employers to keep employees on the job by reducing their work hours. Employees are provided with partial unemployment benefits for their reduced work.
Earlier this year a bill to enact STC (SB 110) passed the House and Senate, but contained provisions that did not comply with federal requirements and were objectionable to the McAuliffe administration. On April 23, the Senate and House took up his amendments to correct these objections. The Senate and House agreed to all but one of the Governor’s amendments. The House failed to pass an amendment that would have eliminated a five-year sunset provision and the requirement that a federal grant for implementation be received by July 1, 2016 or the program will expire.
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HOW TO CONTACT YOUR GOVERNOR, AND STATE SENATORS AND DELEGATE –
INCREDIBLY EASY WAYS!
- To contact Governor McAuliffe, use the following link:
http://www.governor.virginia.gov/Contact.cfm, or call (804) 786-2211.
- To find or confirm who your Senator and Delegate are, and obtain their contact
information, go to the “Who's My Legislator” icon on the General Assembly website at http://
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III. NATIONAL
III. A. Mass on Thursday, 5/29
Millions of families all over the country are still suffering from the terrible consequences of our nation’s current, ineffective policy on immigration. Immigrants are paid unfair wages and see their labor taken advantage of by large industries, men and women are subjected to harsh punishments and prison time by profit-seeking corporations, families are being separated by the increasing deportation rate, and hundreds of people die along the Mexican-American border in the search for better opportunities for their families. Following last month’s border mass in Nogales, Arizona five representing members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will be celebrating a special mass at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church (Capitol Hill neighborhood: 313 2nd Street SE, Washington, DC 20003). This mass will be offered for immigrants and their families who are being subject to the tragic conditions described above. You are invited to attend this mass taking place Thursday, May 29, 2014 at 8:30 am. We will be meeting at St. Charles at 7:30 and taking the metro down to the mass.
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III. B. National Call-In Day 5/29
Remembering that after having risen from death Jesus came to his apostles and instructed them to spread the good news to the world bringing hope and faith to those who are most in need of it. We, as Catholics are called to follow the apostles’ example and bring hope to the most vulnerable in our society. With this in mind we invite you to participate in the USCCB’s Justice for Immigrants office’s national call-in days on May 29th and June 13th using a toll-free number (1-855-589-5698) to ask representatives in Congress to: vote for immigration reform, support a path to citizenship, employ safe and humane immigration enforcement practices, and preserve family unity.
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III. C. Week of prayer & action 6/2-6/8
The week of Monday, June 2nd is the national week of prayer. During this week we are encouraging parishioners to pray or do a little reflection each day of the week for the cause of immigration reform. In addition to this we ask that each day of that week the prayers be followed by concrete action steps including sending messages to Representatives by; phone, email, letters, or social media. For an electronic copy of the guide (which contains reflections and action steps) “On Fire for Immigration Reform: A Pentecost Resource” please email Elise Cleva: ecl...@stcharleschurch.org.
Contact information for Representatives:
-Speaker John Boehner: http://www.speaker.gov/contact , @SpeakerBoehner/ #timeisnow
-Majority Leader Eric Cantor: http://majorityleader.gov/Contact/ , @GOPleader/ #timeisnow
-Whip Kevin McCarthy: @GOPWhip
-Rep. Moran: https://moran.house.gov/contact-me/email-me
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HOW TO CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE AND THE PRESIDENT
– INCREDIBLY EASY WAYS!
To contact your Senators and Representative, and the President, go to http://actioncenter.crs.org/
site/PageNavigator/Action%20Center/ac_find_repEnglish.html and enter your zip code.
(The above website has links to additional information about issues.)
You can also reach your Senators and Representative by calling the
Congressional Switchboard: (202) 224-3121.
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IV. International
IV. A. Virginia Interfaith Center petition for Nigerian school girls
The recent kidnapping of 300 girls in Nigeria has shed a new light on a previously unnoticed topic. Injustice can be found anywhere in the world and it is our duty as Christians to work to end it. Despite the tactics that terrorist groups such as Boko Haram use to scare their opponents into submission those who seek peace may rest easy knowing that God is looking out for them: “The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear?” Fortunately there is an opportunity for us to help these kidnapped Nigerian girls and it comes from the Virginia interfaith community. By signing their petition you are urging President Obama, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Nigerian president Goodluck Johnathan to unite in a global effort to; root out terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, invest in education for women around the world as a form of rejecting the group’s ideology against education, and most urgently bring the 300 kidnapped girls home. You can sign the petition here: www.virginiainterfaithcenter.org
IV. B. Prayer & action for Central African Republic
Since March of last year nearly an estimated one fifth of the population of the Central African Republic (CAR), as many as 900,000 people, has been displaced killing at least 2,000 people in the process. Here are four things you can do to help:
-Pray for peace in that region between now and June 1st. Your intentions and prayers will accompany the participants at the March for Peace in CAR on May 31.
-Learn more about the problems in the CAR region by visiting this website: http://crs.org/crisis-in-car/
-Take action and urge your Representatives to support the US taking an initiative in ending the violence and promoting peace in the CAR region.
-Donate to Catholic Relief Services for efforts towards peace-building and emergency response at: https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2;jsessionid=66B5506C7F739C97A607F063F2B2A8FF.app261b?idb=1132460004&DONATION_LEVEL_ID_SELECTED=1&df_id=6120&6120.donation=form1&idb=0
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[NOTE: We encourage you to forward this email to others you think would be interested.]