June is 'Torture Awareness Month'

Social justice news
June 2007

Chaldean Catholic Priest and three deacons shot dead in Iraq
Churches worldwide call for just peace in Palestine and Israel
CRS official proposes food aid reforms
Franz Jagerstatter: A conscientious role model
Global bishops urge G8 'bold action' on poverty, climate change, more
June is 'Torture Awareness Month'
Ohio judge becomes new chair of USCCB's National Review Board
Permanent vigilance on child safety, the 'way we do business now'
OxFam to world's wealthy nations: Bill due on climate change

June is 'Torture Awareness Month'
Pax Christi friends are being asked to support the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) in its June 2007 "Torture Awareness Month." Led by Sister Dianna Ortiz, OSU, Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace (2000), TASSC needs our accompaniment of its prophetic and important work to end the practice of all torture and to empower survivors.

Click here to visit TASSC's website for suggestions and resources on organizing local events, fasts, prayer vigils, Congressional call-ins, etc .

For those able to come to Washington, D.C., on June 23rd there will be a 24-hour vigil attended by survivors of torture from around the world. TASSC has made a special request for those willing to engage in a nonviolent civil disobedience witness as part of the vigil. If you are interested in this gesture of solidarity with the survivors, click here for more information . On June 25th, TASSC will host a teach-in, and on June 26th TASSC will host a press conference, lobby day and a "butterfly release" ritual for all those suffering torture today.

Also in Washington, D.C. on the 26th, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture is co-sponsoring a rally on Capitol Hill and lobby day with Amnesty International, ACLU and the Leadership Council on Civil Rights as part of a "Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice." Pax Christi USA's former bishop president, Bishop Walter Sullivan, will be speaking at that rally.

For those unable to come to D.C., you can organize local gatherings and lend moral support for torture survivors by sending messages of solidarity to TASSC (enter your message thru TASSC's website by clicking here , identify your affiliation with Pax Christi or other group, and let them know what you are doing locally). You can also take time to call your Congress members on June 26th, the U.N. International Day in Support of Torture Victims and Survivors; there are talking points available on TASSC's website.

Also available to order from Pax Christi USA to raise awareness and end torture: "Jesus, Our Tortured Brother Today" prayer card, By Dianna Ortiz, OSU, director, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition. This prayer calls on Jesus, tortured more than 2000 years ago, to be with those tortured today and to help all of us "to look into the secret prisons - the unmarked graves - the hearts and minds of torture survivors," to embrace their wounds and give us the will to end the horror of torture. This prayer card includes action suggestions.

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