NGO NEWS - Sisters of Charity

NGO NEWS
Sisters of Charity Federation
Volume 7, Issue 3
Summer 2014
Cincinnati SCs Host Federation Gathering
The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati hosted the annual
Federation leadership and
NGO liaison meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. The theme of
the Federation meeting was
“Ever Evolving Charism of
Charity.”
Prior to the opening of the
leadership meeting, the
NGO liaisons met to discuss
their role as liaisons and how
to more effectively engage
members of their congregations in global issues.
Sr. Caroljean (Cj) Willie, the
NGO representative at the
United Nations (UN), gave a
report on her work this year
highlighting the major issues
facing the world community
at this time.
Dates to Remember:
DPI CONFERENCE—8/27
-29/14

CLIMATE SUMMIT—
9/23/14

U N ORIENTATIONS –9/2
-6/14—SISTERS IN
FORMATION FROM LEAVENWORTH AND CINCIN-
Liaisons gather in Cincinnati
These include: climate
change, the ongoing work to
establish sustainable development goals, human trafficking and migration, disarmament, and conflicts in
the Middle East among others.
The liaisons attended the
opening of the leadership
NATI
meeting where the Cincinnati
SCs gave an overview of the
history of their congregation.
They also attended the first
day of the leadership meeting where Sister Cj gave an
overview of the UNs sustainable development initiatives
and the upcoming General
-cont’d p.4
Getting to Know the UN: Security Council
According to the UN website,
the Charter of the UN defines the role of the Security
Council has having primary
responsibility for the maintenance of international peace
and security. It has 15 Members, and each Member has
one vote. Under the Charter,
all Member States are obligated to comply with Council

decisions.
The Security Council takes
the lead in determining the
existence of a threat to the
peace or act of aggression.
It calls upon the parties in a
dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends
methods of adjustment or
terms of settlement. In some
cases, the Security Council
can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the
use of force to maintain or
restore international peace
and security.
The Security Council also
recommends to the General
Assembly -cont’d on p. 3
10/7-9/14 SCN ASSOCIATES
Inside this issue:
SISTERS OF EARTH
2
UN UPDATES
2
SISTERS OF ST. MARTHA
2
SECURITY COUNCIL
3
SOLIDARITY WITH SOUTH
SUDAN
3
CLIMATE CHANGE STATE-
4
MENT
FEDERATION GATHERING
4
NGO NEWS
Sisters of Earth
The biannual Sisters of Earth
Conference was hosted by St.
Mary University in Leavenworth, Kansas. Sr. Rejane
Cytaki, SCL, was on the planning committee for the event.
Rejane is a faculty member
at St. Mary’s. Sr. Maureen
Wild, SC-H, coordinated
communications for the event.
The theme of the conference
was “The New Emerging Humanity: Healing into Wholeness”.
Seven members of the Leavenworth Charities attended
the event as did three members of the Sisters of Charity
of Cincinnati.
The ‘Sisters of Earth’ is an
informal network of women
most of whom are rooted in
deep understandings of new
cosmology and all of whom
share a deep concern for the
ecological and spiritual crises
of our times.
Some of the Federation members at the conference.
UN Updates

CLIMATE SUMMIT
2014:
CATALYZING
ACTION
The 65th Annual UN Department of Public Information (DPI) conference
for NGOs is returning to
New York this year. It
will be held from August
27-29, 2014. The theme
of the conference is
2015 and Beyond: The
role of civil society in the
post-2015 development
agenda. As of the date
of this publication, 2,287
persons from 670 NGOs
and 103 countries are
registered for the conference, including 11
from the Federation.

Climate Summit 2014:
Catalyzing Action will
take place at UN Headquarters in New York on
September 23rd. Secretary-General (SG) Ban
Ki-moon has appointed
former Irish President
Mary Robinson as his
Special Envoy for Climate Change to mobilize
political will and action
ahead of the climate
summit. The SG has
called for “broad cooperation and ‘bold’ action or
the world will face dangerous and irreversible
climate disruption.”
Sisters of St. Martha Share Insights
The SIsters of Saint Martha,
Antigonish, held their General
Chapter in April 2014. The
Social Justice Committee
gave a reflective
presentation and they felt
other groups could benefit
from their insights.
“We have journeyed along
the path of social justice, beginning with our desire and
commitment to be in right
relationship at all levels of
being, this compels us to
reach out and find like minded people with whom we
share common goals building
a network that connects us
and from which we discover
ways to work together, fostering alliances and collaborating to strengthen our ef-
fectiveness.
The energy that results compels us to act, to join our voices together and to create
space for the voices of others
to be heard, to engage in
advocacy that speaks truth to
power and demands, in a
non-violent stance , that we
cultivate right relationships.”
For the presentation contact
[email protected] .
Vincentian Family Collaborative Action Program
The program consisted of five
modules: 1) A Vincentian is a
Visionary—Re-Awakening; 2)
A Vincentian is a Contemplator—Re-Rooting; 3) A Vincentian is a Collaborator—
Re-Discovering; 4) A Vincentian is a Catalyst—ReIgniting; and 5) A Vincentian
is a Servant—Re-Imagining.
Fifty-three members of the
Vincentian Family representing multiple branches of the
Family from 27 countries
gathered in Paris in June to
participate in the Vincentian
Family Collaborative Action
Program (VFCAP).
The program was designed
by members of the faculty
from the following universities: Niagara, St. John’s, DePaul, All Hallows (Ireland)
and Adamson (the Philippines).
Input, dialogue, interactive
activities, and field trips to
sites of significance to the
Vincentian Family provided
excellent tools for leadership.
Malala Yousafzai
Vincentian Family members at Paris gathering
Security Council cont’d
the appointment of the Secretary-General and the admission of new Members to
the United Nations. And, together with the General Assembly, it elects the judges of
the International Court of
Justice.
The Security Council has 15
members: five permanent
members (China, France, the
Russian Federation, the Unit-
ed Kingdom and the United
States) with veto power and
ten non-permanent members,
elected by the General Assembly for a two-year term.
Meetings are called at any
given time when the need
arises in the international
arena.
Current two year members
include the following countries: Argentina, Australia,
Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nigeria,
Republic of Korea, and
Rwanda.
The President of the Security
Council rotates among the
members on a monthly basis. The President for August
is the United Kingdom and
for September, the United
States.
Flags of permanent members
Solidarity with South Sudan
Religious congregations of
women and men who are
members of the Union of Superiors General (USG), the
International Union of Superiors General (UISG) and the
Church in South Sudan have
collaborated in an initiative
known as Solidarity with
South Sudan.
This initiative, centers on
health, education and agricultural training and reflects
a new model or paradigm
for religious congregations
(more than 200) who work
together in order to respond
more effectively to the immense and urgent needs in
South Sudan.
Leavenworth Sisters Pat Johannsen and Janet Cashman
currently serve in the South
Sudan. Sr. Pat provides
teacher training for primary
teachers and Sr. Janet works
with the training of nurses
and midwives.
If any Federation member is
interested in volunteering for
this project, contact Brother
Bill Firmin at
[email protected]
Page 3
Sr. Pat Johannsen, SCL
Sisters of Charity Federation
Climate Change Statement of the Vincentian Family Social Justice Representatives
NGO Office
211 E. 43rd Street, Suite 504
New York, NY 10017
Caroljean Willie, SC, Ph.D.
NGO Representative
We, the social justice representatives of the Vincentian Family of North America, invite us all to
respond to the crisis of global climate change as one of the central ethical issues of our time.
Faithfulness to our charism challenges us:
Email:
[email protected]
To efficacious compassion toward the brokenness of Earth and its life systems;
 As Vincent de Paul challenged us, to see persons living in poverty and on the margins as Christ
and to understand that they suffer first from the effects of global climate change;
Federation website:
www.sisters-of-charity-federation.org  To learn to discern and celebrate the presence of God in Earth;
 To evaluate our lifestyle choices;
Vincentian Family website:
To integrate this heightened awareness in our consciousness, congregational documents and actions.
www.famvin.org
Sharing, input, collaboration and fun at the Liaison and Federation meetings
Federation Meeting cont’d
Assembly which will finalize
the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). The
SDGs will succeed the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) which expire in
2015. She applied sustainability to the Federation ministries in North America. She
ended her presentation with
a quote from St. Vincent de
Paul: “What you are about
to undertake is a great work.
I pray that our Lord will bless
your leadership.”
Debbie Weber, SC-C Associate, gave a presentation on
the work of the SC Federation/Vincentian Family Social
Justice Reps, noting that they
now have 30 participants.
Jean Rhoads presented an
animoto highlighting what the
various Congregations have
been doing in the area of
systemic change.
Peter Block, an international
speaker, addressed ways in
which systems thinking informs
systemic change and helps to
promote systemic change in
our ministries.
On Friday Donna Geernhaert, SC-H, gave a presentation on “How Does the Universe Story Relate to and
Release the Energy of our
Charity Federation Charism?”
Business aspects of the meet-
ing were addressed on Saturday. These included the
President’s report (Donna G.),
an update on Seton Heritage
Ministries by Jane Iannucelli,
SC-NY, and a finance report
by Julie Cutter, DC, Executive
Director of the Federation.
Sunday included presentations by Sangeeta Ayithamattam, SCN about the SCN
ministries in India, Belize, Nepal, Botswana and Seong A
Koh, SC-SH about the work
of the Korean Province.
Entertainment included a
German Beer Garden party
and a cruise down the Ohio.