SUMMER 2014

Thank You, Summer Interns! Kelsey Howard will be starting her Ryan Murphy is a rising junior sophomore year at Mount Saint at Xavier University, majoring Joseph University in the fall major- in Business, and is the co- ing in Social Work and Criminology with minors in Socio-Psychology as president of Boyz II Men Men- well as Leadership and Civil En- toring and Tutoring Program. gagement. While in school she He is interning at IJPC this plans on joining AmeriCorps Sum- summer through Xavier’s mer Associates Program and joining AmeriCorps Summer Service Internship VISTA upon graduating. She began interning at IJPC as part of MSJ’s summer employment pro- Program. He has been focus- gram and works with Nathan Ruggles on Peace ing on IJPC’s Immigration Program this sum- and focusing on the Dialogue Pro- mer, particularly working to compile college gram. Though Kelsey has only been with IJPC a application information for DACA students in short amount of time it has made a large impact Cincinnati. on her life views and she hopes to continue Inside this issue… working with IJPC in the future!

Flying Pig 2014 = SUCCESS! Thank You, Summer Interns. . …. . . You may have already heard the news, but we are so excited 1 we just have to share it again; IJPC not only reached, but surpassed Flying Pig 2014 Success!...... 1 our $10,000 Flying Pig fundraising goal! We’d like to take this moment to publish a great big THANK YOU to all of our participants, sponsors Letter from Sr. Alice...... 2 and supporters; we couldn’t have done it without you! Letter from Sr. Monica...... 3

Immigration Program Update…….. 4-5

Human Trafficking Report……. . . . . 5

Death Penalty Program ...... 6

Peace Program Update...... 7

News from Northern KY. . . Back cover

Relay runner Dan Dery passing the torch off to Penny Tullis.

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Founding Sponsors: A Letter From Sisters of Charity Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille Sr. Alice Gerdeman Sisters of Mercy When I hear someone say “twenty-two” Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur years it seems like a long time and it is a Sisters of St. Francis, Oldenburg long time by some perspectives. But sit- ting at my desk during these final days at Sponsors: IJPC, twenty – two years doesn’t seem so Anawim Community long. In many ways, I don’t feel all that Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship different from what I did in July of 1992. Maybe a bit older! Surely much richer! At this point in life, as I move Cincinnati Friends Meeting on to a very different position, my overwhelming sentiment is that of Comboni Missionaries gratitude. Dominican Sisters of Hope Every year, every month, everyday has been full and filled with di- Franciscans, St. John the Baptist verse experiences and simply phenomenal people. It is true, there Province are many more good people trying to make the world better than there are hurting folks causing discord and violence. Without doing Glenmary Home Missioners real research I can recall people from 51 one countries who have Institute of Secular Missionaries passed through IJPC’s door or I met somewhere along the way – all Sisters of Divine Providence good. Right here in Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky there are thousands of IJPCers of all faiths, all races, all neighborhoods, all Sisters of Notre Dame of skills, all ages, diverse philosophies and theologies and all have Covington blessed my life. St John Unitarian Universalists I’ve talked and laughed and shouted and sung and clapped and New Community marched and walked and stood together and sat in circles. I mourned friends that moved on or died and welcomed new friends Ursulines of Brown County and new lives. All of this is blessing. Together we wore out two bull- Ursulines of Cincinnati horn systems and carried hundreds of signs. So blessed am I. Staff:

Even when the events aren’t about positive things – war, KKK on Maggie Behan Fountain Square, TransAtlantic Business Dialogue in town, execu- Sarah Madrigal tions, immigration raids, etc. – wonderful people, thousands of us, collaborated and some good came of it. This I trust. Monica McGloin, OP Nathan Ruggles Will I miss IJPC? Oh Yes! The staff, volunteers, board members, com- mittee members, colleagues, and visitors are friends. But I’m not go- Interns: ing away. I’ll see you at Fountain Square, Washington Park, Garfield Kelsey Howard, MSJ Place, The International Friendship Park, at your church, at a meet- ing. I must admit, I am addicted to peace and justice and the people Ryan Murphy, XU determined to make it our reality. Contact Us: 215 East 14th Street The staff at IJPC thanks Sr. Alice for everything she has Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 done, and wishes her all the best as she continues on to a Phone: 513.579.8547 new chapter as Provincial for the Congregation of Divine E-mail: [email protected] Providence! 3 “Chaos really is a saving grace…” -Ilia Dio Monica McGloin

In the book Presence, co-author C. Otto time, in light of our new understandings, our re- Scharmer recounts his experience as a sixteen sources and the needs of the universe? The year old of seeing the 350 year old farmhouse board has delegated the task of designing a pro- where his family had lived for 200 years re- cess to engage our sponsors, supporters and, co duced to ashes. He remembers how his initial -workers in this re-visioning to a committee com- sense of devastation was transformed to a reali- posed of Louise Lears SC, Carren Herring, RSM zation that all the things he had become at- and, Wes Ernst. tached to over the years had weighed him down. The Board has also hired Kay Brogle and He experienced a feeling of release which set Monica McGloin OP as interim co-coordinators. him free to encounter the future that would un- Kay has been the executive director of Healthy fold through his life. Otto also recalled the ad- Moms and Babes for the past 25 years. She has vice his 87 year old grand father gave to his son, also served on the IJPC Board and been in- “Keep your head up, my boy. Look forward”. This volved in many local activities. Monica has been experience evoked a question in him that re- involved with a number of organizations all fo- mained with him throughout his life: What does cused on justice and empowering the poor. it take to connect to that other stream of time, Most recently she has been working with the the one that gently pulls me toward my future Cincinnati Interfaith Committee for Worker Jus- possibility? tice. Both Kay and Monica are part of the Nuns The changes that have occurred at IJPC on the Bus Ohio. Kay, Monica and Nathan along (Kristen and Eunice taking on new positions, Al- with volunteers and interns are available to an- ice being elected as her Congregation’s Provin- swer your questions and respond to requests for cial, Sarah receiving a scholarship and, Maggie services. leaving AmeriCorps) though not as disastrous as

the fire Otto described, have the capacity to ei- ther unsettle and de-energize us or to invite us Stay Tuned to hear how you can be involved in to, “keep our heads up and look forward”. The this stage of IJPC’s development. good news is that the IJPC Board has decided to see this moment as an opportunity to re-build or re-imagine IJPC. Who are we called to be at this

Thank you, Sarah Madrigal! Maggie Behan will also be taking her leave from After two wonderful years working with the YES IJPC. Having started at IJPC during the summer of Committee and the immigrant community, I will be 2012 as a student intern, she realized just how stepping down as Immigration Program Coordina- much she had to learn about social justice issues tor. I will be focusing more fully on the remaining and how much IJPC had to offer. After her sum- year of my MSW program and working within the mer was up, she decided to stay and volunteer College of Social Work at UC. My live has been during her senior year at Xavier University, eventu- made richer by all of the wonderful people that I ally taking over as the Notre Dame AmeriCorps full have had the pleasure of working with, and I am time volunteer after graduation. IJPC has given her confident that I will take all that I have learned and so much by way of knowledge, experience, friend- put it to good use wherever I end up after gradua- tion. Thanks to everyone for the wisdom, laughter ship and growth. She is so grateful to everyone and passion you have shared with me. she has met throughout her journey with IJPC, and wishes everyone the absolute best! 4 Immigration Programs

“You tell us that to love God and neighbour is not something abstract, but profoundly con- crete: it means seeing in every person the face of the Lord to be served, to serve him con- cretely. And you are, dear brothers and sisters, the face of Jesus.” (5/21/13) Pope Francis

In the past few months, much of what When 20% of people living in Lebanon has been reported in mainstream media has are Syrian refugees, one would hope that the pertained to the increased number of unac- , as the leader of the free world, companied minors coming to America. Most would could show similar compassion. Espe- of these children are coming from Latin Amer- cially because the unaccompanied children ican countries such as Honduras, Guatemala, that came to the U.S. this year only make up and El Salvador, and are fleeing gang violence about 0.02% of our general population. and extortion occurring in their home coun- tries. It is imperative that we address the un- It is troubling that the message these accompanied minors issue at the southern children have been receiving has been domi- border as a humanitarian crises rather than a nated by intolerance and fear, rather than by policy flaw. Honduras has the highest murder compassion and love. One anti-immigrant pro- rate in the world, with El Salvador and Guate- tester even held a sign that said “not our chil- mala also in the top 5. These rankings also dren, not our problem”. Our faith dictates that include areas that are active war zones. Rea- these are our children, and our morals tell us sons for the hike in violence in these coun- that nationality does not determine to whom tries can also be attributed to the war on we direct our love. We have a responsibility to drugs in that pushed many of the car- be ethical in our decision making. Moving for- tels into the surrounding countries. Many of ward, it is important that we let our country’s the children coming from those areas could leaders know that the well-being and dignity qualify for refugee status because of the situ- of these children should be respected. ation of their home county. It isn't just Ameri- (Continued on next page) ca that they are fleeing to. Asylum requests by people from these countries to neighboring countries such as Mexico, , and Nica- ragua have gone up 712% since 2009. If you are interested in learning more about IJPC’s Immigration program, or are In dealing with humanitarian crises’ abroad, America’s policy has typically been to moved by what is happening and want to ask other counties to accept and care for ref- learn more about the state of immigra- ugees. Why should we, as the most privileged tion in the United States, feel free to con- country in the world, contradict what we ask tact IJPC at 513-579-8547, or you can of others by turning these children away? email Sarah at [email protected] thru August 22nd. 5 Immigration Programs, cont’d.

(Continued from previous page) Rather than deporting children back to the violence they are flee- ing, we should take steps to negotiate peace in their countries of origin. America is a nation built by immigrants. Our own Statue of Liberty has the famous words of Emma Lazarus written on it: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Let us, as a nation, not stray from these wise words, and welcome these children with open arms. Let us, also, reflect, discuss and analyze the following questions so that we know what changes our government, our policies and our citizens might need to make so these children’s countries become peaceful places to grow up: What is the root cause of the violence in those countries? Is the United States involved in any way in promoting and facilitating these causes? How much U.S. military presence is in those countries and what is their role? What financial investment does the U.S. make to the Northern Triangle and for what purpose?

REPORT FROM THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING The sub-committee on Human Trafficking has been meeting monthly to work on various projects pertain- ing to the issue. We started with letters to the managers of 80 Motels/Hotels in the Cincinnati area fol- lowed by visits with them giving them materials about Human Trafficking and offering education to their staff. Many managers were happy to receive us and some were not. We then put labels giving the crisis phone number on 4,000 bars of soap to be put in Motel/Hotel rooms. These were used during the Super Bowl when many women and children were brought in to New Jersey to be available for fans coming to the game. For the past few months we have been working on curriculum to be presented to High Schools to educate students, faculty and parents about Human Trafficking. As this work is going on some Sisters have joined with “Stopslavery/Cincinnati” and serve on various committees, talks have been given to many groups in the City, and there has been direct contact with those who have been trafficked in Cincinnati. This is an ongoing project that will be with us for a long time. We need to be alert to the unaccompanied children coming into the country so that they will not become victims of Trafficking. 6

Death Penalty Programs

In the News What To Do

Ohio has a Moratorium on Executions. It is only Are you a faith leader (you can define that term)? until August 15 but may be extended. Two men Do you know faith leaders? Ohioans To Stop Exe- facing sure death this summer, Ronald Phillips cution’s (OTSE) Putting Our Faith In Action initia- tive asks faith leaders to sign an open letter ex- and T. William Montgomery are safe for now. pressing concern about what is happening around Judge Frost suspended executions to give time the death penalty in Ohio. This is a response to to study the legality of Ohio’s new lethal Injec- the report of the Ohio Supreme Court’s Taskforce tion process. The process proposed uses the with its list of recommendations. If the recom- same drugs used to cause Dennis McGuire’s mendations are implemented the number of exe- cutions would surely decline drastically. Faith lead- long and seemingly painful death only in larger ers who are staunchly opposed to the death penal- dosages. ty as well as those who may think there are times The Report from the Ohio Supreme Court Joint when the death penalty is needed can sign this Task Force to review the Administration of document. After all, every sacred text demand fair- Ohio’s Death Penalty is out. It contains 56 rec- ness and mercy. The letter will be sent to Gover- nor Kasich and Ohio legislators in early 2015. ommendations for actions that need to be taken Go to http://ijpc-cincinnati.org/death-penalty/otse to make the system fair. Of course, this isn’t a -faith-leader-initiative to download copies of the surprise. In 2007 the American Bar Associa- letter and find other action suggestions. tion’s Study found that Ohio failed to meet 93% of their Basic Standards for Fairness and the media points out major flaws regularly. The da- Governor Kasich needs to hear from Ohio voters ta is in. Ohio’s legislative, executive and judicial as well as other concerned persons and be asked branches need to act. The website of Ohioans to halt executions IMMEDIATELY. Write, call, To Stop Executions (www.OTSE.org) has the re- email, fax. Let him know that a system that takes port, a summary, a fact sheet and priority list for life cannot be so flawed. At the very least, citizens action. expect a moratorium on executions.

These men have execution dates in Ohio: Ronald Phillip 9-8-2014 Raymond Tibbits 10-15-2014 Gregory Lott 11-19-2014 Warren Henness 1-7-2015 William Montgomery 2-11-2105 Robert VanHook 3-12-2015 Jeffrey Wogenstahl 5-14-2015 Alva Campbell 7-15-2015 Angelo Fears 9-17-2015 Cleveland Jackson 11-17-2015 Kareem Jackson 1-21-2016 7 Peace and Non‐Violence Program

DIALOGUE Repealing the Blank Check on War

Global Warming and Community Action: For the fourth year, peace advocates throughout the world will join togeth- A special presentation and dialogue across the theist/atheist spectrum on Global er April 12-15 to bring attention to the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on Warming and Community Action. Wed., Aug weapons of war. Coinciding with Tax Day here in the U.S, it has been an occa- 6th, 6 to 8 pm sion to note how much of our tax dollars go to the Pentagon. IJPC will be joining the effort, calling for the US to reduce military spending and redirect resources Freedom Summer and Civil Rights: towards good jobs and human needs. In 2012, during a time Then and Now: dialogue related to project of continuing economic hardship, the U.S. spent $682 billion of OSA (Ohio Student Association), working on its military. This is more than the next 11 top spenders to educate and empower local students Aug combined, and nearly two-fifths of the world total. A special 14th 5:30-8pm budget for war funding is also becoming a notorious slush

fund. Facilitator training: Interactive workshop on facilitation techniques and the IJPC GDAMS coincides with the release of annual statistics on global military spend- dialogue process. Date TBD ing by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Key details from their Year Book 2013 summary include:

Dialogue on  World military expenditure in 2012 is estimated to have reached $1.756 tril- immigration: lion, approx.$2.8 million per minute, $249 for each person in the world; (Sep?) An opportunity to  The total is still higher than in any year between the end of World War II and dialogue 2010; about immigration  The USA is responsible for 39 per cent of the world total, distantly followed issues. At by the China (9.5% of world share) and Russia (5.2%). Xavier

Peace Events Nonviolence Training Peace Committee Meetings: Political organizing for peace, reducing military Quotes from recent Date TBD spending, and various other programs. Dialogues Meets the 4th Wednesday of each Location: IJPC month at IJPC. “Excellent event! I enjoyed the Hiroshima Day Commemoration: Aug Take a practical step towards a Dialogue and presentations.” 9th Friendship Park. Solemn less violent world. commemoration and service “Everyone came in with an open recognizing the anniversary of the Workshop introduces techniques to mind, even though there were atomic bomb being dropped on use when faced with a potentially Hiroshima. different perspectives” nasty situation or violent conflict. “excellent facilitator and Filled with hands-on exercises and role International Day of Peace -plays that will introduce you to basic Commemoration & Festival: Sept. 21. instructions this is a wonderful nonviolent communication and conflict World Peace Bell, Newport. A festival tool” resolution. involving prayer and gathering in recognition of the day, also with a peace Join us at an upcoming dialogue and Curriculum developed by Nonviolent festival with activities for children and see for yourself! Peaceforce and Meta Peace Team. information on peace & justice Nonprofit

Intercommunity Justice Organizaon & Peace Center U.S. Postage

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New from Northern Kentucky!

If you weren’t one of the more than 50 people who came together on the April 30th for the showing of Inequality For Interested in learning more All at St. Joseph Heights, you may want about the work of IJPC? Feel to rent the DVD. Robert Reich, profes- free to visit our webpage, ijpc- sor, author, and advisor to presidents explains the wealth gap with humor cincinnati.org, or email any and interestingly present facts. In fact, questions to info@ijpc- if you were there, you may want to see cincinnati.org! it again. It is that good!