Dear Member of Congress Please Prioritize Support for Maternal Child Health Programs

10:47 AM in Aqua, child, congress, dear, for, health, maternal, member, of, please, prioritize, programs, support

Photo: Twin Cities Bread team

Year after year, the leadership team in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area has put together great Offering of Letters workshops, maintained a website focused on the years letter-writing campaign and provided resources for churches in the area to organize their letter-writing Sundays (or weekends).

Here is the example that the Bread leaders in the Twin cities put together for the 2016 Offering of Letters, entitled "Survive and Thrive," which urges Congress to prioritize support for maternal and child health programs, emphasizing nutrition.

STEP 3 
Sincerely
Your Name
Address

STEP 4
Address your letter to Congress
U.S. House of Representatives, Washingon, D.C. 20515
 U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510

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Father John Dear to Discuss his New Book on Thomas Merton

5:10 PM in Aqua, book, dear, discuss, father, his, john, merton, new, on, thomas, to

Father John Dear has gained a reputation in New Mexico and around the country for his opposition of war and his staunch support of disarmament and peacemaking efforts. Dears philosophy is evident in the books he has published, including A Persisent Peace, The Nonviolent Life, Disarming the Heart: Toward a Vow of Nonviolence, and Put Down Your Sword.

Dear has also written books or introductions to books about important people who share his philosophy: Daniel Berrigan, Mohandas Gandhi, Henri Nouwen and others.  He recently published Thomas Merton: Peacemaker, which will be the subject of his talk on Thursday, January 21, at Bookworks (4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW (map), a small independent bookstore in Albuquerques North Valley, at 7:00 pm.

Heres is how Bookworks is promoting the event on its website:
A noted peacemaker reflects on Thomas Mertons lessons for peacemaking today. In this centenary year of Thomas Mertons birth, longtime peace activist and author John Dear shares meditations on Mertons writings on peace and spiritual life. "The God of peace is never glorified by human violence," Merton wrote.

In the early 1960s, the famous Trappist monk, author, and poet broke new ground through his prophetic writings on nuclear weapons, war, and racism. For Merton these were not only moral challenges. They reflected a deeper spiritual crisis.

Among the lessons John Dear has learned from Merton: the connection between contemplation and nonviolence; the importance of faithful reliance on God instead of weapons or war; the need to speak out publicly for disarmament and justice; the importance of silence, solitude, and minduflness; the daily celebration of the resurrection and the wonder of creation.

In the end, John Dear invites us to take up Thomas Mertons journey and become mature spiritual seekers who break beyond the accepted norms of religious obligation into universal love, compassion, and friendship with God, that we too might become peacemakers, the beloved sons and daughters of the God of peace.

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Dear Presidential Candidate How Would You Address Hunger in the U S and Around the World

7:31 AM in address, and, Aqua, around, candidate, dear, how, hunger, in, presidential, s, the, u, world, would, you

Photo: Bread for the World

Over 100 Christian leaders have asked each presidential candidate, “What would you do as president to offer help and opportunity to hungry and poor people in the United States and around the world?” These videos, produced by the campaigns, are their response. The Circle of Protection, in partnership with Bread for the World, presents them without comment or endorsement. Additional candidate videos will be added as they are received.  As of Sept. 9, nine candidates (six Republicans and three Democrats) had responded.

The presidential videos are a major part of Bread for the World’s efforts to make hunger and poverty part of the national conversation during the campaigns for both president and Congress. Read more in Bread Blog

This link has the video responses from Jeb Bush, Dr. Ben Carson, Hillary Clinton, Sen. Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Martin OMalley and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

(The videos have received coverage in religious and other media and in some religious Web sites, including Mother Jones, Catholic News Service, The National Catholic Reporter, The Christian Post, Mennonite Church USA, National Association of Evangelicals and PRNewswire. Most of this coverage took place when the initial set of videos from six candidates was released in July). 

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