CSSJs at the UN April 11-15, 2016 By Debbie Timmis, CSJ

April 11-15, 2016 I was privileged to be part of a Federation Delegation to the UN on the occasion of the 49th Commission on Population and Development. You can find the series of stories, pictures and videos below this post.

I am glad however to share on the Federation blog what this Event meant to me personally. (We had the chance to do this "Sharing of the Heart" the last day of our time together in the UNNGO office.) In the third article, "Sewing up the Loose Threads" Patsy Lucas speaks of being proud of our sisters at the Side Event on Migration which was sponsored by the Mission of the Holy See at the UN. What was truly remarkable for me was that there were two women speakers invited to be part of the panel and both were Sisters of St. Joseph - Sue Wilson, CSJ (Canadian Federation) and Eileen McCann,CSJ from Brentwood.Fr. Emeka Obiezu, the UN Representative for the General Curia of the Augustinian International, included words praising their (Sue Wilson and Eileen McCann) grass root efforts in the field of migration, immigration, human trafficking and protecting the rights of the undocumented. The next day, at the Mission of the Holy See, we were greeted by similar words of gratitude. We were also encouraged to hear that Pope Francis is encouraging advocacy on these issues as well. I was surprised and thrilled to know that these issues have become a priority for the Office of the Holy See as well as for the Sisters of St. Joseph who have been advocating these issues for years.

Sisters Mary Ellen Gondeck, Joan Atkinson, Sue Wilson, Colleen Dauerbach and Debbie Timmis

 A second take away for me from this time at the UN was this thought expressed by one of our speakers at the Side Event organized by our UNNGO - Justine Senapati "We have Commissions on Poverty but don't invite the Poor. We have Commissions on Migration and don't invite Immigrants"(Cristine Diez Saguillo - Eradication of Poverty) This thought gave me pause to reflect of what we do to empower those who live in poverty, immigrants and women. I am going to come back to this thought in another blog post soon, however, I mention this here because I think it's a key concept in our efforts.

In closing, I need to say how grateful I am for the effort of Justine, our UNNGO for organizing the Side Event where we were privileged to hear from five UNNGO on Migration, Human Trafficking, Social Development, Eradication of poverty and Mining. This experience was truly life changing for me!

Sewing up the Loose Threads – The final installment of our Three Part Series - April 21, 2016

  Sisters of St. Joseph from Canadian and US Federations at the UN  In Brief – These past three weeks, we have been running on the Federation website a ... read more

Migration, Population, and Agenda 2030 (Sustainable Development Goals) - April 18, 2016

Part Two of our Three Part Series is submitted by Phyllis Tierney, SSJ (Rochester) This Side Event was an Afternoon Session UN NGO Side Event on Tuesday, April 12,2016. ... read more

Sisters of St. Joseph from Canadian and US Federations at the UN - April 15, 2016

Part One of a Three Part Series Migration, Human Trafficking and the Eradication of Poverty were among a few of the many topics discussed this week at the UN during ... read more