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10 Christian pastors decided to have a service in the field next to the Federal Prison in Sheridan on Sunday Morning.
They wanted to bring the people together and protest in a holy way. Although, President Trump has supposedly stopped separating families there is still work to do. His new policy is confusing and unworkable. And, he has already separated thousands of families and is not putting them back together. Over a hundred men are being held in the Sheridan prison because they got caught in Trump's Zero Tolerance policy. Some of them have been separated from their families. They are also being held without communication to the outside world. They haven't had visitation of any kind. No lawyers, no outside help. Remember, they are being held in a prison without due process! When the Sikhs heard about the Ecumenical Service (a Christian service across denominations) they asked to be a part of it. Now the service is Interfaith, and, additionally, the Sikhs are serving a Langar (community meal). Action of the Week Attend and worship together with Christians, Sikhs and many others. The service is in a field outside of the Sheridan Federal Prison this Sunday, the 24th, at 11pm (tomorrow). Location: Sheridan Fishing Pond, South Side Park SW Ballston Rd, Sheridan, OR 97378 Details are here! Read up on the location, parking and what to bring. Think about chairs and a good sun hat. The forecast is for sun, and a high of 84. For continued updates check the Facebook page. If you want to help out -- they still may need volunteers. They need volunteers to help with parking, shuttling, security, and traffic. If you can help, please contact ron@imirj.org and arrive at 9:30am for an orientation. Sound System: They are still looking for a good sound system. It needs to be battery-operated. Or, if you have a small generator that can power a sound system, please let sarah@imirj.org know ASAP. Lunch: Is there a person or congregation willing to bring biodegradable sectioned plates, spoons, napkins, water cups for 300? Will you letsarah@imirj.org know? Van & Driver: We’re looking for a van and driver that can help shuttle people between the worship site and overflow parking. Might this be you? E-mail sarah@imirj.org. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell PS During this moral crisis for our country, I have been sending out Actions of the Week a little more often than once a week. It seemed like the right thing to do. Calendar Sept 15 -- Oregon Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice Annual Social Justice Conference. Mark your Calendar
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The topic this week is, again, the sudden and traumatic separation of children from their parents at the Mexican border. This feels like a moral emergency. We are not just watching this happen, we have asylum seekers being held locally in Sheridan, Oregon in a men's federal prison.
More than 600 times in May and June, Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel have separated parents from their children using physical force and deceit, according to numerous news reports. Last week, the federal prison in Sheridan, Oregon, near McMinnville contracted with ICE to hold 123 men taken into custody as part of ICE's larger "zero tolerance" policy. Some of these men have been separated from their children. The Action of the Week is to answer this call from the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice (IMIrJ) working on the front lines in Sheridan: "Faith Action: There are three immediate ways that you and your faith community can join with other faith communities in action this week: Show Up: Monday, June 18th from 5:30-7pm for a large vigil and action at Sheridan. On the heels of Father’s Day, we’ll gather near the prison to call for an end to family separation. Public pressure and community support make a big difference and will help keep this story in the headlines. Carpool information from Portland is available at the link above. Clergy: are invited to sign a letter by Sunday, the 17th at midnight. The letter will go to the Warden and Chaplain at Sheridan asking for visitation rights for clergy. You can also sign up to be one of the clergy doing the visitation. However, the first step is a letter signed by a LOT of clergy asking that these detainees get visitation rights. Ask all the ministers associated with your congregation to sign the letter. Pray: In your worship services this week, please take a moment to share about this heartbreaking situation and pray for all immigrants impacted, especially those families separated from one another. Sample Prayer: God of compassion, hear the cries of mothers, fathers, and children separated from one another. Comfort them in their time of need. May they know they are not alone. God of justice, grant us the courage to hear the cries of mothers, fathers, and children separated from one another. Help us to stand in solidarity, speak out, and boldly act. May we know we are not alone. Together we pray, Amen." IMIrJ is working hard and could use your donations. Please be generous. They don't have a 'button' on their webpage for donations. They do have partner churches (several UU) and individual memberships here. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell Calendar Sept 15 -- Oregon Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice Annual Social Justice Conference. Mark your Calendar Action of the Week!
From our friends at the Ultraviolet Team: "Because of Trump's new policy to separate families at the border, as many as 10,000 immigrant children are now held in government custody without their parents. A father, Marco Antonio Muñoz, who was separated from his wife and three-year-old child by immigration agents has killed himself in detention. This is a human rights crisis created by the Trump administration. That's why two days from now, on Trump's 72nd birthday, people all over the country are taking to the streets to oppose his new policy of forcibly separating children from their parents at the U.S. border--and there's an emergency protest happening near you. Action of the Week: Click and find out the nearest place to protest. Will you join the Families Belong Together action on Thursday to demand an end to family separation? According to human rights and legal groups helping families at the border, among the children taken from their parents are a blind six-year-old boy, and babies as young as 18 months. They, along with the other asylum-seeking children under ten years old, are currently locked up and will have to represent themselves in immigration court. All eyes are on what's happening at the border, from the United Nations to newspaper headlines nationwide. To stop Trump's inhumane policy of splitting up asylum-seeking families, we need to keep directing mass outrage toward the administration and its atrocities at the border." In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell Calendar Sept 15 -- Oregon Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice Annual Social Justice Conference. Mark your Calendar Action of the Week!
There was no way for me to chose between these two actions of the week. So this week we give you the choice! Action of the Week # 1 Join the Oregon Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival on Monday,June 11th in Salem. This is the fifth of six weeks of direct action in state capitols all across the country. The theme for Week 5 - Everybody's Got the Right to Live: Education, Living Wage Jobs, Income, Housing. The schedule for the day: 10:45am: Arrive and sign-in 11am: Nonviolent Moral Fusion Direct Action Training (required for those participating in the action after the rally, strongly encouraged for those witnessing the action and serving in support roles) 1pm: Potluck lunch and travel to the Capitol 2pm: Rally on the Capitol steps 2:45pm: Nonviolent Moral Fusion Direct Action If you are planning to join for any part or the whole day, please RSVP here to receive more details and carpooling. If you are planning to participate in Nonviolent Moral Fusion Direct Action and/or are able to offer logistical support on Monday, please fill out this form as well. Action of the Week # 2 Lift Every Voice is the interfaith, youth-driven campaign to regulate assault weapons in Oregon. Ballot measure 43 will need fast action on its signature gathering to make it on the ballot this November. The campaign is using volunteers only. All volunteers need training! Now the campaign has video training! You can be trained at home through a YouTube video, or you can go to a group training. Whichever works for you. Check out locations for group training with this link to the campaign. (some locations are listed below, however, new ones are added all the time.) Check out the video training you can do in your own home. Don't forget to register with the campaign so they can get your petition sheets when the Ballot Title is cleared. You can do that here. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell Calendar June 11, Monday, Measure 43, Assault Weapon Ban Signature Gathering Training, in Portland (emphasis on youth involvement) at 7pm at Augustana Lutheran Church, 2710 NE 14th Ave. June 12th Truthful Tuesday live-stream, National Poor People’s Campaign, Everybody's Got the Right to Live, from 4:30 – 7:00 pm, First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th Ave, Portland. June 13, Wednesday, Measure 43, Assault Weapon Ban Signature Gathering Training, in Salem at 7pm at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 790 Marion St N.E. June 14, Thursday, Measure 43, Assault Weapon Ban Signature Gathering Training, in Eugene at 7pm at First Christian Church, 1166 Oak St. June 18th, Salem, National Poor People's Campaign, Direct action to demand an end to the distorted narrative of scarcity. June 19th, Truthful Tuesday live-stream, National Poor People’s Campaign, A New and Unsettling Force, from 4:30 – 7:00 pm, First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th Ave, Portland. June 19, Tuesday, Measure 43, Assault Weapon Ban Signature Gathering Training, in Portland at 7pm at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 147 NW 19th Ave. June 20, Wednesday, Measure 43, Assault Weapon Ban Signature Gathering Training, in Bend at 7pm at Trinity Episcopal Church, 469 NW Wall St. Sept 15 -- Oregon Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice Annual Social Justice Conference. Oregon City. Mark your Calendar. |
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