Nineteenth and 21st centuries as well as global human trafficking: A Mercy Concern (brief - Pastoral)

1. Indicate the readings you prepared for class and name two or three themes the author presented. I read Catherine McAuley in the Nineteenth and Twenty-First Centuries as well as Global Human Trafficking: A Mercy Concern. One theme is that women and children, societies most vulnerable continue to be exploited. Another theme is that the poor continue to be poor regardless of what century. This is due to exploitation. 2. Name your strongest attraction to the reading/s and why this might be so. I was attracted to the United Nations asking governments to recognize Human Trafficking and asking governments to act against it. This is because control of this problem as is any problem of such magnitude can only be controlled if it is taken seriously at government level. There rests the solution for correction otherwise it is just a bandage. 3. Name your strongest resistance to the reading/s and why this might be so. I was resistant to the Sisters of Mercy belief in living in poverty and harsh conditions. I think this because I believe that good rest, nourishment and positive stimulus allows one to think more clearly and become stronger to deal more effectively with what arises. My opinion is that poverty should be fought not joined. 4. How do your attractions and resistances challenge or affirm you as you engage in this theological reflection process? I found it very interesting that a parish priest refused to appoint a regular chaplain at a salary that could be afforded for the 60 women in the Baggot Street House. Thus Catherine McAuley had to do this herself (bandage solution). For women helping women, power is needed for substantial modifications in societies. I am resistant in women remaining in subservient positions where they can be controlled in one form or another. Only equal power within all people can solutions begin. Radical transformations in the present system is required to correct wrongs, such as poverty and exploitation. This has affirmed my reflection process.