Timely Voice of the Poor Webinars Available Online

As astute Vincentians, we experience first-hand the way “our systems” can batter the already fragile poor and marginalized whose voices are muffled if not drowned out by the storms in which they find themselves, often it seems continuously.  That’s one reason the Society’s Voice of the Poor webinars are so important, and so timely.

For instance, the November Voice of the Poor webinar, which was recently posted on-line at the Society’s website, used Pope Francis’s recent encyclical on climate change, Laudato Si, to highlight the devastating impact of environmental neglect on the poor and marginalized.  With the world-wide global summit on Climate Change currently underway in Paris, this particular webinar is exceptionally timely for Vincentians. It helps us understand the numerous ways, some subtle and some very apparent, that global climate change affects those we serve on daily basis. In Pope Francis’s special and unique way as the world’s leading Voice of the Poor today, it makes real the practical impact our culture of waste and exclusion has on the poor and it identifies our responsibility as Catholics and world citizens to respond with a demand for change.

For those who haven’t been able to participate in the Voice of the Poor webinars, or who want a refresher, all webinars are available online at http://www.svdpusa.org/members/Programs-Tools/Programs/Voice-of-the-Poor/What-Has-Been-Accomplished. Check them out!  Educate yourself and become more aware of the need that Pope Francis so powerfully call us to recognize – for social justice as well as for charity. Each webinar lasts about an hour.

• The Devastating Effects of Environmental Neglect on the Poor Through the Eyes of Pope Francis (and What we Can Do)
• Immigration Reform
• Shoulder to Shoulder Advocacy with the Poor and Marginalized
• Restorative Justice and the Vincentian Re-entry Organizing Project
• Predatory Lending
• Growing Voice of the Poor
• Establishing a Voice of the Poor Committee

Live Voice of the Poor webinars are conducted the third Thursday of every month at 3 PM EST, and always announced in the e-Gazette.  Comments and ideas about future Voice of the Poor webinar topics are encouraged.  Please e-mail Tom Dwyer, National Chair, Voice of the Poor Committee, at tdwyerma@comcast.net.

Suggestions Welcome for Other Topics