top of page
Writer's pictureProfiles in Catholicism
Jul 12, 202124 min read

Human Trafficking

Updated: Jul 14, 2021



A Message from the Editor


Each year, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked across international borders and the trade is growing. In he United States, 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked each year. We all share a responsibility to help end this tragedy. I am asking our readers to pray daily to help end this challenge to the dignity and value of life.


When I founded both The Physicians Association for AIDS and The International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, I travelled to more than 20 countries to help improve treatment of and prevention of HIV infection with a special emphasis on children. Please help my friend Francis Otieno care for children affected by HIV/AIDS. He desperately needs your donations. Because of the exchange rate, even a few dollars can substantially help and protect these children.


A Quote to Remember


“It is not possible to remain indifferent before the knowledge that human beings are bought and sold like goods! I think of the adoption of children for the extraction of their organs, of women deceived and obliged to prostitute themselves, of workers exploited and denied rights or a voice, and so on. And this is human trafficking. It is precisely on this level that we need to make a good examination of conscience: how many times have we permitted a human being to be seen as an object, to be put on show in order to sell a product or to satisfy an immoral desire? The human person ought never to be sold or bought as if he or she were a commodity. Whoever uses human persons in this way and exploits them, even if indirectly, becomes an accomplice of injustice.”

by Pope Francis


Donations


If your find Profiles in Catholicism of interest and value, please help support our staff in several countries with a small donation.


Special Prayer


Prayer for the Victims/Survivors of Human Trafficking


They are the trafficked, the poor and wretched of the earth, the downtrodden enslaved women and children, and men, forced to work without pay, sexually exploited, and abused.


Lord Jesus you came to free them all, to inspire us your followers to stand up and fight for their dignity and freedom and rights, today and every day.

You walked among them and declared them all to be your friends, your family, your people, you are one with them, inspire us Lord to be one with you and one with them to bring them freedom, justice, peace and healing .Amen. by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer in Memory of Father Stan Swamy SJ


India, India why have you killed your greatest son who served the poor and lifted up the wretched and oppressed. No greater champion, a saintly servant gave his life for them, and died suffering in distress. He served the poor, the powers banded him subversive, as Jesus was, and locked him in the dark cruel cell, He was denied his rights, medical help and lived in human hell.

At 84 this Jesuit Priest, Stan Swamy was falsely blamed and put on trial,| tagged terrorist in his elderly years weak and frail. He suffered Parkinson’s and other illness from his life of poverty and denial, A man who stood for justice and died a prisoner while the judiciary denied his bail. Who is more corrupt, the police or prosecutor, the judges or the system that steals the wealth? It leaves poverty and great hunger, pain and misery for the poor that is sorely felt.

Let the protests grow and may his memory never fade, until the greatest debt of gratitude with all respect and honor is duly paid.| Father Stan is the man who fought for truth and justice, he lived among the poor, He organized them to speak their needs and from oppression rise, Until the iron fist of Modi fell fast and hard with sudden shock and surprise. Yet Stan lives on, his life and words are there to guide, lead us on and set us afire,So none of us will forget to follow his example and fight for justice and to his greatness we aspire. Amen by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for Father Stan Swamy S.J.


Good and gracious God.

Father Stan Swamy, S.J. died in the hospital after being put on a ventilator. He had COVID and other diseases that added to his underlying issues. He was among 16 accused in a sedition case. They were charged under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the federal National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is tasked to combat terrorist activities. Charges under UAPA are considered non-bailable. Please welcome Father Swamy into your loving arms as he has served you tirelessly for over 50 years. Help the others captured with him. We ask you this through Jesus Christ, His Son, Our Lord. Please help all those in India to receive the vaccine necessary for their health.

By Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for those killed and Injured in the Philippine plane crash


Loving God,

Please embrace those who died in the plans crash into your eternal loving care where theft will be infinitely happy for eternity, Please comfort their families and friends. Also, help those who have been injured to heal soon. Amen by Sarah Lyon Profiles in Catholicism


A prayer for all the people massacred in Ethiopia


“Christ Crucified, Mary and Joseph”


Dear Lord,


Who can describe being vulnerable to torture,

Rape, being brutalized, left broken and violated, killed,

Taken out and shot, unpredictably, leaving a community

Humiliated, decimated, heart-broken and hoping against

Hope that they and their children are not destined for death

Or the terrible events that can take place, leaving a person

Hoping for death amidst the pillaging and silence of others?


Dear Mary,


We do not know how to describe what it was like for you to be

At the foot of the cross, seeing the final hours of your Son’s agony, Knowing from the wounds what had happened, both in secret and From the carrying of the cross, seeing the pinned hands and feet, Knowing the pain of hammer and nails, the rough wood, the crown Of thorns, what had been inflicted by the cross itself, what was Happening in front of you as He struggled to breath, spoke and died.


Dear Joseph,


How mysterious was your leaving, in silence, your life spent in the

Service of the family, how you must understand the last hours of Anguish of so many men and boys, taken, shot, leaving or not leaving Others, depending on whether or not they were taken too, shot, Mistreated, who knows, from fragmented reports, all we know is that A community and more was robbed of life amidst a violent conflict, Targeting all and unable to answer whether or not it will end or …


Dear Mary,


Standing at the foot of the cross you knew what torment meant and You hoped against hope that your Son’s death would not be an end of Hope but a beginning, what more can we ask of you now, that you Plead for us as you pleaded for your Son’s enemies, that these untold Deaths and acts of abuse will not be the last word of what happens in Our community but that your son will turn our “water into wine”, our Wasted lives into an appeal for your abundant mercy to be among us.


Lord,


You came not to condemn but to forgive, and you gave your life to Its drips and dregs that dropped, beside your mother, knowing that You had given everything, as she had, in sharing your suffering, as We have, in living through the death and mutilation of our Community, not knowing if ever there will be peace, a time to Recover, a time when there will be no more violations and only help To begin again and again, the heart-breaking work of recovering love.

by Francis Etheredge Proviles in Cathlicism


Francis Etheredge is the author of eleven books the latest of which is the forthcoming, Within Reach of You: A Book of Prose and Prayers:


Prayer for the stolen children

Taken from their indigenous home and from their families torn and taken, they never saw their parents, never felt the hugs and love for which they longed and cried long into the cold dark night in a school where they learned the pain of loss and loneliness.

From that misery and the hurt, one by one they died, then hundreds more, buried without a name, a marker or anyone to know or mourn and cry, to say here in this church-run residential school lived and, in their childhood, died of hunger and neglect, unloved and unknown.

The natives of this stolen land so unjustly betrayed by the invader and oppressor that wished to erase their nations by kidnap and abduction cruel, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen

by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism

Anti-Human Trafficking Interviews

General Interviews

Human Trafficking Articles and Commentaries


Featured Report

Featured Report

Featured Report

Featured Report

Featured Report

Featured Report

General Articles and Commentaries

Featured Report

Featured Report

Featured Report

Please support one of our organizations, colleagues, and friends who need help

Book Reviews and Commentaries

Television Reviews/Commentaries

Film Reviews/Commentaries

Theater Reviews

Feasting with the Saints

Videos


Children are safe from Coronavirus at Preda | Preda Foundation, Inc.


Nefarious: Merchant of Souls | Human Trafficking Documentary - Full Movie


Invisible: A Fight to End Human Trafficking Documentary


Trafficked in America (full documentary) | FRONTLINE


Human Trafficking Song of Hope - "Trying To Find You" - Pamela Rose Rodriguez


Advertisers


Baccarat Papal Paperweights available at $75. Each


Pope John XXIII Created by Baccarat In 1966 Sulphide sculpted by Albert David of the French Mint

For purchasing information contact Nancy Alfano 312-623-0001



bottom of page