(PNS) Even before flooding from Hurricane Maria destroyed their home’s contents in 2017, Waleska García Castro and her family faced a human-made threat that could have caused them an even greater disruption. This family, along with others residing near the Martin Peña Channel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, did not have a deed to their dwelling, and they were looking at the possibility of displacement. Mariolga Juliá-Pacheco, coordinator of special projects for the Martin Peña Channel Land Trust, leads a tour for staff members of the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. This threat stemmed from plans to dredge the polluted channel and make other improvements to the waterway. Consequently, property values would likely increase dramatically in this community near San Juan’s financial district, airport and universities. The land would be ripe for speculation and gentrification, and the deedless residents could be forced to leave. Some … [Read more...]

DOUGLAS, Ariz. — Three U.S. Border Patrol agents answered pointed questions about their work during a near two-hour session last week with a delegation from the Presbyterian Mission Agency. The three members of the Douglas Border Patrol Station’s Community Liaison Unit — supervisor Matt Bowers and agents Gary Young and Jimmy Harper — met the delegation in the Douglas office of Frontera de Cristo, a Presbyterian border ministry. A Presbyterian Mission Agency delegation worships with others along the southern portion of the wall dividing the United States and Mexico. (Photo by Mike Ferguson) “We are not on a mission to change your opinion — just to educate,” Bowers said. Many media reports “portray us in a bad light,” he said. What’s less well-known, he said, is how Douglas Station agents have, since Jan. 1, rescued 150 undocumented people who were without food and water, and how agents helped an undocumented woman found alongside a remote mountain trail to give birth. During … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON (PNS)  — President Donald Trump was not the first leader to use tweets, the Rt. Rev. W. Darin Moore told a crowd Monday from the steps of the United Methodist Building, across the street from the U.S. Capitol. He cited Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, saying the powerful leader used to issue pithy statements and edicts akin to today’s tweets. “I have come to let you know that there’s a spirit of Trumpism that has been a part of the human experience,” said Moore, chair of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. “But every time, God has raised up a people to resist, to protest and to cause trouble in the face of the enemy.” The crowd of more than 100 people before him stood ready to join the ranks of those people on Lobby Day, the culmination of Ecumenical Advocacy Days. On Monday, the participants in the four-day social justice training conference went from the meeting rooms of an Arlington, Virginia, hotel to senatorial and congressional offices … [Read more...]

ARLINGTON, Va. (PNS) — Susan Orr came to her first Ecumenical Advocacy Days in 2013, and the past several years, she’s been loading up the van with friends and colleagues in April to make the eight-hour drive from Rochester, New York, to Washington, D.C. “In 2015, I said, ‘I’m going back. Who wants to come with me?’ ” Orr said Sunday night, after the closing plenary for Advocacy Days 2019. “There were about four of us that time, but it just keeps growing. This year, we have a group of seven — one pastor, six ruling elders representing six of our congregations. (Top, L to R) The Rev. Dr. Teresa Hord Owens of the Disciples of Christ preached at Sunday morning worship; The Rev. Jim Kirk held down the fort at the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance booth; Presbyterian Hunger Program associate for International Hunger Concerns Valéry Nodem spoke at an early Saturday afternoon panel moderated by Catherine Gordon of the PC(USA) Office of Public Witness. (Bottom, L to R) Melanie R. Smith … [Read more...]