Archdiocese of New Orleans says help end Human Trafficking

Day of Prayer and Awareness to End Human Trafficking on Feb. 8th

Communications • Wed, Feb 1 2017

Day of Prayer and Awareness to End Human Traffi...

        

For the second time, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is calling on local Catholics and others to “fast from social media” to bring awareness to the issue of Human Trafficking. For just one day, on February 8 they are encouraging particpation with the phrase “don’t post, PRAY!.
The local day of Prayer and Awareness coincides with the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking. It is also timed in advance of the Carnival season activities, a time when law enforcement notes an increase in human trafficking activities.
“Victims of human trafficking no longer have a say in their own lives,” says archdiocesan Respect Life Office Director Debbie Shinskie.  “They are essentially ‘silenced’ by their traffickers.  Our day of fasting from social media is an effort to be in solidarity with the silence of the victims.”   
All archdiocesan social media platforms will go silent on February 8, and several church parishes and archdiocesan agencies are joining in the effort to raise awareness of this important issue. The concept is that by not participating in social communications on February 8 and by letting family and friends know in advance why, #NOLACatholics can raise awareness of this important issue.
“Social media has become a place of incessant posting,” adds Shinskie. “Rather than be one more voice among the many advocating for awareness & justice, we are taking the opposite approach in suggesting that for 24 hours, we pray instead of posting on the very platform that predators often use for illicit activities.”

International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking: February 8

Archdiocese of New Orleans Communications, Resources and Social Media Toolkit 2017

Once again this year the archdiocesan Respect Life Office will sponsor a Day of Social Media Silence to bring awareness to the crime of Human Trafficking in our city, our country and in our world. On February 8, on the Feast Day of St. Joesphine Bahkita and in conjunction with the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking, all social media accounts of the Archdiocese of New Orleans will go silent from 12 Midnight to 11:59 pm in “solidarity with those who are silenced” using the very tool that traffickers most often use to do their heinous business.  All parishes, schools and ministries of the archdiocese as well as all Catholics and members of the community are invited to join in this social media fast reminding ourselves for this one day, “don’t post, pray” for the victims, sellers and buyers involved in human trafficking. 
 For more information or with questions, please email Debbie Shinskie at respectlife@arch-no.org.