The Covenant House: A Shining Symbol of Christian Social Justice

When taking about social justice issues in the world today, it is always vital to discuss which aspects are good and bad, or simply which aspects reinforce or undercut our values as Christians. One of the many aspects of this issue that reinforces our Christian values is Covenant House, a concrete social structure found in many places. The Covenant House takes in youth who are facing many obstacles in life. Some of them are ones who have run away either from home, abuse, or trafficking. While in Covenant House, the children and teens receive education, food and water, shelter, substance abuse treatment, and many other helpful things. The non—profit organization does not care about where the troubled children and teens have been, their main concern is where they will be going, and what they will be doing in the future. This concrete social structure has the ability to reinforce our Christian values, by simply doing what they're doing. By taking in troubled youth and helping them build better lives for themselves, Covenant House makes people, like myself, proud that there are still people and organizations that are willing to do something like this. Seeing and hearing about people doing tasks like these helps reinforce my Christian values that I have always possessed. We see Covenant House, as well as many other organizations like this, carrying out the Catholic Social Teaching theme of Caring for God's Creation, and acting like Jesus did in the Bible toward the poor and troubled—the workers do not turn the needy away. One Ignatian theme that workers in the Covenant House portray is Cura personalis—cure of the whole person. When taking a troubled or poor child in, the worker(s) have helped and will help the person overcome any difficulty or obstacle he or she faced, curing the whole person, or being. In this aspect, we see social grace through the workers who dedicate their lives for helping troubled children and teenagers. Not only are they revealing God's love, but they are also supporting human dignity by assisting troubled children and teens by helping them get their life back on track, and of course impels the theme of common good. Even though trafficked women live a tough life, there are thankfully people who are willing to turn it around for the better.

One aspect that undercuts our Christian values is the social perception in Albania that women are, "under," men when speaking about social class. Many people believe that they are important, but not as important and prominent as men are. Because of this, women are a no—brainer when it comes to the question of who to traffic. Sure most of the people the women are being sold to are men, but if women were viewed differently, this would not be happening as much. This unfortunate aspect can undercut one's Christian values by making he or she think that women are second—class citizens, when in reality every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. This perception of women held in Albania goes against many themes of Catholic Social Teaching, like Life and Dignity for the Human Person, and Care for God's creation. It also does not reflect the attitude Jesus had toward women in the New Testament. Some Ignatian themes it lacks include both Magis and in a way, Timothy Hachin's observation. We see social sin in this social perception because the perception itself and the people (mostly men) who believe it both oppose God's love and disrespect human dignity by viewing women unequal to men.

Many passages can be found throughout both the Old and New Testaments that are relevant to human trafficking. The first passage hails from, "Proverbs," in which the author states, "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy" (Catholic Youth Bible, Prov. 31.8—9). Although at a first glance this may seem as though it does not relate to human trafficking, it does. Sure we say at times that we strive to end a social injustice like this, but most of us do not seem to realize that WE are the ones who must open our mouths, "for the rights of all who are destitute." If we see, know of, or hear of something horrific occurring like human trafficking, it is our responsibility to say something, and speak up for the victim(s). This second passage coming from the New Testament, states, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" (Catholic Youth Bible, James. 5.16). An injustice like human trafficking requires that we as God's righteous children and followers pray to Him concerning this, as well as many other issues. Communicating to our Lord about an injustice like human trafficking holds great power—more than we think.

Many Catholic Social Teaching themes are relevant to this issue, however there are three that are most relevant concerning human trafficking, no matter which country it takes place in or which gender it concerns. One thing that these themes have in common is that they are each absent from the social injustice. The first theme that is currently absent is Life and Dignity of the Human Person. Capturing and selling young women for sex in Albania, or any country for that matter, is evidently stripping the victim's life and dignity. Since each and every one of us possess human dignity, we are called to be treated with love, respect, and equality. If one traffics another human being for the purposes of sex and/or labor, he/she is not showing that necessary love, respect, and equality towards the trafficked person—it simply goes against God's and the Church's teachings. The second absent theme is Care for God's Creation. By trafficking women, traffickers are treating God's creation like objects, and therefore, without equality. They do not understand that this Catholic Social Theme refers to all creation, not just the creations that the traffickers pick and choose. The last, and arguably most important absent theme, is Common Good. Common Good is defined as, "the overall state of society that enables all people to more easily fulfill their human dignity" (Windley—Daoust 65). How can common good be present while victims of trafficking are having their dignity taken away from them? That's right, it cannot.

Aside from Catholic Social Teaching themes, there are also primarily two Ignatian Lenses that are relevant to this injustice. The first lens is referred to as Cura Personalis, or in English, "care of the [whole] person." Cura Personalis concerns itself with putting others first, and treating them as uniquely created in God's image. If one is trafficking another human, that trafficker is not carrying out Cura Personalis, since they are not concerned with putting the other person first; they simply care about what they can offer sexually, and how much money they can receive from selling the victim. Magis is the second lens—defined simply as the best possible choice among all the possible choices that God places before us. We must strive for Magis. Of all the choices God presents to us, trafficking human beings for sex and/or labor is obviously not the best choice. The right choice must to be help those who are troubled, or in situations like human trafficking.

The last part of a theological reflection is finding a viable Christian approach to this issue. Although it is hard to find one for Human Trafficking of young women in Albania, there is one very simple yet vital and realistic one—making others aware. This can include simply telling others who have authority to monitor an injustice like this, making presentations at a local school or event, etc. Some strengths are letting others who aren't too familiar with the situation know what is going on and passing on knowledge of it, and perhaps some people who are know informed of the situation will let others know, and so on and so on (a positive snowball affect). Some limitations are that if one decides to present it to a local school or event, the message may not get across because the audience does not care, or the people making the presentation themselves may not care enough about the injustice. Making others aware is a great approach, but I do not believe it is the best one. The best approach would be to take action, and physically try to stop human trafficking. This task is very difficult, understandably so, therefore I, as well as others, do not expect this to happen any time soon. I, however, hope and expect that others are being made aware of this issue and some course of action is being put in place.