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Author traces a spiritual odyssey
to a personal encounter with God
New York, September 24, 2009 — A member of the National Council of Churches Interfaith Relations Commission — a convert from Islam to Christianity — has concluded that a personal encounter with God can be powerful enough to transcend any one faith tradition.
By Jerry Kellman
Director of Organizing, Gamaliel Metro Chicago
This is the second part of a talk delivered to the International Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Social Work with groups. The talk was on the experience and learning gained from training Barack Obama as an organizer. The first part of the talk emphasized how Barack had to decide, and all of us must decide, whether we are going to define ourselves or let others define us. The first part of the talk developed this by talking about the importance of story (narrative) and action for organizing.
The campaign for comprehensive immigration reform has been slowed down with the Health Care debate but we’re still moving forward: the delay gives us more time to educate, organize, and mobilize. A new, comprehensive packet of resources on immigration reform can be found at www.ReformImmigrationFORAmerica.org.
And don’t forget to sign the petition while you are at the website!
President Obama and Secretary Napolitano President Obama have once more reaffirmed his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform, pledging that “we can get this done.” The President and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Napolitano met with immigrant advocates, faith leaders, labor, business, and law enforcement officials to listen to concerns and discuss the next steps forward. Both the President and Secretary Napolitano acknowledged the importance of immigration to our country as well as the need to create a sustainable legal immigration system for the 21st century.
The latest word is that Senator Schumer will have proposed legislation drafted this fall. It is expected that, unlike in the health care debate, the discussion and debate will take place in congressional committees. Hopefully there will be a vote in March. We can imagine what the public conversation over immigration reform will be like as we witness that of the health care reform! So let’s continue our education, organizing, mobilizing and prayer!
To sign up for Immigration Policy Updates and Action Alerts from the National Immigration Forum and/or their Daily News Clips, highlighting the top immigration stories of the day, go to: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5681/signUp.jsp?key=575
Sister Barbara Pfarr, SSND
Director, Civil Rights of Immigrants Initiative
WISDOM
bpfarr_wisdom@sbcglobal.net
By Jerry Kellman
Director of Organizing, Gamaliel Metro Chicago
I’ll begin by sharing some of President Barack Obama’s inner struggles during the time he was organizing and how his training as an organizer helped him with these struggles.
When I met Barack Obama for the first time at a coffee shop in New York City in 1985, most of the issues that he would have to grapple with in political life, and the gifts that he would draw on to overcome them were already present. Barack was African American on the outside. But on the inside, he was a citizen of the world. He was struggling to figure out how to respond to the varied misconceptions that people had of him. People judged him by his skin color. Some liked it, some did not. People judged him by his pattern of speech and the prestige of his education. Some liked it and some did not. Being judged by whom people think you are, rather than who you know yourself to be is difficult for anyone, but it was particularly difficult for a young man who wanted to make a difference in the world.