Pope blesses Louisiana project to support trafficking
victims
(Vatican Radio) A delegation from the U.S. state of
Louisiana was among the special guests meeting with Pope Francis during his
general audience on Wednesday. Led by Governor John Bel Edwards, the delegation
asked the Pope to bless the pioneering work that is going on in Louisiana to
prevent human trafficking and to protect victims who’ve been trapped in this
modern day slavery.
That work includes special training for police officers and
the opening of a shelter for sixteen young women in a secure location near the
city of Baton Rouge.
To find out more about the project Philippa Hitchen spoke to Governor
Edwards and to Fr Jeff Bayhi, pastor of St John the Baptist Catholic Church
in Zachary….
Fr Bayhi was inspired the tireless anti-trafficking efforts
of Italian Consolata Sister Eugenia Bonetti, whose passion, he says “is
contagious”. He explains that the Louisiana initiative has brought together the
governor, state agencies, law enforcement, legislators and senators , alongside
‘Metanoia’, the umbrella group for the project which he founded. “It’s been an
incredible opportunity to see a state reach out and say ‘slaves no more’, we
need to care for these kids” he says.
Governor John Bel Edwards says that Louisiana was a “hotbed”
of human trafficking activity, partly as a result of some 15 million tourists
that come primarily to New Orleans each year. The situation is also impacted by
the “interstate” highway that runs from California to Florida, passing through
southern Louisiana.
“It’s really a tragic circumstance and we have to really do
much better in Louisiana and around the country,” the governor insists.
However, numbers of trafficking cases are dropping because of the Metanoia
shelter initiative.
Speaking about setting up the house, Fr Bayhi says it will
provide shelter for 16 children at a time, allowing them to “feel safe and
secure, give them some sense of worth” as well as providing them with life
skills to enable them to find other ways of earning a living. Sr Eugenia has
helped by sending four sisters who will take care of the young survivors,
together with other local professionals.
Fr Bayhi talks about Pope John Paul II’s writings on the
“culture of death”, saying that human trafficking “is one more step in the
devaluation of the dignity and the sanctity of human life.” He also has a stark
warning for male consumers of the human trafficking industry, saying they
create “a deficit in the dignity of human life.”
“If anyone thinks that internet porn is victimless,” he
insists, “someone is there making those kids do that stuff. They are not there
voluntarily and you’re paying the money that makes it worth while to kidnap
these kids and force them into that. You may have never picked up one of these
children on a roadside but you make that possible”.
“If we want to fight this,” Fr Bayhi concludes, “we have got
to destroy the market that allows human life to be so denigrated. And if you
have any part in that, you’re part of the problem. We invite you to be part of
the solution.”
Find out more about the project on the Metanoia website:
metanoia-inc.org
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