Ana Chavarin of PCI: "When One Part of the Body is Hurting, Then the Whole Body is Hurting."
In Tucson, Arizona, work at Pima County Interfaith began advocating for pandemic relief as the pandemic hit, seeing it as a natural outgrowth of its grassroots work.
Ana Chavarin, an organizer with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development-funded organization, said its community leaders quickly advocated for rental assistance for people threatened with eviction. And, after weeks of activism, members were able to convince health care providers to bring vaccines to some of the most vulnerable communities Feb. 6.
She credited local leaders for their work in neighborhoods, parishes and church congregations. She said the effort is rooted in church teaching on solidarity and recognizing the dignity of each person....
Chavarin recalled that when coronavirus testing began in Tucson, the site was established far from low-income communities. For people with a vehicle, the trip would take 40 minutes. However, for poor residents it required riding on multiple buses on a trek that took several hours in each direction.
To prevent such inequities, Chavarin urged collaboration among low-, middle- and upper-income residents to develop solutions to community challenges. While such conversations might currently be pertinent during the pandemic, they could also lead to meetings on environmental issues, jobs and education, she said.
She cited the letter to the Corinthians for inspiration in understanding the importance of building such relationships: "When one part of the body is hurting, then the whole body is hurting."
"We need to understand," Chavarin said, "that we are one body in need of creating those connections and having those conversations to talk about specific goals."
[Photo Credit: Eloisa Lopez, Catholic News Service / Reuters]
To Overcome Economic Disparities, Turn to Papal Encyclicals, Panelists Say, National Catholic Reporter [pdf]
VIP/AIN Persist in Push for Ongoing Testing in State Prisons
Kim Crecca, VIP leader and coordinator of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona's prison ministry program, commends the department for testing all inmates in the state in a short period of time, but says "There's no plan in place for continued testing...so, somebody who tested negative, you know, a week ago, could be positive today based on something somebody brought in from the outside." (Arizona Republic)
Inside an Outbreak: How Tucson Prison's Whetstone Unit Became a COVID-19 Hotspot, Arizona Republic
After COVID-19 Cases Spike in Tucson Prison Unit, Advocates Demand Action to Spare Inmates, AZ Central
Arizona Interfaith Calls on Dept. of Corrections to Mitigate Spread of COVID-19 in Prisons
A late-July spike in Pima County COVID-19 cases shown on the Arizona Department of Health COVID-19 webpage shows ... 642 cases, the highest number of cases by far that month.
On July 2, Barbara Hudson died in the San Carlos Unit in Perryville Women’s Prison in Goodyear. Before her death, she sought medical care for shortness of breath and chest pain, said Kim Crecca, convenor of the Diocesan Prison Ministry, who has volunteered at Perryville and communicates often with prisoners.
Crecca is part of the Arizona Interfaith Network, a group of faith-based leaders across the state that organizes people for social and economic improvement.
“We feel that her death is a rallying cry, not only to help with the release of inmates as possible but also about the underlying conditions there that make them really vulnerable to the virus,” Crecca said.
“It was alarming very early on in our conversations with the state about how they were not addressing the asymptomatic nature of the virus,” said Joe Rubio, lead organizer of the Arizona Interfaith Network.
The faith groups started meeting with Department of Corrections Director David Shinn in April and less often with Dr. Cara Christ, Arizona Department of Health Services director, to discuss what the state could do to better protect inmates from the virus.
“No one who is incarcerated should have a death sentence by virus, but particularly those who are incarcerated for low-level offenses,” [Episcopal Bishop Jennifer] Reddall said. “They should not be put in a place where they’re going to die because of some infraction."
[Photo Credit: ]
Tucson Prison Inmates Say Close Conditions, Slow Test Results Spread COVID-19, Arizona Daily Star [pdf]
Msgr. Carrillo, PCIC Founder, is Eulogized in Tucson
One of the first Tucson-born, Mexican-American priests to serve in the Diocese of Tucson was eulogized and laid to rest by three dozen priests and deacons, and Bishop Gerald Kicanas, in addition to extended family and friends.
Described as a "giant" and a "Pope Francis priest" long before the Franciscan arrived at the Vatican, Msgr. Carrillo was a founding member of Pima County Interfaith Council.
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