All God’s Children: Together on a Journey of Hope

St. Teresa’s Social Concerns & Justice Committee would like to invite you to a panel discussion on current immigration policy and potential reforms. The issues of immigration enforcement, detention, and family reunification will be among those we examine through the lens of our faith. The date was selected to coincide with Holy Family’s Flight into Egypt.

All God’s Children: Together on a Journey of Hope

A Panel Discussion on Immigration

Monday, January 5th at 7:00 PM
St Teresa’s – Memorial Hall
306 Morris Avenue
Summit, NJ 07901

For more information please contact Karen Malnati at 908-598-8194 or malnatifamily@hotmail.com

To RSVP or for directions click here.

Speaker Bios:

Amy Gottlieb
Amy Gottlieb is the Program Director of the American Friends Service Committee Immigrant Rights Program in Newark,. She graduated from Rutgers Law School-Newark in 1996, and has represented intending immigrants in family-based petitions and applicants for asylum. Gottlieb is a board member of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, La Fuente, and the Rutgers Law School, and also serves on the Immigration and Nationality Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, as well as the Minority Concerns Committee of the Hudson County Court System.

Juan Carlos Ruiz
Juan Carlos Ruiz is an immigrant and son of immigrant parents. He holds a M. Div in Theology from St. Mary of the Lake, Chicago. He is a member of the New Sanctuary Coalition in NYC and the Northeast Coordinator for the New Sanctuary Movement. The New Sanctuary Movement was established in 2007 with the goal of protecting immigrant families from unjust deportation, affirming and making visible these families as children of God and awakening the moral imagination of the country through prayer and witness.

Rev. Petero A. N. Sabune
Petero Sabune, was born in Uganda, where his father was an Anglican Priest and his brother, James, was murdered by Idi Amin. He graduated from Vassar College with a degree in political science and earned a M. Div from the Union Theological Seminary. Sabune has been widely praised for his work with Episcopal faith communities and for his work with immigrants. He is currently Pastor and Protestant Chaplain, Sing Sing Correctional Facility and Associate, Trinity Church; Ossining, New York.

The Advent Conspiracy

“The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man's decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.” John 1: 9-14

This post is a response to one of those chain emails that bemoans the lack of Christmas spirit as measured by how many people are saying "Merry Christmas". The email was lacking in all joy and had a tone much more befitting Ebenezer Scrooge than Tiny Tim as it railed against certain religious and political groups. Besides even if everyone this very minute climbed to the top of their roof and shouted Merry Christmas from the top of their lungs would that really do anything to change the focus of our holiday plans?

This Christmas season what would happen if we all renewed our commitment to justice and peace for all of God's children?

What would happen if we asked others to join us?

Starting in 2006 a handful of churches in the US tried this and now thousands of people in Africa have clean water to drink. They call it The Advent Conspiracy. Check out this website and watch this video to see how they did it.



Christ’s birth is the fulfillment of a promise to God’s people that radical change is not only possible it is promised to those who follow Christ and attempt to share His radical, revolutionary, limitless. This Christmas may we all find a way to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love fully.