Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
January marks Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Few crimes embody the depravity and cruelty of sin like human trafficking. The human person was created in God’s image and likeness, born with the hope of having the opportunity to flourish and grow. Sadly, some in our world see people only as a commodity providing a means to an end, rather than as a unique individual with intrinsic value.
Innocent lives are harmed by human trafficking in many forms. Some are trafficked for physical labor or domestic servitude, while others are sexually trafficked and mistreated in the most unimaginable ways. While it may seem as though these atrocities only occur in faraway lands, law enforcement professionals emphasize that this modern-day slavery hides in the shadows of every society, even in our own communities. The most unlikely of people may be trapped in the cruelty of a trafficked existence.
Human Trafficking Prevention Month is a presidentially designated observance, instituted with the hope that the public, empowered with information and education, can help prevent and respond to human trafficking in our midst. As people of faith, this is certainly something we should take seriously and understand. United to all people in the love and life of Christ, we must decry these crimes committed against the most vulnerable among us.
I ask all in the Diocese of Arlington to research the resources made available by the Department of State, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and other entities, which provide toolkits and educational materials on human trafficking and identifying trafficked individuals. In addition, we must all be willing to report suspicious behavior. Those trapped in the depravity of human trafficking deserve our best efforts to free them from their enslavement, so they may obtain the liberty all people deserve as children of God.
Most fundamentally, please pray regularly for those who are being trafficked, that they would be freed and healed from their trauma. And for traffickers, pray that they would turn from their ways, see God’s love, and seek to live in the light of Christ. As Christians, we know that even the most hardened of hearts are capable of conversion and repentance.
Joined in prayer, may we work together for the total eradication of human trafficking.
