By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent
A prayer vigil will be held at the Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse in Brighton on Sunday afternoon to raise awareness and pray for an end to human trafficking.
Local Catholic Sisters from a variety of congregations in the Boston area will host the gathering, free and open to all interested participants, for the third year at the campus at 637 Cambridge St.
“Human Trafficking is modern-day slavery,” event organizers said in an announcement. “While many call it a hidden crime, it exits right here, right now in the Boston area … Human trafficking forces men, women, and children into pornography, prostitution and other sexual exploitation, as well as labor exploitation.”
The vigil will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 8, to commemorate the fifth annual National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, which falls on Jan. 11 each year.
A resolution passed by the U.S. Senate in 2007 marked the date as a day of awareness and vigilance for victims of Human Trafficking worldwide. In recent years, the issue has gained new awareness and become the focus of some new legislation, including in Massachusetts. Last week, President Barack Obama for the second-straight year declared all of January “National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.”
Sunday’s service will begin with a gathering in the chapel of the Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse www.csjboston.org and proceed outside for part of the vigil before returning to the chapel for a brief conclusion followed by light refreshments.
The event is coordinated by the Anti-Trafficking Coalition of the Boston Unit of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
“The goal of the Anti-Trafficking Coalition [ATC] is to raise awareness of the reality of human trafficking both locally and globally and to alert concerned people of good will about how individuals can make a difference in eradicating human trafficking.”
Over the past three years, the Boston-area coalition has sponsored three symposia addressing the issue of human trafficking and have another planned for this coming May.
For more information call 617-746-2029.
E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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