Representatives from the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill and Blauvelt, along with their Sisters from across the nation, will be in Washington, D.C., tomorrow (April 15) through Thursday to press Congress to “immediately improve U.S. efforts to resettle Iraqi refugees.”

This isn’t a new subject for the Dominican Sisters.

In this Journal News file photo from Nov. 13, 2004, The Dominican Sisters Justice Promoteres held a press conference at Rosary Hall at Dominican College in Blauvelt to discuss human rights in Iraq. At the time, there were about 200 Dominican sisters living in Bagdad, Basra and Mosul. The panel pictured were, from left to right, Sisters Arlene Flaherty of Blauvelt, Pat DeMarco of Amityville, Ceil Lavin of Blauvelt, Ursula McGovern of Blauvlet, Pat Jelly of Newburgh and Anne Lythgoe of Elkins Park, Pa.

A message put out today by the Sisters said:

In 2007 the United States fell far short of its promise to permanently resettle 7,000 Iraqis and already the promise to resettle 12,000 Iraqis in 2008 is showing a dismally slow start. Approximately 2,500 of the promised 7,000 were resettled in 2007.

Sisters Patricia Horan and Arlene Flaherty will represent Blauvelt. Sister Flaherty “coordinated the Delegation of Women Religious who went to Lebanon and Syria to experience the crisis of the Iraqi refugees who have been displaced as a result of the War with Iraq.”

Sister Eileen Gannon will represent Sparkill and all Dominican Sisters, as she represents the Dominican Leadership as a non-governmental (NGO) representative at the United Nations.

This is what the Sisters, along with Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC), are calling on Congress to do:

• Strengthen humanitarian assistance to the region by providing increased funding to international organizations and non-governmental organizations providing essential humanitarian aid to internally displaced Iraqis and Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries. Also provide additional bilateral assistance to refugee hosting countries to help their national systems expand to accommodate refugee needs and to ease the strains on local communities.
• Increase support for reconciliation, recovery and community-based development in Iraq.
• Improve U.S. admissions and resettlement of especially vulnerable refugees from Iraq by becoming the global leader in resettling displaced Iraqis in an expedient manner, giving priority to the most vulnerable cases in accordance with UNHCR guidelines.

For more information about their efforts, you can visit this website; to learn more about the Dominican Sisters in Blauvelt and Sparkill, go here.

(And for those of you wondering why someone named Amy Vernon is writing this post and not Suzan Clarke, that’s because Suzan’s out of the office for a couple of weeks. I’ll try to pop in occasionally with updates while she’s away.)

Tomorrow will mark the 40th anniversary of the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

It was just one day prior — on April 3, 1968 — that King gave his seminal and celebrated “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, in which he foreshadowed his own death.

Speaking at the Mason Temple in Memphis, where he had gone to supporting striking sanitation workers, he talked of attempts and threats on his life, asking what that would mean for him.

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

The next day, April 4, King was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. He was 39.

His death plunged the nation into turmoil, sparking riots in more than 100 cities.

His killer, James Earl Ray, died in prison in 1998 while serving a 99-year sentence for King’s murder.

During a celebration of King’s birth in January, the Rev. Ucall Harris delivered a sermon at Pilgrim Baptist Church that addressed the longevity of King’s dream.

Listen to a brief report of the service here: Download: