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http://www.catholicmessenger.net/2014/12/ecumenical-work-on-human-trafficking-impressesvatican/

Ecumenical work on human trafficking impressesVatican

Catholic Messenger
Staff

By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger
An ecumenical effort in the Davenport area to raise awareness of human trafficking and to assist its victims has
captured the attention of the Vatican. The Rev. Brian McVey, an Episcopal priest who has doggedly pursued this issue
with help from the Diocese of Davenport, was invited to attend a Vatican conference on human trafficking last month.
The conference preceded the signing of an interfaith
agreement Dec. 2 by Pope Francis, Archbishop Justin Welby
of Canterbury, England, and other global religious leaders
calling for eradication of modern slavery by the year 2020.
The agreement is the result of an initiative of the Global
Freedom Network, launched in March after a joint agreement
by the Vatican, Al-Azhar University and the Anglican
Community.
Rev. McVey said the Roman Catholic and Anglican Church (of
which the Episcopal Church is a member) were seeking
opportunities to foster their relationship and human trafficking
was among several issues they agreed to work on.

Barb Arland-Fye
Bishop Martin Amos and Reverend Brian McVey of St. Albans
Episcopal Church in Davenport converse in Bishop Amos office Nov.
20. Rev. McVey attended a Vatican conference on human trafficking
last month and has been collaborating with the Diocese of
Davenport on the issue.

I was one of 20 people invited by Pope Francis and

Archbishop Justin to begin to help craft the Churchs response
to the issue of human trafficking. They have invited all faith
groups to participate, said Rev. McVey, rector of St. Albans
Episcopal Church in Davenport. He said he was floored to get the invitation to participate in the Vatican conference
held Nov. 3-8 and titled: The Consultation on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.
Church leaders apparently became aware of the work Rev. McVey was doing in Davenport with lay people of various
faiths, religious Sisters and clergy. These individuals formed the Attacking Trafficking group which has organized
conferences to raise awareness of human trafficking and whose members speak to churches and other organizations.
The groups members also worked with Iowa legislators on a law that ensures child trafficking victims will not be
charged with prostitution.
Rev. McVey, collaborating with the Davenport Dioceses Social Action Office and Catholic Charities in Milwaukee,
helped facilitate direct service for a human trafficking victim, said Kent Ferris, the Social Action Offices director. He
praised Rev. McVeys leadership, which has inspired individual parishioners, laity and religious Sisters to bring their
areas of expertise to the fight against human trafficking.
For a while, Rev. McVey conducted a ministry of presence at a location where he discovered human trafficking, in the
form of prostitution, but hes since been banned from that location. Hed also sought spiritual support from Bishop
Martin Amos of the Davenport Diocese to deal with the frustration building up over the suffering of human trafficking
victims.
Bishop Amos was a willing listener and referred him to a priest of the diocese as a possible spiritual director. I tried to
find someone I thought would be compassionate, would be a good listener, and has good common sense, the bishop

said.
We all need to drink from the well that gives eternal life, Rev. McVey added.
He didnt realize the reach of his ecumenical groups work until seeing the message about the Vatican conference on
his cell phone.
It was an amazing thing to have Archbishop Justin and Pope Francis know the people I was working with and to
have (the two faith leaders) praying for them intentionally. And then to learn that what we are doing is important to
them in their vision of the Church.
At the conference, participants wanted to know about the ecumenical efforts that have been undertaken in the Davenport area on behalf of victims of human trafficking.
Our theological reflection was Why is it working in the Quad Cities, where Anglicans and Catholics are working
together and youre taking in Methodists and even an atheist and keeping focus on the ministry and not the wider
things that divide us? Rev. McVey said.
The participants were saying, You guys are living the vision we have for the Church.
The priest observed: We dont get bogged down in the things that the upper echelon (of the Church) gets bogged
down in.
During the Vatican conference the participants addressed six issues dubbed the six ps of human trafficking:
prevention, prosecution, participation, policy, partnership and protection, Rev. McVey said. The U.S. conferees
evaluated statistics pertaining to successful prosecution of human trafficking cases. The track record hasnt been
good, he said, because many victims are reluctant to pursue prosecution and dont trust the legal system.
Although Rev. McVey, a husband and father of seven is leaving Davenport to minister in a parish in Tennessee, hell
continue his work on human trafficking. The Vatican conference participants have been tasked with presenting a plan
tailored to fighting human trafficking at the provincial or country level, the diocesan level and the parish level.
Rev. McVey said the conference was amazing for him spiritually. He noted that during a break he got to visit the house
where Paul spent the last two years of his life imprisoned, knowing that he would die. Thats probably when he wrote
the Letter to Timothy. He was imprisoned by Jewish and Roman authorities who were trying to stop the spread of the
Gospel. And within two centuries the empire had fallen to the Gospel. When youre dealing with victims of trafficking
theres a lot of darkness and failure. To be reminded here that Paul was in this small house and within 200 years
Constantinople converted God won big time. That was helpful for me personally.
Ending modern slavery
Catholic News Service
As Pope Francis and leaders of other churches and religions signed a declaration Dec. 2 pledging to work together to
help end modern slavery in the world by 2020, he urged governments, businesses and all people of good will to join
forces against this crime against humanity.
Inspired by their religious beliefs and a desire to take practical action, the pope and 11 leaders representing the
Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox, Anglican, Buddhist and Hindu faiths made a united commitment to help eradicate slavery
worldwide.
The leaders signed the joint declaration at the headquarters of Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican Gardens.
We pledge ourselves here today to do all in our power, within our faith communities and beyond, to work together for
the freedom of all those who are enslaved and trafficked so that their future may be restored, the declaration said.
According to the 2014 Global Slavery Index, almost 36 million people are currently caught in some form of modern
slavery; the International Labor Organization estimates that organized crime networks reap about $150 billion a year

from trafficking in persons, about 80 percent of that from prostitution.