Welcome to the July 14, 2021 edition of Just 3 Things, the weekly social action newsletter of the Office of Human Life & Dignity. If this email was forwarded to you, and you'd like to receive it each week, please click here. 

Valerie Schmalz

Director

Office of Human Life & Dignity

Archdiocese of San Francisco

Today, 50 million people have dementia, but in just 20 years that number will more than double. Fundamental human dignity, already under assault on a spectrum of issues, is increasingly being robbed of those with dementia. How can the Church respond now and in the future? This urgent topic is the subject of a new book, "Losing Our Dignity", by Charles Camosy.  Tune in to the July 26 webinar at 11 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time with Dr. Camosy, and a  panel of experts including a representative of the Little Sisters of the Poor, Kathryn Jean Lopez, chair of New York's Pro-Life Commission, Orange Bishop Kevin W. Vann and more. The Archdiocese of San Francisco Office of Human Life & Dignity and Office of Pastoral Ministry are cosponsoring this event.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement  is taking a step toward recognizing the importance of the mother-child bond.  The agency involved in deportations and other immigration-related detention proceedings announced July 9 it would not detain, arrest or take into custody pregnant or nursing migrants for violating immigration laws except in exceptional circumstances. This includes women who have given birth within a year, the agency said, adding it was doing so “in recognition of the time needed for infant development and parental bonding.”

The Chinese Communist government's genocide and enslavement in forced labor camps of 1 to 3 million ethnic minority Muslim Uyghurs continues. Despite increasing public condemnation, including the U.S. government's recognition of the genocide in January, 83 global brands have been connected to Uyghur labor.  In an interview with The Pillar, the vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Nury Turkel talks about what we can do. Turkel was born in a re-education camp in China during the country’s Cultural Revolution. He was later granted asylum in the United States, and today, he is the first U.S.-educated Uyghur-American lawyer. (Photo from saveuighur.org)