Archdiocese of Newark Recieves National Recognition The Archdiocese of Newark has won a national award for involving students in the campaign against sweatshops and child labor. Sister Christine Coakley, O.P. of Saint Thomas the Apostle School, Bloomfield, and Kay Furlani, Director of Human Concerns Office at the Archdiocese of Newark, represented the Archdiocese at the Selected Program for Improving Catholic Education for 2000 (SPICE) awards program July 6-9 at Boston College. The program is part of an initiative created by the Archdiocese of Newark three years ago to promote awareness through education of the existence of sweatshop and child labor conditions, and as a call to action to eliminate sweatshops. Since launched by the Archdiocese, this "sweatshop initiative" has spread across the country. St. Thomas the Apostle School implemented the program after Msgr. John Gilchrist, Pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Harrison, a staunch advocate for the anti-sweatshop movement, spoke to the students about the horrible conditions endured by women and children laborers in foreign countries. Msgr. Gilchrist suggested that St. Thomas the Apostle School utilize a Teaching Resources on Sweatshops and Child Labor, which he developed with assistance from a local labor representative, as a motivational tool in its curriculum. A group of six students in St. Thomas the Apostle School and a teacher moderator devised a plan of action to make the entire school body conscious of how children worldwide are being exploited, and to present a proposal to the Mayor of Bloomfield to declare the municipality "Sweat Free." The students met with each grade and gave a presentation on sweatshop conditions following guidelines for the appropriate grade level. The video "Stop Sweatshops" was also shown. Soon, teachers throughout the school incorporated consciousness-raising elements into the curriculum. The students were also sucessful in the effort to spur the Mayor and City Council of Bloomfield to adopt a resolution on May 3, 1999, stating in part, that Bloomfield "would not purchase, rent or take on consignment goods for use or for resale at city owned enterprises which were produced under harsh or 'sweatshop' conditions." "I never envisioned it to have such a nationwide impact," said Furlani. Other dioceses from cities such as San Francisco and Buffalo have called her requesting the resource. "I only hope that people become more conscious consumers and participate in the campaign to monitor and hopefully eradicate the struggle against sweatshops." For more information about the Archdiocese of Newark's Teaching Resource on Sweatshops and Child Labor, contact Kay Furlani at the Human Concerns Office in the Archdiocese at (973) 497-4341.
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