109 HCON 89 IH: Honoring the life of Sister Dorothy Stang. U.S. House of Representatives 2005-03-09 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. CON. RES. 89 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 9, 2005 Mr. Ryan of Ohio (for himself, Mr. Turner, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Ford, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. McCollum of Minnesota, Mr. Conyers, Ms. Kilpatrick of Michigan, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Oberstar, Mr. Towns, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island, Mr. Tiberi, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Gillmor, Mr. Weldon of Pennsylvania, Mr. Evans, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mr. Payne, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Ms. Kaptur, and Mr. Strickland) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Honoring the life of Sister Dorothy Stang.

Whereas Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Dorothy Stang, moved to the Amazon 22 years ago to help poor farmers build independent futures for their families, and was murdered on Saturday, February 12, 2005, at the age of 73, in Anapu, Para, a section of Brazil's Amazon rain forest; Whereas, a citizen of Brazil and the United States, Sister Dorothy worked with the Pastoral Land Commission, an organization of the Catholic Church that fights for the rights of rural workers and peasants, and defends land reforms in Brazil; Whereas her death came less than a week after meeting with the human rights officials of Brazil about threats to local farmers from some loggers and landowners; Whereas, after receiving several death threats, Sister Dorothy recently commented, “I don’t want to flee, nor do I want to abandon the battle of these farmers who live without any protection in the forest. They have the sacrosanct right to aspire to a better life on land where they can live and work with dignity while respecting the environment.”; Whereas Sister Dorothy was born in Dayton, Ohio, entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur community in 1948, and professed final vows in 1956; Whereas, from 1951 to 1966, Sister Dorothy taught elementary classes at St. Victor School in Calumet City, Illinois, St. Alexander School in Villa Park, Illinois, and Most Holy Trinity School in Phoenix, Arizona, and began her ministry in Brazil in 1966, in Coroata in the state of Maranhao; Whereas, last June, Sister Dorothy was named “Woman of the Year” by the state of Para for her work in the Amazon region, in December 2004, she received the Humanitarian of the Year award from the Brazilian Bar Association for her work helping the local rural workers, and earlier this year, she received an “Honorary Citizenship of the State” award from the state of Para; and Whereas Sister Dorothy lived her life according to the mission of the Sisters of Notre Dame: making known God's goodness and love of the poor through a Gospel way of life, community, and prayer, while continuing a strong educational tradition and taking a stand with the poor people especially women and children, in the most abandoned places, and committing her one and only life to work with others to create justice and peace for all: Now, therefore, be it

That the Congress hereby honors the life and work of Sister Dorothy Stang.