Sister Madeline Therese speaks to a hotel manager.

Sister Madeline Therese Wilhoit speaks to a hotel manager from one of the 220 Indianapolis hotels that Catholic women religious in Indiana and Michigan contacted in order to raise awareness about human trafficking during the festivities leading up to the February 5 Super Bowl. Sisters Judith Ann Murphy, Jane Chantal Method and Linda Kors also made phone calls to hotels, as did Saint Mary’s College student Cailin Crowe. Sister Luciana de Paula Soares compiled the database used for this initiative.

Sisters work to end human trafficking

“We may never know how many people may be helped as a result of this initiative,” said Sister Joan Marie Steadman, president of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, referring to the 2012 Super Bowl Anti-Trafficking Initiative of the Coalition for Corporate Responsibility for Indiana and Michigan (CCRIM). “If even one person is freed from this kind of slavery or one trained hotel employee is alerted to a trafficking situation or one guest knowledgeable about trafficking reports a concern to the front desk, then we are that much closer to ending the exploitation of vulnerable people, particularly women and girls.”

The congregation is among the 11 orders of Catholic women religious who, as members of CCRIM, are taking action to end human trafficking with a specific focus on the February 5 Super Bowl in Indianapolis: from praying, to calling hotel managers about their concerns, to delivering trafficking awareness brochures and other materials to hotels.

“We hope to raise consciousness about the issue of human trafficking and establish a relationship with the area hotels, to assist them with training and be a conduit of information. We want to be helpful,” said Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Ann Oestreich, co-chair of CCRIM and the congregation justice coordinator for the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

It appears the efforts of CCRIM member congregations have indeed been helpful. Of the 220 hotels contacted, 200 hotel mangers answered questions asked by the sisters and, as a result, seven hotels requested training prior to the Super Bowl to help their employees recognize trafficking situations and how to assist victims. In addition, 99 hotels requested and received materials to raise awareness for employees and guests, names of local contact persons to assist should a trafficking situation arise, and copies of the ECPAT (Ending Child Prostitution and Trafficking) Code of Conduct developed by the hospitality industry to deter child sexual exploitation.

Sister Ann commented on the range of responses. “The responses ran the gamut — from not having heard of trafficking to those who were well trained in how to respond to a potential trafficking situation. We are grateful that hotel managers took time to talk and work with us,” she said, adding that from the phone calls, CCRIM learned that 45 hotels previously had conducted or were planning to conduct human trafficking awareness training for their employees.

While the CCRIM initiative has helped raise awareness and provide education and training, the group’s efforts will continue.

“The Super Bowl is one event, one day. The next day there still will be work to do to end human trafficking,” said Sister Ann. “All the groups involved in this initiative — CCRIM, orders of Catholic women religious, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), law enforcement, state officials and others — are committed to continue working together to end trafficking. In addition, there is an ongoing dialogue between members of CCRIM and interfaith investors in ICCR with all major hotel groups. We hope to build on the success of this initiative in the future.”