#MoreThanAHashtag
I confess, I use them. I use hashtags. Doesn’t everyone? One I use with frequency is: #IHaveFamilyInIraq. But when that phrase was first used hashtags weren’t a ‘thing.’ The person who spoke those words was an Iraqi Dominican Sister giving a presentation to Dominican leadership in the US. She was telling the story of her family (relatives and congregation of Sisters) in her homeland at a time when US political rhetoric was ramping up a plan to invade her country. US Dominicans at that time and since have kept that phrase before ourselves: “ I have family in Iraq” reminding ourselves that our Dominican life stretches beyond a congregation or a country. We are a global Order in the Church. The phrase also reminds us that we have a particular family in the Order that has been suffering with their people for a very long time. For us in the US, it reminds us of our need to be vigilant in being informed, to be active in our pursui...