MISSION STATEMENT of ST. BARTHOLOMEW
PEACE AND JUSTICE MINISTRY
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The Peace and Justice Ministry recognizes the Church as the Body of Christ.
- The goal of Peace and Justice Ministry is to provide leadership to St. Bartholomew parishioners to help them witness the Good News of Jesus Christ.
- Through education, prayer, reflection and direct communication, it helps parishioners to be effective in communities at local, national, and international levels, thereby enabling them to achieve meaningful and effective social action.
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January 2020 Upcoming Events and Opportunities
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MEETING SCHEDULE AND PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
- Peace and Justice Meetings are the third Wednesday of each month, and as always all are welcome to attend. We meet in a lower level meeting room at St. Bartholomew.
- Peace and Justice Newsletter will be published monthly, reflecting ministry news and reports from the meetings and presentations.
February 19 Peace & Justice general and team meetings 7 PM
- St. Bartholomew Church Lower Level
- Meetings are otherwise scheduled for Third Wednesday of the month
- Teams: Programming, Communications, Finance and Grants
- All are welcome to attend and become involved!
February Fair Trade Sales February 15 and 16
- coffee, tea, chocolate
- after all four Masses
- benefits after-school tutoring at St. Anne Parish, teacher salaries and snacks.
Sundays Weekly Hot Meal Site 4 - 6 pm, Meal Site Teams
Sundays Women's Jail Ministry visits 1 - 3 pm, classes 6 - 8 pm
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Themes of Catholic Social Teachings by The United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops: Solidarity by Rachel Rice
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Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is an important part of our Catholic faith, and Solidarity is one of the CSTs that is well known among many faiths. Solidarity is about respecting our fellow human beings and accepting who they are as individuals.
The CST principle of Solidarity is one that is ever present in many of our Scripture readings (“Blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called children of God” -Matthew 5:9; “The love of God in us is witnessed to by our willingness to lay down our lives for others as Christ did for us” –1 John 3:16-18; “These are the things you should do: Speak truth, judge well, make peace” -Zechariah 8:16; “If one member of Christ’s body suffers, all suffer. If one member is honored, all rejoice” -1 Corinthians 12:12-26). The concept of solidarity can also be seen in our everyday lives (give thought to our Spotlight this month, Cooking Across Cultures).
Solidarity at its most basic level is a bond between people. At its most complicated level, solidarity is the acceptance of differences between people. Cooking Across Cultures is a Columbus program that was started in 2012. The program provides an insight into the culinary side of different cultures in our local community. Food is a common denominator across cultures and helps us to understand what brings us all together as humans, regardless of our race, religion, nationality, etc. By learning about other cultural traditions in the culinary world, we are given an idea of how food reaches across those imaginary boundary lines that are set up in our world and shows us that we are all human first. By learning about, preparing and sharing a meal together, we can aptly apply and understand the concept of the CST of Solidarity. It creates an atmosphere of togetherness and acceptance that is the basis of solidarity and something that is needed in our world today.
“At another level, the roots of the contradiction between the solemn affirmation of human rights and their tragic denial in practice lies in a notion of freedom which exalts the isolated individual in an absolute way, and gives no place to solidarity, to openness to others and service of them. It is precisely in this sense that Cain's answer to the Lord's question: 'Where is Abel your brother?' can be interpreted: 'I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?' (Gen 4:9). Yes, every man is his 'brother's keeper', because God entrusts us to one another." (St. John Paul II,
The Gospel of Life
[
Evangelium Vitae
.], no. 19).
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Ministry Spotlight on Cooking Across Cultures
India, Nepal, Trinidad, Kenya, China, Japan, French Martinique, Haiti, Swedish Fica, Mexico, Iran, Jewish Seder, Ramadan Iftar, Tunisia, Pakistan, Iran, Germany (Swabian), Venezuela, and food of the Tibetan monks of Tashi Kyil Monastery.
A gathering of the United Nations? Culture, customs and culinary highlights of the above nations and faiths are among those that have been presented to the community through Cooking Across Cultures. In the fall of 2012, during a time when community gardens were being established and a cooperative grocery was being discussed, a young single Indian engineer expressed a desire to learn to cook the fresh ingredients that resulted.
A group that included former Columbus resident Ken Lanteigne, Sarah Grey, Anna Jacobson, Laura Eftimovski and Shannon Malanoski created a recurring evening event that includes a team of leaders from various culinary styles. The leaders share their unique ingredients, recipes, and traditions by demonstrating a complete meal, which is then shared by fifteen participants who have registered in advance.
The monthly gathering, currently generally
occurring
on the first Friday, is an outreach mission of our neighbors at North Christian Church, and most cooking events are in their kitchen with meals served in their lower level gathering space. With a purpose of encouraging the sharing and mutual understanding of cultures, and celebrating the rich diversity of culinary traditions, old and new friendships are made and continued. The sharing of a meal, prepared and served together, creates a powerful and long-lasting connection.
Having attended the Ramadan Iftar event, I was once again reminded of the similarities in our shared cultures, our shared goals and our dreams for our families, and how similar recipes can be created from slightly different ingredients, techniques and spices. The dish I assisted in creating was strikingly similar to Sicilian lasagna, yet refreshingly different!
For the past two years and once again in January 2020, the group will focus on preparing soups for Empty Bowls at the C4 culinary school, and has also assisted with a bread-baking class as a C4 fundraiser.
Cooking Across Cultures will continue for as long as there is interest, as well as volunteer teams who will come forward to demonstrate menus from a culture. This is an exceptional opportunity for a small group to highlight their cultural traditions through an evening of fellowship, laughter and deep conversation. Near future interests include the food of China, Puerto Rico, and Poland.
For any questions, please contact Anna Jacobson at agabbardj@gmail.com
To follow the group and register for upcoming classes, please follow their Facebook page. Classes generally fill quickly.
by Jan Banister, with contributions from Anna Jacobson
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Proceeds from donations during the Tibetan Cooking Across Cultures benefited the Tibetan Monks United States tour.
photo by Shannon Malanoski
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Friends of Haiti
Below are excerpts from a letter from Roland Saint-Cyr updating the status of our sponsored students in Haiti. All prayers are appreciated!
"Hello,
Here are some words to give you an idea on the situation in Haiti. It’s a good opportunity to greet everyone and to say Happy New Year to you. Here in Haiti, many people don’t wish Happy New Year to others for the recent greeting season, they just say Courage!
Just to give you an overview on the situation in Haiti, let me tell you that last September, schools were not able to start being in session at all. Some schools started, other ones did not try but thankfully some had the chance to welcome their students and kept working. For the third group, the students, according to their schools did not wear uniforms for safety. Therefore for the report of this school year some students will have results for the first trimester and mostly we won’t have.
You are the main pillar in the education of your sponsored students and they count on you more than their own parents. Your support has made lot of difference in many lives. Please don’t give up. You are incitements for them to move forward. Let’s keep building people and raising hope!
Thank you,
Roland"
Thank you for your continued support. The Peace and Justice Ministry is proud to support students in Haiti seeking elementary to professional education.
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Ecumenical Assembly Report:
Next Meeting for the EA is January 28
th
.
Our parish met our goal donation of 500 boxes of stuffing and 500 boxes of brownie mix. With the help of Shireman Brown and her husband they were delivered to the Love Chapel Holiday Pantry site.
Empty Bowls event is coming up on Saturday Feb 1 at Central Middle School. Proceeds will benefit Horizon house, Community Center of Hope Food Pantry, Thrive Alliance, Turning Point, Love Chapel/Brighter days and The Salvation Army.
How can you help?
The Event needs:
- Corporate sponsors
- Pots of Soup
- Bread and Desserts
- Volunteers at the event
- And of course dinner guests.
Tickets are available at Viewpoint Books, Mill Race Center, online through Empty Bowls Columbus, IN Facebook page and at the door.
- Adult meal (only ) 12.00
- With ceramic artisan bowl: 25.00
- Child ticket is 3.00
Respectfully submitted,
Theresa Baugh
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St Bartholomew parishioners sponsored 39 children and grandchildren of death row inmates in Terre Haute and 93 Bartholomew County children.
Parishioners also contributed $1700.00.
$1400.00 of gift cards were purchased through the SCRIP program so St. Bartholomew school profited. Many thanks to all who participated!
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We Are The Peace & Justice Ministry
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- Chairperson Donna Keogh
- Programming Team: Steve Audretch
- Grants & Finance Team: David Harpenau
- Communications Team: Jan Banister
- Blood Drive: Greg Scherschel, coordinator
- Next drive Spring 2020
- Voter Registration: Steve Audretch coordinator
- Next drive Spring 2020
- Ecumenical Assembly: Theresa Baugh
- Pro-Life: Kelley Snoddy
- Giving Tree: Theresa Westerfeld, coordinator
- Meal Site: Susan Chandler,
- Sundays 4-6 PM
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- Friends of Haiti: Judy Harpenau, liaison
- Bread for the World Offering of Letters: Rachel Rice coordinator
- Next campaign April/May 2020.
- Bread for the World, Fr. Marty Peter, Convener
- Second Tuesdays 7 PM at First Presbyterian Church
- Indiana Abolition Coalition: Donna Keogh, liaison
- St. Vincent de Paul: David and Hilary Baker, liaisons
- Women's Jail Ministry: Sevy Badgley, liasion
- Family Self Sufficiency: Jan Banister coordinator, plans for 2020 underway
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St. Bartholomew Hot Meal Site
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There is a hot meal provided in our community through Ecumenical Assembly each evening. On Sunday evenings the meal site is Saint Bartholomew School cafeteria.
The meal site coordinator for our parish, Susan Chandler, is hopeful that more teams and individuals will consider assisting with meals. Info here:
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Sun 5pm-6pm
- SAINT BARTHOLOMEW CATHOLIC CHURCH
Mon 5pm-6pm
- FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Mon 5pm-6pm
Tues 5pm-6pm
Wed 5pm-6pm
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Thurs 4:30pm-5pm
Fri 5pm-6pm
- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
4th Fri 6pm-7pm
Sat 4pm-5pm (excluding the 3rd Sat)
2nd Sat 11:30am-12:30pm
- OGILVILLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
3rd Sat 4pm-5pm
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