JUSTICE JOTTINGS
April 2023
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Be the Steward to MSJC This Giving Day!
Dear MSJC Supporter,
We are gearing up for the MSJC's Giving Day, taking place next Tuesday, April 25. We hope to raise $4,000 and engage at least 50 donors in just one day.
Can we count on you to help MSJC reach our goal?
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Your support during Giving Day will allow us to:
- Sponsor MSJC issue and project team volunteers to lead six workshops and two special other events at the 2023 Lay Marianist Assembly
- Facilitate our powerful social justice programming, including retreats, virtual events, panel discussions, resource development, and more
- Invest in organizational antiracism resources & tools to advance our work
- Build communities for young adults to share their faith, their commitment to justice, and to stay engaged with the Church and our Marianist Family
I hope you’ll join me in marking your calendar and spreading the word to get folks excited for MSJC’s Giving Day! Over the next few days, you’ll hear more about MSJC’s stewardship efforts, needs, and how you can help us reach our goal.
Friend,, we need stewards, just like you, to continue to advance our work for social justice in the Marianist Family, Catholic Church, and beyond. Please save the date and learn more here!
In Gratitude,
Sarah Gray
Director of MSJC
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MSJC EVENTS & SPECIAL NOTICES |
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Living Lightly blog by Susan Vogt of the Integral Ecology Team gives practical suggestions and inspiration for Living Simply and Sustainability.
Marianist Environmental Education Center’s Triduum/Easter Message by Director Sr. Leanne Jablonski FMI includes a recap of highlights from the Entering into Ecological Conversion in a Marianist Spirit March 29th virtual event. The blogpost includes insights from presenters Marge Cavanaugh, Bro. Mitch Schweickart SM on living more sustainably and a Lenten prayer for Creation written by Tony Garascia.
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IMMIGRANT JUSTICE
Save the Date for an Upcoming Immigrant Justice Event!
When: Wednesday, June 7th (evening in MT | CT | ET)
Where: Virtual Opportunity
What: We have an immigration problem. You can help! Tell your friends and neighbors to save the date Wednesday, June 7th. More information to follow!
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Did you know that the MSJC was originally made up of these four issue teams: Sweatshop Labor, Racism, Death Penalty, and Ecology and Environment?
Below is a picture of our Sweatshop Labor team circle 2005. Can you name any of the individuals? Send your response here!
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MSJC REFLECTIONS & RESOURCES |
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ADELE SOCIAL JUSTICE PROJECT
Our Adele Social Justice Project (ASJP) team is spending one monthly meeting per quarter in a longer community prayer. The hope is to carve out more intentional time for connections and community building, in addition to the "business" pieces of volunteering with an MSJC issue team. As a result the team hopes to share a reflection based on their prayer each quarter with all of MSJC supporters.
Team member Julia Love writes, "At this past meeting in April we had a more in depth prayer/reflection. We read some excerpts from the article below and discussed transition in our lives parallel with the transition of Easter. We asked ourselves what transitions, big or small, are happening right now for you? Everyone got a chance to share what challenges and motivations were at the forefront of their minds. We had a chance to be gentle with one another, acknowledging that transition is difficult but with support and community the rewards can bring peace."
We hope you can use this resource and these questions to discuss with people in your Marianist circles or communities!
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DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE |
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Support the Annual Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty
For four days, death penalty abolitionists from around the country will gather at the steps of the Supreme Court to call for an end to capital punishment in the United States. The Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty will continue for its 30th consecutive year, and you are encouraged to take part in this energizing week of grassroots training, advocacy, action, community, and education. The event reaches tens of thousands of tourists and locals, from all over the U.S. and throughout the world. MSJC has supported the Fast and Vigil in various ways over the years, including by participation of members of the Death Penalty Abolition and Restorative Justice issue team.
The event organizers will again hold teach-ins each day (June 29 to July 2), and will also broadcast them online for those who are not able to be present in-person. More information about the event history, schedule, and registration is available on this website: http://abolition.org/about/.
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Reflection by Team Member Beth Garascia
On March 20, 2023, the US bishops issued a document detailing their position on health care for transgender persons. The doctrinal note calls for denying gender affirming health care to persons with gender dysphoria. In it, they state that there are only two genders, which is historically and theologically contested. They also conclude that because gender-affirming care does not repair a defect in the body or sacrifice a part for the sake of the whole, it’s not morally permissible. Here's a link to the document.
When making a statement regarding a group of people one is not a part of, it seems to me critical to consult that group about their stance on the issue. There is no evidence that the bishops listened to the voices of trans, nonbinary or intersex persons before issuing this document. In coming to conclusions about this issue, Catholic persons must seriously consider the words of the bishops, but it’s also important to consider information on gender identity from the scientific fields and what persons in the trans community say. We seek to listen to all these voices of differing authority...(Read more here)
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Updates from the Church and Our Team
The Women and Justice Issues team believes the time is right for change in our church!
During Holy Week, we were called to embrace one another–to hold each other in our grief and now we can focus on redemption-50 days of un-abounded joy! In his Easter homily Pope Francis proclaims, “The women at Easter bring the news that will change life and history forever.”...“This, then, is what the Pasch [passage] of the Lord accomplishes: it motivates us to move forward, to leave behind our sense of defeat, to roll away the stone of the tombs in which we often imprison our hope, and to look with confidence to the future, for Christ is risen and has changed the direction of history.”
Also, in October 2023 the Pope has scheduled the Global Synodal Assembly in Rome to discern what steps the Holy Spirit invites us (the universal Church) to take in order to grow as a synodal Church. [1] “A critical theme that surfaced from listening to millions of people around the globe (during the consultation phase) is rethinking women’s participation, (Enlarge the Space of Your Tent cf. para. 60).”
On the feast of St. Phoebe (September 3), many parishes and other Catholic institutions will collectively join together to pray for the global synod, celebrate women’s diaconal gifts for ministry, and witness to the critical and urgent need to rethink women’s’ participation in the Church. Later in September, our team will host a prayer and discussion about the life of Marie Thérèse de Lamourous. She inspires all Marianists to spread the good news of redemption. More details will follow. In the meantime, what good news can you carry to the faithful?
[1] for the Universal Phase of the Global Synod on Participation, Communion, and Mission
- Image is from Gospel Images
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BEYOND MSJC OPPORTUNITIES |
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Reversing Global Warming Multi-Week Series
Feeling hopeless, and maybe helpless, when thinking about climate change?
Then join us for Reversing Global Warming, a 5-session workshop offered on Zoom, 5 Wednesdays, April 26 – May 24, 7-9 pm (ET). The goal is to help you determine where and how you can make an impact on global warming and provide a supportive setting and group to move you to action. The program is free, but you must register.
For more details about the program and to register (send us your name, email and phone #), contact Marie Inanli or Jim Vogt.
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