Justice Jottings
December 2005
An Email Update from the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative (MSJC)
New on our website!!
World Council adopts child labor as a global social justice priority for Marianists. Click here for details.
Darfur/”Hotel Rwanda” movie night – click here.
Click here to read A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death – new statement by US bishops calling for abolition of the death penalty.
Update on human services cuts to the Federal Budget – click here.
Click here to read the 2004-05 MSJC Annual Report.
Visit us at: www.msjc.net
Remember - Our website is interactive. We’d like to hear from you! Just get a password and you can enter into current discussions with other MSJC members or start a new discussion. NOTE – if you are using the AOL browser, you can view the website but may not be able to enter any of the discussions with that browser.
Scroll down to read the following items:
Issue Team Updates – visit our website for more details
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Anti-Racism
- Attractive cards featuring the Marianist Pledge & Prayer to Eliminate Racism are now available. Contact Jim Vogt – jimvogt2@yahoo.com – to get copies.
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Environment & Ecology
- International Artisan Christmas Market in Dayton - Sat. Dec. 10, 9 am - 6 pm at Bergamo Center. Unique gifts handcrafted by artisans from more than 20 developing countries. Offered in partnership with Work of Human Hands, a project of Catholic Relief Services and A Greater Gift.
- Celebrate Christmas with a Conscience. Click here for tips on greening the holidays.
- Read a great article – “Humbly Changing our Lives in Response to Climate Change” – by team member and MSJC Steering Committee member Leanne Jablonski FMI. Click here.
- Death Penalty
- Fr. David Fleming, Superior General of the Society of Mary, together with the superiors general of many other religious orders, has signed a letter protesting the use of the death penalty. A copy of his endorsement statement (click here) and the letter are available under Death Penalty Team files.
- “Cities for Life – Cities Against the Death Penalty” is an annual event on Nov. 30 organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio in Rome and other members of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. The date has just passed, but we encourage all Marianists to mark your calendars and join this world wide event. Light a candle every year on Nov. 30 and join in action and prayer for the abolition of the death penalty.
- 1,000th Execution Alert!!! The 1,000th execution since the death penalty was re-instated in the United States will probably happen on Dec. 2. Activists across the country have banded together to call attention to this sad event and to use the occasion to issue renewed calls for a moratorium or for abolition. More information can be found at www.1000executions.org. Grace Walle FMI, chair of the Death Penalty Team, and other leaders in the Marianist Family, were among over 1000 faith leaders signing an Open Letter from Faith Leaders Regarding the 1,000th Execution in the United States Since the Reinstatement of Capital Punishment.
- The Catholic Bishops released "A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death," their first major statement on the death penalty in 25 years, calling on Catholics to take up the cause of ending the use of capital punishment. Its length -11 pages - makes it ideal for a study or prayer group or for reading and discussing in a high school class.
- Visit this very helpful website - The Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty – www.ccedp.org.
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Sweatshop Labor
- Team member Steve O’Neil S.M. was invited by Wal-Mart to go on factory inspections in Central America. His report will be on the website the week of Dec. 5.
- Team chair Al Prendergast met with Wal-Mart’s Global Compliance VP and some of his staff. He told Al that the recent statement by Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott (click here to read it) is being taken very seriously. Al also presented to the Global Compliance staff the recommendations (click here to read them) that resulted from the UD students’ trip to Bangladesh. They indicated that two of the recommendations will be implemented and the others considered for future implementation. Al’s comment – “With Wal-Mart you have to see progress to be optimistic, however, these meetings seem to be having an effect and we will continue to dialogue and meet with Wal-Mart as long as we believe that progress is being made.”
- Al Prendergast represented the team at the recent Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Conference in Washington D.C. His report will be on the website the week of Dec. 5.
- NEEDED – a $1 million loan. We are continuing to pursue start-up financing for the worker owned garment factory in Bangladesh. Any ideas? Contact Al Prendergast at alprendergast@sbcglobal.net.
- An Advent resolution - Tell your retailers that you want to buy only fair trade goods and to direct you to these goods. It they don’t have fair trade goods tell them you want them to put in a fair trade aisle in their store. Consumer pressure is the main reason we are making progress with Wal-Mart and other retailers. Your efforts are having a positive affect on the way workers are treated and paid in developing countries.
ACT NOW! Be an Advocate for Justice
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- Ask your representative in Congress to support the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act – click here.
Resources – know any good ones? Share them with us.
- Say No to the Death Penalty, an article in the Nov. 1, 2004 issue of America.
- Marianist NGO at the UN – December report (click here)
- www.earth911.org –locate recycling options in your community.
Events
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Creating and Sustaining Communities of Peace, a conference on Mar. 17-19, 2006 at the Peace Center, Langhorne PA, focusing on nonviolence training for personal and social transformation. Call 215-750-7220 ext. 14 for more information or to register.
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Catholic Social Ministry Gathering. Feb. 10-15, 2006 in Washington DC . Brings together social justice ministry leadership from national Catholic organizations, offices, dioceses and parishes throughout the country. Click here for detailed information.
A Thought to Ponder
I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do.
Edward Everett Hale