Justice Jottings
February 2006
An Email Update from the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative (MSJC)

 

New on our website!!

New Justice Reflection on Abortion.  Click here to read it and add your comments.

 

Sign a joint Muslim-Christian statement on the danger of nuclear weapons.  Click here.

 

Join Marianists worldwide!  Pray the Magnificat every Friday – for the children.  Click here for more info.

 

Great MSJC Steering Committee meeting in January!  Click here for a summary.

 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
  •  Justice Happenings in the Marianist Family
  •  ACT NOW! Be an Advocate for Justice
  •  Praying for Social Justice
  •  Resources 
  •  Marianist Volunteer Program 
  •  Events
  •  A Thought to Ponder

Issue Team Updates – visit our website for more details 

  • Anti-Racism
    • Can you help?  We are developing a Racial Justice Calendar to help Marianists celebrate racial justice and join in efforts to integrate racial justice into our lives.  Times when the liturgical readings can be used as well as past and current events will be included.  Contact the chair, Fr. Ted Cassidy, at tcassidy@capemaymarianists.org. 
    • The Camden Diocese will offer two more racism workshops in the spring for clergy.  Thus far five workshops have been given for the clergy of the diocese.  The workshops are given by facilitators trained by Fr. Clarence Williams at the Marianist Family Retreat House in Cape May Point, NJ.
  • Death Penalty
    • In January, New Jersey became the first state to impose a death penalty moratorium by legislative action.  Click here to read the reaction from Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, president of the state’s Catholic Conference.
    • An editor for Scientific American recently concluded that “Science has shown that our death penalty system is deeply flawed. Now the U.S. public needs to see those flaws.”  Click here to find a link to his article.
    • The U.S. Supreme Court last week agreed to decide an issue that could slow down executions nationwide. The court will review whether Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill can challenge lethal injection through a civil rights claim. A victory by Hill could give death row inmates everywhere an avenue to challenge lethal injections as unconstitutionally painful and cruel. This may affect two executions scheduled for Feb., that of Vernon Evans Jr. and Michael Morales.
    •  Team member Brian Halderman SM, along with Fr. John Manahan SM, attended the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s annual meeting.  “Keynoter David Dow challenged the abolition community to continue to focus on moral grounds when discussing abolition and less on innocence of the convicted…The reality is that there are more guilty on death row than there are innocent.”  Dow’s new book is Executed on a Technicality: Lethal Injustice on America’s Death Row, available at http://www.beacon.org/catalogs/sp05/dow.html.  Two new anti-death penalty films premiered there - Thou Shalt Not Kill and Step by Step: A Journey of Hope.  Watch for info on their availability in a future Justice Jottings.
  • Sweatshop Labor
    • 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.
  • War & Peace
    • Team chair-designate, Jason Sengheiser, who is spending a year doing research at Columbia University, was recently elected to the national board of Amnesty International.
    • Two new members of the team, Cynthia Sias and Jennifer Buchmeyer, both St. Mary's U. students, were recipients of the Carl Fitzgerald Memorial Scholarship as part of Marianist Heritage Awards Week.  This award is presented to students who exhibit outstanding leadership and service within the university community.
    • Team chair Sr. Laola Hironaka and Cynthia Sias are part of the planning committee for an event which will feature the reading of works by Sandra Cisneros, a leading Hispanic writer who resides in San Antonio.
    • Human Trafficking Update - Sr. Laola is a member of the South Texas Task Force on Trafficking.  It is part of a worldwide effort to combat the abominable practice of "trafficking" especially of children as young as five years.  She is also working with other groups, such as the State Dept's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.  Questions?  Suggestions?  Like to get involved? Contact Sr. Laola – hironakafmi@yahoo.com or 2l0-433-550l.
    • Team member Floyd Contreras is the Student Co-Coordinator of the President's Peace Commission at St. Mary's University. The Commission will sponsor a program on trafficking in late March.

Justice Happenings in the Marianist Family - share other that you know of!

  • Moeller HS in Cincinnati, along with 9 other private and public schools, is sponsoring a Sweatshop Awareness Overnight on Feb. 24-25.  Click here for more info.   
  • Micah Lay Marianist Community in Dayton will be devoting 3 of their meetings in 2006 to discussion of MSJC issues – War & Peace, Death Penalty and Racial Justice.

ACT NOW! Be an Advocate for Justice 

  • The Save Darfur Coalition, along with over 150 faith-based, advocacy, and humanitarian aid organizations, is launching a Million Voices for Darfur campaign. Click here to see how you can help.
  • From the ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History - Sign a letter today and ask President Bush to keep his promise and fully fund the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty.

Praying for Social Justice
 Looking for prayers focusing on social justice?  Click here for some possibilities.  Do you have some social justice prayers that you’d like to share with others?  Contact Jim Vogt – jimvogt2@yahoo.com – and we’ll add them to the website.

Resources - know any good ones? Share them with us.

  •  Click here to read USA: The Execution of Mentally Ill Offenders, a just released report from Amnesty International.
  • Plastic is a fact of life today, so how can we use plastic in the most eco-friendly way?  Read the short article Greener Paths for Plastics from Co-op America.

Marianist Volunteer Program (MVP)

Looking for a few good men…and women!  MVP provides opportunities for men and women of faith to share in the Marianist charism by building a community in mission for peace, justice and solidarity with the poor and marginalized.  Serve one or two years, in one of six cities in the US or Mexico, doing a variety of ministries.  Interested?  Know someone else who might be?  Visit the website – www.marianist.com/mvp - or email - drichter@sm-usa.org.

Events 

  • Catholic Social Ministry Gathering.  Feb. 10-15 in Washington DC.  Brings together social justice ministry leadership from national Catholic organizations, offices, dioceses and parishes throughout the country. Click here for details.
  • Ecumenical Advocacy Days.  March 10-13 in Washington DC.  Over twenty Christian organizations offer a weekend of presentations and workshops leading to a day of advocacy in both House and Senate offices. Click here for details.

A Thought to Ponder

What paralyzes life is failure to believe, to hope, to dare.  But the day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, and the tides, we shall harness for God the energies of love.  And, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire.

                                                                                                 Teilhard de Chardin