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Justice Jottings June 2009 |
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New on our Website
Social Justice Programs - For Your Marianist Community or Group. Click here to view the page.
A Prayer in Planting Time Click here to read this prayer from the National Catholic Rural Life Conference.
We've added a new category, titled
Consistent Life Ethic, on the Links page of our website to include organizations who are working to protect life on several fronts. Click here to view the page. |
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| MSJC Steering Committee
Welcome Beth Garascia!
Beth Garascia, chair of our GLBT Initiative Team, is joining the Steering Committee as a representative of that team. We welcome her and look forward to her participation.
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| Global Economic Justice
Urge Your Representative to Cosponsor the TRADE Act
This act puts forth a vision for future trade agreements that balances trade and investment with concern for wages, public health, the environment, human rights, food and consumer safety and access to essential services. Click here to send a message to your representative
UN Expert Expresses Doubt about Monitoring of Third World Factories
UN special representative John Ruggie reported to the UN Human Rights Council that even business leaders now confirm that their efforts at monitoring their supply chains have been "ineffective" and "unreliable." Click here to read about his report. What can you do? Support the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act when it is introduced into Congress. | |
| Death Penalty
Troy Davis Update
According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, the U.S. Supreme Court will "conference" on Troy Davis' most recent appeal on June 25th. Davis is facing execution in Georgia for the killing of a police officer, Mark Allen MacPhail, in 1989. His appeal is based on the fact that, since his trial, many key witnesses have recanted-or even contradicted-their own testimony. Click here to learn more.
Death Penalty Leads to Miscarriage of Justice
The Death Penalty Information Center reports that U.N. Special Investigator
Philip Alston has submitted a report to the U.N. Human
Rights Council in Geneva criticizing the application
of the death penalty in the U.S. Alston's report encourages
the U.S. Congress to enact legislation authorizing a
review of state and federal death penalty cases.
Click
here to read the report.
STARVIN' FOR JUSTICE 2009: The 16th Annual Fast & Vigil in Washington, DC June 28th-July 2nd, 2009
The Marianist Social Justice Collaborative is a sponsor of the four-day Fast & Vigil which takes place on the sidewalk in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. It is a great experience and training ground for people who want to practice, or become very adept, at talking about the death penalty. Tens of thousands of tourists, from all over the U.S. and throughout the world, pass by the vigil and table, so the opportunity for dialogue and discussion at a real grass-roots level is invaluable to the movement. Click here for a flyer for the event or click here to register and for more information. |
| Racial and Immigrant Justice
Urge Congress to Reform Immigration for America
Click here to send a free fax to your senators and representative with this message: "Our economy and thousands of families are suffering under the burden of a broken system. The time has come for just and humane immigration reform. We cannot wait any longer."
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| Alternatives to Violence
Sign this Letter to President Obama
Add your name to this ecumenical letter, initiated by Churches for Middle East Peace, that encourages the president to pursue sustained, hands-on U.S. diplomacy for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Click here to sign the letter. |
| Ecology & Environment
Green Tips for Sending Children Off to College 
Click here to read some green possibilities for college
students from the Mt. St. John Green Team.
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Events 
Interfaith Week of Prayer for Health Care for All: June 19-24
This week of mobilization features an Interfaith Service of Witness and Prayer on June 24 from 4-8 PM at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. Other ways you can be involved:
- Create "Get Well" Cards for our nation's health to send to your members of Congress;
- Collect sign-ons from individuals and groups to "A Faith-inspired Vision of Health Care." Click here.
- Pray for the sick, the uninsured and underinsured in services the weekend before or after the June 24th event in Washington, DC. Click here for some sample prayers.
Click here for more information.
Social Action Summer Institute: July-19-24
The Catholic Social Action Summer Institute will be held July 19-24 at Seton
Hall University, Newark, NJ. For more details and registration materials, click here. |
| Resources
Marianist Online Courses
Summer offerings include courses on Community, the Marianist Charism, and Education, running from July 12-August 15 (registration deadline is July 8). For more information or to register, click here.
FREE DVD - Solidarity in a Cup
This 15 minute multi-media presentation about Fair Trade coffee introduces you to the farmers who grow your coffee in Nicaragua, explains what Catholic Relief Services is doing to support them and suggests eight ways you can help. Click here to get a copy and to view other free Fair Trade resources.
Knock! Knock! - Watch This
Click here to watch this short video that features Daniel Beaty sharing some powerful, thought-provoking poetry.
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| A Thought to Ponder
Our time and place in history bring us face to face with profound societal impasse..
We can find no escape from the world we have built:
where the poor and oppressed cry out,
where the earth and environment cry out,
where the specter of nuclear waste already haunts future generations...
Everything is just too complex, too beyond our reach.
Yet it is only in the process of bringing the impasse to prayer, to the perspective of the God who loves us,
that our society will be freed: freed for non-violent, selfless, liberating action; freed for community on this planet earth.
Excerpted from a statement by Constance Fitzgerald, OCD | |
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