Join Marianists worldwide!  Pray the Magnificat every Friday – for exploited children.  Click here for more info.  If you’d like to receive a weekly reminder each Friday along with a short reflection, send an email to mlnnacom@yahoo.com.

 

MSJC Steering Committee signed a letter to Congress opposing cuts, proposed in the President’s 2007 budget, to education, healthcare and other services that help the poor.  Click here to read the letter and click here to add your name to this effort.       

 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

·     Marianist Sharing Fund grants to MSJC

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 Racial Justice Committee, Diocese of Camden, is sponsoring A Workshop on Racism Apr. 18 and May 16 for the clergy of the Camden Diocese.  The workshop will be led by facilitators trained by the Institute for Recovery from Racisms at the Marianist Family Retreat Center by Fr. Clarence Williams.
• Death Penalty
  • “Medical” Procedure for Executions Being Challenged. Recently, questions surrounding the use of "lethal injections" have emerged.  Are they "cruel and unusual?"  Does a doctor's involvement violate medical ethics?  Click here to read more.
  • Majority of US Public Still Supports Death Penalty. Last fall a Gallup poll showed American support for the death penalty at a 27 year-low...but still much higher than it is in Canada or Great Britain.  Click here to read more.
• Ecology & Environment
  • Just Good Food: An Education Series in Dayton.  With globalization and societal changes we are challenged to reflect on what and how we eat, and the implications for building just and healthy communities.  With support from the Marianist Environmental Education Center, the team has developed an education series that will provide an opportunity for informal learning, exchange of ideas and partaking in good food!   Each session will be facilitated by members of the Marianist Family near Dayton and will include demonstrations, educational information on justice issues pertaining to food, ideas and resources to take home and try at your own table.  Click here for more information.
  • Want to grow your own veggies?  The Mt. St. John Community Garden has plots available.  If you live near Dayton and are interested, contact MEEC at 937/429-3582 or email meec@udayton.edu.
  • An article in Grist Magazine, an online environmental publication, examines how subsidies result in healthy foods costing more than less healthy alternatives.  Click here for the article.
• War & Peace
  • Team chair Sr. Laola Hironaka headed the committee that prepared actions on behalf of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, as well as actions against torture, indefinite detention, and secret imprisonment, on the occasion of readings by nationally prominent Hispanic writers in San Antonio.
  • Team members Larry Hufford and Sr. Laola were members of a panel speaking on Human Rights at St. Mary's U.  They later joined smaller student groups to discuss global issues and concerns.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.

Marianist Sharing Fund Grants to MSJC

Watch future Justice Jottings for developments!

ACT NOW! Be an Advocate for Justice 

• The Save Darfur Coalition, along with over 150 faith-based, advocacy, and humanitarian aid organizations, has launched a Million Voices for Darfur campaign. Click here to see how you can help.
• Rally to Stop Genocide – Apr. 30 in Washington.  Click here for info.

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

• Selecting Fish This Lent (from the Nat. Catholic Rural Life Conf.) - If you don’t know much about from where and how the fish we consume get to us or about the quality of the fish, consider finding out more about it as a way to observe Lent this year.  Share this info with your local "fish fry."   Audubon’s "Seafood Wallet Card" (http://seafood.audubon.org/ ) or the Monterey Bay Aquarium card (www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp) are handy guides for choosing seafood that is abundant and relatively well-managed. The U.S. EPA provides information about contamination of freshwater fish at www.epa.gov/ost/fish. For more about Eating is a Moral Act, visit www.ncrlc.com/cards.htm.
• To receive email reports on international issues from the Marianist Family NGO at the United Nations, send an email to BroSteve@MarianistNGO.org.
• Eradicating Global Poverty: A Christian Study Guide on the Millennium Development Goals.  Click here for info on this new resource.
• Social Justice Distance Learning Program starts this month.  Sponsored by the Roundtable Assn. of Diocesan Social Action Directors and the U. of Dayton Virtual Learning Community.  Click here for details.
• Changing the Face of the Mountain, a resource booklet to further reflection on the call to vision with hope for a changed future, is available from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious until Mar. 15.  Click here for ordering info.
• Click here to read a summary of the World Council of Churches’ Alternative Globalization Addressing Peoples and Earth (AGAPE), which calls churches to act together for the transformation of economic injustice.

Events 

• Mini-Retreat - Creating and Sustaining Communities of Peace. March 17-19 at the Peace Center, Langhorne PA. Cost is $100 including meals.  Experiential activities, reflection and facilitated discussion to explore: Sources of Violence; Transforming Power of Nonviolence; Successful Nonviolent Social Movements; and Action Planning for Social Change.  Contact Christa Tinari - 215-750-7220.
• 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

The single largest variable that predicts SAT scores is family income. If you want higher SAT scores, you need to get your kids born into wealthier families. You know, it's great to tell kids to pull themselves up by their own boot straps, but you better put boots on them first.

                                                                                                 Paul Houston