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Justice Jottings
November 2005
An Email Update from the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative (MSJC)
New on our website!!
Millennium Development Goals – What are they? Why should I care? Click here to find out.
Prayer for Veterans Day – Nov. 11 – click here.
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 over the following items:
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Issue Team Updates
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ACT NOW! Be an Advocate for Justice
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Sharing the Good News – Justice Happenings in the Marianist Family
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Resources
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Events – 2006 Ecumenical Advocacy Days
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A Thought to Ponder
Issue Teams Update - see the website for more details
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Anti-Racism
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Our sub-group, the Cultural Audit team, led a pilot workshop in Dayton on Oct. 26. The focus: increasing cultural awareness and appreciation of differences that too often divide us. Click here for an overview of that workshop and how you and your community can take advantage of the resources the team offers.
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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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Death Penalty
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"A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death” is the title of the proposed U.S. bishops’ major statement on the death penalty, the first in 25 years, which will be considered at their Nov. meeting. It calls on all Catholics to take up the cause of ending capital punishment. More information on the issue team's webpage.
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The Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty organized and hosted the “Journey of Hope...from Violence to Healing” in the last half of October. Murder victim family members who oppose the death penalty were joined by other abolitionists in a speaking tour that crossed the state. Jim Young, a law student at St. Mary's U., was an MSJC intern who helped prepare for the Journey. More information and some photos, including links to reports about the Texas Journey and to information about other Journeys, are available on the issue team's webpage.
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Sweatshop Labor
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Engaging Wal-Mart! The issue team met last month to discuss the various contacts, both in the U.S. and in Bangladesh, which we have made with Wal-Mart over the past several months. We are submitting a number of action recommendations to top leadership at Wal-Mart. They will be available on our website on Thursday, Nov. 3. Click here to read them.
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Working for peace and justice does make a difference – even on the largest companies! Click here to read an article about some of the new standards the CEO of Wal-Mart is proposing. Change is coming!
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War and Peace
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On Nov. 7th, the team is sponsoring one of the important events of the International Education Week at St. Mary's University. Professor Richard F. Mollica, M.D., Ph.D. of Harvard University, will give a talk on the subject of healing victims of trauma, especially that caused by mass violence. For details on this and more team news, visit the issue team’s webpage.
ACT NOW! Be an Advocate for Justice
- Congress is continuing the process of adopting a budget for the coming year. Though there have been some recent victories to lessen the budget cuts, significant cuts for human services are still on the table. Stay involved in the advocacy effort to protect the social safety net by working with the Coalition on Human Needs and Network.
- The ONE Campaign is working to assure inclusion of $3.6 billion in the Federal budget to fight the global AIDS pandemic and to support programs to eliminate extreme poverty in developing countries. Click here to send a message to Congress in support of this effort.
Sharing the Good News – Justice Happenings in the Marianist Family
Let us know about others & we'll pass them along. Send info to jimvogt2@yahoo.com.
- The Marianist Family Retreat Center in Cape May has been supporting the abolition of the death penalty in New Jersey. Teens on a social justice retreat in Oct. were encouraged to write letters to their state legislators supporting pending legislation abolishing the death penalty. In addition the Center sponsored a letter-writing campaign in a local parish.
- The Anawim Marianist Lay Community in Cincinnati is collaborating with the Findlay St. Marianist Community in presenting their inner city immersion experiences this year.
- Fr. Ted Cassidy and Mary Snyder from the Cape May Family Retreat Center are members of the Diocese of Camden’s Racial Justice Committee. They helped give four workshops to the priests and deacons of the diocese about racism in September 2005. The committee is now hiring a part time coordinator.
Resources - know any good ones? Share them with us
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www.Freecycle.org – a creative, grassroots network aimed at reducing waste by finding new homes for used articles. Check it out!.
Events
Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice. March 10-13, 2006 in Washington DC, includes workshops, training and advocacy with the House and Senate on behalf of international and domestic justice issues. Visit www.advocacydays.org for detailed information.
A Thought to Ponder
I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people who are convinced they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who struggle to make one small difference after another.
Ellen Goodman
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