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Justice Jottings November 2008 |
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New on our Website
Reflect on immigrant
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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| The Economic Crisis
Social Justice and the Marianist Family
in Light of Current Economic Problems
by Victor M. Forlani, SM
"We in the USA have been living beyond our means as shown by our double-digit deficits which some commentators are labeling 'Leverage Lunacy.' We are consuming more that we are producing and then charging it, resulting in debts to foreign countries, their firms, and to our growing national debt....
Our society's values (consumerism, power, fame) are partly to blame for this ongoing buying binge as they affect our expected lifestyles. Outsized executive pay is also evidence of such values....
A set of attitudes beliefs and values were underlying these trends. First, we had no sense of limits...."
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Death Penalty
Documentary: Lethal Solution A new resource from the BBC: The documentary "Lethal Solution" chronicles reporter Vivian White's exploration of the death penalty in the US. Read more on the Issue Team's website and view the full 48-minute documentary on the BBC website here.
Former Warden Opposes Death Penalty
Jeanne Woodford, the former warden of San Quentin prison in California, has written an Op-Ed piece for the Los Angeles Times that asks whether executions make us safer. Her answer is "No". Read more excerpts on the Issue Team's site or read her whole essay, "Death Row Realism, Do Executions Make Us Safer?"
Impending Executions (from National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty)
Death Penalty Help for High Schools
The team sent a letter recently to a number of Marianist high school contacts suggesting death penalty abolition strategies and resources for high school staff. If you didn't get that letter and would like a copy of it, click here.
Breaking News! 
Troy Davis received a stay of execution!
Read more about this case or find information on his own website. Mr. Davis wrote a letter to those who have supported his requests for a review of this case. Click here to read the letter. The first paragraph begins:
"I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist..." Pictured here:
Troy Davis and mother - 2002.
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Anti-Racism
Hot Button Issue #8
Assertion: These people are illegal and deserve no consideration in our society. They have broken the law. What part of "illegal" do you not understand?
Response: Click here to read and reflect.
Results of Ohio Poll
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that 56
percent of Ohioans and 60 percent of people polled in Southwest Ohio said they "favored a government policy that would allow undocumented immigrants to stay in the country and become US citizens if they met unspecified requirements in a certain timeframe." The poll was conducted by the University of Cincinnati Institute of Policy Research. Click here to read more. |
| Alternatives to Violence
Click here to learn about five more ways (#21-25): Inspiration, Mission, Prayer, Harmony, Friendliness - to practice non-violence in November. |
Global Economic Justice 
Global Economic Justice - Is It Possible?
Several Marianist Family members attended a workshop at the UN on Global Economics sponsored by the Partnership for Global Justice. Pictured are Fr. Ted Cassidy, novice Ray Dominguez, Bro. Steve O'Neil and Jim Vogt. Click here to read Jim's summary of the workshop. Understandable by economic neophytes! |
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GLBT Initiative
Presentation At St. Joseph's Church
On October 7, Hank and Nancy Mascotte and Linda Zappacosta presented A Place at the Marianist Table, the pilot of the GLBT Initiative Team, to about 20 staff at St. Joseph's Church in Eldersberg, MD. The presentation opened with prayer followed by music: " A Place at the Table." This was an effective way to set the mood and introduce the tenor of the time together. Two brief questions for the small groups invited conversation before the presentation. The participants appreciated the presenters' stories and the opportunity to dialog about them.
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Adele Social Justice Project
ASJP Appeal a Success!
Marianist Family members were very generous in helping the Adele Social Justice Project raise the funds to secure a matching grant from the Marianist Sharing Fund. We've raised over $2300 in the past 6 weeks and together with some money raised previously, we will be able to get the entire $2500 grant. THANKS to all those who contributed! |
Environment & Ecology
Marianists Offer Perspectives on Environmental Stewardship for Families"Environmental Stewardship: First the Fact," by Sr. Leanne Jablonski FMI, director of the Marianist Environmental Education Center, leads the Environmental Stewardship issue of the Fall 2008 Family Perspectives Journal. Published by the National Association of Family Ministers, lay Marianists Sue Vogt (editor) and Tony Garascia serve on the journal commission. To read the article and learn about educational resources and environmental action steps click here. |
Steering Committee
Click here to read the 2007-08 MSJC annual report to the Marianist Family Council. |
| Think Globally, Act Locally
Marianists Visit UN
On October 17th - International Day for Eradication of Poverty - participants from the spring 2008 MSJC workshop in Philadelphia, "Think Globally, Act Locally," attended sessions at the United Nations as guests of Bro Steve O'Neil and the Marianist NGO. Click here to read some reflections and wisdom from Mary Snyder from the day.
Pictured: (left to right) Lisa McCracken, Pati Krasensky, Michelle Marshall, Kathleen Schaeffer, Mike Brennan, Mary Snyder, Bro Steve O'Neil, Erin Iturriaga, Ray Dominguez, Ted Gorczyca. Not pictured: Steve Oversby. |
| Resources
Marianist International Volunteers
To read the 13th edition of the Marianist International Volunteer newsletter, click here.
Food Drives - Charity or Justice? 
Is your school or community involved in food drives during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons? Then click here for a resource to analyze ways you can serve people with justice as well as with charity. Thanksgiving - Prayers and Reflection
Several justice-oriented prayer resources for Thanksgiving are available from Education for Justice:
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A Thought to Ponder
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Second Inaugural Address, Washington , D.C. , January 20, 1937.
FDR's Address, especially Section 22 and following, is timely.
Washington, DC Memorial | |
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