Service and Justice
On this page,
you will find: --Actions Youth Can Take --Considerations in Planning Missions/Service trips --Websites that promote Action --Related Church Documents --Related Quotes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ JUSTICE IN THE WORLD: (Developed by a Synod of Bishops, signed by Pope Paul VI in November 1971)
Powerpoint Presentation on Social Activism on Social Media (Has great considerations for ministers and young adults) www.catholicwebsolutions.com/2017/03/07/social-action-on-social-media/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Catholic Campaign for Human Development The USCCB’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) provides many resources to help engage young people in learning more about poverty, and the ways they can help people in need. Resources include an interactive game show titled: Poverty USA: Game Show Edition, A Toolkit for Young Advocates designed for use by youth ministry leaders, Catholic high school teachers and religious educators. The PovertyUSA website sponsored by CCHD, serves as clearinghouse for information about poverty in the United States, and includes dozens of ideas for integrating justice and peace into youth ministry and school education programs. http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/ ======================= “…To training young people to have a mature missionary consciousness in order to become apostles...” St. John Paul II Mission of the Redeemer, #47 ======================= On online mini-course/ webinar on the Pastoral Circle A process that is helpful in Catholic Social Teaching (note: while the speaker is not exciting in his presentation, there is great information to help you, as an adult, to teach to youth): http://www.educationforjustice.org/interact/PastoralCircle/player.html ----------------------------------------------- Actions Youth Can Take + Volunteer at a local soup kitchen + Volunteer at a local nursing home + Volunteer at a Catholic Worker House (one in Akron, and the Dorothy Day House of Hospitality in Youngstown) + Get involved with the organic farm and the Evergreen Program at Villa Maria, PA (Sisters of the Humility of Mary) + Participate in a Tutoring/Mentoring Program + Work with Habitat for Humanity, Hammer and Nails, ReBuilding Together, etc. + Consider interning with the Catholic Campaign For Human Development + In Mahoning County, Work with ACTION youth outreach, and encourage the parish to become involved in ACTION + Connect with the diocesan Office of Social Action for ideas and programs + Assist existing parish efforts, i.e. Knight of Columbus, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Ladies Guild, Men’s Club, etc. for fundraisers, collection drives, and service projects. Websites that promote Action (all begin with http://) www.thehungersite.com (CharityUSA.com site to “click to donate”) www.cfcausa.org/ (Christian Foundation for Children and the Aging – sponsor a child as a group, or check out the educational resources available) Walkwiththepoor.org (CFCA’s site for teen involvement) www.wvi.org (World Vision Int’l) www.mercycorps.org (Mercy Corps) www.votesmart.org (Project Vote Smart) www.catholicworker.com (The Catholic Worker) www.youngstowncatholicworker.com/ (Dorothy Day House in Youngstown) www.coopamerica.org/ (fair trade) (Co-op America) www.equalexchange.com/ fair trade (Equal Exchange) www.uniteunion.org/unionlabel/ (Sweat Free Clothing) www.pica.ws/pubs/ccshop.htm (Sweat Free Clothing) www.behindthelabel.org/ (Stories from sweatshops) www.networklobby.org (Network: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby) www.catholiccharitiesyoungstown.org/ (Youngstown Catholic Charities) www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/ (Catholic Charities USA) and numerous Facebook groups that teens already on FB can join. ================================ Church Documents Related to Social Justice and Social Action (Note: many of these are laid out with direct links to documents in English and Spanish courtesy of the Office of Social Justice for St. Paul and Minneapolis, at http://www.osjspm.org/social_teaching_documents.aspx) FROM THE VATICAN: Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor) -- Pope Leo XIII, 1891 Quadragesimo Anno (After Forty Years) -- Pope Pius XI, 1931 Mater et Magistra (Christianity and Social Progress) -- Pope John XXIII, 1961 Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) -- Pope John XXIII, 1963 Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World) Vatican Council II, 1965 Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples) -- Pope Paul VI, 1967 Octogesima Adveniens (A Call to Action) -- Pope Paul VI, 1971 Justicia in Mundo (Justice in the World) -- Synod of Bishops, 1971 Laborem Exercens (On Human Work) -- Pope John Paul II, 1981 Solicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concern) -- Pope John Paul II, 1987 Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) -- Pope John Paul II, 1991 Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) -- Pope John Paul II, 1995 Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason) -- Pope John Paul II, 1998 Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love) -- Pope Benedict XVI, 2005 Sacramentum Caritatis (Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist) -- Pope Benedict XVI, 2007 Caritas in Veritate (In Charity and Truth) -- Pope Benedict XVI, 2009 U. S. Bishops' Statements Program of Social Reconstruction 1919 Pastoral Letter of 1919 Brothers and Sisters to Us 1979 Capital Punishment, 1980 Economic Justice All, 1986 The Harvest of Justice is Sown in Peace, 1993 Communities of Salt and Light, 1993 A Decade after Economic Justice for All 1996 Called to Global Solidarity, 1997 Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions, 1998 Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice, 2001 Everyday Christianity: To Hunger and Thirst for Justice, 2001 Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, 2003 ccase10/09 ------------------- When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. (John 13: 12 - 14) Want to find more relevant Scriptures? Check this out: http://www.openbible.info/topics/serving_others Then look for the NAB, NVSV or NABRE translation! 
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Mission Trip Group Leader Packing List
Edit as needed for your actual trip. Rev. 6/19 CRS Food Fast Resources
CRS Food Fast is a 24-hour hunger awareness retreat for Catholic youth. By spending 24 hours in the shoes of people who go hungry, Catholic youth deepen their faith and strengthen their yearning to bring change to our world! New this year—CRS Food Fast is offering a variety of retreat themes, includingclimate change, hunger and food security, and microfinance and water. You choose a date, then register. CRS provides all the needed materials for a successful Food Fast experience. Looking for materials in Spanish? Hunger and Food Security and accompanying Coordinator’s Manual is available in Spanish.
See more at: http://www.foodfast.org/ Resources for Service Immersion and Mission Trips
CRS has developed resources for short-term, international immersion and mission trips. Rooted in Catholic teaching and based on our extensive experience working with partners overseas, these resources are designed to be used by a facilitator with groups as they prepare for, take and return from trips. www.crs.org/resource-center/resources-service-trips Some goals you may wish to set for your Mission Experiences:
> To practice “seeing” others through God’s eyes
> To practice openness and respect toward others > To become more like Jesus in our attitudes and behaviors > To nurture a life of Christian service ++++++++++++++++++++++ CONSIDERATIONS in planning Mission trips or service trips: All projects, whether local or distant, should involve the following elements:
These program elements are widely adaptable to service opportunities that are suited to different regions, cultures, age groups, education levels, and issues. They are essential to ensuring that all young people who participate, whether they serve through their place of worship, school, or community group, benefit from the experience. (Much of this article was taken and revised from "Summer of Service: A New American Rite of Passage" by Shirley Sagawa. It was published by Innovations in Civic Participation, Washington D.C., www.icicp.org) ------------ Tips from the Center for Ministry Development on RECRUITING ADULT LEADERS FOR MISSION TRIPS: www.cmdnet.org/entry/five-tips-for-recruiting-adult-leaders-for-mission-trips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Justice & Action Resources Online Even more web resources: Lifelong Faith/Inter-generational planning resources includes this page of curated links: http://www.lifelongfaith.com/justice--service-resources.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Catechism of the Catholic Church On Social Justice 1888. "It is necessary, then, to appeal to the spiritual and moral capacities of the human person and to the permanent need for his inner conversion, so as to obtain SOCIAL changes that will really serve him. The acknowledged priority of the conversion of heart in no way eliminates but on the contrary imposes the obligation of bringing the appropriate remedies to institutions and living conditions when they are an inducement to sin, so that they conform to the norms of JUSTICE and advance the good rather than hinder it.[Cf. LG 36.] " 1889. "Without the help of grace, men would not know how 'to discern the often narrow path between the cowardice which gives in to evil, and the violence which under the illusion of fighting evil only makes it worse.'[CA 25.] This is the path of charity, that is, of the love of God and of neighbor. Charity is the greatest SOCIAL commandment. It respects others and their rights. It requires the practice of JUSTICE, and it alone makes us capable of it. Charity inspires a life of self-giving: 'Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.'[Lk 17:33 .]" 1916. "As with any ethical obligation, the participation of all in realizing the common good calls for a continually renewed conversion of the SOCIAL partners. Fraud and other subterfuges, by which some people evade the constraints of the law and the prescriptions of societal obligation, must be firmly condemned because they are incompatible with the requirements of JUSTICE. Much care should be taken to promote institutions that improve the conditions of human life.[Cf. GS 30 # 1.] " 1928. "Society ensures SOCIAL JUSTICE when it provides the conditions that allow associations or individuals to obtain what is their due, according to their nature and their vocation. SOCIAL JUSTICE is linked to the common good and the exercise of authority. " 1929. "SOCIAL JUSTICE can be obtained only in respecting the transcendent dignity of man. The person represents the ultimate end of society, which is ordered to him: What is at stake is the dignity of the human person, whose defense and promotion have been entrusted to us by the Creator, and to whom the men and women at every moment of history are strictly and responsibly in debt.[John Paul II, SRS 47.] " 1938. "There exist also sinful inequalities that affect millions of men and women. These are in open contradiction of the Gospel: Their equal dignity as persons demands that we strive for fairer and more humane conditions. Excessive economic and SOCIAL disparity between individuals and peoples of the one human race is a source of scandal and militates against SOCIAL JUSTICE, equity, human dignity, as well as SOCIAL and international peace.[CS 29 # 3.] " 1943. "Society ensures SOCIAL JUSTICE by providing the conditions that allow associations and individuals to obtain their due. " 2419. "'Christian revelation . . . promotes deeper understanding of the laws of SOCIAL living.'[GS 23 # 1.] The Church receives from the Gospel the full revelation of the truth about man. When she fulfills her mission of proclaiming the Gospel, she bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of persons. She teaches him the demands of JUSTICE and peace in conformity with divine wisdom." 2425. "The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with 'communism' or 'socialism.' She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of 'capitalism,' individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor.[Cf. CA 10; 13; 44.] Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of SOCIAL bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace fails SOCIAL JUSTICE, for 'there are many human needs which cannot be satisfied by the market.'[CA 34.] Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended." 2426. "The development of economic activity and growth in production are meant to provide for the needs of human beings. Economic life is not meant solely to multiply goods produced and increase profit or power; it is ordered first of all to the service of persons, of the whole man, and of the entire human community. Economic activity, conducted according to its own proper methods, is to be exercised within the limits of the moral order, in keeping with SOCIAL JUSTICE so as to correspond to God's plan for man.[Cf. GS 64.] " 2442. "It is not the role of the Pastors of the Church to intervene directly in the political structuring and organization of SOCIAL life. This task is part of the vocation of the lay faithful, acting on their own initiative with their fellow citizens. SOCIAL action can assume various concrete forms. It should always have the common good in view and be in conformity with the message of the Gospel and the teaching of the Church. It is the role of the laity 'to animate temporal realities with Christian commitment, by which they show that they are witnesses and agents of peace and JUSTICE.'[SRS 47 # 6; cf. 42.]" 2459. "Man is himself the author, center, and goal of all economic and SOCIAL life. The decisive point of the SOCIAL question is that goods created by God for everyone should in fact reach everyone in accordance with JUSTICE and with the help of charity. " 2479. "Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one's neighbor. Honor is the SOCIAL witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of JUSTICE and charity. " 2495. "'It is necessary that all members of society meet the demands of JUSTICE and charity in this domain. They should help, through the means of SOCIAL communication, in the formation and diffusion of sound public opinion.'[IM 8.] Solidarity is a consequence of genuine and right communication and the free circulation of ideas that further knowledge and respect for others." 2512. "Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, and JUSTICE. One should practice moderation and discipline in the use of the SOCIAL communications media. " 2832. "As leaven in the dough, the newness of the kingdom should make the earth 'rise' by the Spirit of Christ.[Cf. AA 5.] This must be shown by the establishment of JUSTICE in personal and SOCIAL, economic and international relations, without ever forgetting that there are no just structures without people who want to be just." |
