Moving faith into action—doing justice in St. Joseph-St. Pius X faith community

Catholic New Times, Dec 19, 2004 by Eileen Dobell

Social Justice issues Can be a hard sell in parishes. Committees come and go. In winter 2000, our newly reformed Social Justice group at St. Pius X parish in London, Ontario, looked at the record and made a decision: start by "informing" ourselves. We began a six-week training program, called "Moving Faith into Action," to ground us in the theology of social justice, give us practice in group process skills, help us discern priorities--and attract new members. It proved a valuable kick-start, and left us with convictions that have shaped our actions.

Move issues of justice and peace into the centre of parish life

Doing justice is at the heart of the mission Christ left us. We felt we had to try to move issues of justice and peace into the centre of parish activity. Consciousness-raising, for ourselves first, had to be ongoing. So we create awareness through bulletin updates, parish newsletter articles, guest speakers and presentations. We work at keeping open the channels of communication with the pastor, pastoral team, and parish organizations.

Effective justice work needs collaboration

Effective justice work demands collaboration. We needed to move beyond the parish. Having amalgamated with the SJ committee of our cluster parish, St. Joseph, we then invited groups within the deanery to "Social Action Days" for sharing information and concerns. A consensus emerged. We needed a stimulus--a catalytic event. With assistance from the diocesan Justice office, we formed inter-parish sub-committees in which, for two years, we worked, agonized, and, step by step, organized a conference.

On Oct. 25, 2003, 188 people over-flowed St. Pius X hall for London's first-ever diocesan Social Justice conference, named appropriately "Moving Faith into Action: Partnerships for Justice!" From 9:30 a.m. to the closing liturgy at 5 p.m.--celebrated by our new bishop, Ronald Fabbro, CSB--there was a sense of Spirit-moving, of shared commitment and vision. Urging the old justice war-cry, "Keep bible in one hand and newspaper in the other," keynote speaker Jennifer Henry from KAIROS pointed directions for action while enlarging the context of "rights," individual and communal, and calling us to wider perspectives. Diverse workshops focused on specific threats to entitlement and suggested openings for partnership in advocacy--whether with Development and Peace, the London Affordable Housing Foundation, refugee organizations, or with our own high school students. At the end of the clay, the plenary session was an important arena for exchange and cross-examination, and contributed to the wisdom gained from the evaluations after the fact.

The conference did more than we hoped. It engaged, challenged, shone beacons at issues, and left us more certain than before--we are not alone.

Our actions must be both local and global in scope

One of our early decisions was to opt for both global and local issues. That we have done. In 2001, we collaborated with Habitat for Humanity and others to provide finances and sweat equity for a home-conversion project for low-income families in London. At the same time, we began our three-year attempt to sponsor a South Sudanese refugee family stranded in Cairo. Awaiting the outcome of immigration determination, we sent some support directly to them in Cairo.

When the local Catholic Board of Education voted to contract out custodial work, we protested by post, email, and a formal presentation citing Catholic Social teaching on the dignity of labour. The issue and our follow-up are ongoing. Meanwhile, we have been enlisting the knowledge and persuasiveness of Fr. Bob Holmes, CSB, to shrew and tell us about the work of Christian Peacemaker Teams. Last January, he gave us a close-up, street-level look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Hebron, of a kind that doesn't make the media coverage. The response was strong enough to impress the pastor to invite him to preach at several Masses, covering both parishes, this September--and to come back again in Advent.

Our parish is now a Fair Trade Coffee zone (only Fair Trade coffee is served by parish organizations), though we did have to learn some diplomacy along the way. That, too, is justice work. We find the daunting number of families on London's waiting list for affordable housing covers a number of personal tragedies. Two of our members have represented the committee in the work of the London Affordable Housing Foundation--a mixed-faith group with strong sponsorship from the Sisters of St. Joseph and the United Church. Barring additional red tape, almost three years of planning, lobbying, and fundraising will soon be rewarded with the sod-turning for a 14-unit townhouse project--one of the first new affordable housing enterprises here since 1995. Our effort here not only reflects our commitment to local needs, but taps into another of our early decisions:

We will reach out ecumenically

We continue to watch for opportunities to interact with local congregations of other Christian denominations, but the initiative of one member in particular to reach out to the Muslim community has borne some rich fruit.