Justice Matters

Reginald Lewis #AY2902

2010-03-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

Our Justice Office Coodinator, Joanne Tromiczak-Neid, recently received a letter from Reginald Sinclair Lewis, a published poet and playwright on death row in Pennsylvania's SCI Green State Prison. Lewis' letter invited Joanne to share his poems with the CSJ community. This piece "On the Day the Children Marched," was written after Lewis' pen pals at a nearby elementary school marched to the gates of the prison to protest his imminent execution. The Children's Crusade, as it came to be called, was successful, and Lewis received a stay from the Pennsylvania governor. A brief description of that march and a second, larger action that the children staged afterwards can be found below the poem.

On the Day the Children Marched

Reginald Lewis

On the day you marched they said

the angels were with you,

winding through the new Meadow Run and on

Down the highways, trouncing across

Inauspicious redneck counties and

Into buildings where God reigned.

Heading towards Babylon -- braving the

Wind and the rain and Satan's fire --

You didn't come because of some

twisted notion of heroism,

You weren't drawn by romantic visions

Of matyrdom or self-aggrandizement.

The thing is, you could have been anywhere --

Wallowing in the decadent playgrounds

of indifference,

Lolling in the murky dark shadows

Of blissful ignorance, yeah,

safe and secure behind your impenetrable

Fortress of hypocrisy and indignation.

On the day you marched God smiled

down on you --

Because you see an injustice and

You want to correct it.

You see racism and you want to cure it,

And you see the brutal inequity of

capital punishment and you want to abolish it.

When the Pennsylvania governor signed a death warrant for Reggie Lewis, an inmate at the SCI Green State Prison, the children from nearby Spring Valley School knew they had to act. The kids, who had been penpals with Lewis, badgered their parents to drive them to Green County, where they marched up to the prison, waving signs and chanting, "Don't murder Reggie! He's our friend!" and "End the racist death penalty!" A few weeks later Reggie Lewis got a stay of execution. The elated children next organized the Children's Crusade Against the Death Penalty, a three-day 30 mile march of 1,000 young people that attracted media coverage worldwide.

article

Update from the JRLC

2010-03-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

A key legislative committee is considering the Governor's budget proposals to:Eliminate General Assistance - that provides $203 a month in income support to adults unable to work because of very serious illness or disability; andTake income assistance away from 7,000 families who have a parent or child with disabilities and are on the Minnesota Family Investment Program, leaving those families to live on disability support only at deep poverty levels. (Another 900 families in which the parent of a child with disabilities or the spouse of someone with disabilities would lose all or much of their child care assistance, jeopardizing their ability to continue working.)Defund the Emergency General Assistance which provides one-time emergency help to keep adults from becoming homeless or for those who are homeless to get re-established in stable housing.The MN House Health & Human Services Finance Committee will be deciding over this Passover/Easter break whether to accept or reject the Governor's proposals. The following committee members have influence over this decision. Please email them and say, "Please protect funding for General Assistance, Emergency General Assistance, and MFIP families. Don't balance the budget on those who have the least."

Rep Jim Abeler, Anoka rep.jim.abeler@house.mn

Rep Tom Anzelc, Balsam Township rep.tom.anzelc@house.mn

Rep Julie Bunn, Lake Elmo rep.julie.bunn@house.mn

Rep Patti Fritz, Faribault rep.patti.fritz@house.mn

Rep Jeff Hayden, Minneapolis rep.jeff.hayden@house.mn

Rep Larry Hosch, St. Joseph rep.larry.hosch@house.mn

Rep Thomas Huntley, Duluth rep.thomas.huntley@house.mn

Rep Tina Liebling, Rochester rep.tina.liebling@house.mn

Rep Erin Murphy, St. Paul rep.erin.murphy@house.mn

Rep Mary Ellen Otremba, Long Prairie rep.maryellen.otremba@house.mn

Rep Sandra Peterson, New Hope rep.sandra.peterson@house.mn

Rep Maria Ruud, Minnetonka rep.maria.ruud@house.mn

Rep Bev Scalze, Little Canada rep.bev.scalze@house.mn

Rep Nora Slawik, Maplewood rep.nora.slawik@house.mn

Rep Cy Thao, St. Paul rep.cy.thao@house.mn

Rep Paul Thissen, Minneapolis rep.paul.thissen@house.mn

If you are not a constituent, please find a friend, family member, old classmate, colleague, board member, or somebody who is and ask them to send an email!

Restorative Justice Peace Prayer

2010-03-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

The Criminal Justice Working Group of the Sisters of St. Joseph took charge of the organization and execution of the 11th Day Prayer for Peace this month, taking Restorative Justice as their theme for the service.

Restorative Justice is an ancient idea that is enjoying a recent surge of popularity in criminal justice circles. It's the profoundly sensible idea that crime hurts everyone in a community, not just the victim, and that everyone is responsible for preventing recidivism, not just the offender. Ideally the victim, the offender and the community can join together to create a sense of joint accountability and culpability. The basic message is that we are all responsible for each other.

An example of restorative justice at work on a large scale can be found in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission convened by the South African government after the dissolution of apartheid. All of the trials and hearings administered by the commission were public, and both the victims and the accused perpetrators were allowed to make public statements.

The Criminal Justice team took this theme and ran with it, inviting Jodelle Ista, a member of the South St. Paul Restorative Justice Project to give the reflection and taking the Good Samaritan story of the Gospel reading. Marilaurice Hemlock did a beautiful job as the music leader for the evening, and Mary Maas, Chris Furlong, Ann Quincy and Carmen Shaunghessy-Johnson shared reading responsibilities.

Thanks to all who came!

NOLA

2010-03-23T09:17:00.001-07:00

The bright, cold sunlight of 7am February 22nd dawned on two vanfuls of St. Joseph Workers, packed to the overhead lights with snacks and sleeping bags. We traveled in caravan for 12 hours that first day, finally ending in St. Louis, MO, where we were fed and put up for the night in a lovely old convent building. The next morning we set out again, this time for New Orleans, to begin our week of service with Operation Helping Hands, an organization sponsored by Catholic Charities.

Operation Helping Hands is dedicated to rebuilding and refurbishing houses destroyed in the flooding that destroyed the city when the levees broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Their website describes their work this way, "Operation Helping Hands brings volunteers from across the country together to help rebuild New Orleans by rebuilding homes of elderly, disabled or uninsured homeowners."

We were joined in New Orleans by six other women, three each from worker programs in Philadelphia and New Orleans, as well as three staff members from those programs and a fledgling program in Albany. You can find photos of the group below . . .

We spent about half of our stay working with OHH painting houses in the Gentilly neighborhood. It felt good to be outside, to be making visible progress on our various projects, to be filling a truly demonstrable need. Some of us got the chance to visit with the homeowners we were helping.

On the one rainy day of the week my group was sent to scrape the rust from the chain link fence that surrounded a one-story mocha and cream bungalow. The task was repetitive and tiring in the way that boring and simple things often are: grasp scraper handle firmly, rasp at the rust only each link, trail a finger down the metal to see if you've made any difference at all. Repeat. We were all grumbling mutinously by mid-day, which was when the homeowner made her first appearance. She had been out shopping for a specific brand of direct-to-metal paint to cover the sanded off rust-coat on the fence when we finished scraping.

We chatted with her for a bit. She showed us a little baggie of paint chips that she had saved from the facade of her house and stored in her purse. She planned on showing them to the supervisor of this project, hoping that he would have something that could come close to a match. We admired the colors and tried to talk about painting metal fences like we knew anything at all about it.

The day before during our dinner table reflection, Marilaurice Hemlock, one of our program supervisors, had mentioned that she felt frustrated while she was working on the house assigned to her group. She said that many of the tools she would have used if she had been painting her own house were missing. The power washer, the paint sprayer, a truly thorough scraping and priming job - all these were not in evidence when they began their work on the house. So she picked up a wet rag and a brush and set to work wiping down the siding by hand, painting as carefully as she could, treating the house, she said, as if it were her own house, and these were the tools she had at hand. At the time I didn't appreciate that commitment fully - I thought that I was doing a pretty good job on the house we were painting. I didn't have a lot of experience, and I was muddling through, whatever. Somehow meeting this homeowner snapped that comment back into the front of my mind, though. Here I was, presented with a task a monkey could do perfectly, and I was slacking. I was scraping, all right, but I was doing it more to have my body in motion than to do a really excellent job. Unlike the house painting we had done the previous days, scraping the house didn't allow me to excuse my half-hearted application with a claim to lack of expertise. Scraping rust off of chain link is not something that you need to be trained to do well. You just either do it thoroughly or you don't.

That moment was a flashpoint in the week for me. There's a chasm of difference between doing something like it's your job and doing something like it's your passion. I was approaching the work like it was service to a distant neighbor, when I should have been thinking of it, as Marilaurice said, as service to myself.

Caucus resolutions

2010-02-01T12:16:00.001-08:00

As I'm sure you know, precinct caucuses for all parties are taking place tomorrow. You can find your caucus location on the Secretary of State's website.

Members of our working groups have suggested several different resolutions for the caucuses. If you're interested in proposing a resolution at your caucus you can find them here, from Catholic Charities, and here from the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition.

Upcoming Events!

2010-01-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

11th Day Prayer for Peace
Prepared by the Dismantling Racism Working Group
When: Thursday, Feb. 11
6:30-7:15 pm
Where: Presentation of Our Lady Chapel,
1890 Randolph Ave., Saint Paul.
FFI: Joänne Tromiczak-Neid, 651.690.7079

Conversation with Our Legislators: It's About Us All
Presenter: Deborah Schlick, Executive Director, Affirmative Action Coalition
Prepared by the Legislative Advocacy Partners Working Group
When: Saturday, Feb. 13,
8:30 am -12:30 pm
Where: Carondelet Center, 1890 Randolph Ave., Saint Paul.
FFI: Joan Wittman, 651.774.4008

Second Chance Day on the Hill
Second Chance Day on the Hill is sponsored and supported by a partnership of nonprofits (including the Criminal Justice Working Group) and companies that believe ex-offenders have paid their debt to society and need a chance to enter the workforce to support themselves and their families.
When: Monday, Feb. 22,
10:00 am
Where: Minnesota State Capitol.
FFI: Laney Ohmans, 651.690.7087

Breaking the Impasse: Immigration Beyond the Sound Byte
Presenter: Simone Campbell, Executive Director,
NETWORK - A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Presented by: Legislative Advocacy Partners Working Group, Myser Initiative on Catholic Identity at St. Catherine University, Spirit of St. Stephens Catholic Community
When: Wednesday, March 3,
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Where: Carondelet Center, 1890 Randolph Avenue, Saint Paul
FFI: Joan Wittman, 651.774.4008

The 15th Annual International Women’s Day: Inspire. Act. Change!
Presented by: The Advocates for Human Rights and the Human Rights Program at the University of Minnesota
Keynote: Leymah Gbowee, Women’s Peace Movement of Liberia
When: Saturday, March 6
8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Where: Coffman Union, University of Minnesota
Free and open to the public. Keynote: Leymah Gbowee, Women’s Peace Movement of Liberia
FFI: www.mnadvocates.org

JRLC Day on the Hill: Justice We Pursue!
Keynote Speaker: Rabbi Harold J. Kravitz, senior rabbi at Adath Jeshurun Congregation in Minnetonka, followed by issue briefings and meetings with legislators at the Capitol.
When: Thursday, March 25
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Where: RiverCenter, Kellogg Boulevard, Saint Paul

Massive Earthquake in Haiti

2010-01-13T06:24:00.000-08:00

Please consider making a donation to the charity of your choice in response to this massive, devastating earthquake in Haiti. The Catholic Relief Services are one of many that have hastened to respond to this disaster.

Here is a link to the Oxfam site - one of their employees has this to say of the disaster:
"There is a blanket of dust rising from the valley south of the capitol. We can hear people calling for help from every corner."

photo courtesy of the BBC

Where Are They Now?: St. Joseph Worker edition

2010-01-11T11:22:00.001-08:00

The St. Joseph Worker program is a one-year volunteer experience sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph, very similar to the Americorps Vista program, but with a strong emphasis on spiritual growth and leadership development. The Justice Commission Office has played host to four St. Joseph Workers, and I recently caught up with a few of them to see what they've been up to since they left the program and the JC Office. Unsurprisingly, the women are all doing great things, working for social justice in a variety of inspiring ways. I'll let these women speak for themselves: here is what 2008-2009 SJW Faith Fischer had to say:

"Working at St. Stephen's is great. I am constantly learning new things. Being a case worker means that I work with individuals who have been homeless for 52 weeks or three times in four years. Through a Hennepin Couny grant they are placed in apartments. I journey with them through grovery store aisles and beaurecratic obstacles. The most challenging part of the job has been learning the proper channels to access the best resouces. The most rewarding part has been building trust with participants so that we can have authentic conversations about what they want out of life. I have applied to local schools in hopes of pursuing my masters in social work next year."

Coming Up!

2010-01-11T08:43:00.000-08:00

The Women's Human Rights Film Series
This series of documentaries focusing on the lives and works of women throughout the world continues with the film Rough Aunties.
Date and Time: Wednesday, January 27 at 6:30pm
Location: St. Anthony Park Branch Library, 2245 Como Ave. in Saint Paul. (Map)

Here's a brief description from the Friends of the St. Paul Public Libraries website:
"Fearless, feisty and resolute, the "Rough Aunties" are a remarkable group of women unwavering in their stand to protect and care for the abused, neglected and forgotten children of Durban, South Africa.
This latest documentary by internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto follows the outspoken, multiracial cadre of Thuli, Mildred, Sdudla, Eureka and Jackie, as they wage a daily battle against systemic apathy, corruption, and greed to help the most vulnerable and disenfranchised of their communities."

Mental Health for Refugees

2010-01-11T07:51:00.000-08:00

photo by Kurt Moses (www.kurtco.com)

The Minnesota Council of Churches recently expanded their services to refugees to include a three year survey and evaluation of mental health care options in the metropolitan area. Licensed social worker Sue Johnston (read her fantastic presentation on multicultural mental health here) has taken charge of the project, and is exploring a wide range of options that might increase accessibility to programming and decrease the stigma of seeking mental health treatment.

In a recent Minnpost article Johnston speaks to the challenge of moving past shame towards seeking help - "As we're talking to people about the grief or anxiety that they feel, or their inability to feel safe, we have to help them understand that they're not crazy," Johnston says. "If you've lived in a war zone, if you've been ripped away from your community or your home, that's a normal human response."

To get involved with one of the Council of Churches' programs for refugees you can visit their website and check their volunteer listings. Another organization that does a lot of work with refugee populations in the Twin Cities is the Center for Victims of Torture, and they also have a great need for volunteers.

2010-01-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

Ramsey County Detention Center Vigil

2010-01-06T08:51:00.000-08:00

Many members of the Immigration Working Group of the Sisters of St. Joseph have been attending a monthly vigil at the Ramsey County Detention Center, where civil detainees from the county are held pending deportation or trial. (For more information about this type of detention, see this excellent article on the TC Daily page).

This past Sunday the group was a partial sponsor of the vigil. Here's a a synopsis from Immigration Working group chair Pat Owen:

"Everyone had an active, joyful presence and in particular: Andria gave it a warm and welcoming start and guided it through the march around the walls of Jericho; Kate was by her side and opened with a heartfelt, strong prayer; Mary was right there to lead the songs; Rita held a banner; Barbara so kindly sat with a frozen participant in her car, helping her warm up; Joanne took photos."

The Immigration Working Group is also organizing this month's Eleventh Day Prayer for Peace. I hope you can join them this Monday at 6:30pm in the Provincial House Chapel for a brief prayer service!

MLK Holiday Breakfasts

2010-01-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

Join in the metro-wide MLK Jr. Day breakfast celebrations! Five locations across the metro area will broadcast the full program taking place at the Minneapolis Convention Center free of charge. Here is the program for the morning.

The keynote speaker is the Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, described by Ebony magazine in their "15 Greatest Black Preachers" feature as the "consummate voice of biblical social relevancy, a focused prophetic voice, speaking truth to power."

Date:
January 18, 2010
MLK Holiday Breakfasts 2010
Registration Begins on December 28, 2010

Locations
East Side/Downtown Breakfast
Guardian Angels Catholic Church
8260 4th St. N., Oakdale, MN 55128
Click HERE to Register for the East Side / Downtown Breakfast

Summit-University Breakfast
Mount Olivet Baptist Church
451 Central Ave. W., St. Paul, MN 55103
Click HERE to Register for the Summit-University Breakfast

West Side Breakfast
Augustana Lutheran Church
1400 Robert Street, West St. Paul, MN 55118
Click HERE to Register for the West Side Breakfast

Mahtomedi, Minnesota Breakfast
White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church
328 Maple St., Mahtomedi, MN 55115
Click HERE to Register for the Mahtomedi Breakfast.

River Falls, Wisconsin Breakfast
St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, 211 East Division Street
River Falls, WI 54022
Click HERE to Register for the River Falls Breakfast

Pawlenty's Unallotment Use is Temporarily Restrained!

2009-12-31T09:15:00.000-08:00

Here's the Minnpost article, which tells you absolutely everything you need to know. A quick summary: Ramsey County Judge Kathleen Gearin's ruling specifically restores a tiny chunk of funding to a nutritional program, but it has clear repercussions for the $2.7 billion total cut. It clears a path for other plaintiffs to bring specific suits. The action Gearin took is temporary, but is restores funding until a hearing in March.

Pawlenty's camp responded with this statement: "We are disappointed in the judge's decision. We are weighing all our options, including appeal, reestablishing unallotments under the current forecast, potential legislative options, and other actions."

Get Out the Vote: Concerned Citizen Caucus Training

2009-12-29T18:55:00.000-08:00

The Get Out the Vote Task Group is offering a "Concerned Citizen Caucus Training," for anyone who'd like to be more involved in the political process on a local level. We'll show you how to leverage your network into real power to influence candidates and advocate for the issues that are most important to you.

Martin Luther King Jr. "Justice in Action" Day

2009-12-29T18:48:00.000-08:00

Coming Up!

"Nonviolence in Action" Learn skills that transform everyday conflict. Cretin-Derham Hall's Theater of the Oppressed group will engage youth and adults in participatory experiences. This day will raise awareness of a variety of techniques and strategies that will help us address conflict in a constructive and nonviolent way.
When: Monday, January 18, 9am to 3:30pm Where: Carondelet Center, 1890 Randolph Ave., St. Paul Cost: $10 adult / $5 student (includes lunch)

TO REGISTER: Click here to register online. Or you can register by phone at 651-696-2874. Please register by January 11. ~ Sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and Consociates and the following ministries: Justice in Action Team of Celeste's Dream Spirituality Center for Young Adults, St. Joseph Workers, Justice Office, Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality, Hedgerow Initiative.

World's Least-Demanding Book Club Begins!

2009-12-28T12:49:00.001-08:00

Each Monday we'll find a particularly inspiring article or homily from and post it to this site. I'll include my thoughts on the topic, and I'd love to hear your insights and arguments, as well as suggestions for the theme next week.

This week I'm taking "Radical Hospitality," as my theme, and using a recent post from the Unitarian Universalist minister Rev. Bret Lortie as a platform for the discussion. You can find Lortie's text here, and he's referencing a book titled Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way of Love, which you can order here if you're interested.

From Radical Hospitality:
"It [hospitality] is instead a spiritual practice, a way of becoming more human, a way of understanding yourself. Hospitality is both the answer to modern alienation and injustice and a path to a deeper spirituality."

The reframing of hospitality as a powerful and soul-renewing spiritual practice is a fairly recent development in liberal Christian circles. The term first entered the lexicon with the publication of Brother Daniel Homan and Lonni Pratt's meditation on Benedictine hospitality: Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way of Love. Homan, a monk, and Pratt, a friend of the monastic community, used the practices of the Benedictine hospitality as a framework for understanding the true meaning of empathy and community. What does it mean, they asked, to be truly hospitable? It means that you open your "tight little heart," and you ask the other to come nearer, to let you know them better.

Recently the idea of radical hospitality has begun to find a new application - more specific than the original, and perhaps more challenging. Advocates of immigration reform are using "hospitality" to reset the language used in what has become an increasingly acrimonious debate. They ask us: what does it mean to be a guest worker as opposed to an illegal alien?
We are often reminded that it was Jesus who was the guest in many of the stories in the New Testament. As Loren McGrail, UCC pastor, writes, "Jesus, our Lord God of Hosts, was and is also the perfect guest, the welcomed stranger. 'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, for I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, for I was a stranger and you took me in. (Mathew 25: 34-35).' "

Advocates for criminal justice system reform draw on the same passage from Matthew to push for a more meaningful acceptance of recently released ex-offenders. What should we draw from the continuation of that verse, "I was in prison and you visited me"? Who could be further from the common table than the prisoner? How can we welcome ex-offenders back into our communities in a truly hospitable manner?

What do you think about radical hospitality? How can this idea be used as a wedge to separate us from our easy understanding of what it means to be welcoming?

Asylum and the Church

2009-12-28T08:16:00.000-08:00

Photo by Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

A recent New York Times piece, "New Jersey Church Works with US to Spare Detention," offers a compelling case for faith communities' involvement in deportation and detention issues. The article focuses on the work one congregation has done to broker a deal between local immigration authorities (ICE) and the Indonesian congregation with whom they share church space, but it also offers a great overview of how "civil detention" usually works in the US.

Civil detainees are held at state correctional facilities, often mixed in with the general population of the jail or prison. In an infamous case in Texas, entire families were held at the T. Don Hutto facility, confined to their cells for 12 hours a day.

Here in Minnesota there are many interfaith groups that are pushing hard for comprehensive immigration reform. The Rev. Loren McGrail, a UCC pastor and a member of the local chapter of the national group Interfaith Immigration Coalition, will be speaking at the January 11th Day Prayer for Peace, hosted this month by the Immigration Working Group. Here is a sample of one of Rev. McGrail's past sermons on immigration, "Radical Hospitality."

Peace Prayer will be held, as always, in the Pro House Chapel, from 6:30-7:30pm on the 11th day of January. All are welcome!

GAMC Action Update

2009-12-25T23:19:00.001-08:00

The GAMC action on Tuesday went well - we chose to illustrate the 1,000 names by threading a thousand paper snow flakes into a garland. The garland is now on display outside the Justice commission office.

The coalition got some great news coverage: take a look at the stories on Minnpost and on KSTP.

Thanks to all who came, to read or to sit.

GAMC funding

2009-12-21T07:20:00.000-08:00

The Justice Commission Office will be partnering with St. Stephen's Human Services and 32 other organizations around the state of Minnesota to protest the termination of General Assistance Medical Care. This action will take place tomorrow, December 22nd from 10am-11am at the Administration Center of the Sister of St. Joseph, at 1884 Randolph Ave. Participants in the action will read 1,000 names - the names of Minnesotans whose health care coverage will be eliminated when the GAMC program ends. These lists will be read at 33 sites to represent the 33,000 citizens who are covered by this program at any given time in the state.
GAMC enrollees typically:

Live in rural, suburban, and urban communities across Minnesota. Anoka, Dakota, Stearns and Olmsted counties all have significant numbers of GAMC enrollees, along with Ramsey and Hennepin counties.
Earn an income at or below 75% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines ($8,100 a year)
Have greater likelihood of chemical health or mental health needs: 70% of enrollees have a mental health and/or chemical health diagnosis
Are disproportionately people of color, especially African-American and Native Americans

In the words of Governor Pawlenty's health commissioner, they are the "poorest of the poor and sickest of the sick." The end of General Assistance Medical Care would mean that most of the recipients of this coverage would be rolled over to MinnesotaCare, the state program for the working poor. This is not a feasible alternative for many GAMC enrollees - the premiums are higher under MinnesotaCare, and the hospital coverage is limited. There is currently a four month wait for enrollment into MinnesotaCare, as well, a gap in coverage that could make a critical difference for the stability of many GAMC enrollees.

For more information on this issue, you can read this excellent op-ed piece by State Representatives Denise Dittrich and Maria Ruud.

If you would like to join us in protesting the termination of GAMC, please call 651-690-7087, or email dolores.ohmans@gmail.com.

January Events

2009-12-16T08:42:00.001-08:00

Peace Prayer
This month's peace prayer will be hosted by the Immigration Working Group.
Rev. Loren McGrail will give the reflection.
January 11
6:30-8:30pm
Provincial House Chapel
1890 Randolph Ave.
St. Paul
map

Concerned Citizen Caucus Training
This is a training that focuses on encouraging political involvement on a local level! It will be offered by members of the Get Out the Vote Task Force.
January 13
7:00-8:30pm
Carondelet Center
1890 Randolph Ave.

Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service
Nonviolent Communication Training
Learn skills that transform everyday conflict. Cretin-Derham Hall's Theater of the Oppressed group will engage youth and adults in participatory experiences. This day will raise awareness of a variety of techniques and strategies that will help us address conflict in a constructive and nonviolent way.
January 18
9am-3:30pm
Carondelet Center
1890 Randolph Ave

2009-12-15T11:20:00.000-08:00

The Legislative Advocacy Working Group is working with a number of partners to put on their sixth annual "Conversation with our Legislators" event. Mark your calendar, LAP members!

2009-12-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

Our Lady of Guadelupe

2009-12-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

This is how the story goes: in the early part of the 16th Century in the newly Spanish colony of Mexico, a peasant named Juan Diego went walking up a sacred hill called Tepeyac. As Juan Diego approached the crest of the hill he saw a girl of about 15 or 16 walking towards him. As the girl drew nearer a corona of light appeared all around her, and she addressed Juan Diego in Nauhutl, the language of the place, asking him to build a church at the site in her honor. Juan Diego reported the apparition to Bishop Zumarraga, who demanded a miraculous sign before he would commence construction. Diego returned the next day with an arm full of Castilian roses and a cloak covered with an image of the Virgin, dressed in a starry blue robe, spiky rays of light emanating from her body.

This image has become a symbol not only of the Mother of God, but also of Mexican Catholic identity. Enter any Hispanic grocery store and you can find shelves of Our Lady of Guadelupe votive candles. Truck drivers hang her image from their rearview mirror, and Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla famously declared the start of the Mexican war of independence with a cry of, "Death to the Spaniards and long live the Virgin of Guadelupe!"

This month's peace prayer celebrates the healing aspect of the Virgin's presence. We will pray the Magnificat together, in Spanish and in English, enjoy beautiful hymns to Mary, and listen to the words of Kathleen Judge, a CSJ who spent much of her life in Peru.

Details:

This event will take place on Friday, December 11th, in the Pro House chapel, across the street from the Administration Center of the Sisters. It will begin at 6:15 and end at 7:00. All are welcome - please join us!

Events!

2009-11-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, November 17

Dismantling Racism Working Group Meeting

Carondelet Center

1884 Randolph Ave.

5:15-6:45pm

Wednesday, November 18

St. Stephen's "Resuscitate GAMC" Action

3:30-6:30pm at the corner of Park Ave and 8th S.

Description of the event from the St. Stephen's website:

"To balance its budget the State of Minnesota is terminating General Assistance Medical Care to low-income people. This action is a demonstration of the inevitable consequences: a flood of people resorting to an overburdened county emergency room for primary healthcare. On Nov. 18th we will simulate a never ending, never moving emergency room waiting line at the corner of Park Ave. N. & 8th St. S. (near HCMC) in downtown Minneapolis."

Thursday, November 24

Criminal Justice Working Group Meeting

Carondelet Center

1884 Randolph Ave. St. Paul MN

7-9pm

Immigration Working Group Meeting

Carondelet Center

5-7pm

Blogging for Justice

2009-11-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

Introductions

Since the first Sister of St. Joseph sailed down the Mississippi River and stepped onto firm ground in the village of Carondolet, near the great city of St. Louis, this religious community of women, its associates, consociates, ohana and familia have honored the CSJ charism to "love God and the dear neighbor without distinction." From their earliest efforts to establish a school/hospital/chapel in St. Paul, in an overworked log cabin described in detail in the order's biography, Eyes Open On a World -

"One room served for oratory, refectory, community room, parlor and dormitory. At night we put our mattresses, two on the table . . . and two on the floor. We opened school in the old church near us . . . when a cholera epidemic broke out in St. Paul in 1853, the sisters found themselves nursing the cholera victims in the log cabin church hastily converted into a makeshift hospital." (10) to their more recent actions: "political caucuses and demonstrations, including vigils for slain civil rights workers and protests against the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, as well as Honeywell's production of cluster bombs." (177), the Sisters of St. Joseph have demonstrated their belief that "working for justice is not an optional pursuit, but is integral to the gospel." (175)

This commitment to justice is what guides the work of the Justice Commission Office and its eight Working Groups and three Task Groups. For more information about these groups (which wrestle with issues that rangle from environmental degradation to systemic racism) please click through to our parent site: Justice Matters.