Our Beginnings

Over the last century, the Catholic Church, through encyclicals and documents of American bishops, conveyed to its people the various principles of its social teachings and church unity. These principles are highlighted to a large extent by the themes: dignity of the human person, community and the common good, rights and responsibilities, option for the poor, dignity of work, and solidarity. Also, in 1995, Pope John Paul II's encyclical "That They May Be One" clearly demonstrated a strong commitment to ecumenism. To be more responsive to the current emphasis on these teachings and to facilitate the participation of all ministries in these teachings, the Pastoral Council, in January 1997, formed the Social and Ecumenical Concerns Committee.

The original goals were focused on raising the awareness in the IHM community of social justice and ecumenical issues; motivating a response to prevalent social justice and ecumenical issues; offering collaboration and support to existing parish groups involved in social justice and ecumenical issues; and developing a spirit of unity and broad support within the parish

In 2004, the committee dropped the ecumenical goals and was renamed simply the Social Justice Committee.   

1. What is the purpose of the SJC ministry?
The SJC is involved in the process of identifying, organizing and implementing appropriate projects and programs in an integrated framework across the parish in the area of social and ecumenical concerns. Its goal is to help carry out the social and ecumenical mission of the Catholic Church in accordance with the tradition of Catholic social teaching.

See Mission and Goals

2. Who are the principal recipients of the SJC ministry?
The ministry is focused on the entire parish.

3. How does the community of IHM publicly recognize and affirm the SJC ministry?
To the extent it does, the community would recognize and affirm through reading the various social justice publications, participating in various projects, and joining in prayer.  We do not necessarily want to bring attention to the ministry, itself.

4.  What training is received for the SJC ministry?
Each member is given two books to digest – “Bringing Forth Justice” and “Living Justice.”  In addition, we are connected to the USCCB resources on social development and world peace.  One of us is encouraged to attend one national or regional convention/gathering on social justice where we mix and compare notes with other social justice organizations.  We are also “taught” how to lobby and still learning.

5. Where does the SJC ministry "happen"?
We have regular monthly meetings, third Monday of the month. The ministry “happens” in several forms, depending on the particular objective that is being carried out. Could be in the form of bulletin inserts, email messages, workshops, voter registration tables outside church, etc.

6. How does the SJC ministry interact with or support other ministries at IHM?
It is the goal that social justice would permeate all ministries in some way that is appropriate to that particular ministry.  In closely allied ministries, eg. A.B.L.E, Project Aware, AIDS, St. Vincent De Paul,etc. leaders from those ministries are also members of the Social Justice and Ecumenical Concerns Committee.  We are conscious that our work is more focused on the long term (eg., changing infrstructrure) rather than direct aid. However, we also recognized that both feet of social action – charity and justice – are necessary in our committee work.

7. Who gives the SJC ministry "feedback" and how is it addressed?
Each year we have a “planning retreat” for which we ask feedback/input from the Pastoral Council, other ministries, and the parish at large.  We invite others outside the committee who are interested to participate in the process.  Apart from that, we self critique ourselves as the year unfolds and welcome feedback from the parish staff.