EDUCATION

Since the inception of the Social Justice Committee, a top goal for each year has been "Education."  While education in the area of social justice can take various forms, the principal focus of the education goal has been to make the IHM parishioners more aware of the Social Teachings of the Catholic Church -- often called the church's "Best Kept Secret" -- the rich value of Catholic Social Teaching.

Our education goal has incorporated the following avenues to bring the message to the parishioners and evoke a response.

• Adult Education/Faith Formation - IHM's Director of Religious Education works with the Social Justice Committee to incorporate social justice topics into the religious education curriculum.
   
• Seminars - the SJC sponsors or co-sponsors a seminar or workshop that focuses on one of the seven principles of Catholic Social Teachings.  These are conducted in collaboration with our Religious Education Department. Click here for a summary of Roman Catholic Rights from Pacem in Terris
   
• Bulletin Inserts - provide information in the Sunday Bulletin sometimes as a paragraph or as a full insert.
   
• Parish Breakfast - once a year, as part of the parish's monthly breakfast program, the social justice committee hosts a breakfast at which information is given out.

Parish Breakfast -- Left: Judy Steffy demonstrating DeKalb Recycling project and Fair Trade Coffee; Right Adrianna de la Torriente demonstrating types of sneakers for upcoming sneaker recycling project (Jan 29 weekend).

• Bulletin Board - maintain one or more "take home" flyers in slots of our bulletin board.
   
• Prayers of the Faithful - include social justice concerns in the Prayers of the Faithful

Charity and Justice -- Part of the education process includes continually communicating to the parish the difference between Charity and Justice

In addition to the above, the IHM Religious Education Department and the IHM School both include social justice teachings in their respective programs. For example, the R.C.I.A class and Youth classes cover social justice as special topics and tne religion classes of the IHM School routinely include social justice topics.  Both the Youth (as part of their Confirmation preparation) and the IHM School have service projects that underscore social justice issues.