JUSTICE JOTTINGS

July 2023

MSJC at the 2023 Lay Assembly

This weekend the Marianist Lay Community of North America is hosting their triennial Lay Assembly with the theme: Encounter, Embrace, Engage. MSJC Issue and Project Teams are scheduled to give 6 workshops and one prayer throughout the weekend. See their descriptions, and check our Assembly webpage with resources and next steps below:

Adele Social Justice Project -- Young Adults and the Marianist Family: ASJP Reflecting on Past, Present, & Future Engagement

• This panel discussion will highlight past & present efforts by ASJP to engage the broader Marianist family in intergenerational and inclusive ways. Dialogue will then open up about future strategies to engage young adults in justice within the Marianist Family.

Death Penalty Abolition and Restorative Justice -- Building and Strengthening Community through Circle Process

• This interactive workshop will introduce circle process and lead the participants in a sharing circle. Below is a video introducing circle process.

Integral Ecology -- Embracing the Challenge of Climate Change: a Marianist Call to Dialogue, Reflection and Action

• What is an appropriate Marianist response for our day? Join in this Interactive workshop and discover ways we can dialogue about the challenges of climate change in a Marianist spirit of listening and openness that leads to hope-filled action.

Integral Ecology -- Environmentally Sustainable Meetings & Lifestyles

• During this workshop we will offer inspirational and practical guidelines on how to further Pope Francis’ Laudato Si encyclical on care for creation in our personal lives, our meetings, and impacting systemic change in the broader society.

LGBTQ+ Initiative -- Let's talk about the T in LGBTQ+

• The LGBTQ+ Initiative will be presenting a workshop at the Assembly on the T in our name. Here's an article which is a great introduction to some of the issues Catholic transgender persons face. In it Cardinal Wilton Gregory tells queer persons that they belong to the heart of the Church.

Racial Justice -- Facilitating Difficult Conversations

• Join us for our Embrace session on Facilitating Difficult Conversations! We'll be releasing our new resource guide focused on best practices in dialogue on sensitive topics. Our facilitators (Dan Stout, Katy Schunter and Maureen O'Rourke) will walk through the preparation needed before going into group dialogue settings and what norms should be set and agreed to by participants. A focus on anti-racist tenets and practices will be shared. After this interactive session, we will leave with new insight into preparing for and facilitating conversations in the Marianist Family that allows everyone to feel heard and valued. 

Women & Justice -- Prayer Celebrating the Feast Day of Saint Mary Magdalene

• A special prayer will be held at the Assembly to celebrate the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene. Pope Francis calls us to see Mary Magdalene as a "true and authentic evangelizer" and to "reflect more deeply on the dignity of women." Find more details on the prayer below.

ASJP first sponsored its first International Young Adult Encounter program in 2015 and again in 2017 (pictured above). In which country was this immersion held? Respond here!

OTHER MSJC RESOURCES

WOMEN & JUSTICE

Reflections on the Feast of The Visitation by Barb Belle

A prayer and group discussion was co-hosted by the Marianist Visitation State Community, the MSJC Women and Justice Team and the MEEC/MSJC Integral Ecology Team. We discussed what Mary and Elizabeth can teach us of interconnectivity especially in our quest for justice.

When it comes to appreciating all the gifts that God has shared with us on this planet, it is so easy to overlook our sense of responsibility, so easy to look away from the marginalized. But, we are called to act because we have come to learn that silence kills; it only encourages the oppressors.

In his homily for Pentecost Pope Francis invited everyone to frequently call upon the Spirit who gives "harmony to the world.” Remembering that our church is on a synodal journey, the Pope said this path should mark "a journey in accordance with the Spirit…an opportunity to be docile to the breath of the Spirit. The Pope said that “With the life in Spirit…hope is reborn. Let us put the Holy Spirit back at the centre of the Church.”

We celebrated that although women are often victims of poverty and other economic injustice, women are also co-creators of new life. We also celebrated that everything in nature sings the glory of God.” It is when we embrace our connectedness that we recognize that we cannot change the world alone... [Read more here.]

IMMIGRANT JUSTICE

Update on Title 42 and the Asylum Transit Ban

Biden’s Asylum Transit Ban – Where Are We Now? Read the article below for an important update on this immigration policy within the US.