Justice Initiative

Solidarity Market
Old St. Pat’s Justice Initiative hosts an annual Fair Trade/Green/ Alternative Market.  This market  introduces our members and neighbors to organizations and businesses that intentionally make worker justice, the local economy, and care for the environment a priority in their mission/business model.

To reinforce this mission, we call the event “Solidarity Market” to reflect the Social Justice principle of Solidarity. We believe this principle embodies the goals of the market and the effects we hope it has on our community.

“Solidarity is action on behalf of the one human family, calling us to help overcome the divisions in our world.”   (USCCB)

Solidarity and Fair Trade
“More than ever before, the choices we make about what we consume in the United States impact the lives of people around the world we may never meet. Unfortunately, under the ‘free trade’ system, we often have no way to know how our purchases affect the people who create the things we buy.

Fair Trade changes all that. Fair Trade builds direct relationships between us and low-income farmers and artisans overseas, particularly those in the Global South. So when we buy Fair Trade coffee, chocolate or handcrafts, we enter a network of human relationships—right relationships that cultivate global solidarity.”  (Adapted from CRS)

Solidarity and Care for Creation
“The human and moral costs of … environmental neglect…is not an abstraction, but a test of our faith.  As Catholics, we are called to renew the Earth, not escape its challenge.” (Called to Global Solidarity: International Challenges for U.S. Parishes)

“The good news is our market event has become so popular, we now have more vendors, enterprises, and organizations interested in participating.

So we are asking all interested vendors to complete a short application so we can ensure our vendors are in sync with our priorities. We also hope to provide our community with a wide variety of products and information.  The application will enable us to gain a better understanding of what you will offer at the Market.

If you are interested in applying to participate in this year’s Solidarity Market, please contact Bob Kolatorowicz at bobk@oldstpats.org by Friday, June 1, 2012 and an application will be sent to you.  Space is limited!

A Season for Social Justice

It has become our practice at Old St. Patrick’s to designate September as a Season for Social Justice. During this time, we set our sights on gaining a greater appreciation and understanding of the Catholic social ethic. Selecting a theme from Catholic Social Teaching, we use the Season as a time for dialogue, learning, inspiration, and prayerful reflection. As a church community, we then strive to embody and advocate the values and actions that arise from our shared reflection to influence our society in positive ways.

Each year we select one of the major themes from the body of Catholic Social Teaching. This year, we will focus on what our church teaches concerning fundamental human rights and responsibilities.

The Principle of Rights and Responsibilities The 10 second Summary:

What does the Church say about Rights and Responsibilities?

The protection of human dignity is the foundation upon which an understanding of rights and responsibilities rests. The human person, made in God’s image and likeness, is born into a community of relationships and is social by nature. Rights and responsibilities are seen as the demands of upholding and defending human dignity in the social, economic and political spheres.

Rights begin with the most fundamental of rights, the right to life and include the right to those things necessary for basic human survival. The responsibilities begin with responsibilities to one another, to one’s family and to the larger society.

What does the Catechism say?

The faithful should “distinguish carefully between the rights and the duties which they have as belonging to the Church and those which fall to them as members of the human society. They will strive to unite the two harmoniously, remembering that in every temporal affair they are to be guided by a Christian conscience, since no human activity, even of the temporal order, can be withdrawn from God’s dominion.”1

1 Catechism of the Catholic Church. New York: Doubleday, 1994. #912.

Rights Promoted and Defended by the Church

The social teaching on rights begins first and foremost with a concern for upholding and defending the dignity of the human person.

Rights are realized in community. They provide a means by which human persons in a society can function effectively thereby securing respect for human dignity as well as the promotion of public order and the common good. The following list of rights are found in the encyclicals that comprise the Church’s body of Catholic Social Teaching.

• the right to life, food and shelter;
• the right to private property;
• the right to choose one’s state in life;
• the right to health care;
• the right to a living wage;
• the right to a just wage;
• the rights of workers to form unions;
• the right to life and a worthy standard of living;
• the right to moral and cultural values;
• the right to worship according to one’s conscience;
• the right to freely choose one’s state of life and establish a family;
• the right to emigrate and immigrate;
• the right to rest;
• the right to a work that is not harmful to one’s conscience or personal dignity;
• the right to appropriate subsidies for unemployed workers and their families;
• the right to a pension in old age, sickness or injury;
• the right to social security connected with maternity;
• the right to assemble and form associations;
• the right to religious freedom;
• the right to development;
• the right to freedom of expression and thought;
• the right to private initiative and ownership.

As we look to new ways to live our lives informed by the Principle of Solidarity, members of The Justice Initiative (the Old St. Patrick’s social justice ministry) have chosen to invest in a microfinancing effort through GlobalGiving.

Microfinance is the practice of providing financial services to people in impoverished countries who have no collateral, credit history, or access to traditional lending services. Microfinance offers the opportunity to fund small loans – also called microcredit, microlending, or microloans – through local microfinance institutions to borrowers who possess minimal collateral for a traditional loan.

Microfinance began in the 1970s with loans for women to start small businesses.

Microfinance supports small-scale entrepreneurship, providing financial services to impoverished people and empowering them to work their own way out of poverty. It is widely recognized to be an effective economic development strategy.

Our international responsibilities enrich parish life and deepen genuine Catholic identity. Integrating themes of solidarity into the routines of parish life will make for a richer, more Catholic experience of Church. In giving a little, we receive much more.

Called to Global Solidarity
U.S. Catholic Bishops

In researching microfinancing, we discovered a number of microfinancing organizations that you may want to check out for yourself.

1. GLOBAL GIVING ~ www.globalgiving.org;
   GlobalGiving is an online marketplace that directly connects donors with grassroots projects in the developing world. Potential donors can browse and select their projects.
2. CATHOLIC RELIEF ~ www.crs.org/microfinance/
   Since 1988, Catholic Relief Services’ microfinance program has been reaching the world’s poorest communities with access to financial services that are sustainable over time. CRS microfinance activities are deeply rooted in Catholic social teaching, which promotes the sacredness and dignity of the human person.
3. WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL ~ www.wvi.org
   World Vision is an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God. Microfinance loans can range from $25 to $5,000 with average microfinance loan cycles of 3 to 12 months. Repayment rate of microfinance loans: 98.7%
4. KIVA ~ www.kiva.org
   Kiva’s mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva empowers individuals to lend to entrepreneurs across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.
5. FINCA ~ www.villagebanking.org
   The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA International) is a non-profit, microfinance organization sometimes referred to as the “World Bank for the Poor”.  FINCA is the innovator of the village banking methodology in microcredit and is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern day microfinance.
6. WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL ~ www.womenforwomen.org
   Women for Women International provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies. One can sponsor a woman from the country of choice for $27/month.  Donors are put in contact with the woman and follow through with personal correspondence.
7. GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR AFRICA ~ www.globalallianceafrica.org
   Global Alliance for Africa partners with local African NGOs, religious institutions, and community-based organizations to design and implement innovative economic strengthening programs with the goal of enabling communities and households to provide sustainable care and support for orphans and other vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS.

If you’re in a position to help others this way; microfinancing initiatives are a great way for individuals, families, friends, and organizations to bridge global and economic borders and touch lives in a significant and empowering way.

In Catholic social teaching the Principle of Solidarity holds that we are one human family. Our responsibilities to each other cross national, racial, economic and ideological differences.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Peace/Non-Violence Project

The Capital Punishment Forum

The Catholic/Muslim Dialogue Group

The Fair Trade Project

The Social Justice Film Series: “One Film, One Old St. Pat’s”

The Social Justice Tithing Project

Hiroshima Remembrance: Photo Exhibit

Peace Book (prayer intentions for all those touched by war)

Chicagoans and Islam, city-wide assembly at Navy Pier

From Chicago To Baghdad: A Journey For Peace
with Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Kathy Kelly

Peace and Me: A Mini-Retreat in the City
led by Mary Ann Daly, M.A.

Catholicism and Conscientious Objection
with Fr. Michael Baxter

Just War/Holy War: What Can We Learn from Catholic Social Teaching?
with Fr. Michael Baxter

Practical Peace: An Inter-Religious Prayer Celebration
led by Mairead Corrigan Maguire, 1976 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

Closing the School of the Americas
with Fr. Roy Bourgeois

The Gifts of Islam, The Gifts of Catholicism : A Day to Promote Understanding and Appreciation
with Scott Alexander and Inamul Haq

A Quest for Understanding: Christianity and Islam in Dialogue
with Scott Alexander and Fr. John Pawlikowski

Can Justice, Mercy and Forgiveness Peaceably Coexist with Capital Punishment?
with Mr. Gerald Nora, Deacon George Brooks, and Ms. Jeanne Bishop

Evil and Injustice: An Authentic Spiritual Response
with Br. Wayne Teasdale

The God Who Loves All of Creation: Reflections on Diversity
with Rev. Barbara Heard

Fair Trade Coffee: Changing the World One Cup at a Time
Chicago Religious Leadership Network for Latin America

Strangers in a Foreign Land: Stories from Iraq
A panel discussion with Mr. Dennis Flores, Mr. James Janega, and Ms. Kathy Kelly, moderated by Mr. Robert McClory.