Parish-based peace and justice ministry is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. The uniqueness of each church community challenges parishioners, clergy and religious to develop models that best suit their various needs, said a facilitator at a recent archdiocesan peace and justice assembly.
"Parishes need a balance of activities that reflect the community's concerns," said Delis Alejandro, pastoral associate at St. Monica Church in Santa Monica, who recently led a skills workshop on starting a parish social justice committee. She has worked at the parish nearly 20 years and has been a part of the ongoing evolution, growth and commitment of the parish to social concerns.
Referring to an article in "Salt of the Earth" by Mary Keidkamp and James Lund, Alejandro suggested four models of parish social ministry.
In a peace and justice model, parishes weave the church's social justice mission into the fabric of parish life, including liturgies, Bible study, religious education and homilies. The peace and justice ministry includes representatives from other parish ministries, and the commitment to justice is rooted in prayer and Christ's own teachings.
At. St. Monica, October is designated as Catholic Social Teaching Month, to tie in with Respect Life Month and before the November elections. A video on faithful citizenship was shown at the liturgies and the weekly parish bulletin deals with civic participation grounded in faith and the Catholic moral tradition.
In a social action model, parishes identify local community concerns like crime or traffic safety and organize to respond to the issue. In the archdiocese, many parishes affiliated with the organizing group One LA have met with their neighborhood police captains; others, like Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Sun Valley and St. Francis Xavier Church in Burbank, are opposing the expansion of the Bradley Landfill in the northeast San Fernando Valley. Still others have conducted voter registration drives.
In a public-church model, the emphasis is placed on education and raising awareness of issues by inviting guest speakers to address contemporary topics. Stem cell research was addressed recently at St. Mel Church in Woodland Hills and St. Philip the Apostle Church in Pasadena by Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center and at St. Monica Church by Vincentian Father Richard Benson, professor of moral theology at St. John's Seminary.
In a prophetic model, parishes take on a certain (even controversial) issue and take a public stand, sometimes to the chagrin of other Catholics or elected officials.
At the start of the war in Iraq, parishioners and clergy at Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights marched outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles to protest the U.S. decision to wage a pre-emptive strike. And based on local needs, the parish also welcomes recently arrived immigrant men to sleep inside the church while they seek jobs and housing.
Churches often combine different kinds of activities, blending peace and justice with social action, public-church forums or prophetic stands at different times. "People need choices about where to participate," said Alejandro.
Young families at St. Monica particularly enjoy the Christmas adopt-a-family program, in which parents go shopping with their children to buy for another family. The first year about 75 families were adopted. Now it's up to 350. Families like the direct contact with other families, she said.
St. Monica parishioners also donate food to feed the hungry and cook or provide meals for a local homeless shelter.
It's the direct contact and the building of relationships that eventually leads parishioners to ask deeper questions about the root causes of poverty, said Alejandro. "People are not going to listen to root causes, until they've met people living in poverty," she said.
A group of parishioners have been studying the issue of homelessness more in depth to understand how conditions like poverty wages can lead to homelessness. And the church is supporting educational efforts in specific communities in Mexico and Kenya so that the next generation of children has a better shot at going to school and getting out of poverty.
The church's commitment to these communities grew out of trips by parishioners and clergy to visit both communities and get to know the people, said Alejandro.
But like anything else, parish involvement in efforts of peace and justice develop over time --- sometimes a long time.
"Start where your pastor and your community are at," said Alejandro. "This ministry requires a lot of patience. Begin with little steps and you can get to a bigger vision." |