Mission Statement:
Following Catholic Social Teachings, we stay awake to the needs of the poor and oppressed, both locally and globally. We focus on actions that promote justice in both society and our Church as well as prayer and reflection on the principles of catholic social teaching.
On-going activities include JustMatters modules (in conjunction with St. Charles Borromeo Parish), the Thanksgiving and Lenten Food Drives, Operation Rice Bowl, EarthCare and Bread for the World initiatives.
Past activities have also included death penalty awareness, an information session and ecumenical prayer service about undocumented immigrants, peace advocacy (Pax Christi) and issues related to injustices within the church.
Students, faculty and year-round community members are equally invited and encouraged to attend! Our ability to serve the needs and desires of the parish hinges on the number of members that we have. New ideas are always needed and welcome. Please contant Amy Prociuk at amyprociuk 'at' gmail.com for more information.
Bread for the World
Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. God's grace in Jesus Christ moves us to help our neighbors, whether they live in the next house, the next state, or the next continent. St. Paul's is a member parish.
Each year, Bread for the World invites churches across the country to take up a nationwide Offering of Letters to Congress on an issue that is important to hungry and poor people. In October 2010, members of St. Paul's wrote many letters to Congress urging them to preserve the Earned Income Credit (EIC) for the working poor.
Food Drives
Click here for more information on the food drive.
EarthCare
The Earth Care movement brings Hoosiers of faith together to help curb global climate change by educating, acting, and speaking up. Earth Care programs include a task of the month action program to cut household energy use, energy audits to reduce energy use in houses of worship and individual homes, walk-bike-carpool-or-bus-to-worship weekends (Walbicus), and educational events.
Through Earth Care, the St. Paul Peace & Justice Committee seeks to help our parish and our parishioners care for God's Creation by living more prudently and supporting policies that embody creation care. We join Earth Care in recognizing that "the decreases in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from all energy efficency work benefits everyone, everywhere, for generations to come."
For more information or to sign up for the newsletter click here.
JustMatters
JustMatters is an expanding series of formation materials from JustFaith Ministries. JustMatters allows participants to focus on a particular current social justice topic. The general format for these topic-focused modules is prayer, readings, videos, speakers and dialogue. JustMatters allows a group of eight to fifteen people to give sustained attention to a specific area of social concern or social ministry (with special emphasis on Catholic social teaching) and culminating in a call to engaged action. In conjunction with St. Charles, St. Paul's has participated in Living Solidarity: Government, the Federal Budget and the Common Good and will soon participate in Crossing Borders: Migration, Theology, and the Human Journey.
Operation Rice Bowl (Catholic Relief Services)
Operation Rice Bowl is a yearly project undertaken during Lent. Each Lent, nearly 13,000 faith communities across the United States participate to demonstrate solidarity with the poor around the world. Seventy-five percent of Operation Rice Bowl donations come to CRS to help fund development programs designed to increase food security around the world. Twenty-five percent of the donations support hunger and poverty alleviation efforts in dioceses within the United States.
Pax Christi
Pax Christi USA strives to create a world that reflects the Peace of Christ by exploring, articulating, and witnessing to the call of Christian nonviolence. This work begins in personal life and extends to communities of reflection and action to transform structures of society. Pax Christi USA rejects war, preparations for war, and every form of violence and domination. It advocates primacy of conscience, economic and social justice, and respect for creation.
Pax Christi USA commits itself to peace education and, with the help of its bishop members, promotes the gospel imperative of peacemaking as a priority in the Catholic Church in the United States. Through the efforts of all its members and in cooperation with other groups, Pax Christi USA works toward a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world. St. Paul's is a member parish.
Pax Christi is a section of Pax Christi International, the Catholic peace movement.
Upcoming events:
March 5th-April 30th: Operation Rice Bowl (Rice bowls will be distributed on March 5-6).
March 25th- April 24th: Lenten Food Drive
April 26th: Bagging and Sorting for the Lenten Food Drive 7:30PM
March (dates TBA): JustMatters: Crossing Borders: Migration, Theology, and the Human Journey. Please contact Jane Walter at waltjm 'at' gmail.com for more information.
April (date TBA): Fr. Dan Broody speaking on immigration issues at St. Charles, event open to the public
