Catholic Justice Educators NetworkArchdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
Fall, 1997 edition
O.K., Catholic justice educators, here’s your history lesson for the day.Did you know that way back in 1937, Pope Pius XI proclaimed to the world:
"Charity will never be true charity unless it takes justice into account...Let no one attempt with trifling charitable donations to exempt themselves from the great duties imposed by justice."
Divini Redemptoris, #49
Pope Pius XI was one of many Church writers who have pointed out the difference between charity (social service) and justice (social change). An Aboriginal woman reflected this same idea when she said, "Give me a fish and I eat for a day. Teach me how to fish, and I will eat for a lifetime."
Certainly, there is a relationship between charity and justice. Direct service to the poor can put both students and adults into a situation where they feel what it’s like to be a poor or marginalized person in our society. For example, many kids who never think about the limitations of aging are suddenly sensitized to elderly issues after visiting a nursing home. The personal contact with a woman moving from welfare-to-work often gives an adult much deeper insight into the complexity of arranging for child care, transportation, and advanced job training.
But justice and charity are not the same thing. Working for justice involves a much deeper level of change—it means changing the systems, structures, institutions and public policies that are at the root cause of poverty. It means identifying and reversing the practices that cause one group of people to be alienated from another by privilege or status.
How do you begin to explain this distinction to kids? Many teachers have used the image of the "two feet" of social ministry. (See our separate web page on that subject.)
As we follow in the path of Jesus Christ, we need to take steps using both of our feet, not just one or the other. While we collect baby supplies for poor mothers, we simultaneously ask why wages are so low that she cannot meet the basic needs of her family. While we celebrate the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we raise the question of why the Twin Cities today ranks as one of the 25 most economically and racially segregated cities in America.
To only take steps with one foot means that we will hobble along in our faith journey. We cannot have an arrogant attitude that says, "I’m working on the affordable housing system and can’t be bothered with homeless shelter issues." But we also cannot say, "Those bigger structural issues are too complex for me; I need to just deal with Mary at the soup kitchen." Social ministry, in the Catholic tradition, is a "both/and" proposition. While we meet the immediate needs today, we work for the long-term changes that will create a more just and fair tomorrow.
The Catholic Justice Educators Network was formed as an effort to more intentionally address the "other foot" of social ministry - the justice side. While we have done an excellent job walking on our charity foot, it seems we have been hesitant or unsteady about walking on our justice foot. One of the goals of CJEN is to help educators develop the confidence to walk comfortably on both feet themselves, and then to teach that skill to Catholic students in a wide variety of teaching settings: in day schools, religious education classes, and in youth ministry programs.
We look forward to working together in this goal of infusing Catholic social teaching into the curriculum of students of all ages. Please feel free to share your ideas and to utilize the best practices of other educators in the field.
Joe SullivanParish OrganizerOffice for Social Justice
Bright Ideas
Bright Ideas are real stories from real teachers — like you! Got a Bright Idea? Send in the enclosed form with a description of how you infused justice into a teaching setting. We’ll publish the best ideas in the next edition of the CJEN newsletter.
Bright Ideas for Elementary Grades
Once a month the children bring in their cans for the all school alu-minum can recycling project. Mrs. Caspers, the elementary science teacher, uses all the funds earned with this project to purchase materials for various hands on science les-sons. The children learn to recycle and help "save the earth" through this project.
In first grade we invite senior citizens to come and listen to the first graders read orally.
The children learn to respect our seniors; the seniors share their time and attention with the first graders. We promote friendships, respect and care between age groups.
St. Pascal Baylon - St. Paul, MN
Our grade level has a very heavy emphasis on multi-cultural literature. In addition to broadening perspectives, we emphasize the gifts each culture has shared with the world (e.g. respect for nature—Native American culture). The focus is on the dignity and value and acceptance of all races/nations.
We also use literature in Religion classes. One example is the usage of the book The Clown of God by Tomie de Paolo. After reading it we made juggling balls with our talents listed to correspond with the story’s concept of appreciation of the uniqueness of each person.
In Religion classes we connect our prayers and activities with other religions—comparing the Passover Meal with the Last Supper or how the Catholic religion is closely connected to other Christian religions and Judaism.
Nativity School - St. Paul, MN
In our fourth grade classes we use literature to teach values. We read Great Gilly Hopkins to discuss foster care and emotional abuse; Sounder to teach about discrimination and ways to combat it; the Times for Kids to stay current on social issues such as the poor, sick, and homeless. We bring in the Ten Commandments in all our discussions and relate them to our topics.
Our class decided to take action...we collected mittens and caps for the needy and toys for Christmas along with money for the flood victims; we then sent letters of cheer for those ill or grieving the loss of a loved one.
We welcomed new students, especially those from a minority culture, and we varied our good mornings using different languages.
We read books about people and places from different cultures. Our studies included the rain forest and the ocean helping us become more aware of the importance of not polluting and destroying our world.We were encouraged to follow in Christ’s footprints, doing what He did, through our study of the Commandments and the Beatitudes.
In our science class we learned recycling can be a social justice issue—it is being aware of our relationship to others, needs of others, and the earth.During our religion class each 3rd grader chose a service project to do all year and keep a log listing their activities—bringing cookies to a shelter or visiting the elderly in a nursing home.
For our math class we looked at fair prices for merchandise we sell in our store. Students in grade 4 decided to collect hats, scarves, and mittens for those in need.
Books we read helped us to learn how to act justly toward people, especially immigrants and people of other religions and cultures. We learned how we can be helpful to others dealing with catastrophes.
St. Michael - West St. Paul, MN
The week before Easter I went to the Blessed Kateri Faith Community on Park Avenue in Minneapolis. It was a wonderful experience. I am the D.R.E. in our parish and I was sharing this event with theteachers in the lounge one day. The 5th grade teacher asked me if I could please make a presentation to her class dur-ing their Religion time. I gathered together as many of the items that I could find: sage,tobacco, shells for burning them in, colored material to make flags representing the four directions and earth and sky, rocks and feathers. I developed a presentation on Lakota spirituality using a book that I bought at an Indian gift shop called Sacred Ground from Tipi Press.
The presentation went well. Afterward I was asked to make the same presentation to the 6th grade to help defuse some of the assumptions the children were making about Indians. Highlighting the Lakota’s deep sense of spirituality helped children to look at them in a more just way.
Since then I have ordered another beautiful book from Tipi Press, Otokahekagapi: Sioux Creation Story. I know I will use these books often in my Religious Education program and in the school.
St. John the Baptist School
We learned about the needs of developing coun-tries through the Global Resource Game. Using M & M’s (or popcorn) we divided resources based on different countries to help us understand more about these countries and their needs.
The books, The Terrible Wave and The Great Brain taught us more about the issue of prejudice.We also learned more about caring for our environment in the book, A River Ran Wild. In our religion class we discussed the issues of abortion, homelessness, and the problems for the mentally and physically challenged people.
As a school, we decided to use one of the Catholic Social Justice principles as our theme for Earth Day/Week— "Care for Creation." Our school’s Peace & Justice newsletter (including material in a packet from the Office for Social Justice) provided some background for the theme and we emphasized the need to recognize over-consumption as a main contributor to the state of our planet.
Each grade level took on a task; 8th grade organized a food and clothing drive; 7th grade introduced the week with paraliturgies, including a web of life to show interrelatedness; and 5th and 6th grade weighed the food waste in the cafeteria.
Using Catholic Social Justice principle as our theme was instrumental in recognizing our on-going responsibility to the Earth, instead of our once-a-year show for Earth Day. It was a success!
After a literature unit focusing on the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, my 7th grade students assumed the difficult work of social justice was "done."
In response to that, I devised a project that asked students to examine our current situation in society. Theywere given five terms—racism, discrimination, bigotry, oppression, exploitation—and were to find a newspaper or magazine article to illustrate each term. Additionally, we studied the Catholic Social Justice principles. They were to find five more articles showing people working toward justice as well as those articles illustrating injustices. Included in their booklet were their explanations for how their chosen article fit the term they were illustrating.
The 3–4 weeks spent finding articles were eye-openers for everyone. It was much easier to find the injustices than the positive articles. More than terms were learned in this project!
Using excerpts from Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all of Creation (John Paul II, 1989) and Renewing the Earth (USCC, November 1991) I introduced a brief unit of study on the Social Teachings of the Church in my 7th grade religion class. Students learned that the Pope uses encyclicals and the bishops use pastoral letters to promulgate social teachings.
The following topics/concepts were incorporated in the unit:
Catholic Social Teachings: Encyclical—The Condition of Labor; U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops—Renewing the Earth, Call to Conversion Social sinRespect for life/dignity of each personSt. Dominic Social Ministries CommitteeEnvironmental ethicsWeb of lifeEcosystemsGlobal interdependence/common goodLand use; stewardship of the land; family farmsFarming problems-chemical vs organic farmingSimplicity, moderation, self-disciplineConsumerism
Catholic Social Teachings: Encyclical—The Condition of Labor; U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops—Renewing the Earth, Call to Conversion
Catholic Social Teachings:
Encyclical—The Condition of Labor; U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops—Renewing the Earth, Call to Conversion
In addition to discussion of topics I showed a video Houses in the Fields and had a farm couple as guest speakers. Bob Kell from Catholic Charities in the Montgomery office was also a guest speaker. He focused on the Bishops’ Pastoral on economics and related it to the plight of migrant farm workers.
On May 15, Feast of St. Isadore, Patron of Farmers, our school liturgy emphasized the role of farmers. The farm families of the school were part of the entrance procession and received a special blessing. The third grade class who prepared the liturgy wore "farm handkerchiefs" around their necks. The farm families brought gifts of seeds and food made from farm products which were given to the food shelf. Students in Grade 7 made thank you cards for our farm families to express appreciation for the enormous commitment they make in supplying all of us with food.
Saint Dominic - Northfield, MN
Bright Ideas for High School Grades
Math For A Change is an excellent resource put out by the Mathematics Teachers’ Association. It is a booklet "written by teachers in search of a way to make their students more aware of injustices in the world, and at the same time to make their teaching more interesting and effective according to the guidelines of The Standards. Its 100+ pages describe 38 situations of injustice that need mathematics in order to be fully understood." Here’s an example:
#17: Race and Poverty Trends in the U.S.A. In spite of efforts to eliminate income disparity between Whites and African-Americans, gaps still do persist. Consider the following data on poverty in our county. Number of poor in thousands Percent of Poor African-Americans -- 9,302 30.7% Whites -- 20,784 10.0% Total Americans -- 31,528 12.8% All information is based on 1989 statistics. At that time, a family of four was poor if its income was $12,674 or less. Please answer the following:
#17: Race and Poverty Trends in the U.S.A.
In spite of efforts to eliminate income disparity between Whites and African-Americans, gaps still do persist. Consider the following data on poverty in our county.
All information is based on 1989 statistics. At that time, a family of four was poor if its income was $12,674 or less.
Please answer the following:
Kevin LaNaveCathedral High School — St. Cloud, MN
During Lent we collected money for the Catholic Mission schools in Kenya. To bypass the recipients paying a bounty to the government on delivered goods, we collected money for a specific goal each week—desks, paper, chairs, books, playground toys. We sent money only to them. It was a successful project and personalized by weekly goals.
On Halloween we have the children of St. Joseph Parish collect money for the needy children of the world and give it to UNICEF.
Our families are encouraged to serve and eat with people who come to Loaves and Fishes who are lonely and hungry. Our families bring food for the Goodhue County Food Shelf and our children decorate the bags delivered. Groups of children have visited the Food Shelf also.
Catechists arrange to play bingo/sing/visit nursing homes in our area with our faith formation young people. Our middle school teens study "Justice and Peace" in the Quest magazine by Tabor Publishing Co. in small groups.
St. Joseph Parish - Red Wing, MN
I was excited to receive the first edition of CJEN, and am looking forward to hearing about all of the wonderful ways the children and youth in our parishes are serving!
The children in our parish faith formation program have had some interesting opportunities to serve others. We feel strongly that the children need to be involved in these projects. Too often children simply deliver money or goods their parents send to help the needy. The end result is fine but the children don’t feel a part of the process and learn.
Scavenger Hunt—many local food shelves often get requests for certain items. Our sixth graders have fun collecting these items on a scavenger hunt. They are divided into small groups with an adult leader accompanying each group. Armed with a list of about 15 items and a letter from the parish to identify themselves, they visit homes to see if the residents would be willing to donate an item on their list. Refreshments were served as the groups returned and the items were delivered to a food shelf the next day by a group of students.
Stuff a Stocking—this was an all parish project. The seniors cut out felt Christmas stockings and the children laced and decorated them. The parish donated small toys to stuff the stockings and each child picked out the special items for his or her stocking. The stockings were donated to a homeless shelter that had many children.
Easter Baskets—(Bags) were made from white bags and decorated with ears and eyes and a nose to look like bunnies. The children then filled their bags with treats we had purchased and included a note. The bags were delivered by a group of children to Mpls. Children’s Health Care Center - the Oncology Unit.
Get Well Cards—every parish has a list of people who are sick. We simply took our parish list and asked each class to make cards for someone on the list. The cards were so appreciated by the recipients that they often sent letters back to the children. It was a wonderful way for the children to learn how much their efforts had meant to those people.
Snack Sacks—during the flooding last spring, the children were very interested in doing something to help, but were too young to sandbag. Since they wanted to do something "hands on", we organized an assembly line to make small zip lock bags filled with a variety of snacks for the sandbaggers to eat on the job. Channel 11 had a bus load of volunteers going to sites each day one week so we sent the boxes filled with snack sacks with them.
The Church of St. Patrick - Edina,MN
