CJEN Newsletter
Catholic Justice Educators NetworkArchdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
Winter, 1999
Welcome to the Winter 1999 issue of the newsletter for the Catholic Justice Educators Network! The purpose of CJEN is to highlight the ongoing efforts of teachers to integrate Catholic social teaching into schools and religious education programs of the Archdiocese. We need and welcome your input to make this effort stronger.Excerpts from out fall 97, winter 98, fall 98, special 99 issues are also online.
Bright Ideas are real stories from real teachers — like you! Got a Bright Idea? Send us a description of how you infused justice into a teaching setting. We’ll publish the best ideas in the upcoming editions of the CJEN newsletter.
At St. Pascal’s we participate in several social justice activities such as Goody Bags for Joseph’s Coat, Prayer Buddies, and our Christmas Family Program.
For the last 3 years the students have shared their Halloween treats with the less fortunate who frequent Joseph’s Coat. The students bring wrapped candy and small toys to school following the Halloween. During a prayer buddy activity the children make bags of goodies. Each bag is filled with a few pieces of wrapped candy and a toy. These bags are delivered to Joseph’s Coat. All the children who visit Joseph’s Coat between Thanksgiving and Christmas receive a gift bag. This year we bagged nearly 2,000 gift bags.
At St. Pascal’s each classroom in lower elementary is paired with upper level students. We participate in projects together, pray together at all school masses and send holiday greetings to each other.
Each Advent we reflect on the Scriptures together and have daily Advent Prayer. We sponsor needy families for Christmas by collecting food, small gifts, monetary donations and greetings.
Mary Riehle (1st grade)St. Pascal Baylon, St. Pau
Catholic Relief Services, the organization that coordinates the Operation Rice Bowl Lenten program each year, has designed an Educator’s Guide of lesson plans to assist teachers in grades 1-5. These materials instruct students about hunger and global solidarity issues. There are four different lesson plans, covering Haiti, Cambodia, Cape Verde, and the United States. Each includes an activity and discussion/follow-up questions. For more information, contact CRS at (410) 625-2220.
Christina Herrero-BackeArchdiocese of Baltimore, MD
The Center for Concern has just published a new workbook entitled Catholic Social Teaching and Human Rights. Designed in a very user-friendly format, this human rights curriculum is great for high school students and adults, but could be easily adapted for younger grades. Each section begins with prayer and reflection on Catholic social teaching and in the spirit of Justice and Jubilee.
Highlights of this resource include:
The book’s ten chapters highlight Catholic social teaching, provide a human rights overview, and cover eight specific human rights issues: food, work, development, civil and political rights, refugees and immigrants, children, women, and environmental justice.
The workbook is useful as an entire study unit, or materials can be easily integrated into other units. Over 1,000 copies of this resource have been sold since its release last summer. Cost is $40 per copy plus $3 UPS shipping; call Center for Concern at (202) 635-2757.
A copy is available for review at the Office for Social Justice in St. Paul.
Emily K. HageWashington, D.C.
The National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM) has initiated a two year project called Protecting God’s Creation: National Catholic Youth Initiative. The goal of the project is to help high school students link concern for the environment with their faith. The project includes a resource manual, training for adults, training for youth, and a grant program.
The resource manual provides seven learning sessions: God the Creator, Children’s Health Issues, Hazardous Wastes, Pesticides, Rainforests, Stewardship, and Water.
Each learning session is two hours in length with hands-on activities, prayer and reflection on Catholic social teaching. The manual will be available in March, 1999. For more information, contact Ann Marie Eckert at (414) 769-3361 or e-mail at ameckert@aol.com.
Several CJEN members asked for an example of high school policies on social service and justice activities. Here is one such example from Benilde-St. Margaret School in St. Louis Park, MN:
Benilde-St. Margaret’s School supports the Catholic church’s tradition of social teaching, which recommends that citizens be involved in action which brings about structural change as well as engaging in works of mercy. We support increasing our students’ awareness of injustice toward any of God’s people, and encourage students to take part in action to address the injustice. Because of the complexity involved in making structural change, the following guidelines are offered for faculty, staff and students engaged in social action:
