Peace & Justice

Coordinator: Chuck Frascati, 410-663-5542
Email: peace-justice@stvchurch.org

Mission: San Juan de Limay - young girlAs advocates of Peace & Justice our mission is to help implement the following part of St. Vincent de Paul Church‘s mission “… Respond to God’s call to commit to love, serve and challenge one another, to sustain the Earth, our neighbors near and far, the poor, the marginalized, to be healing instruments of justice and peace”. We do this by educating ourselves and parishioners about justice and peace issues whose impact affects those on the local, national and international level.

We accomplish this by hosting speakers, attending workshops and working with other organizations such as Pax Christi, BRIDGE, the Murphy Initiative, Habitat for Humanity and Our Daily Bread. We support sister parishes and community efforts in San Juan de Limay, Nicaragua, and Vilnius, Lithuania, and student scholarships in South Africa.

Meetings: Bi-monthly meetings are usually held on second Mondays at St. Vincent’s and listed in the bulletin for interested persons. Anyone is welcome to attend the meetings and decide if they would like to be involved. The Peace and Justice Committee, active at St. Vincent’s parish since 1983, focuses on social justice issues whose impact can be felt locally, nationally and internationally. As the primary subcommittee of Social Action, its role is to educate members and the parish at large about matters of concern and then formulate a response or action. The subcommittee is responsible for our community’s mission in these areas:

Locally:

gleaning_group

Educating and advocating for the protection of the environment, particularly in energy conservation and alternate energy resources

Habitat Build 2012

Supporting Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity, our local affiliate, renovating homes in nearby Baltimore neighborhoods

 

interfaith_tree planting

Promoting interfaith dialogue and respect with Pax Christi and Tent of Abraham at events that bring together Christians, Jews, and Muslims

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Raising awareness and advocating politically for prison reform and death penalty repeal.

Nationally:

  • Witnessing and advocating for peaceful resolution of domestic and international tension
  • Rallying for/against political issues; encouraging parishioners to contact representatives.

Internationally:

  • Fostering our relationship with our sister parish, San Juan de Limay, in Nicaragua
  • Garnering parishioner support for the  South Africa Higher Education Fund
  • Educating our members and others about various human rights issues, then acting to right the wrongs.

LImay