Our Lady of the Black Hills

Info Altar Server Bread Baker Eucharistic Minister Lector Peace & Justice Sacristan Usher/Greeter

By Reeny Wilson

When I thought about the question, could you live on $1 a day? It struck me – the minute I wake up with a roof over my head, I’ve just spent more than a dollar. Yet, more than 1.3 billion people around the world actually live on less than $1 every day. I’m not sure I can even imagine what that would be like. I’ve been to a third world country, but I was still spending more than $1 a day.

As a past member of the OLBH Pastoral Council, I was a part of the decision making to specifically include promoting Catholic social teaching in serving others as one of our parish goals. For many of us, me included, reaching this goal starts with finding out more about Catholic social teaching. Although our question about living on $1 a day deals with hunger, Catholic social teaching is about so much more.

The key principles of Catholic social teaching focus on honoring each person as a human being and ensuring all are participating in the economic, political and cultural life of society; working for the common good and knowing that the poor and vulnerable must be our first priority; understanding our rights as humans, while working to uphold our associated responsibilities to one another; being good stewards of the earth; loving our neighbors in the global context; promoting peace and ensuring our government serves a constructive role.

You might be saying, uh . . . what???? At its simplest level, Catholic social teaching gives us hope for a better world. Catholic social teaching gives us a framework through which we can work for peace and justice. How do we do this? Many of us focus on the what – what needs to happen to feed the hungry and what needs to happen to shelter the homeless. As individuals, we donate to the food bank and make blankets for Standing Rock or the Cancer Institute. Catholic social teaching tells us that we need to also consider the why. Charity is a wondrous thing to fix the whats of the world; but without justice, the why remains unchanged. Those who can’t afford food continue to visit the food bank or go hungry and the homeless remain homeless. As a community of faith, we need to do both – provide for the immediate needs through charity, but work to change social structures by ensuring justice for everyone.

Still not sure what that means to you . . . then we invite you to join us for an experience that speaks to this need – doing the what, while changing the why – working for charity and for justice. We hope you mark your calendars and plan to join us on March 29.

Developed by JustFaith Ministries using the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops publication Sharing Catholic Social Teaching, the ART Workshop is a great way to find out more about how we can bring peace and justice to the world as individuals and as a Catholic community. The Peace & Justice Committee at OLBH invites you to attend an ART Workshop on March 29.

Everyone is welcome and pre-registration is not required. However, to ensure we have enough supplies for everyone, we request that participants register before March 19 – please call the OLBH Office at 787-5168 to register today or sign up in the Narthex before or after mass.

The ART Workshop is a part of the JustFaith program. JustFaith is an extensive, conversion-based process that provides a context in which participants can grow in their commitment to care for the vulnerable and to become advocates for justice. This program serves to strengthen the growing commitment of parishes to be agents of social transformation, mercy and compassion.

Starting at 1:30 p.m., the ART Workshop incorporates prayer, readings from the Bible, facts about our world and time to reflect . . . before wrapping things up by 4:30 p.m., you’ll have participated in an experience that is meant to help us Act, Reflect and Transform.

We ask that everyone pray for Peace & Justice:

God, source of all light,
We are surrounded by the darkness of
the injustices experienced by your people,
the poor who are hungry and who search
for shelter, the sick who seek relief,
and the down trodden who seek help
in their hopelessness.

Surround us and fill us with your Spirit
who is light.
Lead us in your way to be light to your people.
Help our parish to be salt for our community
as we share your love with those caught
in the struggles of life.

We desire to be your presence to the least
among us
and to know your presence in them as we
work through you
to bring justice and peace to this world
in desperate need.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
your Son, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Amen.

United States Catholic Conference, Dept. of Social Development and World Peace, Communities of Salt and Light: Parish Resource Manual (Washington, DC: US Catholic Conference, 1994), p. 48

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