MISSION OF THE SOCIAL MINISTRY COMMITTEE

At the heart of our Cluster social ministry is the two-part mission of changing the structures of our society that leave some people marginalized, while at the same time meeting people’s direct needs for food, clothing, emotional support, housing and other necessities.

The committee will help members of the Cluster see the needs of the vulnerable, the powerless, the voiceless, and the marginalize in our parishes, our community, and our world. The committee will help the members of our Cluster organize in response to those needs. The committee will coordinate and support all the various Cluster projects for advocacy/social justice, outreach and ministry on behalf of those in need.

OUR MISSION STRATEGIES

Facilitate/encourage participation in social ministry activities

–Create opportunities for participation by all age group

–Maintain and publish an up-to-date list of social ministry activities in the Cluster

–Identify unmet needs and explore ways to fill them

Educate ourselves on Catholic social teaching and diocesan public policy

Implement advocacy initiatives

— Study issues and action opportunities via JustFaith and JustMatters programs
— Work with parish staff to provide and promote educational opportunities to the whole parish

CLUSTER WIDE ACTIVITIES

Supporting ministries to the poor and vulnerable

Habitat for Humanity (Easter candy and Thanksgiving pie sales, with Brighton Churches Coalition)
Paper products and toiletries collections for Rochester area refugee families
St. Joseph’s Table

Educating about Catholic social teaching

Lenten Soup Suppers with presentations by representatives of local service organizations
Book discussions

Encouraging community engagement

Focus on the environment: Engaging the Cluster community in study of Pope Francis’s encyclical, Care for our Common Home, and exploration of ways to respond in our homes, in our Cluster, and in our communities
Promoting and coordinating lobbying of government representatives on issues supported by the Diocesan Public Policy Committee or US Catholic Conference of Bishops (e.g., signing and sending post cards)

Activities based at Our Lady of Lourdes

Social Outreach (annual tithing to 25+ agencies, organizations, ministries)
See update: Your help needed to re-start Outreach
Ongoing monetary support for St. Brigit’s parish, school, and hospital in Kowak, Tanzania
Monthly food donations (4th Sunday of the month) for area food cupboards
Thanksgiving canned goods collection
Advent Giving Tree (Christmas gifts for inner-city children and families)
Irish Children’s Program (green carnation sale)

Activities based at St. Anne

Ongoing monetary support for Holy Nativity parish, Fr. Peter Abas’ parish in Borneo
Mitten tree (mittens, hats, scarves for needy children)
Christmas gifts for the poor of Livingston County
Monthly monetary collection for the poor

FOCUS ON IMMIGRATION & REFUGEES

Prayer to End Trafficking
Loving Father, we seek your divine protection for all who are exploited and enslaved; for those forced into labor, trafficked into sexual slavery, and denied freedom.

We beseech you to release them from their chains. Grant them protection, safety and empowerment. Restore their dignity and provide to them a new beginning.

Show us how we might end exploitation by addressing its causes. Help us reach out in support of victims and survivors of human trafficking. Make us instruments of your spirit for their liberation.

For this we pray through our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen

The Social Ministry Committee has been studying immigration in light of Catholic social teaching. Here, we post questions and answers from “The Basics: Answering the Toughest Questions on Immigration Reform” and myths and facts from the US Chamber of Commerce.

Q: What part of illegal don’t you understand?

Some people can’t get past the fact that persons living unlawfully in the United States are here without authorization. They broke the law, and the assumption is that only by being deported will things be made fair again. At the same time, most people acknowledge that the country could not afford to deport 11 million people, given not only the costs of enforcement of a mass deportation scheme, but also the costs to the economy and our communities if millions of workers were deported and families were separated. Proposals for legalization attempt to balance past violations of law with the economic and social realities of the day. If we truly want to fix our broken immigration system, we have to impose reasonable penalties that don’t undermine the country as a whole.

Q: Wouldn’t eliminating birthright citizenship resolve our immigration problems?

A: Eliminating birthright citizenship would mean tampering with the Fourteenth Amendment, which was passed after the Civil War to ensure that anyone born in the United States was a U.S. citizen, without regard to race or ethnicity. Attempting to pass a law that changed the rules of the game for children of unauthorized immigrants would be unconstitutional, impractical, expensive, and complicated. And it would do nothing to stop unauthorized immigration. It would impose a significant burden on all Americans who would no longer have an easy and inexpensive way to prove their citizenship. All American parents—not just immigrants—would have to prove the citizenship of their children through a cumbersome process. Since children born to unauthorized immigrants would presumably be unauthorized, the size of the unauthorized population would actually increase as a result of the new policy.

MYTH: Immigrants come to the United States for welfare benefits.

FACT: Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal public benefit programs, and even legal immigrants face stringent eligibility restrictions.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal public benefits such as Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, Medicare, and food stamps. Even most legal immigrants cannot receive these benefits until they have been in the United States for five years or longer, regardless of how much they have worked or paid in taxes. Given these restrictions, it is not surprising that U.S. citizens are more likely to receive public benefits than are non-citizens.

CURRENT COMMITTEE MEMBERS LISTING

HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE IN SOCIAL MINISTRY

Parishioners participate in two ways: As a committee member and/or in individual ministries. Descriptions of our current activities can be found in the menu to the left.

For more information please contact the Cluster office and leave a message for the committee chairperson, Mary Lisa Sisson, at 473-9656