By Shirl Giacomi, Chancellor, Diocese of Orange

My interest in social justice was stirred by a professor I had at Loyola University Chicago—a fine Jesuit school. I was working on my MDiv and part of the curriculum was a class on social justice. I was aware of the social justice encyclicals before I took my first social justice class in grad school but I got what I refer to as social justice fever from Sr. Mary Elsbernd who was passionate on the subject. Once my attention was drawn to the subject, it seemed natural when reading the gospel to recognize the mandate that we have to take care of the poor and the oppressed of the human family. As we know, “When God contemplates the world, it is without borders”

Shirl, left, and Elizabeth White of the Diocese of Sacramento, right, along with children in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of the author.

After I was hired as chancellor, I was visited by Jim DeHarpporte, the new Regional Director for CRS West. Jim was the first regional director appointed—a test case that led to regional directors across the country. I am a bit reluctant to admit that I did not know much about CRS—other than they were the recipient of one of the 10 national special collections that I found myself overseeing as Chancellor. Jim understood the importance of building relationships with his constituents in the dioceses and his consistent invitation to learn more about the work of CRS, the U.S. Church’s international outreach, was something that I could not ignore.

Founding director of Cafe Justo, Eri Fuentes, along with his son and stacks of coffee beans. Photo courtesy of author.

I became very familiar with Catholic social teaching often referred to as the best kept secret in the Catholic Church. A friend says, “What you see with your eyes, touches your heart” and I found that to be very true on my first immersion experience in Cambodia. Similarly, in Chiapas, Mexico, I saw firsthand the transforming effect that Café Justo, Fair Trade Coffee had on an entire village. After my return home, I prepared a presentation which was used in a number of venues—trying to explain the concept of solidarity by sharing with others what I had experienced in meeting the people in the remote villages that we traveled to.

My biggest learning was that CRS dos not just provide emergency relief work (although they are very good at assisting in natural

Founder Eri Fuentes and his daughter in front of Cafe Justo's Building. Photo courtesy of the author.

and human-made crises). But CRS also works in areas of maternal and child healthcare, HIV/AIDS, education for girls and minorities, food security which includes access as well as production, microfinance, peacebuilding and gender-based violence.

As chancellor, besides overseeing the areas prescribed by canon law, I also supervise the offices of Hispanic Ministry, the Media Center, Safe Environment, Respect Life, Justice and Peace, the Missions Office and Restorative Justice/Detention Ministry. The issue of justice is at the top of the agenda for most of these departments.

All of these directors meet together monthly with other diocesan ministry department directors. We do our best to infuse a social justice dimension into our work wherever we can. Attending the amazing Social Ministry Gathering in DC in February 2010 introduced me to current issues and advocacy opportunities. It seems that every group working in social justice is represented at the annual conference.

For me, the biggest challenge is that we have so much work to do both locally and internationally. Besides the oppressed in the U.S., more than 100 countries are in need of our assistance. And since we are such a global society with instant communication worldwide, we cannot say we do not see the needs. Shouldn’t we all have access to clean water, sufficient nutritional food, health services and education? I was horrified to learn that the largest number of lame in Cambodia was due to polio not landmines. They did not have access to immunizations until the year 2000. Now doesn’t that just seem criminal? We’ve been vaccinating since the 1950’s!

With all that we see on the nightly news and now the internet, there could be a temptation to throw our hands up in the air and give up. CRS and social action leaders are there leading the way, ensuring that we move forward with hope.  In the words of Fr. Bryan Hehir, “Solidarity is the conviction that we are born into a fabric of relationships, that our humanity ties us to others, that the gospel consecrates those ties and that the prophets tell us that those ties are the test by which our very holiness will be judged.”
I believe this is the challenge to all believers.

Tags: Cafe Justo, Cambodia, Catholic Social Ministry Gathering, chancellor, Chiapas, CRS West, Diocese of Orange, education, emergency relief, encyclicals, fair trade coffee, Fr. Bryan Hehir, global solidarity, Gospel, human development, immersion trip, integrating social teaching, international outreach, Jesuit, Loyola University, MDiv, polio, poor and vulnerable, social action, solidarity, special collection, vaccinations

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Roundtable Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.