SASI participants share what they’ll take home
We’ll have more reflections & photos about SASI to come, but I wanted to share a few snippets of the feedback from participants about what they gained from this year’s Social Action Summer Institute, August 1-4, 2010 at Santa Clara University. As you can see, there was a diversity in what people liked and gained from this year’s training. Over 110 people from 24 states were gathered together this year.
Have a story/reflection about SASI you’d like to share? Or pictures? Ways you’re using what you learned in your ministry? Share them to the Roundtable!
What did you like most about SASI?
- I liked meeting fellow workers in the vineyard from different levels of responsibility in the Church and from different parts of the country. I liked our tour to the Day Workers’ Center and the Coalition for Homelessness.
- I was included in an inspiring community.
- We have a great community of social action advocates! Thank you for the opportunity!
- Peacebuilding workshop was good as it was highly participatory. I also really enjoyed the presentation by Congolese women.
- Worth the registration fee! Tricia Hoyt’s presentation was informative, timely, relevant and delivered an engaging, entertaining and captivating manner.
- Peacebuilding training: The approach/pedagogy was powerful because it made us the meaning makers.
- Poverty USA / CCHD-funded tours – It touched my heart to see and hear the stories the workers and the enthusiasm of director. It helped me to grow a little in my feelings about immigration reform.
- Appreciated the diverse panel on Hispanics and Social Ministry: women and men, young and old, Anglo and Spanish-speaking immigrant, and U.S.-born Latino, priest and lay, student and minister. Each added unique richness to the experience.
- Joe [Grant] is a gem. [His closing plenary on "Engaging Spirituality for our times" was a] great way to close the week. This intentional focus on spirituality should permeate the entire conference
- I really felt like I got more relationship building work done, while attending everything without feeling rushed.
- The richest experiences of the conference were those that involved testimonies from diverse persons with genuine experiences with the poor and vulnerable – the Congolese women, Deacon Sal & his farmworker’s prayer and experience, the community organizing testimonies. Include more of these next year. It helps ground us in the ministry we’re doing and gives us powerful stories to share with our constituencies.
What learnings or plans will you take home to your work/ministry?
- Amy Carpenter’s two day session was excellent and I will be sharing a portion of her manual during an upcoming staff meeting.
- Personally I plan to push for support for JustFaith programs in our diocese, and in my parish. I hope we can once again try to organize around social justice in our parish. I will try to communicate what I learned about “Peace Building” to our Director of Parish Social Ministries.
- I would like to practice the peacebuilding skills I learned so as to become more able to identify what kind of conflict I am facing and apply some of the techniques we learned for resolving and transforming conflict.
- I will take home courage, encouragement, and the belief that peacebuilding is possible.
- I will take peacebuilding skills that I’ve learned and use them in my parish to help integrate our Hispanic community & Anglo community into one cohesive community
- I will bring home new ways to look at CST, and the idea of relationship instead of an event checklist.
- The sense that social justice ministry is core to our faith tradition and can involve all people of the parish if a vision & plan is made and implemented. Also persistence.
- I gained good suggestions on how to start a global solidarity team at local parish.
If you were able to make the 2010 SASI, thanks so much for taking part! And to all of our readers, we hope you’ll be able to join us in the future!
Tags: community, feedback, participants, peacebuilding, SASI, Social Action Summer Institute