We hope that you’ll be able to join us for the 2012 SASI Called to Transformative Community: Addressing Poverty Today, July 29-Aug. 1 in Louisville, KY.

Thanks to the support & generosity of SASI’s national planning partners, we’re pleased to offer a limited number of scholarships to Roundtable members to cover costs associated with the Social Action Summer Institute. Scholarships do not cover travel expenses.

Scholarship award notification for diocesan directors will be made on a rolling basis, beginning May 15, 2012, but you’re welcome to submit your application at any time. Decisions on scholarships for parish participants will be made June 15, 2012. To explore additional sources of financial aid, contact your diocesan social action director or pastor.

Priority will be given to diocesan staff who apply for scholarships assistance with another key leader from their diocese who will work together with the diocesan staff in the coming year. Invite a colleague or key volunteer who could benefit from this training opportunity!

Note:  Scholarship recipients will be asked to volunteer ~2 hours during the conference.

To apply: Please email coordinator@catholicroundtable.org with a brief statement on 1) why you are interested in attending the SASI, 2) how you hope to apply the skills gained at the SASI to your work when you return home, and 3) how much funding is needed.

For diocesan directors seeking to apply together with a key leader from their diocese: Please submit one brief request (written collaboratively by both applicants) to coordinator@catholicroundtable.org, indicating: 1) how you hope to benefit from attending the SASI together 2) ways in which you hope your two offices could collaborate more in the coming year to build capacity in both your offices and 3) how much funding is needed.

Please see the SASI July 2012 Flyer and share it with your offices and diocesan partners. You can also get more information at http://catholicroundtable.org/events/sasi/.

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Verbage for Local Fundraising for Conference Travel

We recognize how crucial it is to gather together in person with key academics, leaders in social action, and your colleagues around the country.  We know, too, that travel budgets have decreased in many offices in recent years, so attendance to the Social Action Summer Institute may require additional creativity.
We continue to make it a priority to offer financial assistance so that we can gather together in person as a community.

We hope you’ll also be able to solicit funds locally to enhance your ability to receive in-person training and development. One colleague shared that she makes funding requests from local parishes & organizations using the following verbage, which she shares as a template for your own funding requests:

Rationale: We also find that the necessary additional training and orientation in Catholic Social Teaching for our staff and volunteer leaders is being severely hampered by cuts in budgets that have prevented attendance at the national Catholic Social Ministry, Social Action Summer Institute, and Catholic Charities USA conferences.

Cost of training for __ people at 2 national conferences: $___ (Breakdown available if necessary. We have $__ available.)

Have you had success in raising funds for training opportunities in your office? Please share your own tips with the Roundtable!

Dear Roundtable,

On Thursday, the FY13 budget proposed by Rep. Ryan was approved, which includes deep cuts to safety net programs which protect the most vulnerable people in the U.S. and around the world.

The day the Ryan proposal was released, 2012 Social Action Summer Institute keynote speaker Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, responded:  “At a time when we should be supporting programs that help poor people get a leg up, we are opting to balance our federal deficit on the backs of the most vulnerable in our society. Unfortunately, this budget proposal fails to create a circle of protection around programs that are vital to hungry and poor people, the elderly, and children.”

Bread for the World’s release continues, “This FY 2013 budget proposal would have a devastating impact on programs

Photo: Ivan Muñoz/Oxfam (Creative Commons)

like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps), low-income tax credits, and would make international food aid and poverty-focused foreign assistance vulnerable to cuts that would undermine our national security.”

Now is a crucial time for educators and advocates working in diocesan life and justice ministry to respond to what Cardinal Dolan has called our “broken economy.” For that reason, our 2012 Social Action Summer Institute will be on focused on “Creating Transformative Community: Addressing Poverty Today.” Please join us July 29-Aug. 1 at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY. Information is available on our website & registration will open in late April.

Speaking of training opportunities, we were delighted to see many of you at our 27^th Annual Roundtable Symposium in February on The Constitution & Catholic Social Teaching: A Healthy Tension (Thanks be to God!) with Dr. Maryann Love, Dr. Dan Finn, and Fr. Bryan Hehir. Read some of the highlights from the Symposium and check out the photos!

During the Award Banquet, we had an opportunity to hear from Fagan Award winner Jan Benton, who inspired members with her personal story and challenged us to ensure that our ministries are inviting for people of all abilities.

And it’s already time to nominate 2013 winners – make sure to turn in a nomination form by April 20!

In addition to our in-person trainings, the Roundtable continues to host regular webinars. Videos from our January webinar on Building of a Life and Dignity Movement have been posted, as well as our March webinar on the Importance of Pastoral Planning.

In each quarterly newsletter, we like to highlight significant initiatives in dioceses around the country. We know that community organizing can be one of the most effective ways to build relationships and create systemic change in our communities, so in this issue, we highlight the unique community organizing model offered by Catholic Charities of Brooklyn & Queens. Read more about the successes of their unique model of organizing.

At the annual membership meeting, we elected four new board members. You can learn more about them here. As always, the Roundtable Roundup features much of the wonderful work that you are doing around the country.

We need your support to continue this work; please pay your 2012 membership dues soon! Thank you in advance.

May your Holy Week be a time of reflection, personal conversion, and renewal, and your Easter Season a time of great joy and hope!

Blessings,

Jenn Svetlik
Roundtable Coordinator

Through an arrangement with the Archdiocese of Louisville, catechists who attend the Social Action Summer Institute can receive continuing education credit.

This arrangement was made through a request with the local Office of Lifelong Formation and Education, and required filling out a simple form with information about the SASI’s program, speaker qualifications, etc. The Roundtable is happy to assist in filling out a form for your diocese.

Please consider requesting credit for attending SASI in your diocese, and/or encouraging local catechists, parish DREs, and other interested educators to attend!

Information is now available for this year’s Social Action Summer Institute (SASI). Join social action ministers from across the country for a four-day institute: Called to Transfomative Community: Addressing Poverty Today. The SASI will feature many engaging  speakers including David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World; Jack Jezreel and Joe Grant of JustFaith Ministries; Fr. John Rausch, Director of the Catholic Commission on Appalachia;  sessions on international & domestic poverty by staff of Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services, and USCCB-JPHD; and more.

**Additionally, JustFaith Ministries will host a day of visioning for social justice ministry and transformative learning**

For more program details, visit the SASI webpage. There you can download a flyer to share with your communities and a press release to share with your diocesan newspapers and others.

Join us July 29-Aug 1, 2012 | Bellarmine University | Louisville, KY
Cost information is coming soon. Limited scholarships are available.

Please share this information with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I hope to see you there!

This week, the Clarion Herald published an article featuring the July 2011 Social Action Summer Institute evening plenary session with Abdulrahman Zeitoun, the protagonist of the bestselling book Zeitoun.

Read the article below, or see it originally on the Clarion Herald website.

Hero painter jailed after Katrina holds no grudges

By Peter Finney, Clarion Herald staff

Not that citizens of the Greater New Orleans area need any encouragement to reflect again on a life-changing event, but the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina will arrive later this month – Aug. 29. The hope is it will arrive uneventfully and leave with little more than a whimper.

At the recent Social Action Summer Institute at Loyola University, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-born New Orleans house painter, transfixed his audience by relating his incredible odyssey in the days and months after Katrina.

As chronicled in “Zeitoun” by Dave Eggers – which now has been translated into 20 languages – Zeitoun had spent the days after Katrina rowing his canoe through flooded Uptown streets and rescuing stranded neighbors.
In a classic case of “no good deed going unpunished,” military personnel arrested Zeitoun a few days after Katrina while protecting his own home near Claiborne and Napoleon avenues.

Because he couldn’t produce ownership papers on the spot – even though his driver’s license backed up his claim he owned the home where he was staying – he was shuffled off to prison and spent weeks imprisoned, including time at Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, La. His pleas to make one phone call to clear up what should have been an open-and-shut case went unheeded for weeks.
“For three days we had no blankets – nothing,” Zeitoun recalled. “We were hanging on the overhead pipes like monkeys to take the pressure off our feet. I was being called ‘Al Qaeda’ and ‘Taliban.’”

Finally, Zeitoun’s wife Kathy, who had evacuated to Arizona with their children, was able to crawl back into their house through a window and find mortgage papers to prove her husband’s story. No, he was not a terrorist or a member of the Taliban, but an American citizen.

Zeitoun said he hoped telling his story through Eggers would prevent similar travesties of justice in the future. He said he would rescue people again if he has the chance. “Thank God I had a canoe, because one lady who was calling to me had a very soft voice,” Zeitoun said. “That’s the reason I could hear her. It was very quiet. The other boats were too noisy.”

Zeitoun holds no hard feelings.

“It is positive to let people know what happened because it should not happen again,” Zeitoun said. “I hope it doesn’t happen again in the future. If it happens, we should be prepared differently. I just did what each one of us should do.”

A portion of the proceeds of the book has been earmarked for the Zeitoun Foundation to aid in the rebuilding an ongoing health of the city of New Orleans and to ensure the human rights of all Americans. Thus far the foundation has distributed $200,000 in grants.

“I have wonderful neighbors, friends and customers,” Zeitoun said. “I look to America the same way my family looks to America. It’s a wonderful country. This was like a dream that never happened.”

Bishop Gabino Zavala, of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and President of Interfaith Worker Justice, will open the Social Action Summer Institute with reflections on the dignity of work and theological foundations for supporting workers rights.

On Labor Day 2010, he offered the following reflection, Enduring Principles of Catholic Social Teaching.
Reprinted with permission.

Catholic Social Teaching, stretching from Rerum Novarum (1891) to Caritas in Veritate (2009), has given us enduring principles to deal with “new things” as they arise in the economies of our time. Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the conditions of workers in a world that was in the midst of rapid technological change. This new economic structure had little or no regulations that produced not just gaping inequality between the industrialists and workers, but really two very different human realities. The teeming industrial towns had poor sanitation and housing; inhumane working conditions for men, women, and children; and, a political system unable or unwilling to address the new social environment wrought by economic change.

The class struggle in Europe and the United States pitted the opulence of rich against those struggling for survival. Pope Leo XIII, in his search for peace, condemned the violence of ‘class struggle’ and sought resolution in gospel values. The letter from the pope “On the Condition of Workers” had a huge impact in the Church and on the people of the United States that were fraught with concern over the rights of workers, wages, unions, and larger social conditions.

The lasting points made in Leo XIII’s encyclical and found throughout the church’s social doctrine begin with a correct view of the human person. Human persons are willed by God; they are imprinted with God’s image. Their dignity does not come from the work they do, but because they are as human.

The Holy Father wrote about the dignity of work and the rights and dignity of workers. Work is the way we procure the necessities of life for ourselves and our families; it is the way we realize ourselves through self expression; and finally, through work we contribute to the common good.

Pope Leo XIII stressed:
1. the centrality of the human person
2. the errors of socialism and laissez-faire capitalism
3. the right to form trade unions and other associations
4. the right to limited working hours and to rest
5. the right to a just wage

Caritas in Veritate, an encyclical written in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI, expresses similar concerns about our economic and social life in an increasingly globalized society. Facing the current economic crisis squarely, with so many people around the world lacking decent work and struggling for the necessities of life, the Holy Father offers a moral framework for economic life, a call to solidarity, and the challenge of working together to build an economy that is founded on gospel values. Pope Benedict clearly places the human person at the center of economic life as he reflects on creation, respect for life, rights of workers, and the role of civil society.

Benedict notes: “The repeated calls issued within the Church’s social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum, for the promotion of workers’ associations that can defend their rights must therefore be honored today even more than in the past, as a prompt and far-sighted response to the urgent need for new forms of cooperation at the international level, as well as the local level.”(#25)

Instead of relegating labor unions to a by-gone era, he says it is “important…that labor unions – which have always been encouraged and supported by the Church – should be open to the new perspectives that are emerging in the world of work.”…“The global context in which work takes place also demands that national labor unions, which tend to limit themselves to defending the interests of their registered members, should turn their attention to those outside their membership, and in particular to workers in developing countries where social rights are often violated.” (#64)

On a related matter, Benedict says, “the dignity of the individual and the demands of justice require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner, and that we continue to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone.”(#32)

Benedict then responds to the question: What is meant by the word “decency” in regard to work? He goes on to say “It means work that expresses the essential dignity of every man and woman in the context of their particular society: work that is freely chosen, effectively associating workers, both men and women, with the development of their community; work that enables the worker to be respected and free from any form of discrimination; work that makes it possible for families to meet their needs and provide schooling for their children, without the children themselves being forced into labor; work that permits the workers to organize themselves freely, and to make their voices heard; work that leaves enough room for rediscovering one’s roots at a personal, familial and spiritual level; work that guarantees those who have retired a decent standard of living.” (#63)

The Catholic tradition, our social doctrine, asks us to look at social and economic issues from the perennial viewpoint of the value of human work that finds its intrinsic meaning in the dignity of the worker. Making the principles of Catholic Social Teaching applicable to everyday life is never easy. We need to develop ways to assess not just our own individual actions but wider trends in society both in public policy and economic activity. As Pope Benedict XVI writes: “The current crisis obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment, to build on positive experiences and to reject negative ones. The crisis thus becomes an opportunity for discernment, in which to shape a new vision for the future.” (#21)

Widely considered the first great social encyclical, Rerum Novarum was issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. It marked the first formal endorsement by the magisterium of the budding Catholic social movement and laid the foundation for the magisterium’s teaching on social issues.

Allie Suwanrumpha, “Factory Worker” February 6, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

Rerum Novarum responded to the emergent ideas of the day promoting the common good while warning against the negative elements in the two prevailing schools of thought on how to structure the economy – socialism and capitalism. Against socialism, it asserted that private property was a right and principle of natural law. Against laissez faire capitalism, Rerum Novarum declared that the state has a role in protecting private property, regulating the conditions of work, seeing that employees receive a just wage, and producing laws to encourage a wide distribution of property. It also stated that it is the Church’s task to remind the world of the inequalities and sufferings that exist and to alleviate poverty through works of charity and the promotion of justice. The document also encouraged and supported organizations that promoted social and worker solidarity, such as trade unions and Catholic social action organizations.

Even before the encyclical was issued, the Church was engaged in work responding to the inequalities and violations of rights that had developed as a result of the Industrial Revolution. In Germany in 1864, Bishop Wilhelm von Ketteler had published The Worker-Question and Christianity. Alongside these teachings, Christian workers’ clubs and union movements were developing across Europe – of which Cardinal Gaspard Mermillod of France was a part. He was called to Rome to consult on economic issues and later helped found the Fribourg Union, committed both to papal loyalty and addressing social issues. The Union’s statements on work as a laborer’s personal act (not just a commodity), just wage, and collective bargaining were reflected in Rerum Novarum.

Tom Szustek, “Restaurant workers protest” March 16, 2011 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

While organizing for and promoting workers’ rights were taking place in Europe, there was also a great deal of hostility toward the Church by the European working class (including the assassination of archbishops). In the U.S., however, the immigrant working class was backbone of the U.S. Church. To a great degree, the impetus for Rerum Novarum was American, seeking to identify with and protect the rights of Catholic immigrant workers.

Understanding the connection between Catholic immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19^th century and the importance of promoting the dignity of work and protecting workers’ rights is important work for us as the Church today, too. Latino Catholic immigrants, which make up 1/3 of the U.S. Church, are often victims to violations of workers’ rights.

At the recent conference on Rerum Novarum at Catholic University, Fr. Clete Kiley shared testimonies of hotel staff whose workload of rooms to clean had nearly doubled in recent years, and workers felt compelled to work at an exhausting pace and through lunch to complete the work. “We want to be proud of our work,” they insisted. These are Catholic women with families, seeking to do their jobs well, and being robbed of wages when forced to work through lunch. They have been discouraged and even prevented from forming unions to provide a channel through which their voices can be heard more clearly against the injustices they face. They call out to their brothers and sisters throughout the Church, to help them to secure just and dignified work — a concrete recognition of their own human dignity and their ability to be co-creators with God in their work.

BP America, “Workers remove damaged boom from the waters” July 4, 2010 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

Rerum Novarum was clear in recognizing the right to strike as a tool for workers to demand their rights, as well as the role of unions in negotiating workers’ rights. Later encyclicals and documents by the U.S. Bishops continue to make these rights explicit. In the Bishops’ letter Economic Justice for All for all, they write, “No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself. Therefore, we firmly oppose organized efforts… to break existing unions and prevent workers from organizing” (104).

And in Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Through the combination of social and economic change, trade union organizations experience greater difficulty in carrying out their task of representing the interests of workers, partly because Governments, for reasons of economic utility, often limit the freedom or the negotiating capacity of labor unions. Hence traditional networks of solidarity have more and more obstacles to overcome. The repeated calls issued within the Church’s social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum, for the promotion of workers’ union that can defend their rights must therefore be honored today even more than in the past” (25).

Lawrence Lew, O.P., “The Holy Family engaged in Work” March 26, 2007 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

Examining the content of and the context in which Rerum Novarum was offered to the Church by the magisterium, can help guide our understanding of the history of Church teaching and our social analysis in the present age. Many of the problems that plagued the world when Rerum Novarum was written still challenge humanity today: economic decline, concentration of wealth in the hands of few, powerful employers neglecting the dignity of their workers and using their work solely as a commodity to further profits at any cost. The teaching of the Church and the examples of everyday Catholics living out their faith through practicing worker justice is a living witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

At the 2011 Social Action Summer Institute later this month, over 100 Catholics from across the country will come together to learn and discuss Supporting Workers Today, and will examine the history of Catholic thought on work, explore current case studies in promoting workers’ rights, and strategize for the future of the Church’s work locally in promoting human dignity and the dignity of work.

You can still join us - register today!

Text adapted from Rerum Novarum: Context, Foundations and Impetuses by Jennifer Svetlik and notes from the conference on the 120^th Anniversary of Rerum Novarum: Church, Labor and the New Things of the Modern World at the Catholic University of America in May 2011.

Great news – the deadline to register for the Social Action Summer Institute has been extended! If you’re still thinking of attending but need some more time to consider please take advantage of this opportunity!

If you need on-campus housing, you must reserve your spot online then mail in your check by June 24. If you can find accommodations elsewhere, registration will be accepted until July 6.

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The 25th Annual SASI has a great lineup including Bishop Gabino Zavala, president of Interfaith Worker Justice who will offer our keynote address, Track II leader, Kathy Saile, Director of Domestic Social Development at the USCCB and many other talented speakers who will offer Track I and our plenary sessions and workshops.

SASI is being offered for **$125 off** last year’s tuition & room & board price! All of the components of the SASI are GREAT! If you’re a veteran, Track II on Supporting Workers Today will offer insightful information for your work. If you’re a newcomer, Track I is THE place to get started and the SASI is a great place to get to know colleagues and national contacts.

If you can’t come, think about sending staff or commission members, as well as getting the word out in parishes.

Thanks for spreading the word! Looking forward to seeing you there!

I hope you’ll join us at the Social Action Summer Institute and continue to spread the word in your dioceses and communities. The registration deadline is June 15 and if you’re still on the fence, we wanted to share 15 reasons you should be in New Orleans with us July 10-13! We pray SASI will deepen your spiritual life, expand your network and increase your effectiveness so as to enrich your vocation in social action.

In no particular order…

1. You’ll hear a keynote address from Bishop Gabino Zavala, President of Interfaith Worker Justice.
2. You can learn & plan for Supporting Workers Today through a history of Catholic thought on work, tools for social analysis, & a working session on labor.
3. You’ll participate in liturgy celebrated by Archbishop Aymond with Bishop Zavala, and pray in community.
4. You’ll receive $125 off last year’s tuition and room and board price.
5. You can join small group worker case studies on wage theft, immigration push factors, community organizing and labor, employment rights for those with disabilities, campus organizing, and more.
6. You can strengthen your foundation in Biblical Justice and Catholic Social Teaching with others from around the country.
7. You’ll hear reflections on Hurricane Katrina from the Zeitouns, protagonists of the book Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.
8. You’ll have time for intentional discussion with your peers on Challenges & Opportunities in social action and Latino formation in social action.
9. You can visit with workers affected by the oil spill and those working for environmental justice.
10. You’ll meet new leaders and strengthen friendships with others engaged in social action at nightly socials.
11. You can explore self-care & spirituality for ministers with Joe Grant of JustFaith Ministries and practice meditation and relaxation techniques on the spot.
12. You’ll have opportunities to connect with staff from national partner organizations: USCCB Dept. of Justice, Peace and Human Development, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services, and JustFaith Ministries and learn more about the Jesuit Social Research Institute.
13. You can ride the streetcar, listen to jazz at Preservation Hall, drink cafe au lait or savor a New Orleans snoball with new-found friends.
14. You can join in a strategy session around Statewide Immigration Legislation or learn the ART of Doing More with Less through Capacity Building.
15. You can participate in skills-building workshops like Creating & Sustaining a Robust Parish Social Justice Ministry, Global Solidarity through Parish Partnerships, Promoting Life & Dignity, Racial Harmony, Environmental Stewardship, and more.

I hope to see you there! Please let us know how we can support you in spreading the word about SASI’s offerings!

Registration is now live for this year’s Social Action Summer Institute. You can get more information and register online at http://catholicroundtable.org/events/sasi/.

Join social action ministers from across the country for a four-day institute titled, “Focus on the Worker: “New Things” in Labor 120 Years after Rerum Novarum.”

We will feature many talented and engaging speakers including Bishop Gabino Zavala, President of Interfaith Worker Justice; Kathy Saile, Director of Domestic Social Development, USCCB; Fr. Fred Kammer, Director of the Jesuit Social Research Institute; Tricia Hoyt, diocesan director in Phoenix; Joe Grant of JustFaith Ministries, and many more. Additional presenters will be announced on the SASI webpage.

July 10-13, 2011 | Loyola University | New Orleans, LA
***Tuition, room & board this year is $125 off of last year’s rates!***

Registration information: Although registration is available online, payment for SASI is not. Please reserve your spot online then make check payment to “Catholic Charities of Houma-Thibodaux” (fiscal agent for the Roundtable) and mail to: The Roundtable | 1225 Otis Street NE | Washington DC 20017.

Tuition is $250, room & board is $325, with two-day and one-day options available. Limited scholarships are available; contact the Roundtable Coordinator for details.

The deadline for registration is June 15, so don’t delay!

Please share this information with your friends and colleagues. We look forward to seeing you there!