The mission of the St. Giles Social Justice Ministry is to foster the work of justice in the parish and the world at large. It is guided by the worldwide Catholic Social Teaching, as well as the seven principles of Social Justice promoted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). We identify social injustices, educate and give ways in which parishioners can take action.

Our Goals for the 2009-2010 Year:

• We discovered that a number of USCCB's principles can be put into practice when we support the Fair Trade movement. St. Giles will continue to sponsor the Fair Trade Market.
• The Seventh Principle states, "We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God's creation". The Social Justice Ministry will aid the parish groups in assessing their environmental awareness and support them in their efforts.
• The Ministry will encourage the Catholic-Moslem dialogue by developing Study Circles to better understand the Moslem faith and persons.

"We need Immigration Reform" - Article in Adobe Reader (pdf - 489 KB)

Bishop Answers Readers' Tough Questions About Immigration - Article in Adobe Reader (pdf - 169 KB)

Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have emphasized that we as Catholics have a moral obligation to care for all of God's Creation. This includes the "human environment and the natural environment".

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has written extensively on "building a just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society". The depth and richness of these documents are best understood by directly reading them but here are the seven major themes:

Life and Dignity of the Human Person
Call to Family, Community and Participation
Rights and Responsibilities
Options for the Poor and Vulnerable
The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
Solidarity
Care for God's Creation

For the past several years the Social Justice Ministry has been focusing on The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers by hosting a Fair Trade Market in November and periodic fair trade: coffee and chocolate sales. Fair Trade is based on the principle that people should earn a fair wage for their labor, a fair profit for the items they produce. Stories of Hope gave insights into how purchasing fairly traded items can help bring people, especially women, and villages in underdeveloped countries out of poverty and giving them the ability to feed and educate their children. We have tried to stress that you, as a consumer, have the power to make a difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters here in this country and around the world.

Since one of our parish goals is Environmental Stewardship, the Social Justice Ministry will now begin to focus on Care for God's Creation. "We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Good stewardship of the earth and of all its creatures (including human beings) is a complex challenge. Humans are part of creation itself, and whatever we do to the earth we ultimately do to ourselves. We must live in harmony with the rest of creation and preserve it for future generations". (Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges, Directions and A Century of Social Teaching and Protecting the Least Among Us and Persuing the Common Good. USCCB).

In 2009 you may have noticed the rain barrel in front of the Parish Center. This year it is being put to good use. It will be connected to a downspout and the water will be used to water plants and flwoers. Look for it on campus.

The rain barrel collects and stores rainwater from rooftops for lawn and garden use. Normally the water flows off the roof or through roof gutters and downspouts becoming stormwater runoff. Depending on your house location, this runoff can travel paved surfaces and eventually into a storm drain.

Water conservation is important to preserve our fresh water supply. Rain barrels collect water that can be used for watering plants during dry periods or on days when watering is prohibited. They can also be arranged to slowly release the collected rain fall to areas that can soak up the water, reducing stormwater runoff and increasing groundwater recharge.

Since rain water comes off of a roof, into gutters and downspouts, it is not considered to be "drinkable" water so it is best used to water lawns, plants and flowers but not vegetables unless they are washed using "drinkable" water before consuming.

Isaac Sinnott, an Oak Park resident, started his business, Greener Garden LLC, a few years ago when he has a junior at OPRF High School. He is now a student at the University of Wisconsin in the environment studies program. Isaac make and sells his rain barrels for $40 each.

If you are interested in purchasing a rain barrel for your house or would like additional information you can visit his website at www.green-garden.com.

"American Catholics... are learning more, caring more, and doing more about the environment and threats to it. As a community of faith, we are also seeking to understand more clearly the ethical and religious dimensions of this challenge". - US Catholics Bishops

In the summer of 2009 the Social Justice Ministries of the Oak Park & River Forest Catholic parishes, decided to pursue the idea of a Christian-Muslim dialogue. St. Giles initiated a subcommittee to explore this dialogue. The first step was for us to learn more about Islam and Muslims. Over the next few months the study circle method and the book Islam Is was chosen. The Office for Ecumenical & Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese was contacted. Mr. Renken encouraged us to start a study group with the chosen book since their office knew the author, Sister Mary Margaret Funk, and they have the goal of supporting local Muslim-Catholic dialogues. He asked that we keep each other informed of our work.

The study circles were planned for Monday morning and Tuesday evening sessions in January 2010. There was such a response that a second series was held in February and March. Forty participants from all of the Oak Park parishes attended. We had hoped to line up a visit to a mosque at the end of the series. Mr. Renken gave us several contacts, but we had a little difficulty and it took until April 20th to set up a visit to the Downtown Islamic center, through the auspices of Professor Aly Drame, teacher of Islamic Studies at Dominican University. In the meantime we had several discussions on the video One God, Three Faiths and five participants went to the Islamic World Studies Winter Town Hall Meeting at DePaul University on March 31, 2010. There was a very informative panel discussion on the history of Ecumenism and dialogue between Muslims and Catholics.

On April 20th thirteen participants visited the Downtown Islamic Center. We were received with great hospitality and given a tour and a very interesting presentation about Islam by Dr. Sabeel Ahmed. On April 23, 2010 Mary Lou Jenks along with five participants visited the American Islamic College mosque on the north side of Chicago.

On May 15th twelve participants went to the Islamic Community Center of Illinois near Oak Park Ave. and Belmont. We were welcomed by Iman Sheikh Amin Alali, experienced warm hospitality by members and were given a tour of their academy and mosque. After refreshments we had another more detailed presentation by Dr. Sabeel Ahmed and witnessed the 6 pm prayer time.

We wanted to return the hospitality that we had experienced and invited persons from the three mosques to visit St. Giles on June 8th. Thirty persons attend, about half Muslim and half Catholic. We gave a tour of St. Giles Church and then went to McDonough Hall for refreshments and discussion. There was time for Muslim sunset prayers. We were pleased that our pastor, Father Carl Morello could be with us. We are now searching for ways in which we can continue to come together with the persons that we have met.