Social Justice Issues
The following social justice issues are active issues in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati which means there is a task force, planning team, or current initiative for you to join.
Immigration reform
- The Archdiocese of Cincinnati, along with local businesses, labor unions, social service agencies and other faith traditions have called for a comprehensive reform of our immigration laws. For more information about the unwavering message of the U.S. Bishops on this issue, please contact the Justice For Immigrants Campaign. If you would like a parish kit of very helpful information on this issue, or would like to find out about specific efforts, please contact Catholic Social Action in Cincinnati or Dayton.
- For additional resources on these topics from local conferences organized by the Catholic Social Action Office and our CRS Committee...
Darfur
- The Cincinnati Archdiocese's Catholic Collaborative on Darfur is offering many opportunities for parishes and individuals to learn and take action for the people in Darfur. We are in turn part of a local interfaith and secular organization, Greater Cincinnati Advocates for Darfur. Learn more about our work for Darfur.
Death penalty
- The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has joined over a 100 organizations to call for a Moratorium on Executions. To learn more about the death penalty and to obtain resources to help education your parish read the U.S. Bishops' powerful new statement to end the Death Penalty - The Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death.
- For Ohio Execution Alerts visit the Catholic Conference of Ohio web site
- Join Ohioans To Stop Executions (OTSE). OTSE was founded in 1987. Its purpose is to end the use of capital punishment in the state of Ohio through education. The views of the members that underlie that purpose are many but can be summarized in two broad categories of opposition, 1) a moral commitment to life that precludes the purposeful killing of any human being and\or, 2) recognition that the death penalty, as it is being implemented in Ohio, is not fair, fails to serve its legal purposes, and is overwhelmingly imposed on indigent, minority, underprivileged and disadvantaged members of society.
Contact info:
- Statewide: Ohioans To Stop Executions 9 East Long Street, Suite 201 Columbus, OH 43215 Phone: 614-560-0654 Fax: 614-224-7150, E-mail: OTSE.org@gmail.com. Web site: www.otse.org
- Cincinnati area: Sr. Alice Gerdeman, CDP and Julie Przybysz of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, 215 East 14th Street Cincinnati, OH 45210 513-579-8547 or info@ijpc-cincinnati.org
- Dayton area: Bob Stoughton, 937-229-5599, bob.stoughton@notes.udayton.edu
Farm Bill
- Learn more about the 2007 Farm Bill. Many Farm Bill provisions - federal nutrition programs, farm payments, conservation and rural development programs, and policies that affect farmers in the US and in other nations -- have an impact on hungry people in the US and abroad.
- To learn more about Rural Life efforts in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati...
Fair Trade
- Fair Trade creates opportunities for us to live in solidarity with others through the choices we make as consumers. To learn more about Fair Trade and Catholic Social Teaching visit Catholic Relief Services' Fair Trade Resources
- Many parishes in the archdiocese sell Fair Trade Coffee and Tea after Mass and some parishes have made a commitment to only using Fair Trade Coffee at their parish functions. To learn more about how to engage your parish contact the Catholic Social Action Office.
- Dayton Fair Trade Sale - every December the Weavers of Justice and Bergamo Center host a huge Catholic Relief Services' Fair Trade Sale featuring all kinds of fairly traded products. You can shop and change the world at the same time! To volunteer for this sale or to learn more contact the Dayton Social Action Office.
Global Climate Change
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The Archdiocese of Cincinnati helped to inaugurate the national Catholic Coalition on Climate Changes’ “St. Francis Pledge” campaign by forming an archdiocesan-wide Climate Change Task Force. This body aims to help the Archdiocese and its parishes to fulfill the five elements of the pledge: to pray, learn, assess, advocate and act. To learn more about this nationwide intiative, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, please visit www.catholicclimatecovenant.org, where individuals, families and institutions can sign up for the pledge. To learn more about activities in our own Archdiocese, please contact Catholic Social Action.
- "Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence, and the Common Good" - a Statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- To get involved with local efforts on global climate change contact The Catholic Social Action office.
Human Trafficking
- The movement of people across boundaries is part of a collective human experience. There is an element of this experience that must be eradicated: the trafficking of human beings through the use of fraud, force, and coercion for the purpose of forced prostitution or forced labor...(from Human Trafficking by BIshop Barnes).
- On Human Trafficking by Bishop Gerald R. Barnes, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration.
- For additional resources on these topics from local conferences organized by the Catholic Social Action Office and our CRS Committee
Prioritizing the Poor in Ohio
- Learn about Ohio Budget Bill 119. For the latest information on Ohio's budget process visit the Catholic Conference of Ohio. Here you will find an analysis of the budget, talking points for advocating for the needs of the poor and the vulnerable in Ohio, and the latest information on the budget process.
Poverty and Racism
- The Weavers of Justice - a Catholic Social Justice Collaborative in the Miami Valley-- is focusing on the issues of poverty and racism. To learn more...
Homelessness in Dayton
- The City of Dayton is currently in the process of implementing a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness and reduce overall homeless in Dayton and Montgomery County. To read this report online...
- The Weavers of Justice have selected homelessness as a justice priority. To learn more about their homelessness efforts....
For a more comprehensive list of social justice issues that are of concern to the church visit the Social Development and World Peace office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops or choose from the following:
- International social justice issues
- Domestic social justice Issues (follow this link then click on "domestic issues" for a drop down list)