Parish Social Ministry in Action:
Discover how local parishes and communities are learning about issues of poverty and coming together to respond to the needs and struggles in their own communities and around the world.
Best Practices
Best Practice: Wadena Micro-Enterprise:
We are seeing some great work going on in the Wadena area in collaboration with A Minnesota Without Poverty Micro-Enterprise Catalyst Partnership. 
This is a new micro enterprise program that is being launched in Wadena County to help individuals living in poverty start their own businesses. This initiative is unique in several respects: The target audience is precisely people who do not have access to start-up capital and business loans from traditional resources. Another unique benefit is that technical business training and advice will be provided as well as the establishment of a circle of support for each entrepreneur. The objective is to help individuals launch a business, and develop the track record and credit history so that traditional financing can be readily available when expansion of the business calls for additional capital. The difference between a normal Micro-finance initiative and this one is that the people given this opportunity are living in rural areas versus an urban setting. With support from many local churches and organizations the organizers are confident in their efforts.
Congratulations Wadena organizers!
If you are interested in organizing a program like this in your area call us at 320 229-6020.
Best Practice: Making Solidarity Ties
at the Church of St. Mary
The Church of St. Mary's Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Committee (JPIC) in Alexandria, Minnesota is educating the parishioners about solidarity and the importance of this virtue. In April they hosted a speaker to address global solidarity with about 150 people in attendance. Much conversation resulted with some unanswered questions and concerns. In a second attempt to address global solidarity in a truly comprehensible manner, the committee held a workshop on the Anatomy of Prejudice. This workshop concentrated on the participants examining their own perspectives on prejudice as well as examining ways to deal with and work to minimize myths about various minority groups. This prejudice workshop was well received by the community, and the committee felt the need to keep the ball rolling, so they invited Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota's Executive Director, John Keller, to come and answer questions about laws and create a better understanding about the reality of immigration law.
Breaking biases is an arduous task, but JPIC shows us how successful a succession of presentations can be! Wow! It is awesome to see the spread of global solidarity in our communities!
Sister Parish Relationship
Christ Our Light Parish
Princeton and Zimmerman
Submitted by Mary Beth Barder
In October, a planning session was held to coordinate a joint retreat. Later that month, five elders from St. Mary's and six parish representatives from Christ Our Light, as well as both pastors, met at the Franciscan Life Center in Little Falls for a two-day retreat.
The focus of our sister parish relationship is one of mutual benefit, not merely one church helping out the other.
During our retreat, it was clear both parishes have much to offer each other in areas of understanding cultural differences, shared experiences, and spiritual support. Spending time sharing with a partner from the other parish was definitely one of the highlights of our time together.
Following that, thoughts for continued collaboration were shared, resulting in a paper-covered wall filled with ideas. From that, we decided on several goals:
- Working together on a service project (that doesn't benefit either community).
- Supporting (and visiting) each others parish festivals.
- Creating opportunities to meet through joint social events, including parties and family events.
- Creating a network for students of elementary school age to become "pen pals."
- Supporting each other spiritually through petitions at Mass and using each others Parish Prayer Chains.
- Setting dates for the pastors to have a "pulpit swap."
- Publishing articles from each others bulletin.
Since then, the exchange of letters and Christmas cards has strengthened our bonds. It has been a profound learning experience to discover that, despite the differences in our cultures, we are unified by that which we share, our Catholic faith."
Social Concerns Department Offerings
Catholic Campaign for Human Development
Parish Social Ministry in Action
What the Bishops are saying about:
SOCIAL CONCERNS
Kathy Langer, Director
911 18th Street North
PO Box 2390
St. Cloud, MN 56302
Ph: 320.229.6020
Fx: 320.650.1528
Bishop Kinney's new pastoral letter, "So You Also Should Do," and a variety of resources related to it are now available. Click here to access the order form
