Teaching

	"This is what Yahweh asks of you, Only this, To act justly, to love tenderly, And to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8
Catholic Social Teachings

	Respect for Life The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. In our society, human life is under attack from abortion, assisted suicide, and the death penalty. Family and Community The family is the central social institution that must be supported and strengthened. People have a right and a duty to participate in community seeking the common good and well-being of all. Human Rights Every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities - to one another, to our families, and to the larger society. Poor and Vunerable In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgment and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vunerable first. Dignity of Work The economy must serve people, and not the other way around. The basic rights of workers must be respected - the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to private property, and to economic initiative. World Peace We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers, wherever they live. We are one human family, whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. Care for Environment We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God's creation.
St. John the Baptist has a long history of doing the work of charity and justice within our community and extending ourselves beyond the walls of this church.
We are currently involved in these efforts offering charity to those in need: Loaves and Fishes: prepare and serve dinner the first Monday of every month at River of Life Lutheran Church Branch III: purchase, prepare and serve lunch the first and second Tuesday of each month at Branch III in Minneapolis Meals on Wheels: volunteer drivers bring meals to those who are homebound Families Moving Forward: provide families without homes hospitality and shelter for one week three times a year St. Vincent DePaul: this group meets monthly and does a variety of outreach…Simpson shelter, coordinating clothing and furniture drives, one on one meetings with those in need of emergency financial help, work at SVDP stores St. John’s Food Shelf: each Monday our food shelf is stocked by donations made by parishioners and is open for families in need every Mon, Wed. Fri. from 10:00a.m. - noon. It is staffed by volunteers. Angel Tree: the angel tree is our holiday giving ministry. The gifts collected are dispersed among three or four churches identified as needing help. Open Arms: once a month, volunteers prepare, pack and deliver meals to those homebound due to HIV/AIDS Respect Life: this group meets four to five times a year. They sell Mother’s Day corsages to raise money in support of pro-life causes. They coordinate the Baby Bush in July to collect items for Birthright and the Northside Life Care Center.
Our involvements in other organizations and grass roots movements towards justice work and changed systems are: Just Faith: A 30-week program of reading, discussion, videos and hands-on experiences that lead to a deeper faith life, personal transformation, and renewed commitments to justice and social ministry. We have our 5th group in process currently Just Faith II: This program enhances the work of the first Just Faith year by additional reading, discussion and formation of parish leadership and a social ministry team to educate and support further growth in the parish community around work for social change. We currently have our first Just Faith II group at work Isaiah: a gathering of congregations who have committed themselves to each other in order to build power for a worldview that prioritizes racial and economic justice. This past fall we hosted a Faith in Democracy experience and had many of those running for office come to share table talks with folks from the community so that we had a voice in telling our hopes and concerns for the common good. We have a core group from St. John’s of 12-14 parishioners who work faithfully with core groups from area congregations Office for Social Justice: Through OSJ we are kept informed on current legislative issues that impact the common good. Currently St. John’s has members on the health care action team, the immigration action team, and the global warming action team. We hope to better educate our parishioners on these important issues and call one another to action and change Heifer project: This was our Lenten project last Lent and the Faith Formation and School raised over $5,000, which bought many animals that will ultimately sustain family farms and family life for those in need Feed My Starving Children: We have sent four delegations of 30+ parishioners to pack meals for children in countries where many go without adequate nutrition Food for the Poor: In September, we had delegates from Food for the Poor come and speak at all our Masses to share with us the work they do and more about our budding sister parish relationship in Bulls Bay, Jamaica. We had a wonderful weekend of Jamaican music, hospitality, and a video reflecting our own parishioners visit to Bulls Bay. As of January 2007, St. John’s parishioners have given $32,000 so work can now begin to build a basic school in Bull Bay. This was a gift of vast proportion and attests to the generosity of our parishioners. Our second pilgrimage to Bulls Bay is being planned as well as ways other parishioners can be involved from here with our new friends in Jamaica FAIR TRADE products: We have been using only Fair Trade Peace coffee on both our parish and school campus now for a year. We sell Fair Trade coffee and tea one weekend a month as our way of supporting a just and living wage for the farmers who grow the product and as a way of educating our parish community about this very simple way to make such a huge difference in the lives of people who work hard to provide for their families as we all strive to. We also use this weekend of selling as a storefront where other current and pressing information around Social Mission work can be learned or literature can be taken home to better understand the needs of our brothers and sisters in our own community and around the globe San Miguel Middle School: We are in a growing relationship with this middle school, located in south Minneapolis. We have prayer partners with their students and ours. This Advent our faith formation and school students worked to raise money for computers for this sister school. The last two years, students from San Miguel have come to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe with us. They presented the story during our liturgy. We provide financial assistance for their operating budget of $20,000 a year. These monies come from our tithing from our current capital campaign. We look forward to a growing relationship and more exchange of culture and friendship Northside Life Care Center: We currently fund Northside Life Care Center which has allowed them to offer services to pregnant women five days a week now. Our respect life group continues involvement with the center and we have a parishioner on the board there Our numbers of those who are involved in Social Mission work has grown significantly over the last couple of years. We realize this is a slow process of education for each person, but we are more aware of the larger world and our responsibility to do our part in working for the common good. As is evidenced by our broad areas of involvement, we are a large parish and different things appeal to different people. There is not one way to get at this large piece of work that is social mission. But step-by-step we move forward. Keep your eye on the One who is the way...