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Scroll down to read over the following items:

• Issue Team Updates
• New MSJC possibilities
• Action Needed
• Resources
• A Thought to Ponder
  

Issue Teams Update – see the Web site for more details

Ecology & Environment
The team will be meeting May 12-15 in Dayton. They will be examining further strategies to promote sustainable consumption within Marianist world. Anyone interested in attending should contact Don Geiger at donald.geiger@notes.udayton.edu

Anti-Racism

• The Cultural Audit Team met in St. Louis on Feb. 25-27. Great meeting! Lots of energy! They made plans to use the Cultural Audit in a variety of ways with the Marianist Family - formation gatherings, retreats, Continental Assembly, a special gathering in spring 2006, and in local communities. The goal is to build communities that are deeply multicultural in their attitudes, practices, and membership. For more info, contact Ted Cassidy - tcassidy@capemaymarianists.org.
  
• Diversity Day at Cape May Family Retreat Center on Monday, March 14, an annual day to help increase the civic community's appreciation for diversity. Contact Ted Cassidy for more info.
  

War and Peace
Team meeting scheduled for March 11-13 in San Antonio. We welcome new members. Anyone interested in attending should contact Sr. Laola Hironaka, hironakafmi@aol.com

Death Penalty

• The team met last month and will be involved in both the Journey of Hope in Texas in 2006 and the vigil/fast at the Supreme Court this summer. Visit the MSJC Web site to read a summary. The team is sponsoring an intern position in Austin, Texas, to assist in organizing the Journey of Hope. Job description and application should be available sometime next week on the MSJC website.
  
• Good news - the Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for juvenile criminals and the New Mexico state House of Representatives voted to end the death penalty in that state. Two more steps forward!

Sweatshop Labor

• Team members met with Wal-Mart CEO. Visit the MSJC Web site to read about it.
  
• Students at Moeller HS in Cincinnati, following up on the visit of 3 Bangladeshi sweatshop workers to their school, sponsored a "sweatshop simulation" to give students an experience of what it's like to work in one. Visit the MSJC Web site to read the story.

New Possibilities for MSJC

Two possible areas of new effort by MSJC:

1. Promoting a Consistent Life Ethic - should we initiate some involvement in this area? How? What issues should be included?
2. Immigration issues - an MSJC member has indicated interest in helping MSJC to do something to address the needs and problems in our immigration system. Anybody else out there interested?

Send your feedback to Jim Vogt - jimvogt2@yahoo.com

Action Needed

• Sr. Dorothy Stang SND, from Dayton OH, who for many years defended the Amazon national heritage from land grabbers, was cruelly assassinated on Feb. 12. ACT NOW to urge the Brazilian government to investigate this crime completely and to end the causes of this violence. Visit the MSJC Web site to send a message.
  
• March 19, the second anniversary of the Iraq War, will be a Global Day of Protest Against the War. Get involved! To find an event that day near you, visit United for Peace and Justice.
  
• Make the debate over the President's proposed budget a discussion of values and morality. Visit the MSJC Web site to read the statement from Network about the budget and send a letter to your representative or senator.
  

Resources - know any good ones? Share them with us
An article submitted by Paul Fitzpatrick SM, "One World Together," treats the challenge of global poverty and our call to eliminate it.

A Thought to Ponder

    "We will go before God and God will ask us, 'Where are your wounds?' And we will say, 'We have no wounds.' And God will ask, 'Was nothing worth fighting for?"

               Rev. Allan Boesak

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Jim Vogt, Director
Marianist Social Justice Collaborative
523 East Southern Ave.
Covington KY 41015
859-291-6197; fax - 859-291-4742
jimvogt2@yahoo.com; www.msjc.net