St. Clement’s Social Justice and Charity

The members of St. Clement’s church are known for their generous and just hearts towards those suffering ill fortune in life. There are a variety of seasonal and year- long charitable and social justice projects that occur on a regular basis within our parish. Following Roman Catholic social teaching, our justice and charity work is guided by the word.

There is a committee of volunteers who facilitate and organize some of the parish social justice and charity activities. New members are always welcome. See the Social Justice and Charity bulletin board for contact names.

The vision and principles that guide our work:

The fact that human beings are social by nature indicates that the betterment of the person and the improvement of society depend on each other.....humanity by its very nature stands completely in need of life in society.

• Every person has a right to the basic material necessities that are required to live a decent life.
  
• All people have a right to a minimum level of participation in the economic, political and cultural life of society.
  
• The economy must serve people, not the other way around. People are more important than things; labour is more important than capitol.
  
• All workers have a right to productive work, to decent wages, to safe working conditions; and they have a right to organize and join unions.
  
• People have a right to economic initiative and private property, but these rights have limits. No one is allowed to amass excessive wealth when others lack the basic necessities of life.
  
• The goods of the earth are gifts. We hold them in trust as stewards.
  

God destined the earth and all it contains for all people and nations so that all created things would be shared fairly by all humankind under the guidance of justice tempered by charity. (From Vatican II: The Church in the Modern World)
Websites:
Archdiocese of Halifax: http://www.catholichalifax.org
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops: www.cccb.ca
Catechism of the Catholic Church - Social justice: www.vatican.va/archive/catechism

What are acts of Justice and Charity?

Justice is the promotion of social change in institutions or political structures
Justice responds to long-term needs.
Justice is directed at the root causes of social problems. Justice addresses the underlying structures or causes of these problems.
Acts of justice usually have a public nature within group or collective actions.
Love works to prevent the gaps from occurring and works to fix those that exist.
Charity is service such as providing for food, clothing, and shelter.
Charity responds to immediate needs.
Charity is directed at the effects of injustice - its symptoms. Charity addresses problems that already exist.
Charity usually has a private, individual context to action.
Love fills the gaps

Social Justice and Charity Activities St. Clement’s Parish

Development and Peace: Fall action campaigns and Share Lent campaigns are facilitated by members of St. Clement’s social justice committee.

Chalice: Parish children contribute small change to a weekly collection that sponsors a child through Chalice. As well, many parishioners and families individually sponsor children in developing countries through Chalice. There is an annual parish collection that goes towards the Chalice scholarship fund.

FOOD Advent Project: St. Clement’s parishioners and children in the catechetical program have joined with St. Peter’s and other Dartmouth Catholic churches to support FOOD (Feed Others of Dartmouth) and other community organizations and groups in the area.

Past charitable work over the past few years has included donations by parishioners and parish groups, in time and money, to various community organizations such as Phoenix House, SHYM (Supportive Housing for Young Mothers), and Direction 180. During the winter of 2008, a special parish donation was organized by parishioners to aid those unable to pay their fuel bills. This has continued to be an annual collection. The proceeds from the 2008 St. Patrick’s Ceilidh, which is put on by members of St. Clement’s music ministry, went to support the renovations at St. Patrick’s Church, Halifax, NS.

• It is possible for non-parish groups and organizations, which fit the church’s vision for justice and charity, to negotiate a reduced fee for use of the parish hall for their activities. These groups are required to have a St. Clement’s parishioner as a sponsor for the use of the hall and must forward their request to the parish pastoral council for approval and a contractual agreement of the terms for using the hall.