There are two aspects of Social Concern: parish outreach and social
action. The first is aimed at giving directly to those in need. The second is
concerned with changing structures that cause these needs.
In our parish we dedicate ourselves to both aspects of social ministry.
Parishioners engage in the corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry,
giving alms to the poor, providing clothing for those in need, visiting the
sick or imprisoned, and ministering to those who are bereaved.
We also engage in social action when we walk, or keep vigil in solidarity
with oppressed people, when we petition the president or our senators
and representatives on behalf of the unborn, those who are condemned to
death, those engaged in war, or victims of genocide.
It is important that we keep ourselves informed on issues of local, national
and global concern. It may be a little known fact that there is a long
history of Catholic engagement in Social Justice. Visit the website of the
United States Bishops USCCB www.nccbuscc.org/sdwp and familiarize
yourself with the foundational documents written over many years.
Read about the issues that are currently in focus there and see if perhaps
you can take part in any of the actions that are proposed. We, the people
of St. Hilary Parish who wish to live up to the mission statement we have
developed will find a way to do so if we take seriously our concern to be
involved in parish outreach and social action.
"We the faith community of St. Hilary, brought together by Christ, respond
to the universal call to holiness by living in the service of the Gospel."
Surviving Genocide – The story of Immaculée Ilibagiza, a Tutsi woman who survived Rwanda's genocide by the Hutus in 1994.
Watch CBS News Videos Online
Immaculée Ilibagiza is a living example of faith put into action. Her life was transformed dramatically during the 1994
Rwandan genocide where she and seven other women spent 91 days huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a
local pastor's house. Immaculée entered the bathroom a vibrant, 115-pound university student with a loving
family – she emerged weighing just 65 pounds to find most of her family had been brutally murdered.
Visit her website here.
Social Concern
These are events that are happening in our world today.
– What can
you do to bring attention to the plight of these people, or even better, how can you
get involved in helping to bring about systemic change?
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A US federal appeals court ruled Wednesday against releasing 17
Chinese ethnic Uighurs into the United States from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba despite their
having been cleared of "war on terror allegations."
Cambodian war crime trial starts
Reporter: Karen Percy
The first defendant has gone on trial in Cambodia's genocide trials.
He's the man who ran the
infamous torture centre at Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng prison during the Khmer Rouge reign of
terror in the 1970s.
It's taken a generation but today the historic hearing got under way against Kaing Guek Eav,
alias Comrade Duch.
By Ann Curry, NBC News
Anytime now the International Criminal Court will announce whether to issue an arrest
warrant for the president of Sudan for the atrocities in Darfur, a region of Sudan.
About six years after a war between the government of Sudan and a rebel group unleashed
systematic rapes, mass killings, and the burning of hundreds of villages, hundreds of
thousands of people have been killed and millions are still waiting in camps in Sudan and
Chad, waiting for hope and justice.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has argued Sudan's President Omar al
Bashir masterminded genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur and should be brought
to justice.
What will the court decide? And what do the victims have to say about it?
Who more deserves a voice than the victims of atrocities?