Jesuits West CORe

We recognize the land we currently stand upon to be one of the Indigenous people of the Piscataway, Anacostian, Nacotchtank and other bands, who lived freely and cared for this land, these waters, and the earth beneath our feet for thousands of years; the Indigenous people who still care for our earth and still live among us. Please take a moment and give thanks and honor those who come before us so that we can gather together today to work for social justice.

-Share Name, pronouns, school and why you came to the IFTJ?

-What is your relationship or definition to Social Justice? Why is it important?

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Pedro Arrupe’s Seminal Address

Re-Education for Justice

Education for justice has become in recent years one of the chief concerns of the Church. Why? Because there is a new awareness in the Church that participation in the promotion of justice and the liberation of the oppressed is a constitutive element of the mission which Our Lord has entrusted to her.1 Impelled by this awareness, the Church is now engaged in a massive effort to education – or rather to re-educate – herself, her children, and all [persons] so that we may all “lead our life in its entirety… in accord with the evangelical principles of personal and social morality to be expressed in a living Christian witness.”2

[Persons] for Others

Today our prime educational objective must be to form [persons]-for-others; [people] who will live not for themselves but for God and his Christ – for the God-man who lived and died for all the world; [persons] who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors; [people] completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for others is a farce."

By Mr. Jamal Adams

Let’s begin with a silent reflection. Facilitator read out the questions that we will consider in silence:

What are the first things that come to mind when you think about Dr. King and his legacy?

How have you come to learn about this stories and facts?

What do you know about his speeches, his writings and his actions?

Facilitator Read Out:

Several historic moments in the civil rights struggle have been used to identify Dr. King. — lead organizer of the Montgomery bus boycott, keynote speaker at the March on Washington, and youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate. But in retrospect, single events are less important than the fact that King, and his policy of nonviolent protest, were the dominant force in the Civil Rights Movement during its decade of achievement, from 1957 to 1968.

Unfortunately, Dr. King's dedication to nonviolent protest and his most famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” are often co-opted to denigrate many of the protests and movements that have been so evident in our communities and in our country over the past few years. We are often are presented with a Santa Claus like Dr. King, who is often characterized by the virtues of patience and passivity. An example of this phenomen is that often one of his most famous lines, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”, has been misconstrued to promote patience iover perseverance. However, those who were contemporaries of Dr. King would tell you that his next statement would be that it is the power of the people and their actions that bend the arc!

By Mr. Jamal Adams

With this context, we will read the last few paragraphs of Dr. King’s poignant “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” For context, Dr. King wrote this letter as a response to criticism he received from 8 white clergymen, who agreed that social injustices existed but argued that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts, not the streets. Through out the letter, Dr. King railed against he idea of patience from a legal perspective, as a moral and religious perspective. In this excerpt below, please pay attention to his challenge towards the church:

“In spite of my shattered dreams of the past, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and with deep moral concern serve as the channel through which our just grievances could get to the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.

I have heard numerous religious leaders of the South call upon their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers say, follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your brother. In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sidelines and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, "Those are social issues which the gospel has nothing to do with," and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between bodies and souls, the sacred and the secular.

There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period that the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was the thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators." But they went on with the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven" and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.

Things are different now. The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's often vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. I meet young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright disgust. “

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Before we begin our pilgrimage through this monument centered around Dr. King’s powerful words, let’s once again reflect on what we just read:, to each question, let’s have one or two people respond:

-What is Dr King calling the church to be?

-Why would this argument have relevance in 1963 when this letter was written?

-Is this argument still relevant today? How so?

We will walk around the memorial as a group until 11am. Take time to consider each quote at the memorial and reflect with each other about which ones speak to you. Feel free to take photos or note down the ones that resonate for you.

Please enjoy your walk, stay engaged with your group and find inspiration from a man who so valiantly fought for the creation of the “Beloved Community!”

Consider the Following Questions in Your Small Group:

1. As you think about racial justice in your communities, what work is left to be done?

2. What steps can we take to support each other and collaborate in the work?

3. What’s at stake if we don’t get it right?