JUSTICE JOTTINGS

April 2025

A Prayer for Good Friday

Three O'Clock Prayer - Robert Bouffier, SM

Lord Jesus,

You were lifted up on the wood of the cross

To draw all people to yourself;

You shed your life's blood

So that sin might be forgiven

And we might have life to the full.

By embracing this holy mystery of our salvation,

May we become your beloved disciples,

Accepting from your outreached arms

Your gift of Mary as our Mother.

May we learn from her

To treasure and ponder your Cross and Resurrection

So that one day, with you as our Lord and God,

With John our patron and model,

And with Mary, our joy and our hope,

We may all be gathered together

Around the Tree of Eternal Life.

May the Most Holy Trinity be glorified

In every heart, in every age, in every place

Through the ever Blessed Virgin Mary. Amen.

MSJC EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES

Our early bird registration discount only goes through this the weekend! Make a plan to register for our 2025 LGBTQ+ retreat today! The theme this year is Be Not Afraid: A Sacred Gathering with Mary of Welcome, Hope, and Belonging and Marianists Bro. Jack Ventura, SM, and Gabby Bibeau are the our retreat speakers. To register and read more about the retreat, follow the link below.

MSJC's Giving Day is May 1

We are just under two weeks away from the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative’s (MSJC) annual Giving Day! This year, support meaningful programs from each of our Justice Teams and bring our Marianist values and Catholic Social Teaching to life in a world that so desperately needs it. Support our Justice Teams’ projects to:

• Death Penalty Abolition and Restorative Justice – Sponsor Marianist participation at the Starvin’ for Justice Vigil, a national witness in D.C. to abolish the death penalty
• Immigrant Justice – Print and distribute 2,000 Red Cards to inform immigrants of their legal rights—empowering vulnerable communities through education and solidarity.
• Integral Ecology – Create a short film to inspire ecological action by showcasing Marianist responses to the climate crisis.
• LGBTQ+ Initiative – Fund scholarships for the 2025 LGBTQ+ Retreat to ensure spiritual renewal, fellowship, and belonging for all who wish to attend.
• Racial Justice – Support MSJC’s Race Equity Assessment to guide transformative action toward greater inclusion, equity, and justice within our organization.
• Women and Justice – Contribute to the Fall 2025 Women’s Justice Retreat to empower and uplift women’s leadership, experience, and voices within our Church.

Get ready to celebrate MSJC’s ambitious hopes for the future on May 1, 2025. Save the date and spread the word–we want YOU to be involved! 

P.S. You can donate early to any of the projects above, or to MSJC’s general fund, using the link below:

MSJC ACTION ITEMS, REFLECTIONS, & RESOURCES

DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

This message comes to you on Good Friday, the day when the Church commemorates the execution of Jesus by the state that was in control of the Holy Land at that time. As we pray and reflect today on how we are being called, the Death Penalty Abolition & Restorative Justice Team (DP-RJ) invites you to consider at least two actions.

1) Support the Annual Starvin’ for Justice Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty on June 29 - July 2: For four days, death penalty abolitionists from around the country will gather at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to call for an end to capital punishment in the United States. As part of the public education and outreach that occurs, each evening includes stories from murder victim family members, death row exonerees, death row families, and leaders in the national abolition movement. For those who are unable to attend in DC, you can support the Fast and Vigil by prayer, by fasting, and by watching the live-streamed presentations and discussions each evening on the Death Penalty Action YouTube channel.

2) Sign Up for Execution Alerts at CMN -- Be an advocate for mercy and work towards death penalty abolition with our collaborators at Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN). To learn more about CMN's work in this area, go to https://catholicsmobilizing.org/our-work/death-penalty/

3) Listen to This Podcast Interview with Bryan Stevenson -- The founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of the book, Just Mercy, was recently featured on a podcast episode published byThe Beatitudes Center for the Nonviolent Jesus. We hope listening will help you gain inspiration to persist in telling the truth and in being a person of mercy and of hope.

IMMIGRANT JUSTICE

Take Action To Protect Newcomer's Legal Status

Recent changes by the Department of Homeland Security have created fear and confusion for many newcomers who arrived through legal humanitarian pathways. We need your voice to ensure their legal status is protected!

CALL TO ACTION

• Contact your representative today to support safe, legal immigration programs and protect humanitarian parole status for those fleeing crisis.
• Use this easy tool from Welcome.US to send a message—personalizing it with why this matters to you makes a big impact.

Additionally, read this newly published report, where the USCCB was a contributor, highlighting the potential impact of deportations on American Christian families:

INTEGRAL ECOLOGY

Marianist Meatless Mondays E-Cookbook

Lent may be over, but the value of eating less meat continues year round. We have gathered all 52 of the Marianist Meatless Mondays recipes into a cookbook to help you continue this easy and healthy way to reduce your carbon footprint. Thanks to the many foodies who contributed delicious recipes to the project!

As a bonus, here is a link to more vegetarian recipes, brought to our attention by our December conversation with Dr. Jennifer Dalton of UD Dietetics:  7-Day Plant-Based Diet Meal Plan for Beginners. Bon Appétit!

LGBTQ+ INITIATIVE

Let us Hold Our Gaze with Mary: An Easter Reflection from the Heart of the Synod

by Team Member Erlinda Perlado- Mertens

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here—He is risen.”

—Luke 24:5

Easter invites us to a new vision. It calls us—especially in moments of sorrow or silence—to look again with hope. As someone in the LGBTQ+ community, I entered the Synod on Synodality with deep longing and expectation. Many of us did. We participated, we prayed, we showed up with courage and vulnerability. So when the Final Document of the Synod was released in October 2024 without a single mention of LGBTQ+ persons, my heart ached. It felt like absence. It felt like death.

But Easter reminds us: absence is not the end of the story. Silence is not the final word...

Download Erlinda's full reflection below and pray with it this Easter weekend.