JUSTICE JOTTINGS

February 2025

MSJC EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES

MSJC's LGBTQ+ Retreat Planning Committee presents our 2025 weekend retreat for LGBTQ+ persons, their families, and allies. This experience will be filled with opportunities for spiritual renewal, teachings of the faith, and time for building community, faith sharing, and fellowship; all with the LGBTQ+ person in mind.

This year’s theme is Be Not Afraid: A Sacred Gathering with Mary of Welcome, Hope, and Belonging. 

To register and read more about our retreat presenters, Bro. Jack Ventura, SM, and Gabby Bibeau, the retreat facility, and more, click on the link below!

MSJC REFLECTIONS & RESOURCES

INTEGRAL ECOLOGY

Green Lent

Catholic Climate Covenant Lent 2025  links to many resources for Lent including: 

• Practicing sacrifice and temperance through the Laudate Deum Pledge
• Living a Greener Lent
• Lenten Calendars

Restore the Earth: A MEEC Invitation to the 30 x 30 Challenge

St. Francis asked that part of every friary garden be left untouched so that wildflowers could grow there and inspire those who saw them to raise their minds to God. Today, little of God’s creation remains untouched by humans. Many plants and animal species are lost or threatened, impoverishing our spirits and affecting earth’s life support systems in ways we don’t fully understand.

In 2019, the United Nations declared a Decade for Restoration to halt the degradation of ecosystems and restore them in the face of habitat loss and climate change. Pope Francis also urges us to restore the earth by “establishing harmony within ourselves, with others, with nature and other living creatures, and with God” (Laudato si 210).  

Since 1986, the Marianist Environmental Education Center(MEEC) at Mount Saint John in Dayton, OH has engaged volunteers to restore more than 100 acres of prairie, woodlands and wetlands. MEEC increases biodiversity and enhances beauty for more than 10,000 annual visitors; creates spaces for learning, contemplation and encounter; and supports native plantings in the region’s urban areas. Marianists everywhere are invited to join them and commit to restoring 30 percent of their land by 2030.

LGBTQ+ INITIATIVE

Fabulous Love Without Limits: A Reflection on Being LGBTQ+ and Catholic

By Team Member Miguel Ochoa

We recently celebrated Valentine’s Day, a day to pull out all the stops for those individuals in our lives who bring us joy, who give us purpose, and who “complete us,” as some might say. It’s the annual reminder to shower our loved ones with grand gestures, overpriced chocolates, and just enough romance to make up for the fact that we forget to empty the dishwasher, take out the trash, or fold the laundry the other 364 days of the year.

It is a celebration of love in its many forms—romantic, platonic, and divine. For those of us in the LGBTQ+ community, love is both a gift and, at times, a struggle. We grow up in a world where love is supposed to be unconditional, yet we often encounter conditions placed upon us—unfortunately, most often within our own faith communities.

As a Catholic, I was taught that God is love. That love is patient and kind, never boastful or proud, never cruel or dismissive. And yet, as a gay man, I have felt the sting of exclusion, of being told that the love I share with my husband is somehow lesser or outside of God’s plan. But the truth is, nothing has shown me God’s love more clearly than the life we have built together.

My husband is my greatest blessing. Our love is not just beautiful—it is sacred. In every moment of joy, in every challenge we face, I see the divine at work. The way we support each other, uplift each other, and navigate this messy, wonderful life hand in hand is proof that real love—true, enduring, sometimes goofy, sometimes profound—reflects the very heart of faith. He reminds me, time and again, that our love is not only real, but holy.

As our parish priest invited all those couples who had been married in the church to stand for a blessing this week, I was reminded how being LGBTQ+ and Catholic is like walking a tightrope between welcome and warning, between feeling embraced and being kept at arm’s length. It’s a delicate, often exhausting balance, hoping that one day, acceptance won’t come with an asterisk. But love—real, unwavering, unashamed love—has always been the heartbeat of faith. And no doctrine, no dogma, no cleverly disguised prejudice can separate us from the love that God has woven into the very fabric of who we are.

So today, and every day, I invite you to celebrate love in all its forms. Celebrate the love that challenges, the love that comforts, the love that endures. And above all, celebrate the love that makes life a little brighter, a little holier, and a whole lot more fun.

WOMEN & JUSTICE

MSJC's Women and Justice Team invites you to reflect on A Response from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) to These Times. In this powerful statement, the LCWR offers a prophetic call to embrace the uncertainty of our era with deep faith, communal discernment, and an unwavering commitment to justice.

As Marianists, the LCWR's recognition that this moment is both a challenge and an invitation that demands transformation in ourselves, our Church, and our world inspires us. Their words call us to courageous hope, to stand in radical solidarity with those on the margins, and to trust in the Spirit's movement even in times of great uncertainty.

We encourage you to read this response and engage in prayerful reflection.

• How are we being called to respond?
• How can we, like Mary, say "yes" to the work of justice and healing in our communities?

As the letter states, "May we wholeheartedly embrace the call of the church to be people of hope and live this call with all our being for the sake of the world and its future."

DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

Fruits of Our Labor

Reflection by Team Member Lauren Olson

It was December 23rd and amidst the last-minute Christmas rush, a notification on my phone caught my attention: “President Biden commutes sentences of 37 federal death row prisoners.” Hope and excitement instantly rushed over me – two emotions I don’t often feel when reading the news these days. “The mobilization efforts of our Death Penalty and Restorative Justice Team worked!” I thought. 

At the end of 2024 the Death Penalty and Restorative Justice Team, along with other advocacy organizations, issued a Call to Action urging President Biden in his final days in office to commute the sentences of the 40 men on federal death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Call asked fellow Marianists and others to sign a Catholic Mobilizing Network petition, call the White House, write a letter to President Biden, or send an email to the White House. The push reminded readers that the Catechism of the Catholic Church #2267 provides that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” It also recounted that in the last six months of the previous Trump administration 13 people on federal death row were executed, and that prior to the Trump administration there had not previously been any federal executions for more than 17 years.

While I wish President Biden commuted the sentences of all 40 federal death row inmates, rather than limiting the commutations to 37 inmates, I still experienced and have reflected on the announcement as a cause for hope. In justice work it is often rare to see the fruit of your labor, but when your efforts are realized in real time, it is a welcome change. While this may be a small example of progress, it served as motivation and a glimmer of hope for me and the continued advocacy efforts of our Justice Team. 



As we begin the Jubilee Year of 2025 with the chosen theme of “Pilgrims of Hope,” I am reminded of our call and commitment to have hope amid the many challenges we face each day. While we don’t always get to experience the fruits of our labor, we can always have hope for healing and reconciliation in our world. 

IMMIGRANT JUSTICE

Right now, many local and national immigration groups are sharing "Know Your Rights Cards", which are a vital tool designed to help immigrants assert their rights when confronted by law enforcement or immigration/ICE officials. These wallet-sized cards contain key legal information.

How can you take action?

Advocating for immigrant rights begins with education and preparedness. "Know Your Rights Cards" empower individuals and communities by ensuring they know how to respond in high-pressure situations. You can individually distribute these cards in your community or encourage any faith-based groups and advocacy organizations you are a part of to do the same. By sharing this resource, we help create a more informed and protected community. You can access and print a few different "Know Your Rights Cards" below:

• Immigrant Legal Resource Center (IRLC) Know Your Rights Card English
• IRLC Know Your Rights Cards Other Languages
• National Immigration Law Center (NILC) Know Your Rights Cards
• Immigrant Coalition of Rhode Island Resources