The Social Justice Committee organizes, initiates and participates in projects and programs that facilitate change in social, economic, and ecclesial systems so that the life and dignity of the human person are protected and promoted. The organizations we work with to take action for change in our community are:

ISAIAH

A regional ecumenical faith-based community organization. Isaiah's goals are to strengthen congregations, develop stronger leaders through training, and address issues of justice in our community, both locally and regionally.

Sowers of Justice

An archdiocesan organization committed to changing structures and hearts on behalf of justice. It provides an opportunity for legislative advocacy on behalf of the poor through action alerts during the legislative session, skills training, and educational opportunities.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development

Along with its local counterpart, the Christian Sharing Fund, are collections taken up to financially support organizations addressing the root causes of poverty.

Domestic Violence Task Force

In its research over the past several months, St. Thomas More’s Domestic Violence (DV) task force has learned that domestic violence is ever-present in our society and can take many forms.  The task force also learned that the justice system has not been successful in keeping domestic violence victims safe or in holding perpetrators of such violence accountable.

To tackle this social justice issue, the DV task believes that a response from our faith-based communities is appropriate and necessary.  Such a response involves developing a coalition of faith communities to work on ways to address DV (similar to the work Isaiah has done and continues to do on the issue of affordable housing).

Our vision is grounded in the need to bring about a justice system change.

Obviously, the first step in implementing such a change is an understanding of the system as it presently operates:  e.g., what are the civil and criminal penalties for perpetrators; what does the system do to protect victims and families; what community “safety net” support systems are in place or are lacking?

To understand how victims and families are presently protected and perpetrators are controlled, we propose that there be conducted a system analysis (or safety and accountability audit) of the St. Paul justice system’s response to domestic violence.  This process for analyzing a city’s systemic response to DV has been conducted in Houston, Duluth and many other cities.  The analysis or audit process intimately involves persons who actually work within the system as well as persons who are experienced in the analysis process.

We believe that persons working within the system will be motivated to participate in the process if they understand that the outcome of this analysis/audit process will reduce the incidence of domestic violence.  To initiate this analysis, endorsement will be needed from city officials, community leaders and church leaders.

Our work will include visiting with these officials and leaders to learn their perspective on DV, and their experience with it, and to obtain their support for the analysis.  We will engage other volunteers, including those from other faith communities, to participate in the work of the DV task force and add their voices to those in support of a system study.

Ultimately, we envision a community, encouraged, leavened, prodded and led by members of faith communities, including pastoral staff, which:

• understands that domestic violence is wrong;
• supports a justice system which keeps victims safe, perpetrators accountable;
• provides resources to assist victims and families leaving violence;
• and demonstrates zero tolerance for abuse.