The mission of our Peace and Justice ministry is to engage Catholics in actively living out Catholic social teaching in order to create radical social change in the greater community. How can you make a difference? Here are a couple of opportunities:

Equal Exchange is a democratically organized, worker-owned cooperative, founded in 1986, to pioneer a new model of trade built upon fairness and stronger relationships between farmers and consumers.

When you purchase Equal Exchange coffee, tea, chocolate, and other products, you join a network that enables farmers in Latin America, Africa, and Asia to stay on their land, support their families, plan for the future: and care for the environment. Through Fair Trade we can create a more equitable world.

Why Fair Trade? Agriculture is big business, but for the majority of farmers the benefits are small. In developing countries most farmers work modest plots of land and are isolated from markets. The path leading from their farms to your table is long, and filled with powerful intermediaries, As a result, little of the money that you spend on food reaches farmers.

But there is an alternative. At Equal Exchange we’ve created a different path to the market for farmers that brings them closer to you: and delivers more of your dollars to them. We do this by purchasing coffee and other crops directly from farmer co-ops around the world, and by adhering to Fair Trade standards. Through this model we believe food can become a delicious and powerful tool for creating positive change for small farmers - and their families.

Equal Exchange items (coffee, tea, chocolate, etc.) will be available every 1st Sunday in the vestibule of the church.

For more information about Equal Exchange go to www.equalexchange.com.

Operation Rice Bowl is another opportunity for you to make a difference. This official Lenten Program of Catholic Relief Services, began in 1975 in the Diocese of Allentown, PA as a response to the drought in the African Sahel. For 33 years, Operation Rice Bowl has called participants to pray with their families and faith communities; fast in solidarity with those who hunger; learn about our global community and the challenges of poverty overseas, and give sacrificial contributions to those in need. Since its beginning Operation Rice Bowl has raised more than $160 million to fund development projects that improve peoples’ ability to access food around the world and in local diocesan communities in the United States. Today, more than 14,000 faith communities across the United States participate in Operation Rice Bowl as a way to respect human dignity and foster solidarity with the poor around the world.

Operation Rice Bowl has served as a tangible way for Catholics in the United States to connect in solidarity with our brothers and sisters overseas for more than 30 years.

If you need more information on these or other opportunities to make a difference, ask for Debbie Pellegrini or call the Parish Office at 708-388-8190.