psm: workbook for facilitators think and act anew - study guide

7/30/2019 PSM: Workbook for Facilitators Think and Act Anew - Study Guide

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Catholic Charities USA: Workbook or Facilitators

Think and Act AnewGroup Study Guide

Workbook for Facilitators

A group study guide to use at your parish to reect on the issues and questions raisedin the bookTink and Act Anew: How Poverty in America Aects Us All and What

We Can Do about Itby Fr. Larry Snyder.


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Tink and Act Anew: Group Study Guide

In Populorum Progressio, Paul VI taught that progress is rst and

oremost a vocation: in the design o God, every man is called upon

to develop and ulll himsel, or every lie is a vocation.


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Background

Even beore the global economic crisis began in 2008, millionso Americans were living in poverty. Since then, that numberhas grown as many people across the country have lost their

jobs and homes or have been uprooted by natural disasters.oday, only a raction o Americas poor look like societysnotion o what it is to live in poverty.

But poverty is all around us, and many o those who haveallen or dropped into poverty blend into society. Whoknows which o our neighbors, amily or riends are work-ing ull-time or multiple jobs and still cant cover living ex-penses? Accidents, illnesses, and unexpected expenses, likecar repairs, can devastate a amily. Because o the speed ochange in our economy, many o the suddenly unemployednd themselves without the skills needed to get the nextjob. In a nation as wealthy as the United States, it seemsimpossible that anyone could go to bed hungry, cold or livein despair o a better lie. And yet, there are millions who

are caught in that cycle.

As Catholics, how do we respond to this situation? As Chris-tians, we commit to being disciples o Christ Jesus, who said,

Te Spirit o the Lord is upon me, because he has anointedme to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to pro-claim liberty to captives and recovery o sight to the blind, tolet the oppressed go ree. (Luke 4:18). But at times, this lieo discipleship can leave us overwhelmed, unsure o how bestto respond.

What can we do to bring about real, lasting change in peopleslives?

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI issued Caritas in Veritate, anencyclical which helps to interpret the Gospel message in ourtimes in a globalized, technological age wherein humans arebecoming increasingly interconnected, but arent necessarilygrowing in solidarity. As Pope Benedict says, Te complexityand gravity o the present economic situation rightly cause us

concern, but we must adopt a realistic attitude as we take upwith condence and hope the new responsibilities to whichwe are called by the prospect o a world in need o prooundcultural renewal, a world that needs to rediscover undamen-tal values on which to build a better uture. (#21) Te popeidenties the responsibilities and limitations o governmentand the private market, challenges traditional ideologies, andcalls all men and women to think and act anew.

Fr. Larry Snyder, president o Catholic Charities USA, tookthat call seriously. He held summits around the country andhosted online discussions to generate ideas on how to reduce

poverty in America. His book, Tink and Act Anew: HowPoverty in America Aects Us All and What We Can Doabout It, is a result o those initiatives.

In his book, Fr. Snyder urges us to realize that poverty in Amer-ica aects us all. He summons Americans, especially Catholics,to see the poverty that surrounds us, break the stereotypes, andthink creatively about how to reduce poverty. He helps unpackCatholic social teaching, modern teaching that helps us applyBiblical truths in todays changing world. He calls us to reectupon what it means to love the Lord, with all your heart,

with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neigh-bor as yoursel. (Lk 10:27)


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Tis group study guide has been prepared to help ministry leaders and individuals explorewhat poverty means in America, and how we -- as individuals, communities o aith, a nationbased on ree-market principles, and a democratic society -- can create meaningul change.

During this ve-week program, participants will have the opportunity to explore new ideasthrough reading, group discussion, personal reection, and small weekly projects. Te pro-

gram is designed to encourage reection that leads to action. In the nal week, the group willlay the groundwork or a project grown out o their experience o thinking and acting anewto help do something about poverty in America.

Te program is divided into topics that roughly ollow the chapters in Tink and Act Anew,but emphasize the impact individuals and small groups can have in changing the status quo.

Poverty in America: Who is Poor?

Charity and Dignity: How One Aects the Other

How Our Individual Actions Aect Poverty

America and the Common Good

Parish/Community Project

Meetings or the rst our weeks will ollow an established ormat:

Welcome

Opening prayer and reection based on Scripture

Guided discussion on the weeks topic

Reading assignment and project or the ollowing week

Closing prayerSuggested timing or the segments is included in the guide or Week #1.

Program Structure

Week #1

Week #2

Week #3

Week #4

Week #5


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Materials & Resources

Copies oTink and Act Anew: How Poverty in America Aects Us All and What We Can

Do about Itare available rom the ollowing vendors:

Orbis Books - o order, please call Orbis Books toll-ree 1-800-258-5838, Mon-Fri,

8am to 4pm E or e-mail [email protected], Subject Catholic Charities

order, and include your name, street address, and telephone number. MasterCard,

VISA, American Express and Discover accepted. Allow 2 weeks or delivery. Amazon.com

Facilitators Workbook and Participant Handouts can be downloaded at

www.thinkandactanew.org.

Questions and ideas can be addressed to the Parish Social Ministry Department at

Catholic Charities USA at 703-549-1390.


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Tink and Act Anew: Small Group Study Guide

Poverty in America:Who is Poor?

FACILIAORS GUIDE

Group Study Session

Week 1


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Te beatitudes are among the most well-known verses in Scripture, and they have been cap-tured by the Church through the corporal and spiritual works o mercy and Catholic socialteaching. But when we reect on the poor as identied in the beatitudes, do we think aboutpoverty in America?

Te United States government reports that about 40 million Americans are ofcially poor.

Nonetheless, ofcial measures o poverty can be misleading. Te likelihood that many morepeople are living with insecurity about where their next meal will come rom, or how they canaord to heat their home or pay the rent, is very real.

Our image o people who are poor can be subject to stereotype. In act, a majority o thosewho are poor in America work ull-time at jobs that do not pay enough to meet their basicneeds. Tis question o who is poor is what will be discussed at this session.

Overview


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A ew weeks beore the frst session:

Make arrangements or each person in the study group to obtain a copy o the book.

Copy and distribute the handouts or Week #1.

Encourage participants to become amiliar with the book prior to the session,

and especially, to read those pages outlined in the handout.

Immediately beore the frst session:

Arrange the chairs in a circle.

Set up a prayer space with an open Bible on a low table in the center o the circle.

Decorate the prayer space with a cloth, candles, or owers.

Open the Bible to Luke 6:19-21.

At the beginning o the session:

Select a prayer leader and a reader, who will read the Scripture passage at the appropri-

ate time. Ask the Scripture reader to read slowly, and to return the Bible to its place o

honor ater the reading. Distribute handout or Week #1 (as needed).

Preparation


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Warmly welcome everyone, letting them know how excited you are to be going on thisjourney with them. Remind everyone that the purpose o the gathering is to reect in aithon Fr. Larry Snyders book, Tink and Act Anew, and contemplate our aith-lled responseto poverty in America.

Invite everyone to briey introduce himsel or hersel, and to share one word that captures

how he or she eels when hearing the title o the session Poverty in America: Who is poor?

Invite everyone to quiet themselves and remember that we are in the presence o God.

Let us pray.Almighty God, Creator and Sanctier o all,You draw us together in Your Name.Led by the words and witness o Your Son,

We desire to be Christs compassion in our broken world.

We ask that You send Your Spirit to be with us nowAs we listen to Your Word.

Luke 6:19-21

Pause or silent refection.

Almighty God,Open our hearts and ears to your message and to one another.Guide us that we may be steadast in our search or the truth,

Awaken in us Your dream or a new tomorrow,each us to be the presence o Your love in the world.

We ask this in the name o our Lord Jesus Christ Your SonWho lives and reigns with You and the Holy SpiritOne God orever and ever.

Amen.

Welcome5 Minutes

Introductions

15 Minutes(rst meeting only)

Opening Prayer &Scripture Reection

5 Minutes

Prayer Leader:

Reader:

Prayer Leader:


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Poverty in America: Who is Poor?

o best explore this topic group members should have read pages 7-42 o the bookTink andAct Anewprior to the meeting.

Introduce the topic o the week and begin the discussion.

oday we will explore the concept o poverty in America, and conront our own perceptionso who are poor people what they look like, what they do. We will also try to identiy theunderlying causes o poverty.

Provide some guidelines or the discussion. Be sure that everyone has an opportunity torespond to each question. Remind the participants that the purpose o the dialogue is toexplore our world in light o aith, not to debate one another.

Your group may nd it helpul to use the mutual invitation method to acilitate dialogue.Using this method, each participant shares his or her reection on a question, and then invitesanother person who has not shared to do so.

o help create a positive space or aith sharing, ask the participants to observe these simpleguidelines:

Listen careully.

Use I statements. (ake responsibility or what you express.

Do not speak or them.)

Help all to participate. (Do not dominate.)

Stay on the topic.

Be respectul and charitable at all times.

Commit to keeping private any items shared in condence.

Ater sharing these guidelines, use these questions to acilitate dialogue.

opic o the Week5 Minutes

Questions or Discussion40 Minutes


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Project & ReadingAssignment or Next Week

7 Minutes

1. How do we dene poverty? What does poverty look like in a poor country?What does poverty look like in the United States?

2. Who are poor people in America? How and where do poor people live?What do they look like? What do they do?

3. How do we determine i someone is indeed poor in America?Reer to the ve actors on p. 42. Are there any actors you would add?

4. A person who works at a ast ood restaurant makes an average o $8.60 per hour, or$17,888 yearly. Tis alls more than $4,000 below the ofcial poverty line, which is$22,050 or a amily o our. How would a amily o our live on less than $18,000/yearin your community?

5. What are the root causes o poverty in America? Consider the ollowing: unemployment,illness/mental illness, low wages/high cost o living, single parenthood, amily has beenpoor or generations, age. Are there others?

6. Given the many causes o poverty, it is likely that many working poor people becomeinvisible. Are they more or less likely to receive help?

7. Have you or anyone close to you ever experienced poverty? o the extent that you arecomortable, share how Fr. Snyders comments resonated with that experience.

Distribute the handout or Week #2.

Pope Benedict XVI teaches that we are called to desire the common good and strive towards it.Invite members o the group to share the experience o working people who are poor or oneweek. Present the projects below as examples o what participants could do:

Project 1: Live a lie o poverty in America or one week. A single person would live on $218or the week. For a amily o our it would be $426. Tis must include your rent, ood, billpayments, and transportation. What changes would you have to make in your lie i youreceived a poverty wage? Share what you nd with your group at next weeks meeting.


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Project 2: Construct a one-month budget or a hypothetical amily o our in your communitybased on $1,150/month, which is the approximate ater-tax income o a amily living at theofcial poverty level. Te budget should include rent, ood, utilities, transportation, clothing,household supplies, health care, child care, and any other necessities. Share what you learn

with your group at next weeks meeting.

Read or Next Week: Tink and Act Anew, Chapter 3, paying special attention to the teach-ing o Maimonides on the eight levels o giving on pages 49-50, and Chapter 4, pages 51-56.

Close by oering intentions based on todays reections and conversation. Ater participantshave nished oering intentions, conclude with the Lords Prayer.

Tank the participants or sharing their reections and wish them sae travel home.

Closing Prayer3 Minutes

Adjourn


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Charity and Dignity: How One Aects the Other

FACILIAOR

Group Study Session

Week 2


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Te true nature o charity has become muddied in contemporary American society; itis oten reduced to giving money or goods to some worthy cause. In so doing, one mayunintentionally undermine the dignity o the human being on the other end. rue charityenhances a persons dignity by helping them gain control over their destiny.

Te Catholic Church teaches that the lie and dignity o the human person should be the

oundation o a moral vision or society, and that everything we do including charitableactions will be judged by how it enhances lie and dignity. As such, charity should culti-vate the dignity o both the giver and receiver nurturing a relationship o solidarity andovercoming obstacles which inhibit attaining ones God-given potential.

Tis weeks discussion will look at charity through the lens o Gods love or us. Well alsodiscuss Pope Benedict XVIs illumination o the idea o charity in his recent encyclicals,God is Love (Deus Caritas Est), and Love in Truth (Caritas in Veritate), which Fr. Larry Sny-

der applies to the United States in Tink and Act Anew.

Group members will have considered these concepts in Tink and Act Anewwhile readingthis weeks assignment.

P. 45: Every person is worthy o dignity and respect, because every human being is

made in the image and likeness o God.

P. 57: Every person should have the right to take ownership o their lie.

P. 26: Charity, love, prompts us to give what is mine to the other; justice prompts

us rst to give the other what is his or hers.

PP. 49-50: Tere are dierences in the way one can do charity as illustrated in the

eight levels o charitable action as dened by Maimonides.

Overview


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Preparation





Open the Bible to 1 Corinthians 13:3; the second reading, rom Caritas in Veritate,

is on the handout. Select one person to read the Scripture passage; ask the Scripture reader to read slowly,

and to return the Bible to its place o honor ater the reading.


Select a prayer leader and a reader.

Distribute handout or Week #2 (as needed).


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Welcome everyone.


Let us pray.Almighty God, Creator and Sanctier o all,You draw us together in Your Name.Led by the words and witness o Your Son,

We desire to be Christs compassion in our broken world.We ask that You send Your Spirit to be with us nowAs we listen to Your Word.

1 Corinthians 13:3


From Caritas in Veritate(6).

Charity goes beyond justice, because to love is to give, to oer what is mine to the other; butit never lacks justice, which prompts us to give the other what is his, what is due to him byreason o his being or his acting. I cannot give what is mine to the other without rst givinghim what pertains to him in justice. I we love others with charity, then rst o all we are justtowards them. justice is inseparable rom charity and intrinsic to it. Justice is the primary

way o charity, or, in Paul VIs words, the minimum measure o it.





Amen.

Welcome


Prayer Leader:

Reader 1:

Reader 2:

Prayer Leader:


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opic o the Week

Questions or Discussion

Charity and Dignity

Introduce the topic o discussion or week #2. Group members should have read Chapter 3and Chapter 4 (pages 51-56) o the bookTink and Act Anew.

Tis week, we will explore the Catholic meaning o charity and its relationship to the dignity

o people. Well also consider how charitable action can support or undermine the dignity othe recipient.

Remind participants o the guidelines or the discussion. Be sure that everyone has anopportunity to respond to each question. Remind the participants that the purpose o thedialogue is to explore our world in light o aith, not to debate one another.

Ater sharing these guidelines, ask group members to share what they learned during theprevious weeks exercise (living lie o poverty/constructing a budget at poverty level). Tenuse these questions to acilitate dialogue on this weeks topic.

1. Have you had a personal experience where you were serving people in need? How did

they react to you? How did you eel? What did you learn?

2. How do we dene human dignity? Why is it important to ensure dignity is respected thatpeople are able to take ownership o their lives to the extent they are able?

3. How are charity and dignity related? (Discuss Maimonides eight levels o giving onpages 49-50; ask the group to identiy examples at each level.)

4. How would the principle o giving someone what is his/hers versus giving what ismine change any o your charitable actions?

5. What would you do dierently in your community to change charitable actions so theyhelped people achieve a greater level o sel-sufciency?

6. How have these chapters changed your view o charity?


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Project & ReadingAssignment or

Next Week

Closing Prayer

Adjourn


A majority o Americans living in poverty are the working poor, who can become invisible.Tese are people who clean homes and ofces, construct buildings, provide day care, land-scape gardens, or work in nursing homes. Ask members o the group to spend the next weekbeing especially aware o the working poor. Present the projects below as examples o what

participants could do:

Project 1: Notice the people with whom you come into contact during the week who worklow wage jobs. Greet them and thank them or the contribution they make to your lie andcommunity.

Project 2: Strike up a conversation with at least one person who could be considered one othe working poor. Pay attention to how that person reacts to you. Is there any change? Whatis the result o establishing this connection?

Next week, we will look at how our individual actions and decisions contribute to or reducepoverty in America.

Read or Next Week: Tink and Act Anew, Chapter 4, pages 56-60, and Chapter 5,pages 61-64.




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Major issues like an economic crisis or widespread poverty oten seem to be beyond our capac-ity to bring about change. But each o us is called by God to protect and deend the poor andto use our talents and resources to make a dierence. In the previous weeks discussion, welooked at the various ways that charitable works are perormed in light o the impact those

works have on the dignity o the people involved.

Tis week we will take a closer look at how individual actions and decisions aect poverty,by looking at how we are in relationship with one another.

In Tink and Act Anew, Fr. Larry Snyder writes:

Foundational to the teachings o the Scriptures is the belie that we are called uponto live in community. Tis community is premised on the relationship human beingshave to one another. We are neighbors, but we are more. We are sisters and brotherscalled to value and practice the virtues o charity and justice. Tis is o ultimateimportance in how we act as citizens and neighbors in the United States, and itshould dene what is expected o us in serving the least o those who are memberso our national amily. (P. 58)

We will take a critical look at how loving our neighbor as ourselves establishes a raternityamong the human amily. We will revisit some o the patterns o our daily lives and see howthey support or harm our brothers and sisters who might be only a ew degrees o separationaway rom us. Finally, we will look at several individuals who made decisions to use their timeand talents to bring transormative change in peoples lives.

Overview


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Preparation





Open the Bible to Matthew 22:34-40 and place a bookmark at Luke 10:30-37.


Select a prayer leader and two readers. Ask the rst Scripture reader to read slowly

and then solemnly pass the book to the second reader. Te second reader will read

slowly and then return the Bible to its place o honor ater the reading.



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Warmly welcome everyone.


Let us pray.

Almighty God, Creator and Sanctier o all,You draw us together in Your Name.Led by the words and witness o Your Son,


Matthew 22:34-40


Luke 10:29-37





Amen.

Welcome


Prayer Leader:

Reader 1:

Reader 2:

Prayer Leader:


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Individual Action and Poverty

(Group members should have read Chapter 4, pages 56-60, and Chapter 5, pages 61-64o the bookTink and Act Anew.)

Tis week, we begin a discussion about how each o us, by being intentional about our actions,

can change the nations poverty landscape. We will look to Christs example and teaching orinspiration or our daily lie.

Remind the group o the guidelines or discussion. Remind the participants that the purposeo the discussion is to explore our aith, not to debate with one another.

Ask group members to share what they learned during the previous weeks exercise (learningabout the working poor), and then use the ollowing questions to acilitate dialogue.

1. What does it mean or someone to be our neighbor? How does the biblical sense oneighbor dier rom the common use o the word?

2. How are we more than neighbors? What impact does living as the human amilychange the way we would live or treat others?

3. One way to look at neighbor is in the story o the Good Samaritan the neighbor isthe one who makes a decision to help. What holds us back rom helping someone who isstruggling to make ends meet?

4. Do we think o the people who are struggling in our communities, across the country oracross the world as our neighbor and our amily? What would change in our lives i

we thought o amily in a broader way?

5. How do our individual decisions about where we shop and what we buy aect othersaround us? Do our shopping decisions cost other people their jobs, or endorse employers

who pay minimum wage and provide no benets, like healthcare or childcare?

6. I we practiced both justice and charity, what impact would this have on our lives andworld? How does our Catholic aith call us to act on behal o those in need?

opic o the Week



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7. How does our individual pursuit o the American Dream contribute to and detract romthe common good?

8. What changes will you make in your own lie based on this discussion?Distribute the handout or Week #4.

Ask members o the group to spend the next week thinking about what changes are neededto make achieving the American Dream a reality or everyone. Present the projects below asexamples o what participants could do:

Project 1: Tink about all o the purchases you made in the past month, nd out where thegoods were made (e.g., clothing, cars, ood, electronics), and whether they have been pro-duced in the US or another country. Research what the same items would cost i they weremade in the United States. What changes would you have to make in your lie i all o theseproducts were made in the US?

Project 2: Read about the Volunteers o the Year nominees on the Catholic Charities USA

website: www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/volunteers. Tese volunteers show how individuals canhave a positive impact on the lives o others. Tink about your own skills and talents. Howcould you use them to make a dierence in the lives o those struggling with poverty?

Next week, we will examine our societys economic and political values to explore how reemarkets and the common good can be pursued together. We will also look at how the prin-ciples o Catholic social teaching can be used to transorm public and private institutions tomore closely resemble the City o God.

Read or Next Week:Tink and Act Anew, Chapters 5 and 6 (pages 61-88).



Project & Reading

Assignment orNext Week

Closing Prayer

Adjourn


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FACILIAOR

Group Study Session

Week 4


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Overview

Tink and Act Anewwas written to ocus a spotlight on the reality o poverty in Americaas the nation began to rebuild its economy in the atermath o the economic crisis o 2008.Fr. Snyder calls on everyone to reassess priorities and actions to ensure that as we rebuild weinclude the well-being o all people in our vision or the uture.

Fr. Snyder explains that we exercise our love o God by desiring each persons good and the

good o all. In this weeks discussion, we will examine our societys economic and politi-cal philosophies to determine whether ree markets and the common good can be pursuedtogether. And we will discuss the role government should play in promoting the commongood and protecting vulnerable citizens. Finally, we will dene the prophetic role o theChurch and assess how the principles o Catholic social teaching can be used to transormcommercial and public institutions.


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Preparation





Open the Bible to Jeremiah 5:26-28 and place a bookmark at John 13:14-17.

Ask the rst Scripture reader to read slowly and then solemnly pass the book to thesecond reader. Te second reader will read slowly and then return the Bible to its

place o honor ater the reading.


Select a prayer leader and two readers.



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Warmly welcome everyone.


Let us pray.

Almighty God, Creator and Sanctier o all,You draw us together in Your Name.Led by the words and witness o Your Son,


Jeremiah 5:26-28


John 13:14-17





Amen.

Welcome


Prayer Leader:

Reader 1:

Reader 2:

Prayer Leader:


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opic o the Week



Group members should have read Chapters 5 and 6 (pages 61-88) o the bookTinkand Act Anew.

oday, we continue our discussion o how our actions contribute to or reduce poverty in

America, but this time we ocus on the actions o our public and private sectors to assesswhether they contribute to the good o all Americans.

In Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI says:

Te conviction that man is sel-sufcient and can successully eliminate the evil presentin history by his own action alone has led him to conuse happiness and salvation withimmanent orms o material prosperity and social action. Ten, the conviction that theeconomy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded rom inuences o a moralcharacter, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way. Inthe long term, these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems thattrample upon personal and social reedom, and are thereore unable to deliver the justice

that they promise. (34)

Fr. Snyder reminds us that we are loved and gited by God. We are called to love God in re-turn and to show that love by how we treat one another. We can do this by creating economic,social, and political rameworks that ensure opportunity or everyone, including those whoare poor. With that in mind, let us begin todays discussion.

Remind the group o the guidelines or discussion. Remind the participants that the purposeo the discussion is to explore our aith, not to debate with one another.

Ater sharing the guidelines, ask group members to share what they learned during the previ-ous weeks exercise (American Dream/individual action), then use the ollowing questions toacilitate dialogue.

1. In what ways is the market economy o the United States subject to distributive justiceand social justice? What response do we have to those who believe greed is good?


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2. How would putting God in the center o our decision making transorm our ree marketsystem?

3. Tink about a recent economic shit and the impact it has had on the jobs and lives opeople who make, distribute, and sell goods. Consider, or example, replacing ossil uels

with clean energy sources such as wind or solar: Where would the new jobs be created?

What would happen to the communities where old orms o energy (coal/oil/gas) areproduced?

4. How can we enact public policies that reect our belies in a secular society? How wouldyou argue that America should be rebuilt so that the common good is the top priority?

5. Based on what you have read, what moral principles does our aith insist should helpguide economic lie?

6. Why does Pope Benedict say that the economy needs ethics and that those ethicsshould be peoplecentered in order to unction correctly?

7. In what ways has the current economic system not worked to the benet o workers andthe poor?

8. What are the moral responsibilities o workers, owners, managers, stockholders, and con-sumers in economic lie? How can we help recognize the moral responsibilities we have?

9. We are called, as part o Gods amily, to generate a new vision o love and solidarity thatincludes economic lie that is ocused, rst and oremost, on the human person. Whatare the ways we can act on what we have learned as amily members, workers, owners,consumers, and voters?


During this next week, ask participants to consider all they have read and heard in the groupdiscussions and think about what we can do as a parish community to think and act anewabout poverty. Te projects below are examples and should not limit their ideas, which they

will bring to next weeks meeting.

Project & ReadingAssignment or

Next Week


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Closing Prayer

Adjourn

Project 1: Tink o a parish or community project based on the principles o Catholic socialteaching as we have discussed over the past our weeks. Present ideas to the group at the nextmeeting. Tis project could be done as a team.

Project 2: Look at the community in which you live and determine how many jobs have beeneliminated over the past 20 years and how many new jobs have been created. How have these

jobs been aected by actions and/or conditions outside o your community? Do new jobs paywhat the ormer jobs did? What impact have these changes had on both workers individuallyand your community as a whole? What impact has it had on our parish?

Read or Next Week: Tink and Act Anew, Chapters 7 and 8 (pages 113-118) Go to Fr. Larry Snyders blog, Tink and Act Anew: www.thinkandactanew.org.

Read a ew o the posts and post a comment or question based on what you havelearned in this study group.




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Parish Project Our Faith is Prooundly Social

FACILIAOR

Group Study Session

Week 5


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Fr. Snyder recounts in Tink and Act Anew(p. 116) the statement o the US Conerenceo Bishops that, Te central message is simple: our aith is prooundly social. We cannot becalled truly Catholic unless we hear and heed the Churchs call to serve those in need and

work or justice and peace.

As our nation works to rebuild the American economy, we are presented with a once-in-a-

generation opportunity to reshape the nations social contract so that no person is let outor behind. Te previous our weeks have enabled us to develop a deeper understanding opoverty in America and a heightened awareness o some o the innovative ideas and programsthat attempt to address the issue in new ways.

Tis week, we gather to identiy ways in which our parish can bring about needed changein our immediate community and join others as a national Catholic voice that urges a newtrajectory o thinking about what it means to live and work as one amily.

Overview


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Preparation

Immediately beore the frst session: Arrange the chairs in a circle. Set up a prayer space with an open Bible on a low table in the center o the circle. Decorate the prayer space with a cloth, candles, or owers. Open the Bible to Micah 6:8; place a bookmark at Romans 12:2.

At the beginning o the session: Select a prayer leader and two readers. Ask the rst Scripture reader to read slowly and

then solemnly pass the book to the second reader. Te second reader will read slowlyand then return the Bible to its place o honor ater the reading.



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Let us pray.Almighty God, Creator and Sanctier o all,You draw us together in Your Name.

Led by the words and witness o Your Son,We desire to be Christs compassion in our broken world.We ask that You send Your Spirit to be with us nowAs we listen to Your Word.

Micah 6:8


Romans 12:2-6





Amen.


Prayer Leader:

Reader 1:

Reader 2:

Prayer Leader:


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opic o the Week


Parish Project

Group members should have read Chapters 7 and 8 o the bookTink and Act Anew.

oday we will lay the groundwork or a parish project that will reduce poverty in our commu-nity. We will also discuss ways in which we can join our voice to the voices o others to bring

the principles o Catholic social teaching into our national deliberations on economic andsocial policy.

With that in mind, let us begin todays discussion.

1. Did anyone read and/or comment on Fr. Snyders blog? Was there any issue you oundparticularly compelling? Were there other comments that made you think in a dierent

way about some aspect o poverty?

2. What are the most pressing needs in our community? (Spend time identiying several.)

3. Which o those needs are we best suited as a parish community to help alleviate? Select

one and discuss what the parish could do, how to begin the project, etc. Canvass thegroup to see i there is support or the project. Make arrangements to orm a projectgroup and inorm the parish o the idea.

4. What are the most important issues or our government and our business leaders toaddress in order to reduce poverty in America? What can we do to bring these issues totheir attention? Discuss options such as letter writing, petition drives, visits to public o-cials, opportunities or advocacy. Develop a plan or the parish and arrange to enlist thecommunity in the actions.


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Closing Prayer

Adjourn

5. What can we do to raise awareness o the issue o poverty among members o our parish?Our city/state? Discuss options such as a speaker series, community action event, creat-ing a discussion on the Tink and Act Anewblog and others, video project, social mediacampaign, etc.

6. In what ways is the market economy o the United States subject to distributive justice

and social justice? What response do we have to those who believe greed is good?




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psm: workbook for facilitators think and act anew - study guide

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