Two Feet of Love in Action

Two Powerful Books You Need for Early Formation

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the covers of two children's booksLunches are packed, backpacks are strapped on tight, and yellow school buses are making their rounds. The school year has begun!

Religious education programs are also back in full swing at our parishes. And families, back from summer camps and vacations, are settling into the normal routine of fall. At the same time, Pope Francis’ visit to the United States for the World Meeting of Families is just around the corner.

What do all of these have in common? They are each a special opportunity to reflect on the formation and education of children.

This formation and education begins, of course, at home, where parents, the “first educators of their children,” teach them moral values and love for God and neighbor (Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 1653 and 2207). We can’t start too early.

This fall, as we look for ways to catechize children about discipleship and the call to mission—themes that will most certainly feature prominently in Pope Francis’ messages during his visit—the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development has two great resources to help.

Green Street Park (grades K-2) and Drop by Drop (grades 2-4) tell stories about how children, inspired by their faith, put two feet of love in action in their local and global communities.

Here you can read:

Finally, here is a review by an 8-year-old!

handwritten review of Drop by Drop by 8 year oldDrop by Drop Review

In my opinion Drop by Drop is a very good book, now here is why: First of all I loved Drop by Drop, because there was a prayer in the front of the book! The story made me feel sad because the girl Sylvie had to get water that was 3 miles away and she could not go to school like me! I think other kids should read this book because they will learn how to help kids around the world!”

 

Find out more ways to respond to Pope Francis’ call during his visit to the United States! Sign up now for JPHD’s Papal Visit alerts on Sept. 21-28. The daily emails will include updates, resources, and ways you can act on the Holy Father’s call. The alerts will also highlight sharable content from JPHD Facebook and Twitter pages.

Young Voices: Why CCHD Inspires Me

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Each year, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development funds 30+ CCHD interns in dioceses around the country. The internships, which begin with a national orientation in Washington, DC, provide emerging Catholic leaders the opportunity to work with CCHD to put faith in action by addressing the causes of poverty in their communities.

Thelma-CCHD-Alumni-NewsletterMy name is Thelma Ekeocha and in late May, I attended the recent Washington, DC orientation for the 32 CCHD interns who will work in various dioceses across the U.S. this year. I was impressed by what I learned about CCHD, which seeks to give a “hand up,” not a “hand out,” to our brothers and sisters in poverty. Another important goal of CCHD is to educate Catholics, especially those who are more privileged, about the problems associated with poverty and social justice.

Transformative education creates a spirit of solidarity between the poor and non-poor. Learning more detail about CCHD helped me understand the importance of involving those who are affected by social injustices to work together in finding a permanent solution to the problems by tackling their root causes and affecting systemic change. This understanding is reflected in CCHD’s Two Feet of Love in Action, which includes doing charitable works and working for social justice.

This orientation was in many ways inspiring for me. Apart from learning about CCHD’s work, we visited St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in D.C., which works with a group that has received funding from CCHD. Our meeting with the leaders from this parish reiterated again for me the importance of servant leadership. These leaders focus on systemic change by working with members of their community on issues that impact the homeless population, including preserving affordable housing options for their low-income neighbors. They reminded me of the importance of personal stories and the need to put faces to the issues, statistics, and reports we can easily get lost in. It was very inspiring and challenging for me to learn a little bit about their work and see how their Catholic faith motivates them to work for social justice.

It is important to connect the work of social justice to our faith because it is our mission to serve Christ by working with our vulnerable brothers and sisters to make sure everyone’s dignity can be respected. This was very evident during the orientation. I was also inspired by the set-up of the orientation, which included beginning each day with prayer and reflection on some of the saints who loved Christ by serving others. The time we were given to reflect helped me understand even better what our motivation for working for social justice is. It’s about recognizing and upholding the dignity of every person. After the reflection, we were commissioned as Christ commissioned the apostles to go out into the world. We were sent together, as a community of servant leaders to go back to our different dioceses and work to address and eliminate the root causes of domestic poverty in any way we can.

Thank you, CCHD!

Thelma Ekeocha is a summer intern for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Want an awesome new children’s book to read to your child?

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Merged Books

For years, the US Catholic bishops have used a “two feet” model to explain how Jesus’ disciples are called to put God’s love into action to address the problems that face our local and global communities. The “two feet” are charitable works and social justice.

Charitable works describe those immediate actions we can take to address the needs of families and individuals in short-term ways, like serving at a soup kitchen or donating money to emergency relief efforts. Social justice addresses the root causes of problems, with the aim of making long-term change that will affect many people. Fixing flawed laws or policies, and promoting economic development are examples of social justice. Both “feet” are complementary and necessary.

This concept can be tough to teach to adults, let alone children! But it just got easier with two new children’s storybooks published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in partnership with Loyola Press:

Green Street Park is a story about a boy named Philip, who lives on Green Street. He loves his neighborhood, but the park he and his friends play at is in rough shape. When Philip and his friends complain about the park, their teacher, Sr. Mary Clare, challenges them to follow the example of St. Francis and care for creation in their own backyard. They clean up trash and they also work to engage their parents and community—even the mayor—in “fixing” the park. The end result? A safe, clean place to play and a community garden that produces healthy food for neighborhood families and the parish soup kitchen.

In Drop by Drop, Sr. Mary Jerome’s class has a visit from her nephew, Mr. Mike, who works for Catholic Relief Services in Burkina Faso, in Western Africa. Mr. Mike shares about his friend, Sylvie, a little girl who could not go to school because it took several hours each day for her and her sisters to walk to a river and collect clean water for their family. CRS and the community implement a water project, and this means Sylvie can finally go to school. The students listening to Mr. Mike’s story decide to help through a creative project of their own.

As a parent, I’m excited about these two new books because they are such a great tool in helping children learn about our call, as disciples of Jesus, to respond to the problems that affect our neighborhoods and world. They explore real issues that children in the U.S. and around the world face, and spark imagination about how children can be involved in creative charitable works and social justice solutions.

Loyola Press has created a beautiful reflection guide to help children (and their parents) pray with the books, as well as downloadable worksheets for educators.

I hope you’ll join me in sharing these super new books with children in your lives. This week (April 20-24, 2015), in honor of Earth Day and both books’ focus on caring for creation, you can also visit USCCB Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to participate in a contest. You might even win a free copy of one of the books!

Rauh headshot

Jill Rauh is assistant director for education & outreach at the USCCB Department of Justice, Peace & Human Development.