Catholic Transcript Online

NEW HAVEN – Parishioners in the Archdiocese of Hartford are being invited to a workshop titled "Building Communities of Compassion: An Introduction to JustFaith" from 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 14 at Ascension Church, 1040 Dunbar Hill Road, Hamden.

Jack Jezreel will describe JustFaith, a ministry program that he directs which provides people with an opportunity to explore the biblical tradition, the historic witness of the Church, Catholic social teaching, and the relationship between spirituality and justice. Participants typically meet weekly for 30 weeks and participate in retreats and immersion experiences. The ministry’s main focus is poverty, with topics ranging from the scriptural background of justice and faith, the preferential option for the poor, hunger, nonviolence, consumerism and Third-World issues, to name but a few.

Mr. Jezreel will also introduce the new JustMatters program resources on titles including. "God's Creation Cries for Justice"; "Climate Change: Impact and Response"; and "Prison Reform: The Church of the Second Chance." He also will provide information about J-Walking, a faith formation program for youth.

The workshop is sponsored by the Office of Urban Affairs of the Archdiocese of Hartford, and co-sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of the Diaconate, Office for Black Catholic Ministries, Office of Religious Education, and the Pastoral Department of Small Christian Communities.

The cost is $10, and pre-registration is required. Refreshments will be served. Attending the introductory workshop does not commit one to the JustFaith program.

Information is available from Lynn Campbell at the Office of Urban Affairs at (203) 777-7279 or at www.justfaith.org. Online registration is available at www.oua-adh.org.

JustFaith Ministries is a nonprofit organization that creates justice formation materials.

In hundreds of parishes across the country, JustFaith has proved to be a journey of conversion and new commitment. The three largest poverty-focused Catholic organizations in the country, Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and Catholic Relief Services, are partners of and promoters of JustFaith.

More than 10,000 people in more than 90 dioceses have participated in JustFaith. In the Archdiocese, more than 160 people in 17 parishes have been involved to date.

Maria E. Frank of St. Ann Parish in Avon said she joined JustFaith last year and has gotten more out of it than she expected.

She called it a "a highly informative, seriously reflective series of gatherings" at which she and others read and discussed books that carried them to places and situations they otherwise wouldn’t have encountered.

Mike Trottier, a member of St. Patrick Parish in Farmington, said, "First and foremost, JustFaith has given me a passion for social justice."

Mr. Jezreel has more than 20 years of experience in parish ministry. He spent eight of those years at a Catholic parish in Louisville, Ky., developing the conversion-based formation program, JustFaith.

Mr. Jezreel holds an undergraduate degree in philosophy and religion from Furman University in Greenville, S.C., and a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Notre Dame. He spent six years in a Catholic Worker community, providing basic and emergency services to the homeless in Colorado before directing his attention to transformative education, mostly focused on how to encourage people of Catholic background to be engaged in outreach and social change.