By Moe Wosepka, Executive Director
Montana Catholic Conference

“I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.” (William Penn)

That, in a nutshell, is what Catholic Social Justice is all about.

Catholics throughout the ages have heard and brought to practice Scripture’s call to love our neighbor and to serve the least among us. We need look no further than Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement, Father (St.) Damien of Hawaii and his work with those afflicted with leprosy, and Blessed Mother Teresa’s work with the poor in Calcutta. Organizations such as Catholic Charities USA provide housing, treatment programs, transitional living and food and clothing in missions nationwide, and Catholic Relief Services is on the ground worldwide to help those in crisis as a result of natural disasters and the ravages of war.

Nearly 200 years ago, Catholic missionaries made their way to the rugged frontier of Montana to establish missions. Wonderfully courageous nuns braved the unknown to establish schools, hospitals and orphanages. What incredible hardships they must have endured in their service to others. The schools, missions and hospitals they established were an incredible blessing to all.

Their legacy continues today. Typically the best hospitals in the state are Catholic hospitals, and they continue with their mission to provide exemplary health care for all with special emphasis on care for those who are the least among us. The same is true of our schools, typically among the best schools in the state. The contribution of these schools is apparent not only in scholastic achievements but also in the quality of young people who graduate from them. They have become leaders in our churches and in our communities.

Catholics always have been leaders in working for justice for those cast away. No other church provides the wide-ranging programs to lift the downtrodden. We lead the way in providing a hand up to the poor, the forgotten and the ignored through our social service ministries, such as Good Samaritan Ministries, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Catholic Social Services of Montana and our parish ministries.

Why? Because that’s what Catholics do. That’s who Catholics are. Cardinal James Hickey summed it up when he proclaimed, “We serve the homeless not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic. If we don't care for the sick, educate the young, care for the homeless, then we cannot call ourselves the church of Jesus Christ."

On Nov. 10, Catholic bishops will hold the Catholic Social Justice Summit in Helena. It will celebrate the good that Catholics do internationally and nationally, as well as in Montana and our own communities. The one-day session will start with a “Call to be Catholic,” a calling forth by Great Falls-Billings Bishop Michael Warfel to become fully Catholic by reaching out to the least among us. Father Larry Snyder is president of Catholic Charities USA and will share exciting news about its programs to address poverty in the United States. A representative of Catholic Relief Services in Haiti will offer insights on past, present and future CRS efforts there. We also will hear from a representative of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, discuss issues of statewide significance and investigate the process of forming parish social justice ministries. The summit will conclude with a commissioning, a sending forth, to empower us to do this critically important work that all as Catholics are called to do.


For more details and registration information, please contact the Montana Catholic Conference in Helena by phone at 406-442-5761 or by e-mail to mccadmin@bresnan.net.

Moe Wosepka is the executive director of the Montana Catholic Conference. He may be reached by phone at 406-442-5761 or by e-mail to director@montanacc.org. Visit www.montanacc.org for more information.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 26, No. 8, August 20, 2010.