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By Eric Connolly
In the introduction to his encyclical
“Caritas in Veritate,” or “Charity in
Truth,” Pope Benedict XVI wrote that
“charity is love received and given. It is
`grace’ (cháris). Its
source is the wellspring
of the Father’s
love for the Son, in
the Holy Spirit.”
This charity, rooted
in grace, is the
bedrock of modern
Catholic social teaching
and translates perfectly
into the latest
social justice initiatives
by Catholic Campus Ministry at
Christ the King Parish in Missoula. One of
these initiatives had 18 college students
volunteering on a Saturday to work with
Habitat for Humanity to build a house. The
students’ work Oct. 2 in the Windsor Park
neighborhood of Missoula was organized
by Jess Lareau, a Catholic Campus
Ministry intern at the parish.
The outreach included members of the
parish’s high school youth group, as well.
They spent the morning packing lunches
for the collegiate volunteers.
“Even though they might be too young
to physically build, they should still be
able to have an opportunity to be involved
just as much as the rest of us,” Lareau said
in an e-mail.
To further involve the parish community
as a whole, the
campus ministry program
used its weekly
“Unite” gathering as
the framework for a
service and social
justice panel consisting
of people from
Jesuit Volunteer
Corps Northwest,
Catholic Relief
Services, Peace Corps
and a student who has been on many mission
trips, Lareau said.
“This is a parish activity that we can
do,” she said in an interview. “Hopefully,
we’re going to do a couple more big service
events and get the whole parish
involved.”
A representative from Habitat for
Humanity spoke at Christ the King during
the week.
“It’s important for people to know the
organization and who they’re helping in
order to really feel like they should be
here,” Lareau said.
Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 26, No. 10, October 15, 2010.
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