The Marianist Social Justice Collaborative began in 1998. Since that time, we have continued the founding vision of the Collaborative: to educate the Marianist Family about social justice, to help Marianist Family members network around common social justice concerns and to provide community reflection and support for Marianists to do the work of justice. MSJC tries to operate in the spirit of our Marianist Founders in forming a community that draws from the contributions of the many diverse elements of the Marianist Family. Just as the method of our founders was to help form individuals and communities who would cooperate with the Holy Spirit under the inspiration of the Mary in building up the Body of Christ, the MSJC seeks to do the same in the area of social justice.
Our Ongoing Efforts
Following the gospel of Jesus Christ and Mary’s example, the Marianist Family empowers individuals, families, and communities to build the common good. We dedicate ourselves to promoting human dignity, protecting human rights, and practicing an integral ecology.
Our Vision Statement
Through the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative, the three branches of the Marianist Family in North America (the Society of Mary, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate and the Marianist Lay Community) unite and multiply the efforts of Marianists to act for social justice. Inspired by Mary’s yes and our founders’ call to respond to the signs of the times, we commit to building authentic, inclusive, and diverse community, in order to build a more just world and Church. MSJC offers hope, inspiration, and opportunity for action through education, outreach, skill-building and advocacy at the local, national and international levels.
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
Our Story
The strength of a Marianist faith is its focus on including the variety and wealth of experiences of all those in the Church, and in the world, into conversation and into community. We strive to create open environments, respect the diversity of all, work towards unity, and be welcoming to all.
Inclusivity
We build communities of faith that embody a family spirit, empower all members, create belonging in a world often lacking it, and build on strength, diversity, and equality.
Community
As Marianists, we are formed by Mary and use her as a faithful example of how to live our lives.
Mary
Marianists participate in the mission of the entire Catholic Church to stand up for the poor and marginalized, work toward the common good, and integrate faith and culture.
Mission
We live our lives with a deeply rooted faith in Christ, and commitment to gospel values.
Faith of the Heart
The work of MSJC grew from our connection to our Marianist charism, the unique call we experience to make Christ present in our world today. As Marianists, our mission is that we are “Missionaries of Mary.” We are open to being formed by Mary and to be a part of her mission of bringing Christ into the world. Below are the everyday manifestations of this charism:
The roots of Marianist Social Justice Collaborative can be traced back to the early 1990s. Annual meetings of Marianist brothers, focused on discussing engagement with social justice and how to support one another in this work, quickly spread to include Marianist sisters and lay members of the Marianist Family. In 1998, MSJC was formed as a result of these dialogues.
Social Justice Through a Marianist Lens
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The strength of a Marianist faith is its focus on including the variety and wealth of experiences of all those in the Church, and in the world, into conversation and into community. We strive to create open environments, respect the diversity of all, work towards unity, and be welcoming to all.
Inclusivity
We build communities of faith that embody a family spirit, empower all members, create belonging in a world often lacking it, and build on strength, diversity, and equality.
Community
As Marianists, we are formed by Mary and use her as a faithful example of how to live our lives.
Mary
Marianists participate in the mission of the entire Catholic Church to stand up for the poor and marginalized, work toward a common good, and integrate faith and culture.
Mission
We live our lives with a deeply rooted faith in Christ, and commitment to gospel values.
Faith of the Heart
The work of MSJC grew from our connection to our Marianist charism, the unique call we experience to make Christ present in our world today. As Marianists, our mission, simply stated, is that we are “Missionaries of Mary.” We are open to being formed by Mary and to be a part of her mission of bringing Christ into the world. The everyday manifestations of this charism, being a Missionary for Mary, are as follows:
The roots of the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative can be traced back to the early 1990s. Annual meetings of Marianist brothers, focused on discussing engagement with social justice and how to support one another in this work, quickly spread to include Marianist sisters and lay members of the Marianist Family. In 1998, the MSJC was formed as a result of these dialogues.
Social Justice Through a Marianist Lens
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MSJC volunteers and multiple other Marianist communities or ministries will have a positive experience with restorative justice principles and practices.
MSJC will more efficiently use technology, include a new donor and engagement database, to expand MSJC volunteers, engagement, donors, and event attendance.
MSJC will impact members of the Marianist Family and beyond in a measurable way by programming from each of our MSJC-sponsored justice issue teams.
MSJC will be measurably, several steps forward towards becoming a truly anti-racist organization.
MSJC 2022 - 2023 Goals:
MSJC will improve our goal setting, implementation and evaluation.
MSJC will register for the Laudato Si Action Platform and support the year of development and planning.
MSJC’s will celebrate our 25th Anniversary in a way that highlights our mission, accomplishments, and ways to be involved to a broader constituency.
helps give us a lens for what social justice means and what social justice looks likes. Using our charism, MSJC sought to identify some of the qualities or emphases that might characterize a Marianist-specific approach to social justice. The qualities on the right are not necessarily a final or complete list, but we do believe they accurately articulate MSJC’s social justice approach.
This Marianist charism...
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Saying Yes
Mary said yes to what must have seemed an impossible and scary ask by God. We are also called to say yes to work for social justice in our lives. Yes to confronting systems and structures that cause injustice in our world. Yes to being as well as doing. Yes to opening ourselves up to being changed. And there are many more ways we can say yes!
Building Community
Marianists take on social justice issues as more than individuals. We build communities around all the issues we try to bring to justice. We are called to be communities that exist to advance the common good.
Living Simply
We are called by Marianist spirituality, and by Mary’s example, to simplify our lives. We should not be possessed by our possessions, we should avoid the temptation to stay so busy that we cannot respond to others’ needs, and we should be content with the things we have.
Hospitality
Marianists are commonly known for their spirit of hospitality. We need to learn to push ourselves into a deeper, uncomfortable hospitality, where we can enter into relationships, projects and possibilities with people of many different backgrounds and values. We are especially called to be hospitable to the poor and marginalized.
Joining Voices with the Voiceless
Marianists must seek to find opportunities to listen to those in our society who are voiceless. We honor the marginalized in our lives by showing up for them with our presence and concern. We amplify their voices and their concerns after we have listened intently.
Interdependence
Our Marianist faith encourages us to acknowledge our interdependence with one another, instead of promoting individualism. We must see that everyone has unique gifts to contribute and adds richness to our communities through their diversity.
Passion for the mission
Mary is the woman who fearlessly said yes to God’s call and stood at the foot of the cross, in solidarity with her son. She is a woman of courage, faith, and passion. We need to use Mary as a model to work for social justice today. Our work must always be of both the work of our head and of our heart. We are called to be in mission against the injustices of the world and to have a true passion for standing up for the values we believe in.
Mission
Society of
Mary
Below are the three branches of the Marianist Family, and some Marianist ministries, that we want to highlight as collaborators and supporters of MSJC.
The Marianist Family
Daughters of Mary Immaculate
Marianist Lay Community of North America
North American Center for Marianist Studies (NACMS)
Marianist ENvironmental Education Center (MEEC)
