A member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in New Britain, and a lifetime New Britain resident, Mary O'Brien has also spent nearly 40 years connected with the Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry (formerly the Office of Urban Affairs). Beginning as a member of the Cooperative Parish Sharing Committee, over the years she has attended numerous workshops and conferences, participated in the JustFaith program, and shown an enduring commitment to and passion for social justice.

How have you been connected to social justice ministry?

While I was in the JustFaith program, I was privileged to become acquainted with John Ryan [OCSJM JustFaith Coordinator] and his mailing list. Whenever there was a regional or national conference, John would contact us. I owe a big thank you to John for this, because I attended a number of these and really enjoyed them. When I completed JustFaith, I became involved with UACT [United Action CT], an inter-faith community-organizing group that has received CCHD funding. Through this effort I learned more about the components of Parish Social Ministry, especially advocacy and empowerment.

How are you working with OCSJM currently?

When OCSJM received a 3-year Capacity-Building Grant from Catholic Relief Services in 2010, I was invited to coordinate the new Global Solidarity Initiative. My experience with the One-on-One relational model of community organizing led me to use this tool as I met with parish leaders across the archdiocese, encouraging them to embrace global solidarity in their social ministry endeavors. It was a wonderful experience. More recently I attended training at Catholic Relief Services to become a "Fair Trade Ambassador," and I am excited to promote Faith Trade in the archdiocese for the next few years, at least.

How does this commitment impact your personal ministry?  What are you most passionate about?

My enthusiasm is renewed on a regular basis by the people I meet, by their commitment to justice and to living the Gospel. Right now I am most interested in promoting Faith Trade. In my household we have been drinking Fair Trade coffee since the mid-90's, and we find ourselves looking for that Fair Trade Seal on other food products, our gifts, even our clothing. It does take extra time, but when we reflect on what it means to the producer, and when we encourage others to do the same, we realize that we CAN make a difference, even globally, in our world today.  And now that I'm a Fair Trade Ambassador, I invite everyone to contact OCSJM, so we can arrange to meet and discuss this further over a cup of Fair Trade coffee or tea!

Note: John Ryan will be receiving the first Faith and Justice Award, for his personal, unwavering commitment to Catholic social justice at our Social Justice Conference on June 14th.  Join us to celebrate with him! 

In this  Easter season, we celebrate with hope and joy the promise of new life made possible by Jesus' Resurrection, embodied in his transformed being as he appeared to the women and other disciples.

We rejoice also in the new life emerging all around us: the earth-bound caterpillar metamorphoses into a light, airy creature; dry brown bulbs produce glorious daffodils and tulips; bare branches of trees burst forth into blossom and greenness sprouts everywhere; small birds sing after flying for weeks and thousands of miles from their wintering grounds.

As we delight in these yearly "miracles" and anticipate the fruits and veggies to come, we must also be aware of the challenges to so much of the diverse community of life that supports us. The bees that pollinate our food crops are threatened.  One miracle of nature imperiled by habitat destruction is the fragile Monarch butterfly, which travels from the eastern U.S. and Canada to just ONE forest in Mexico, returning, over several generations, in spring. Read more about the monarch's journey, and learn how you can plant butterfly-friendly flowers in your own garden.

As Pope Francis said, "Nurturing and cherishing creation is a command God gives not only at the beginning of history, but to each of us. It is part of his plan; it means causing the world to grow responsibly, transforming it so that it may be a garden, a habitable place for everyone."

Give thanks, celebrate and protect the community of life in your yard:

• Plant bird, bee, butterfly and pollinator friendly flowers and plants. www.naba.org
• Keep cats  indoors as much as possible to reduce bird kills.
• Reduce use of herbicides and pesticides to protect children, pets, pollinators, & water sources. www.beyondpesticides.org; www.ctbees.com
• Use less lawn fertilizer: mow high, leave clippings on lawn. Sweep fertilizer off the sidewalk and driveway into grass. (For an imagined conversation about lawns between God and St. Francis, download this pdf.)
• Save energy & reduce air pollution by hanging clothes to dry instead of using a dryer; if clotheslines are not allowed where you live, work with neighbors to change that.
• Visit Audubon centers near you to enjoy and learn. www.ctaudubon.org

Congratulations to Northwest Catholic High School for completing the Catholic Relief Service Helping Hands Project! After participating in the Helping Hands event at the Catholic Youth Spectacular in September, 2013, the students from Northwest decided to bring the project to their school. More than 50 students and faculty volunteers turned out for the school's project on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Helping Hands is a hands-on volunteer meal-packaging event developed by Catholic Relief Services and Raleigh, NC-based Stop Hunger Now.

During the event, Northwest Catholic students, parents, and faculty worked in teams to assemble meal packages of rice, soy flour, vitamins and dehydrated vegetables, weigh them, seal them, pack them in boxes, and load them onto a truck for transport. The group packaged 10,000 meals during the two-hour event. The packages are destined for a village in the West African country of Burkina Faso.

"There was so much energy on the part of the kids and there were so many ready to help," said Director of Campus Ministry Kristina Gillespie. "We have a lot of students who really have a heart for service and this was a unique and fun way to serve and strengthen our school community."

Throughout the Lenten season, members of the Northwest Catholic community were asked to give up something each week, such as a cup of coffee, and donate the money they saved to the project. The total raised for Helping Hands, over $5,000, paid for the food and will help fund programs and initiatives to enable the people of Burkina Faso learn to grow their own food and better their lives and their community.

If you would like to know more about Helping Hands, or are interested in planning an event for your own youth group or parish, come to the "Youth in Action" workshop at the Bishop Peter Rosazza Social Justice Conference or contact Sarah Hillier at (203) 777-7279 or sarah.hillier@aohct.org.

At its core, the environmental crisis is a moral challenge. It calls us to examine how we use and share the goods of the earth, what we pass on to future generations, and how we live in harmony with God's creation.