Congratulations to Rev. Jeffrey A. Gubbiotti and Assumption Church in Ansonia on their new Cooperative Parish Sharing Project, Ansonia Catholic Teen Organization.

After conversations with a number of parish leaders, a parish-wide survey and discussions with local law enforcement, the parish identified challenges faced by the young people in their community.  The parish will form a group of teens who can be peer leaders and reach out to fellow "at risk" teens who are looking for direction and belonging. Thanks to the generous donations of parishes across the Archdiocese of Hartford, funds provided by CPS will help the parish hire a minister who will help them execute this project.

The goal of the Cooperative Parish Sharing program, managed by the Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry, is to foster the development of sustainable social ministry projects which allow low-income parishes to address the needs in their own parish communities. 

Watch for a complete listing of the grants awarded for the 2014-2015 program cycle in the July issue of the Catholic Transcript.

This year marked the 5th anniversary of the Bishop Peter Rosazza Social Justice Conference!  On June 14th, 300 people from around the diocese and beyond gathered together to pray for social justice, learn from each other, and encourage one another!  

New to the conference this year, the OCSJM welcomed four parish social ministry leaders to speak about their work, in light of the four cornerstones of parish social ministry: Prayer by Migdalia Almedina, Direct Service by Deacon Stan Petrowski, Education by Lou Terzo, and Advocacy by Ana Landskron.  These four speakers set the tone for the day, showing that everyone has a role to play in social justice ministry.  Special thanks to them for their inspiration!

Throughout the day, participants attended workshops and visited exhibits to learn about a variety of social justice organizations and efforts.  A number of people used the time to network and said that they hope to bring this information back to their parishes. 

A special note to our attendees: Please capture the energy of the conference, and remember that the OCSJM is here to assist you in bringing social justice to your parish.  If you would like more information about a specific organization or speaker, let us know and we can connect you. And contact the Office if we can help you in your ministry!

We will be posting materials from the workshops on our website shortly - watch the Home Page for updates.  If you loved Brother Mickey's keynote and were inspired by his stories, you can purchase his books and artwork at these websites:  World Library Publications; Clear Faith Publishing.

Thank you to all of our volunteers who made the day possible, including Brake the Cycle and the students, faculty and staff from St. Paul's Catholic High School. And of course, a big thanks to our participants who took the time to come to the conference. We hope to see you again next year!

To help make a difference in the lives of CT children,The Farmer's Cow, a group of 6 CT family-owned dairy farms, is donating a half gallon of milk to Connecticut Food Bank - up to 5,000 gallons during the months of July and August - for every four electronic greeting cards that are emailed to help spread the word about the problem of summer hunger, through July 4th.