Below are some of the highlights of the 2005 Catholic Social ministry Gathering. Within this description you will find links to many of the keynote presentations be able to explore the complexity and comprehensiveness of this annual gathering of national, diocesan and parish social concerns ministers.

In addition, you can see the descriptions for the “wrap-around” meetings held by most of the 14 national Catholic partners who collaborated in the overall meeting. Click here to view these wrap around meetings.

Audio CDs

Many of the plenary addresses and some workshops are available below. Audio compact disks can also be ordered for many of the sessions. Go to: AVER Associates and click on U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops links to see what is available.

Press Coverage

Catholic News Services covered the Gathering extensively. To see the articles about the Gathering by Catholic News Service, click here.

Opening Eucharistic Liturgy
Celebrant: His Eminence Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, Member: USCCB Committees on Domestic and International Policy. Homilist: Most Reverend Howard Hubbard, Bishop of Albany; Chairman, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Click here to read Bishop Hubbard’s homily.

EVENING SESSION

Opening Plenary Session: We Are Church in the World: Celebrating Gaudium et Spes and the Social Ministry of the Church. Reverend Robert J. Vitillo, Former Executive Director of CCHD and recently appointed Special Advisor on HIV and AIDS for Caritas Internationalis, reflected on the Catholic Church as it lives out the prophetic challenge offered by Gaudium et Spes in the United States and worldwide. Here are Fr. Vitillo’s remarks

MORNING SESSION
Opening Plenary: “The Church in the Modern World”: Building Momentum and Building Hope:
Mr. John Carr, Secretary, Department of Social Development and World Peace, USCCB provided insights about the past year and offered challenges to “get back to social mission”. John also outlined several new policy initiatives of the Department of Social Development and World Peace and other national Catholic partners.

Power Point Presentation
Address

AFTERNOON SESSION
Promoting Life and Dignity at Home. Sister Carol Keehan, R.N., M.S., Chair of the Board of Trustees, Sacred Heart Health System, Pensacola, FL; Chair of the Board of the Catholic Health Association; Member, Committee for Domestic Policy, USCCB. Sr. Carol spoke about poverty in the U.S. through the lens of the health care system.

Power Point Presentation
Address

Promoting Life and Dignity Around the World. Sr. Margaret Scott, aci, Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Sr. Margaret drew on her experience as a world traveler, trainer, and lecturer on international relations, and on the charism of her religious community and offered a reflection: “Broken and shared: international justice in the year of the Eucharistic.”

Power Point Presentation
Address

Domestic and International Issue Workshops: Besides the top four domestic and international issue priorities of the Gathering partners, participants learned about other important priorities for the bishops and national Catholic organizations. Issue workshops included:

Domestic Issues: Prospects for Welfare Reform Social Security Reform Low-Income Housing Health Care Ending the Use of the Death Penalty Human Trafficking

International Issues: Peace in the Holy Land International Trade Agreements New Challenges to Peace Cuba and Haiti Immigration and Latin America Prospects for Peace in Sudan

MORNING SESSION
Morning Prayer: Immediately after prayer, Steve Colecchi, Director of the Office of International Justice and Peace at the USCCB unveiled the Catholic Campaign for Peace in the Holy Land. Click on the link to learn more.

Skills Workshops: nearly 20 skills sessions were held at the Gathering and designed to help parish and diocesan staff improve skills in building constituencies for justice and peace within their parishes and dioceses.

Topics Included:

Developing Young Adult Leaders for Social Ministry

Engaging Catholic Immigrants in the Work of Justice: Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform Advocacy Skills Training.

Beyond JustFaith: What’s next for JustFaith Graduates?

Adult Education Techniques for Justice Education: Consciousness Raising with the Middle Pew

Development and Fundraising for Social Ministry

Integrating Global Solidarity in your Parish Community

Renewing Parishes: Congregational Development through Faith Based Community Organizing

Engaging Small Faith Communities in Catholic Social Action

Promoting Dialogue on Social Justice Issues: Lessons from the Catholic Common Ground Initiative

Developing or Expanding a Legislative Network

Caring for Children, Caring for Creation

Local Food, Global Standard

Tips and Tools for Sharing Catholic Social Teaching on Peace

Working within the Diocese: Strategies for Success

Skills and Strategies for meeting with Congressional leaders

Teaching Tools for Poverty Education and Action

Communities of Salt and Light: Parish Social Ministry

Sharing Social Concerns with Diocesan Education and Youth Ministry Offices

AFTERNOON SESSION
Plenary: John Zogby of Zogby International offered his analysis of the 2004 General Election. At the same time, he highlighted some of the important findings from a recent poll on the death penalty. The poll is part of the bishops’ Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Click on the link to learn more about this Campaign.

Hill Visits: Participants marched to Capitol Hill to voice their concerns on key issues including Medicaid, Housing, Federal Budget Priorities, the Middle East and Foreign Aid/Development assistance. By the end of the afternoon, over 200 Senators and Representatives were visited.

CRS-Sponsored Reception and Report Back and Evaluation of Hill Visits: As stories are shared about Hill Visits, Catholic Relief Services and Social Development and World Peace outlined the elements of a new Campaign Against Global Poverty. Click on the link to explore how this campaign works and what you can do to reduce global poverty.

Evening Plenary: Mr. Tim Russert, Moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press and Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News reflected on his book Big Russ and Me and shared stories about the faith and the people who helped shaped his life and his work.

MORNING SESSION
Catholic Relief Service’s Operation Rice Bowl Breakfast. CRS provided a simple oatmeal breakfast reminding participants of the meager rations much of the developed world receives and connected this to their Operation Rice Bowl program. Click here to learn more about CRS and ORB.

Strategy Sessions: Special interactive strategy sessions explored three major tasks in the year ahead:

1. Getting Back To Mission: Recovering Momentum After the Election: How do we recover the consistent life ethic? How do we captivate the hearts and minds of average Catholics in a time of uncertainty in society and the Church?
   
2. Real Constituency Building in a Diverse Church: what are real strategies for reaching out and building a true constituency for justice in diverse dioceses/communities?
   
3. Pastors on Social Action Directors: Are They the Solution or the Problem? A pastor reflects on the experience of working with social action staff (diocesan and parish).

USCCB Department of Social Development & World Peace
3211 Fourth Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Phone: (202) 541-3180
www.usccb.org/sdwp

USCCB Catholic Campaign for Human Development
3211 Fourth Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Phone: (202) 541-3210
www.usccb.org/cchd

USCCB Secretariat for African American Catholics
3211 Fourth Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Phone: (202) 541-3177
www.usccb.org/saac

USCCB Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs
3211 Fourth Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Phone: (202) 541-3177
www.usccb.org/hispanicaffairs

USCCB Migration and Refugee Services
3211 Fourth Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Phone: (202) 541-3177
www.usccb.org/mrs

The ROUNDTABLE
18 Bleecker Street
New York, NY 10012-2404
Phone: (212) 431-7825
www.nplc.org/roundtable

Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities
1 Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 650
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 457-0650
www.accunet.org

National Council of Catholic Women
200 N. Glebe Road, Suite 703
Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 224-0990
www.nccw.org

National Catholic Rural Life Conference
4625 Beaver
Des Moines, IA 50310
Phone: (515) 270-2634
www.ncrlc.com

Catholic Charities USA
1731 King Street, Suite 200
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: (703) 549-1390
www.catholiccharitiesusa.org

Catholic Relief Services
209 West Fayette Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: (410) 625-2220
www.catholicrelief.org

National Catholic Partnership on Disability
415 Michigan Avenue, NE, Suite 240
Washington, DC 20017-4501
Phone: (202) 529-2933; tty: (202) 529-2934
www.ncpd.org

The Catholic Health Association of the United States
1875 Eye Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20006-5409
Phone: (202) 721-6300
www.chausa.org

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul
58 Progress Way
St. Louis, MO 63043
Phone: (314) 576-3993
www.svdpusa.org

Email us at sdwpmail@usccb.org
Social Development and World Peace | 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington DC 20017-1194 | (202) 541-3180 © USCCB. All rights reserved.