PRESS RELEASE: PCUSA to present at the Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Pax Christi USA will be join 50 organizations presenting at the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice later this week.  The Teach-in brings together over 1,000 students, teachers, parish members, and others passionate about faith-inspired social justice to Washington, D.C., from November 16-18, 2012.  The Teach-In is sponsored by the Ignatian Solidarity Network. Pax Christi USA’s workshop will be presented by Sr. Anne-Louise Nadeau, SNDden, Director of Programs, and Rachel Roa, Office Manager.

The Teach-In is an opportunity for members of the Ignatian family (Jesuit institutions and larger church) to come together in the context of social justice and solidarity to learn, reflect, pray, network, and advocate together on Capitol Hill.  Teach-In attendees represent twenty-eight Jesuit universities, over twenty-five Jesuit high schools, Jesuit parishes, Jesuit volunteer communities, and many other Catholic institutions and organizations.

Started in 1997 in Columbus, Georgia, the IFTJ takes place in mid-November to remember the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador. The six Jesuit priests and their companions were murdered on November 16, 1989, in El Salvador for their work advocating on behalf of the economically poor of El Salvador.  The IFTJ moved from Georgia to Washington, D.C., in 2010, to respond to the growing interest in integrating legislative advocacy into the teach-in experience.

Keynote speakers include Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive Director of NETWORK Catholic Social Justice Lobby; Fred Kammer, S.J., member of the Southern Province of the Jesuits, attorney, and director of the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola University New Orleans; Merlys Mosquera Chamat, Regional Director of Jesuit Refugee Services-Latin America and Caribbean; Gabriel Bol Deng, Founding Director of Hope for Ariang, and former Lost Boy of Sudan.  On Sunday at 10:00 AM a Eucharistic liturgy will be celebrated, the principal celebrant will be Rev. Andrew Kirschman, S.J., a Jesuit of the Missouri Province.

The theme of IFTJ 2012 is “Imagination Reform: Moving Beyond the Margins,” challenging participants to explore new issues and ways to creatively work for social justice.

For more details, visit: http://bit.ly/Rbj8rF

For more information, contact:

• Sr. Anne-Louise Nadeau, SNDdeN, anadeau@paxchristiusa.org
• Christopher Kerr, 216-397-2088 or ckerr@ignatiansolidarity.net