Our Call: Toward a more just and compassionate world
The Social Ministries Commission is striving to strengthen awareness of the social justice dimension of our Catholic faith within and for the IHM parish. We envision an IHM Parish where all members are highly aware of social inequities (locally, nationally, and globally) and are excitedly active in creating social change to achieve true equality for all people.
As we come together in communities of faith, we believe that “the pursuit of justice and peace is an essential part of what makes a parish Catholic. This task belongs to every believer and every parish." [Communities of Salt and Light, pg. 2] We are challenged to build parishes where “our social teaching is central, not fringe; where social ministry is integral, not optional.” [Communities of Salt and Light, pg. 4]
With over a century of Catholic social teaching the Church has proclaimed and clarified our call as followers of Christ to work for peace through justice. With a focus and priority so necessary for our time, documents like Gaudium et Spes challenge Christians to recognize that “the joys and hopes, the grief’s and the anxieties” of our sisters and brothers, “especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, are the joys and hopes ….” of all those who follow Christ. [Gaudium et Spes, Preface, Par. 1] Recognizing that there is “a network of domination, oppression and abuses which stifle freedom and which keep the greater part of humanity from sharing” the building and enjoyment of a just and caring world [Justice in the World, Intro., Nov. 1971], we see that the call of justice and peacemaking is at the very heart of our faith.
Parish Outreach
Journey to Justice Retreat
Justfaith
Multicultural Mass on Mission Sunday
Pledge of Nonviolence*
Rosary for Peace**
Child Protection Team
Sunday Social Forums
Green Committee
Community Outreach
Coin Collection
Food from the Heart
School House Collection
Used Coat Collection
Giving Tree
Project 5000
Baby Shower
Christmas in July
Interfaith Hospitality Network
Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen
City Gospel Mission Soup Kitchen
LEAFF (Leadership Empowerment and Faith Formation)
Prison Ministry
Archdiocese Social Action Collaborative***
Respect Life
Global Outreach
Empowerment Fund (local, national, and international)
Greater Cincinnati Advocates for Darfur***
Parish Twinning Committee working with Cultural Center Batahola Norte, Managua, Nicaragua
Project Education
Project Education for Batahola 2010 IHM's Twinning Comunity Student Sponsorship Program
Batahola Garage Sale
Annual Immersion Trip
Fair Trade Coffee, Cocoa, and Chocolate
*Pledge – In a tradition begun in 1988, IHM has pledged to be a non-violent community. The pledge is recited at the first weekend masses in October.
**A weekly rosary is said after the 9:30 mass outside in front of the Blessed Virgin Mary statue.
***IHM is one of 30 parishes in the Archdiocese Social Action Collaborative working altogether on issues such as Catholic Social Teaching, Immigration, and Darfur.
" No one can do everything, but Everyone can do Something."
Archbishop Oscar Romero