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LOVE IN ACTION COMMITTEE

The Love in Action Committee (LAC) is a core group of 8-12 leaders from the parish who work with the social justice coordinator to formalize, integrate, and expand the overall social ministry of the parish. The parish social ministry is the community’s response to the sacred call to love God by loving each other, especially the least among us, with acts of charity (meeting immediate human needs) and works of justice (working to eliminate the structural causes of those needs). The committee is called Love in Action because that's how the USCCB describes these two distinct, but complementary, ways we can put the Gospel in action. 

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The primary function of the LAC is to help ease the process of starting, launching, growing, and sustaining new small groups, or “Action Teams”, who conduct activities around a specific justice issue or area of social ministry they’re most interested in. The LAC do this by supporting action teams in incrementally, but actively, integrating each of the following 7 pillars of effective parish social ministry, which was suggested by the US Bishops in Communities of Salt and Light:

Image by Tim Marshall

PRAYER & WORSHIP

"Social ministry not genuinely rooted in prayer can easily burn itself out. On the other hand, worship that does not reflect the Lord's call to conversion, service, and justice can become pious ritual and empty of the gospel."
 

EDUCATION & FORMATION

"Our social doctrine is an integral part of our faith; we need to pass it on clearly, creatively, and consistently. It is a remarkable spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral resource that has been too little known or appreciated even in our own community."

FAMILY, WORK, & CITIZENSHIP

"Our parishes need to encourage, support and sustain lay people in living their faith in the family, neighborhood, marketplace and public arena. The most challenging work for justice is not done in church committees, but in the secular world of work, family life, and citizenship."
 

OUTREACH & CHARITY

"A Church that teaches an option for the poor must reflect that option in our service of those in need. Parish efforts to meet human needs also provides valuable experience, expertise, and credibility in advocating for public policy to address the forces that leave people in need of our charity.”
 

LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY

“Parishes need to promote a revived sense of political responsibility calling Catholics to be informed and active citizens, participating in the debate over the values and vision that guide our communities and nation.”

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

"Parish leaders are taking the time to listen to the concerns of their members and are organizing to act on those concerns. Parish participation in such community effort provides concrete handles to deal with key issues and builds the capacity of the parish
to act on our values."

GLOBAL SOLIDARITY

"Parishes need to be bridge-builders, reminding us that we are part of a Universal Church with ties of faith and humanity to sisters and brothers all over the world. "

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