Over 500 diocesan and national social ministry leaders gathered from February 10-15, 2006 in Washington to celebrate and act on the social mission of the Church. Below are some of the highlights of the 2006 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering. You will also find links to some of the keynote presentations and you will see the complexity and comprehensiveness of this annual meeting of social ministry leaders.

In addition, you can see the descriptions for the "wrap-around" meetings held by most of the 17 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: Most Reverend William Skylstad, Bishop of Spokane and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Click here (Coming Soon!) to read Bishop Skylstad's homily.

OPENING PLENARY SESSION

Mr. Tom Costanza, Director, Office of Justice and Peace, Archdiocese of New Orleans, Mr. Leroy Johnson, Executive Director, Southern Echo, and Sr. Miriam Mitchell, S.H.Sp. Chancellor, Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux offered their reflections on the impact of Hurricane Katrina for our common work. They addressed how this event changed our view of poverty and race, how the Catholic community responded immediately after the event as well as the continuing response and offered some lessons learned and how does our faith inform the ongoing challenges of addressing poverty at home and abroad. The St. Camillus Multicultural Choir brought prayerful music to the evening. If you do not have an audio copy of this event, we urge you to purchase one:

MORNING SESSION
Opening Plenary: Good News for a Broken World: What's "Good" and What's "Broken"
Mr. John Carr, Secretary, Social Development and World Peace, USCCB, offered some reflections on the challenges and opportunities we face as leaders of Catholic social mission. He examined ecclesial and political forces that shape our work and offered directions and dangers for the road ahead.

Power Point Presentation (Coming soon!)
Address (Coming Soon!)

INTERNATIONAL PLENARY SESSION
Breaking the Conflict Trap: Global Conflicts and Global Poverty
A World Bank report argues that civil war "is development in reverse." This panel explored the relationship between global conflicts and global poverty. What makes some countries prone to civil war? What can the international community do to reduce the incidence of civil wars? What can be done to more effectively aid countries in post-conflict situations, preventing relapses into conflict?

Moderator: Dr. Stephen Colecchi, Director, Office of International Justice and Peace, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Panelists: Mr. Ian Bannon, Manager, Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction, World Bank; Mr.Hippolyt Pul, Deputy Regional Director for Program Quality, West Africa Region, Catholic Relief Services;
Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love, Professor, Department of Politics, Catholic University of America and Consultant to the U.S. Bishops' Committee on International Policy.

Audio is available for purchase here:

DOMESTIC PLENARY
The U.S. Poverty Discussion That Should Happen
Two unique perspectives on poverty in the United States helped us examine the inadequate responses to poverty (especially evident after the Katrina catastrophe) and offered suggestions for how the Catholic community can help ease poverty through our education, organizing and advocacy work.

Moderator: Ms. Kathleen Curran, Policy Advisor on Health, Welfare and Food Programs, Office of Domestic Social Development, USCCB.
Presenters: Dr. Peter Edelman, Professor of Law, Georgetown University;
Rev. Richard Cizik, Vice President for Government Affairs, The National Association of Evangelicals.

Audio is available for purchase here:

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:

International Priority Issues Briefing: Foreign Aid: New Directions but Old Problems The Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty promotes poverty reduction through debt relief, just trade and foreign aid. This session outlined how foreign aid should be directed to those who need it most. The briefing helped prepare people to argue the case for more and better-targeted foreign aid and equiped participants to lobby their Members of Congress on key foreign aid priorities. Toward a Responsible Transition in Iraq This briefing will explored the current reality in Iraq and reviewed the position of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as it is articulated in the January 2006 statement, "Toward a Responsible Transition in Iraq." Participants became equipped to bring the bishops' message to the Hill at a critical time when a civil and substantive dialogue is needed to chart a way forward.

Domestic Priority Issues Briefing: Death Penalty Legislation: Protecting Rights, Limiting Expansion At the time of the meeting, Congress was debating the "Streamlined Procedures Act" and the "Patriot Act". This briefing explored the implications of these pieces of legislation and prepared participants to urge Congress not to eliminate basic protections for those on death row and to not expand the federal crimes that are subject to the death penalty. Working toward Just Immigration Reform The briefing updated participants on the status of the immigration reform debate, summarized the position of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' on immigration reform, and prepared them for the difficult questions about immigration which would likely be raised in Capitol Hill meetings, including arguments made by opponents of immigration.

Perspectives from Capitol Hill:
Both Senator Harry Reid of Nevada and Senator Mike DeWine took time from their schedules to address the Gathering on Monday. They discussed how their faith impacts the work they do on Capitol Hill and shared stories about people of faith who have had influence over their own decisions and leadership in Congress.

MORNING SESSION
Participants were able to choose from six domestic and six international issue workshops that were in addition to the four priority issues that participants took to Capitol Hill on this day:

Domestic Issue Workshops

• Housing: Creating Opportunity for Affordable Housing
• Protecting the Social Safety Net
• Immigration: Justice for Immigrants Campaign
• Health Care and the Uninsured: Medicaid Challenges
• Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty
• Agriculture and the 2007 Farm Bill

• Are People Becoming Commodities? Trafficking: its causes and impacts
• Trade: The New Name for Development
• Haiti: Will Elections Bring HOPE?
• The Challenge of Global Climate Change
• Campaigning for Peace in the Holy Land
• Africa: Lands of Conflict and Promise

AFTERNOON SESSION
Hill Visits:
Participants marched to Capitol Hill to voice their concerns on key issues including

• Immigration Reform
• The Death Penalty
• Iraq
• Foreign Aid/Development assistance

CRS-Sponsored Reception and Report Back and Evaluation of Hill Visits
Catholic Social Ministry leaders returned from the Hill and shared their stories with each other about the visits they made. Catholic Relief Services staff tracked the data in real time. Click here to see the map!.

Video Premier: The Gospel of Life and the Penalty of Death
The bishops' new video on the death penalty was enjoyed by attendees. In attendance during the premier were two of the Catholic "stars": Mr. Kirk Bloodsworth who was proved innocent and released from death row; Mr. Bud Welch, an anti-death penalty advocate who lost his daughter in the Oklahoma City bombing. Ms. Vicki Schieber, who lost her daughter to murder and, with Bud, is a member of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights was also in attendance, lending support to the U.S. Bishops' Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty

To reserve your copy of this new resource and excellent teaching tool, click here.

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. CRS also awarded the CRS Operation Rice Bowl Award to Rachel Ramjattan and Brian Stevens of Miami, FL for outstanding promotion and support of Operation Rice Bowl. Click here to learn more about CRS and ORB.

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

• Turnout: More than the Perfect Flyer -- Nothing can be more frustrating than creating a spectacular event with renowned speakers that few people attend. In this session, participants explored ways to attract a diverse audience through relational methods and proven marketing strategies.

• Strategic Relationships: Bringing Forth the Kingdom -- The social mission of the church is done by all of us. This means that we need to expand our partnership with other diocesan ministries and to be strategic in our efforts to be more inclusive. This strategy session brought forward ideas for expanding those circles of partnerships to be more inclusive so that we can all be more effective.

• Catechesis and the Social Mission of the Church: It Can Only Work Together -- During this strategy session, social ministry directors (1) participated in an interactive discussion of the National Directory for Catechesis; (2) investigated creative ways to integrate the Church's social teaching into catechesis; and (3) strategized how to use this new document to work more closely with parish and diocesan offices of education and catechesis to promote social justice in the life of the Church.

• Pro-Life and Pro-Justice: Avoiding Divisions and Promoting Collaboration -- For the Catholic community, our traditional pro-life convictions and our commitment to justice and peace are essential and complementary reflections of the teaching of the Gospel and the doctrine of the Church. Participants explored how we can resist divisions among our people over pro-life concerns and justice and peace issues. They also discussed how we can deepen and broaden Catholic understanding of our commitment to human life and dignity.

• Understanding the "Magic" of Fund Development -- This strategy session helped participants learn how to find funding opportunities in the broad context of searching inside and outside one's own diocese. Participants came away with an understanding of what was foundational to success stories, helpful resources, and how to use Catholic and non-Catholic structures to develop funds for their programs.

Closing Liturgy: Celebrant and Homilist: Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Chairman, Domestic Policy Committee, USCCB. For a copy of his homily, click here. (Coming Soon! )

AFTERNOON SESSION
Closing Luncheon - Moral Principles and Partisan Politics: New Consensus or Old Battles?
The Friday evening PBS News Hour analysis team, Mr. Mark Shields, Syndicated Columnist, and Mr. David Brooks, New York Times editorial writer, offered an important and thoughtful analysis of the politics, faith and public discourse to close the Gathering.

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.