USCCB - (SDWP) - Core Meeting Agenda

Core Meeting Agenda

Catholic Social Mission:
Seeking Justice, Overcoming Poverty, Building Peace

	Sunday, February 9, 2003
4:30 p.m.	Opening Eucharistic Liturgy: Celebrant and Homilist: *Most Reverend Wilton Gregory*, President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop of Belleville, IL.
6:30 p.m.	Opening Dinner (hosted by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development)
7:15 p.m.	Catholic Campaign for Human Development Sr. Margaret Cafferty Development of People Award
7:30 p.m.	Opening Plenary: Catholic Social Mission: With prayer, presentations and refection, this opening session will set the stage for the rest of the meeting. It will offer both challenge and hope and lift up what we must do and resources we bring to this mission.
	A Church Under Challenge: Ms. Jane Chiles, former head of the Kentucky Catholic Conference and now a member of the National Review Board will help us understand how this crisis impacts our work.
	A Diverse Community: Fr. Bryan Massingale, Professor of Moral Theology at St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, will help us see our social mission through the eyes of African American Catholics.
	A Broken World: Rev. Bryan Hehir, Presidemt of Catholic Charities USA, will help us see the challenges of debt and violence and encourage more solidarity.
8:40 p.m.	Closing Prayer
	Monday, February 10, 2003
7:00 a.m.	Daily Mass
7:30 a.m.	General Breakfast and African American Catholics Breakfasts
9:00 a.m.	Morning Prayer
9:15 a.m.	Opening Plenary: The Catholic Call to Overcome Poverty and Pursue Peace: Now More than Ever. John Carr, Secretary, Department of Social Development and World Peace, USCCB
10:15 a.m.	Participants meet in state delegations to prepare for Capitol Hill visits
10:15 a.m.	Hill Preparation: Focused briefings on priority domestic and international issues
12:15 p.m.	Lunch (on your own)
1:30 p.m.	Domestic and International Plenaries: Catholic Social Mission: Seeking Justice, Overcoming Poverty, Building Peace at Home and Abroad (Speakers and topics to be determined in light of legislative and political challenges).
2:45 p.m.	Domestic and International Issue Workshops
	001 Poverty and Criminal Justice Issues/Death Penalty:This workshop will examine possible proposals for criminal justice reform, including federal legislation and state strategies, as well as recent developments regarding the application of the death penalty, its disproportionate impact on the poor, and state and federal strategies to end its use.
	002Poverty and Rural Communities: This session will concentrate on dimensions of rural poverty, what impacts the slow economy and some federal policies are having on rural communities, and what strategies advocates are employing to encourage rural development, and alleviate poverty.

	004 Poverty and the State Fiscal Crisis: This session will focus on how states are dealing with their budget shortfalls. The presenter will discuss what caused the fiscal crisis, how important public services can be protected at the state level, and the role of the federal government in resolving both the fiscal problem and the provision of services.
	005 Poverty and Health Care: This session address the current state of the uninsured and the impact state budget crises will have on the uninsured, as well as prospects for health care legislation in Congress in this year. There will also be a brief report on the Administration's rule changes allowing low income pregnant women, including immigrants to receive prenatal care under SCHIP
	006 Poverty and Migration: U.S. and Mexican Bishops Pastoral Letter: This workshop will use the recently released pastoral letter of the U.S. and Mexican bishops Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope, as a tool focus on Catholic social teaching and migration. Issues to be explored include: systemic causes of migration; pastoral steps needed to address the spiritual and material needs of migrants; and policy recommendations on migration, including legalization and worker programs. Participants will discuss ways to use the pastoral letter as an organizing tool in dioceses and parishes.
	007 Agricultural Trade: Seeking Just Solutions for a Hungry World: Agricultural trade is at the top of the agenda of international trade negotiations. The challenge is how developed and developing nations can tackle problems of hunger, just trade relations and protection of domestic family farm systems. This workshop will also explore how the church is addressing this concern.
	008 Healing the World: Global Health and the Rights of Peoples: Security, human dignity, and fundamental human rights form the backdrop of the current health crisis robbing families, communities, and nations of their most precious asset: human beings. This session will provide an overview of the major trends in health, particularly the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the thorny issues associated with access to essential medicines. A brief case study will examine the impact of diseases on family and society in southern Africa. Particular attention will be given to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS and the current food crisis in Africa. Legislative priorities and other advocacy initiatives will be presented and discussed.
	009 The Face of Famine in Africa: The Africa Food Crisis: More than 38 million people face potential famine in southern Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of western Africa. The U.S. government and the international community must make an immediate commitment to increase assistance if famine is to be averted. This session will provide an update on the drought and the response from the international community, and examine some of the obstacles impeding food delivery. Presenters will discuss impediments within and outside of Africa that prevent African nations from meeting their fundamental responsibilities to ensure food security for their peoples. Issues related to commodities subsidies (US/EU) and the politics surrounding the GMO (genetically modified organisms) debate will also be examined.
	010 Nuclear Morality after September 11^thAs we approach the 20^th anniversary of The Challenge of Peace, nuclear weapons remain a moral priority. The U.S. threatens war against Iraq, in part, to prevent it from becoming a nuclear power; North Korea may become a nuclear power; and the risk of war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan remains high. A new treaty on strategic nuclear weapons has been signed; the United States has withdrawn from the ABM Treaty as it begins to deploy missile defenses, and, in line with its new Nuclear Posture Review, the U.S. has threatened to use nuclear weapons in Iraq. How do these and other developments affect the moral debate over nuclear weapons? What might be done on these issues as we commemorate the peace pastoral?
	011 Iraq: Moral and Humanitarian Challenges: A discussion of the Church's teaching on just war and nonviolence and its implications for a possible war in Iraq. How do calls for the preemptive use of force fit with Catholic teaching? What is the role of international institutions? What alternatives to the use of force should be pursued? What is the humanitarian situation in Iraq and how would that be exacerbated by war?
	012 Millennium Challenge Account: A Promising New Direction for Foreign Aid?: A senior fellow from The Center for Global Development will provide an overview of the Administration's proposed Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), which would dramatically increase development aid. A discussion will follow exploring a review of the major issues, particularly country eligibility and implementation structure, and how the process is evolving in the Administration and the Congress. The discussion will also consider how the MCA will impact the balance of the development aid program.
6:30 p.m.	Evening out for networking and fun!
	Tuesday, February 11, 2003
7:00 a.m.	Daily Mass
7:30 a.m.	Charities USA / Parish Social Ministry Section Breakfast
8:45 a.m.	Morning Prayer
9:00 a.m.	Skills Workshop I
	101 Legislative Office Visit: Sharpening your Skills: Prepare for your Hill visit! Learn what to expect and how to make your point effectively on Capitol Hill.
	SPECIAL WORKSHOP FOR THOSE VISITING CAPITOL HILL FOR THE FIRST TIME!
	102 Inclusive Recruiting: Hear recruitment strategies for social ministry efforts that include the diverse groups in our dioceses, crossing lines of race, ethnicity, age, economics, and disabilities.
	103 A Place at the Table: The new statement on poverty from the USCCB can be a useful resource for our work for social justice. Learn about new materials, ideas, and projects designed to help more Catholics recognize that addressing poverty and working for justice is an essential dimension of our faith.
	104 Legislative Networks: Building a Constituency for Justice: Learn how to build a legislative network and how to keep its momentum strong over time.
	105 Strategies for Leadership Development: Explore successful diocesan models of leadership development. Participants will have an opportunity to share their own effective diocesan strategies.
	106 Parish Social Ministry: Social Concerns Committees That Really Work: The Bishops' resource Communities of Salt & Light is a useful tool to form social concerns committees that build participation and effectively weave social mission throughout parish life. Learn how it works from those who have used the model.
	107 Engaging Small Christian Communities in the Work of Social Action: Small Christian Communities have become common in parishes throughout the U.S. See how social action becomes an integral part of these faith communities.
	108 Principles of Adult Education Processes for Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: How do adults learn? Learn how to develop a liberating approach to teaching Catholic Social Teaching that allows participants to develop their own convictions.
	109 Vehicles for Action: Learn about concrete resources and tools that enable parishioners to more readily act on our social mission from large and small diocesan social action offices.
10:45 A.M. - Noon	Skills Workshop II
	201 Using the World Wide Web for Social Justice: Learn how to use web pages, listservs, and interactive tools such as web conferences, chat rooms, and other new technologies for education and action for justice.
	202 Development/Fund Raising for Social Ministry: Need money? Hear from those with effective fund raising strategies that reflect and promote our social mission.
	203 Working Interfaith: Collaborating with Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the work of Social Action: Engaging people from diverse religious backgrounds can be a key ingredient in mounting a successful, broad based social action campaign. Learn about strategies for building these relationships and lessons learned from a range of campaigns in Michigan and throughout the country, including: 1. Death Penalty, 2. Carrying Concealed Weapons, 3. Public Transportation, and 4. Iraq.
	204 Social Ministry with Youth and Young Adults: Campus and Parish Strategies: A distinct but important audience… do you know how to reach these groups? Develop effective strategies for engaging youth and young adults in social ministry.
	205 Incorporating Social Mission into RCIA: Our initiation process is the foundation for new Catholics. Discover how to effectively work with those responsible for RCIA programs to convey the social mission of the church.
	206 Global Social Action: Overcoming the Challenges: There are unique challenges to involving people in social action on global issues. Explore some of those challenges, and learn about successful strategies and resources for addressing global issues through social action.
	207 Peace and Non-violence: From Violence to Wholeness is a process incorporating the spirituality and practice of transformative nonviolence. Learn how to nurture a culture of nonviolence in your personal life, in your community, and in our world.
	208 Labor and Church: Since Rerum Novarum, justice for workers has been a priority of Catholic teaching. Learn how to build on this history and develop relationships with local labor leaders and low-income workers.
	209 Confronting Environmental Injustice: Several dioceses and regions have developed projects that address significant environmental issues. Hear from some of the project leaders about the lessons they have learned while implementing their programs.
	Special Video Greeting: U2 Lead Singer, Bono encourages participants to continue to press Congress for more debt relief and foreign aid
11:45 a.m.	Lunch
12:30 p.m.	Legislative Roundtable: New Congress, New Priorities. Address by Senator Sam Brownback, (R-KS), Senate Foreign Relations Committee
	Address by Michael Gerson, Speechwriter and Policy Advisor to President Bush
2:00 p.m.	Hill Visits: Join your state delegations and visit Representatives and Senators on Capitol Hill to present a united Catholic voice on our key domestic and international priority issues.
4:30 p.m.	Report Back and Evaluations of Hill Visits
6:00 p.m.	Closing Dinner: Continue to celebrate and share experiences with colleagues at this gala dinner.
7:30 p.m.	Entertainment: The Capitol Steps
	Wednesday, February 12, 2003
8:00 a.m.	Closing Liturgy: Celebrant: His Eminence Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, Chairman, Domestic Policy Committee, USCCB
9:30 a.m.	Breakfast Strategy Sessions: These interactive strategy sessions will explore the challenges, opportunities, and tools in three key areas:
	Integrating, Not Isolating the Social Mission: How can we staff bishops, collaborate with diocesan offices, serve pastors and parishes in ways that place social ministry at the heart of Catholic life? Learn real skills that will enhance our ability to persuade others to share and act on our mission.
	Building Real Bridges for Action: Learn how to advance the social mission of the Church with experts from various cultural backgrounds. New approaches, attitudes and levels of understanding will be explored.
	Tools for Integrating Catholic Social Teaching into Diocesan Educational Programs: How do we work with higher education, diocesan religious formation, elementary and secondary education so that sharing Catholic social teaching becomes a regular part of Catholic formation?
10:45 a.m.	Plenary: Lord Daniel Brennan, Member of the House of Lords in Great Britian offers a perspective pf a catholic legislator in a majority non-Catholic nation
	Address by Senator Kent Conrad, (D-ND) Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee
12:15 p.m.	Closing Luncheon
12:45 p.m.	Closing Session: Mark Shields, PBS Commentator, Host of CNN's Capitol Gang and syndicated Columnist, and David Brooks, senior editor at The Weekly Standard, a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly (invited). The team from the award-winning PBS Newshour program will close our gathering with their own analysis, wit and wisdom on what happened in the elections and what it means for our work.
1:45 p.m.	Closing Prayer: Most Reverend William Skylstad, Bishop of Spokane, Vice President, USCCB, and Adjournment