Martin Luther King Jr. as Pastor

Martin Luther King Jr. came to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church as a non-controversial hire for pastor in a church with internal issues. His pastoral work led him to his civil rights work. Rosa Parks was arrested a year after his arrival in Montgomery.

King began speaking out and leading peaceful protests. From the church, he helped ignite the Montgomery bus boycott. According to Baldwin, King saw this as a natural extension of pastoring his people.

The 2006 video linked below shows the church and has interviews with members who describe King's impact on them. The PBS video contains a transcript.

Sr. Mary Sponsa Beltran and the Teach Peace Foundation

This video is described on YouTube as follows:

The Teach Peace Foundation helps the disabled in Liberia, Africa live with dignity. Our Special Ambassador program teaches children that disability does not mean inability. In addition to care for the disabled, we provide leadership development experiences for students to get involved while learning about the plight of people with no safety net. For more information, visit www.teachpeace.com or call 570-406-4533.



I apologize that I haven't provided a transcript of this video for visually impaired readers (although it is captioned for deaf readers); however, if you'd like to read more about Teach Peace, please go to this link.

To hear speeches from Sr. Mary Sponsa Beltran about her work, please go here.

More Than Just a Game (2007)

A docu-drama about political prisoners of apartheid who play soccer, this film portrays those imprisoned where Nelson Mandela was held on Robben Island. It is a sports film that is about survival, an attempt to live with dignity for those who were fighting for a just cause and lost their freedom. FIFA has endorsed this film, produced by Anant Singh, whose films include Sarafina, Cry the Beloved Country, Red Dust, I Capture the Castle and the Oscar-nominated Yesterday. An interview with him can be found at the above link.

When asked about what Mandela would think about the film, he replied:

Mr. Mandela would certainly approve and enjoy the film as it tells the story of football on Robben Island, an island he spent 27 years on. There is a scene in the film where the communal prisoners see their political leaders in the B Section (the isolation cells for the influential political prisoners such as Nelson Mandela) while playing football and begin interactions with them. When the authorities found out that Mr Mandela and others were watching the games, they built a wall to stop these interactions.

Magsaysay Awards

This annual award, given in different categories, honors those who give exceptional service in Asia without looking for public recognition. The credo is here. In 1962, Mother Teresa won this award for International Understanding for her service work. Other awardees can be found here.

In April 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award was established by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) based in New York City. With the concurrence of the Philippine government, the prize was created to commemorate late president of the Philippines and to perpetuate his example of integrity in government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society.

The RMAF recognizes and honors individuals and organizations in Asia regardless of race, creed, sex, or nationality, who have achieved distinction in their respective fields and have helped others generously without anticipating public recognition. The awards are given in five categories: government service; public service; community leadership; journalism, literature, and creative communication arts; peace and international understanding.

In the 2000 Magsaysay Awards Presentation Ceremonies, the Foundation announced the creation of a sixth Award category, Emergent Leadership. .. An Award in this category was given for the first time in 2001. via website

Key to longevity based on social factors, study says

Improving health care in the UK has benefitted those who are well off, a study says, pointing out that social factors are key to longevity of life. Studies like these are of benefit when considering how disability impacts our lives.

There is a very real stress level I've encountered in my work as a professional that affects people living with poverty . It results from the level of uncertainty poverty engenders as to housing, education or job training, the ability to feed oneself and one's children - all basic security needs.

"A more effective way of increasing life expectancy and improving health would be for every government policy and programme to be assessed for its impact on health and health equity; to make health and health equity a marker for government performance."

"People need the opportunity, the possibility, to take control of their lives - but the conditions need to be right to allow them to do that."

...

The report highlights education, affordable housing, management of access to unhealthy foods and social security protection as key.

It also said that governments should take action to ensure a living wage for workers, and working conditions that reduce work-related stress and ensure a healthy work-life balance.

via news.bbc.co.uk

According to the report, where you live has a big impact and a video shows the difference a few blocks make in Glasgow- where one child's life expectancy is 53 years of age and another's is 81.

Pope urges mercy toward inmates

"Chaplains must be heralds of God's compassion and forgiveness to prisoners who can be overwhelmed by feelings of isolation, shame and rejection, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope said this today to the participants of the 12th World Congress of the International Commission of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care, being held in Rome through Tuesday.

About the theme of this year's congress, "Discovering the Face of Christ in Every Prisoner," the Holy Father said it "aptly portrays your ministry as a vivid encounter with the Lord."

"Indeed," the Pontiff continued, referring to his encyclical "Deus Caritas Est," "in Christ the 'love of God and love of neighbor have become one,' so that 'in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in him … God.'

"Your ministry requires much patience and perseverance. Not infrequently there are disappointments and frustrations."

Via Zenit

For those who do prison ministries, we offer our prayers of support.

"Christians, especially evangelicals, have for too long over-simplified the problems of the world by claiming that if we just deal with personal sin, then the world will be changed automatically as a matter of course. In other words, if we can only get people to accept Jesus Christ, then automatically things will change....This aspect of the Gospels’ emphasis is of course true. When people’s hearts change, society changes. But this view is an incomplete understanding of the truth, and is simplistic because it denies the presence and nature of evil. For evil is present in the world not only in our hearts, but in structures and systems designed to oppress, degrade, abuse, and kill others. If we are not intentional about bringing change and transformation in lives and societies it will not happen. To love people is to act on behalf of them.”
-Joseph D'souza, AICC human rights activist [working on behalf of the Dalit caste in India]

[visual description: The book cover of Dalit Freedom Now and Forever is shown. A little girl is pictured on the front cover between the title and the author's name on the bottom.]
-In 2005, Dr. D’souza published his first book, Dalit Freedom Now and Forever about the history of the Dalit quest for emancipation and the response of the Indian church.

h/t Holy Spirit Interactive

Catholic Social Justice Teachings

For a list of Catholic Social Justice Teachings, click above. (Posted at reader request).

Darfur

The Save Darfur organization has come up with a wonderful way to connect people who want to help raise awareness and work to help the people of Darfur. If you click above you can enter your zip code and find events near you that you can attend and participate in. After seeing the creative ways people are finding to have events (such as talent shows, film showings, etc.) you might want to run one yourself.

What some people do with fame

Drew Barrymore, the actress known for her many roles since ET as a child, is now an Ambassador for the World Hunger Program. She has been traveling and working with the group, which provides aid through school feeding programs. "Feeding a child at school is such a simple thing to do," she says. And she adds that she's seen what a miracle it is. "School feeding not only fills stomachs, but has a proven track record of boosting enrollment, attendance and academic performance. For just pennies a day per child, this program changes lives – and ultimately can impact the futures of poor countries around the world in a profound way,” she said.

In the above video, Drew talks about the work of WHP. I've put a link on top of this post so people can go over and check out the work this group is doing.