JOURNEY TO JUSTICE MINISTRY
“Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God’s help.”
—Paragraph 8, BCP, page 305
Utilizing resources from multiple sources — the National Episcopal Church, our Diocese, scholars, community, and others — we strive, by engaging our parish in education, conversation, and action, to further the understanding of the roots of injustices
within our society and discern how the Gospel calls us to respond.
We invite all to join us and hope that volunteers will grow on this journey through work that fulfills our baptismal covenant.
PRIORITIES FOR 2025
Race and housing justice
Sacred Ground continuous offering / institutionalization
Civil Rights pilgrimage (planning for potential 2025 trip)
COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP
Steering Committee Co-Chairs: George Hodge and Cathy Kimble
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Monthly Meeting | Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025 | 5-6 p.m.
AGENDA
Opening prayer and welcome- George
Project reports
Pilgrimage to Greensboro NC on June 21, 2025 (Cathy)
Sacred Ground sessions in fall 2025(Chris)
Panel discussion on immigration issues in fall 2025 (all)
Poverty Simulation to be held March 13, 2025 (Ruth)
New Business
Announcements- share upcoming events that may be of interest to our members.
Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) at St. Michael’s
On January 23, 2024, 80 people, including St. Michael’s clergy and the CEO of The Green Chair Project, participated in a Poverty Simulation cohosted by St. Michael’s and The Green Chair Project. Everyone was cast either as a member of a low-income family or a community service provider. Each family biography detailed the personal challenges as well as specific financial constraints. The structure of four “15-minute weeks” instantly created stress as the head of the household—perhaps a single grandparent raising two children—had a number of crucial tasks to accomplish. If the grandmother has a job she must be “at work” for 8 minutes, leaving only 7 minutes to take the bus to the bank, to go to the grocery store, to attend to health appointments for a child. There was never enough time.
By the end of the evening, participants understood on a visceral level the heroic energy it takes to cope with the challenges and the psychological impacts of poverty, especially on children. Participants learned that 5,143 North Carolina children experienced homelessness in the 2022-23 school year, up from 2,174 in the 2015-16 school year. The Green Chair Project reports that 1 out of 30 Wake County students do not have a bed of their own.
The poverty threshold is $30,000 for a family of four; 92,000 residents of Wake County (8% of the population) live in poverty, while 13% of people in North Carolina live in poverty. 17% of North Carolina children live in poverty.
The federal minimum wage, last raised in 2009, is $7.25. A worker earning minimum wage earns $1,257 a month; the median Raleigh rent for a 2-bedroom apartment is $1,499.
Poverty data from Wake County, HUD, and The Green Chair Project.
Bill Duff runs the Pawn shop. Sally Norton recruits workers. Lining up for work.
RESOURCES AND PAST EVENTS
Sept. 25, 2022 — Matt Ellinwood, director of the NC Education and Law Project of the NC Justice Center.
Faith Communities and the Fight for Education Equity in North Carolina
READING LIST
Waking up White by Debby Irving
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis
LITURGY + JUSTICE
Check out the “Liturgical Season Social Justice Calendar” to see how our Church seasons and social justice work overlap.
