The Teach-In is a space for prophetic voices for solidarity with the economically poor, the marginalized, and the Earth who have an openness to an Ignatian approach to faith and justice. Get ready to be challenged, engaged, and inspired to be agents for justice and solidarity.
MainStage
Large-Scale Breakouts
Saturday, 10/22 7:55-8:45PM
Personalize your IFTJ experience by choosing from 6 large scale breakout session options on Saturday evening.
Large-scale breakout session options will be announced by mid-September 2022.
Breakouts
Sunday, 10/23
With 25+ presenting organizations in each of the Sunday breakout sessions, you’ll be able to connect with the justice issues you’re most passionate about.
“CAMINAR CONTIGO”: Walking with Refugees| Jesuit Refugee Service/USA – Josh Utter >> Offering friendship and support to refugees and asylum-seekers is the most impactful way to renew hope and help them establish new roots in their new communities. This session will focus on how the Migrant Accompaniment Network seeks to empower, educate, and recruit volunteers to walk with refugees.|All Groups|
“So the Church cares about climate change… what now?”| Catholic Climate Covenant – Henry Glynn, Emily Burke >> Do you understand climate change as a Catholic priority, but don’t know what to do about it? This session will inform and train you to propose a net zero emissions pathway to your priest or bishop. There is growing energy around this faith-fulfilling action step across the United States and the world; do you want to play a part in it? |All Groups|
“We Cannot Wash Our Hands of This:” Sustaining Antiracism Ministry and Parishioner Involvement| St. Ignatius Baltimore – Kevin Burdinski, Kendall Burdinski>> Join the St. Ignatius Baltimore Antiracism Task Force for an overview of how it has worked to a) keep antiracist efforts a priority in their parish and b) expand its efforts and be creative to keep people involved in this important work—providing ideas for your own utilization. |All Groups|
Artificial-Intelligence: Our Call to Enabling Inclusive, Accessible, and Diverse Education| Jesuit High School, Portland – Nesara Shree>> Learn how artificial intelligence (AI) influences our society—especially those who are marginalized racially, ethnically, socially, or economically—and how Catholic Social Teaching calls our communities to rethink how we organize educational practices around AI/technology awareness, offering ways to address the looming diversity, equity, and accessibility crises, and how we can address perpetuation of human biases in technology today. |HS-US-HS*-US*|
Becoming Creators of Unity: Taizé Prayer and Conversation| Union Theological Seminary – Liam Myers>> Through prayer, songs, and life together, the Taizé community is constantly striving towards living the gospel path. This session will provide an opportunity for us to pray in the Taizé spirit, as well as engage in conversation about becoming creators of unity within our own contexts.|US-AFVF-P|
Centering Racial Justice in Volunteer Service| Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest – Chris Suriano>> Volunteer service in the U.S. has a complicated history. Despite the best intentions, volunteer programs have often reinforced white supremacist systems and positioned volunteers as saviors at the center of the story rather than agents of structural change. Join JVC Northwest staff to discuss how we must center racial justice and equity in our volunteer programming to truly serve in solidarity with our communities.|HS-US-AFVF|
Checking in On Parents| John Dougherty, Cecilia Dougherty>> The act of parenting is at once endlessly hopeful and unimaginably scary. How do we navigate the world of parenting while working for change and raising children who will carry on the work of justice? Join in this community conversation about the challenges of parenting in 2022, renewing hope in our future, our children. Warning: We are not experts!|HS-US-US*-AFVF-P|
Climate Justice 101: What Every Catholic Should Know|The National Catholic Reporter – Brian Roewe>> This session will explore what the terms “climate justice” and “environmental justice” mean, what the Catholic Church has said about them, what climate justice looks like in the U.S. and abroad, and what you can do to ensure environmental justice in your community.|HS-US-AFVF|
Community Conversations: How to #WelcomeLikeJesus|Kino Border Initiative – Tracey Horan>> When many are tempted to use images or words like “invasion” or “alien” to push away people traveling to the U.S. to seek a better life for their families, we are called to #WelcomeLikeJesus: to move in closer and dialogue across differences. During this session, learn how to host Community Conversations toward welcome and share resources to implement these conversations back home.|All Groups|
Companionship and Accompaniment: Models for International Sustainable Development|The Quispicanchi Project – Michael Riemer, Juliana Stanford, Santiago Day>> Interested in learning more about international relief work and sustainable development with a startup nonprofit? Come learn about the Quispicanchi Project and our model for collaborative intervention characterized by a fundamental commitment to solidarity, cross-cultural friendships, and accompaniment.|HS-US-AFVF|
Conceptualizing Justice and Advocacy through the Social Justice Institute|Loyola Marymount University – Andrew Boeckman, Gabi Jeakle, Saúl Rascón-Salazar>> In this session, students at Loyola Marymount University will share how they started a Social Justice Institute on campus, with the goal of engaging students in how to effectively advocate and organize for justice. Learn how to organize and implement a Social Justice Institute on your own school’s campus.|All Groups|
Confessions of a Canadian Gay Catholic: How the Jesuits and Ignatian Spirituality Kept Me in the Church|Luke Guimond Gilmore>> Explore how Catholic social thought and Ignatian spirituality are gateways for queer Catholics to find a home in the Church. We will learn how we can utilize our shared faith and Jesuit education to build a more inclusive Church.|HS-US-P|
Dreamscaping: Righting History|University of San Francisco – Sheryl Evans Davis, Saidah Leatutufu-Burch>> During this session, we will explore corrective narrative storytelling, highlighting strategies focused on rectifying the biased narratives associated with BIPOC communities. Students will learn how to use music, film, poetry, and visual arts to share stories that celebrate communities of color.|All Groups|
Encouraging a New Generation of Catholic Leaders in a Divided Church and Nation|Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life – Anna Gordon, Christian Soenen>> Explore examples of dialogue rooted in Catholic social thought on the Covid-19 pandemic, the controversy over communion and public officials, immigration, climate change, and racial injustice—and possibilities for action for young leaders demoralized by a wounded Church and polarized nation. |US-US*-AFVF-P|
Engaging Justice Education Across Content Areas |Boston College School of Theology and Ministry – Katie Ward >> Justice education is at the core of our work as Catholic educators. However, it can often be isolated only in certain content areas or remain outside of academic classroom spaces. In this session, we will examine, share, and develop practices for justice education rooted in Catholic social teaching which involve the entire school through cross-curricular connections and community collaboration. |HS*-US*-AFVF|
Expectations Versus Realities of First Generation Americans|Cristo Rey Jesuit High School – Angely Mora, Aydee Cruz Mejia>> During this session we will address the struggles of being first generation students and the harsh reality faced during their career exploration. Students will learn how they can exercise creativity, courage, and resilience in moving their dreams (and also the dreams of their families and communities) forward. |HS-US|
Exploring Liturgy as a Catalyst for Social Transformation|Catholic Theological Union – Ellen Romer Niemiec, Karen Ross>> How can we reclaim and renew sacred space and the ways we pray in order to center those on the margins and sustain us in transforming our world? Bring your ideas about what prayer in community means to you, including stories, images, memories, stories and more. |HS-US-AFVF-P|
Faith Doing Justice: Moving from Service to Advocacy|Seattle Preparatory School – William Liu, Kenny Ouedraogo>> Learn about how to create a comprehensive service program that moves students from service hours into action and advocacy. Participants will be invited to collaborate with others in sharing their service projects and advocacy work in their own schools and communities. |HS-HS*|
Flip The Table Feminism|University of San Francisco – Jane Bleasdale>> Learn about #flipthetablefeminism, a new paradigm for leadership, rooted in critical feminist theories and Catholic social teaching, building communities in partnership with others—where students, teachers, and administrators have equal voice in the process of education—and disrupting oppressive systems of education that give preferential treatment to the wealthy, white middle-to-upper class members of our society. |All Groups|
Freedom For All: Ending the Criminalization of Migrants|Alianza Américas – Sarah Rosland, Oscar Chacón >> Alianza Americas, a network of migrant-led organizations and allies throughout the Americas, calls for an end to the criminalization of migrants. Join our workshop about how you can become informed and organize around promoting a more just and humane immigration system, abolish immigrant detention, and defund the private prison system. |HS-US-HS*-US*-P|
Healing Earth: Educating for an Integral Ecology|Healing Earth – Rachel Elfant, Michael Schuck>> Join this collaborative and co-creative session with colleagues working in education in integral ecology for high school, university, and adult students. Focusing on social and ecological issues, participants will learn strategies to integrate science, ethics, spirituality, and action in their specific educational settings, utilizing the skills and gifts that they already possess.|HS*-US*-AFVF-P|
Hoarding Grace: Who is Welcome at Our Tables?|Catholic Diocese of Cleveland – Andrew Hoy >> Explore the ways in which many liturgical communities have become habituated in the “hoarding of grace”—sacramental boundaries explicitly or implicitly excluding others from graced encounters with God, and impeding the Church’s work toward the justice of the Kin-dom of God. Learn about inclusive liturgical practices, sacramental activism, and ways in which you can welcome marginalized people into full sacramental participation. |HS-US-HS*-US*|
Justice, Equality and Human Rights in the Holy Land|Churches for Middle East Peace – Julie Schumacher Cohen, Jennifer Maidrand>> Explore key concerns related to social justice in the Holy Land today—including a brief overview of the history and contemporary geo-politics of Israel-Palestine and the plight of Palestinian Christians. Engage Catholic Social Teaching as a resource for pursuing solidarity, human rights, non-violence, equality, justice, and reconciliation in the Holy Land.|US-US*-AFVF|
Men Owning Others: U.S. Jesuits and Slavery|Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation project – Jeffrey Harrison, S.J. >> U.S. Jesuits and Jesuit institutions engaged in the enslavement of Africans and their descendants from at least 1717 until 1865. Join this session to learn about this history, discuss reactions, and imagine ways to work within your communities to address the legacies of Jesuit slavery which persist today in the form of racial inequities. |All Groups|
Not Your Granddaddy’s Diaconate: Women Witnessing from the Margins| Discerning Deacons – Anna Robertson, Maureen O’Connell>> Did you know that the first and only deacon named in Christian Scriptures was a woman? Learn about the history of prophetic women deacons and the present movement to restore women to the diaconate while considering how the Spirit is at work in YOUR life’s story and how you can become part of this movement. |All Groups|
Organizing 101|Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor – Ken Homan, S.J., Jessica Chilin-Hernández>> What is organizing and how can you use organizing to impact your school, neighborhood, workplace, and community? Join this session to build the skills necessary to radically, pragmatically, and steadily transform your communities. We will cover the basics of community organizing and provide opportunities for you to put these skills into practice.|HS-US-AFVF-P|
Pilgrimage: A Model for Campus Ministry to Root and Renew in Racial Justice|Saint John’s University Campus Ministry, SJUfaith – Patrick Martin>> Last May, six college students made a pilgrimage to South Minneapolis—the place where George Floyd was murdered at the hands of police in May of 2020. Learn how a pilgrimage model can be applied for students, parishioners, and campus ministers for enacting awareness of local social justice issues.|US-US*-AFVF-P|
Queer Prayer|Fordham University Campus Ministry – Benedict Reilly>> Does queer prayer exist? Over 30 LGBTQ+ students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Fordham University would respond “yes!” Each contributed prayers and reflections to a prayer book titled “Queer Prayer at Fordham,” which you can view at this session. Attendees will learn from the prayers of these queer mystics and will be able to share their own queer prayers with the group. |HS-US|
Re-Rooting: Personalizing Hope & Renewal Stories|Sabrina Chiefari>>If the best way to fight climate change is to talk about it, then how does one do that? Participants of this guided creative writing session are invited to explore different opportunities to talk about climate change in life-giving ways—building a story that is uniquely theirs and completely rooted in climate justice.
Re/Generating Church: Cultivating Intergenerational Organizing Through Praxis|Call To Action – Lauren Barbato, Revalon Wesson, Tess Gallagher-Clancy >> Learn how liberation theology’s principle of praxis can cultivate intergenerational organizing; explore connections between cross-class and intergenerational organizing—highlighting projects from Call To Action’s Re/Generation program, which allows young Catholics to develop campaigns, media, and alternative spaces rooted in Catholic social justice teaching, including anti-racism and indigenous solidarity, immigration reform, and LGBTQIA+ and gender justice.
Rooted in Radical Love: The Agape Project|Magnificat High School, Rocky River, OH – Krista Stevens, Lauretta Ruppert, Regina Sullivan>> Our students are creative, dedicated, and passionate—but often feel overwhelmed by the scope of injustice and their perceived lack of power to change anything in an adult world. Learn about the Agape Experiment, a semester-long, student-driven project that allows students to explore an issue of injustice and create an action plan to address that issue.|All Groups|
Slavery in the Land of the Free: My journey from Victim to Activist|US Sisters Against Human Trafficking – Theresa Flores>> Learn how a young Catholic trafficking victim’s faith never faltered and how years later, she turned her story into a call for action. Learn what she wishes someone would have seen or done and what Catholic Social Teaching is calling us to do to end human trafficking and restore human dignity through activism.|All Groups|
Somatic Discernment for Liberation|Embodied Spiritual Repair – Teresa Cariño Petersen>> Somatic discernment is a trauma informed spiritual practice for justice work. This practice marries the wisdom of Ignatian Spirituality and the wisdom of our body to recognize where we need to focus our inner work for communal liberation. In this session, participants will move through a somatic discernment practice and learn the foundations of the method. |All Groups|
Storytelling for the Common Good: Spiritual Tools to Root and Renew Shared Narratives|Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States / Loyola Press – Eric Clayton>> Through storytelling, we uncover shared values and build common ground. Join us to explore spiritual tools for better storytelling, and practice putting those tools to use in discovering what matters most to your life—and to the lives of others.|US-US*-AFVF-P|
The Racial Wealth and Income Gap|NETWORK Lobby – Colin Martinez Longmore, Meg Olson>> The massive wealth gap between Black and white families in the United States is no accident. Instead, it was created and has been sustained by generations of racist federal policies. NETWORK’s Racial Wealth and Income Gap workshop combines an informational presentation, interactive simulation, individual reflections, and group discussion to educate participants about the origins of our nation’s racial wealth and income gap.|All Groups|
We Are One: What Do Race, Diversity, and Identity Mean to Us?|Regis High School – Julius Dorsey, Jeremiah Alonzo>> Join in a demonstration of the effects of facilitating conversations pertaining to race, diversity, and identity. Examine positive outcomes and difficulties encountered at one school and explore how to do a project like this in your own school community.|HS-US-HS*-US*|
Renewing Our Ecological Imagination |Ignatian Solidarity Network & Laudato Si’ Action Platform Schools Working Group- Brenna Davis, Michael Downs>> The reality of climate change can feel like a flood; however, we have the wisdom and capacity to weather this storm together and to co-create a future that is resilient and where all life can flourish. Bring a problem or challenge related to ecology, and using the process of troika consulting in small groups, receive imaginative help from local wisdom in the room.
Education for Justice: Rooted and Renewed Through Prayer in Our Own words and in the Words of Others | Ignatian Solidarity Network – Clarissa Aljentera>> During this session, we will spend time examining the elements of writing reflective prayers. We will also look at the robust prayers offered through Education for Justice which touch on various topics and themes. Walk away with some tips for writing prayers, freebies, and some of our more popular prayers.
Restorative Justice and Charting Paths of Renewed Encounter|Catholic Mobilizing Network- Caitlin Morneau, Heather Thompson>> There is no better way to understand the journey of a restorative justice process than by hearing from someone who has walked it themselves. Join Catholic Mobilizing Network for a dialogue with Heather Thompson, a Catholic woman who embarked upon a restorative justice dialogue with the man who killed her brother and now advocates for restorative practices in her community. By taking part in this conversation, participants will deepen their knowledge of restorative justice, envision possibilities for restorative justice, and receive resources for continued learning. |All Groups|
Fleeing Nicaragua in 2021: An Immigrant’s Story|Catholic University of America- Jorge Alberto, Harrison Hanvey>> After having his life threatened by masked government paramilitaries, Jorge fled Nicaragua in 2021 and headed to the US. Come hear his migration story, his experience in US detention centers, the challenges of being an immigrant in America, and what you can do to help.|All Groups|
Disability Rights are for Everyone|L’Arche Greater Washington, DC- Mary Dingley, Eileen Schofield>> During this session we will explore disability rights, including the exciting history of activism and current issues facing the disability community. 1 in 4 Americans lives with a disability and they face challenges with accessibility, financial security, and healthcare. Participants will walk away with a deeper understanding of these pressing civil rights issues as well as practical tips to make their world more inclusive.|All Groups|
Mind Matters: Advocacy for Student Mental Health|Regis High School- Jack Flanigan>> Student Mental Health was slipping even before the pandemic furthered the spread of depression, suicide, isolation, and anxiety among young people. Poor mental health prevents young people from connecting to the communities which are there to support them, and in this workshop we will discuss poor mental health as a Justice Issue, explore its connections to Catholic Social Teaching, the causes of poor mental health in schools, and the ways that students can advocate for awareness and foster student wellbeing. |HS-US-HS*-AFVF-P|
Youth Bringing Immigrants Together: Acclimation not Assimilation – Staying Rooted as Teenage Immigrants in 2022|Youth Bringing Immigrants Together- Neharika Sharma>> With a focus on humanizing immigration, Neharika Sharma aims to show how young people can assist the process of youth immigration through her non-profit organization, Youth Bringing Immigrants Together. She will provide stories from her background as a first generation Indian immigrant, as well as experiences of other teenage immigrants to reframe every participants’ idea of immigration. Alongside these recounts, she will allow participants to experience a simulation of her non-profit’s one-on-one mentorship program with teenage immigrants to further emphasize acclimation over assimilation.|HS-US-HS*-US*|
Re-Rooting: Personalizing Hope & Renewal Stories|Ministry for Social Justice, Peace, and Creation Care – Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto- Sabrina Chiefari>> Participants of this guided creative writing session are invited to explore different opportunities to talk about climate change in life-giving ways.|HS-US-HS*-P|
Challenging Environmental Racism: Growing Food, Building Community|Bellarmine Chapel-Tim Severyn>> This session will address the role of environmental racism in the food system. We will share some practical experiences from the NEXUS Community Garden and Urban Farm, a collaborative effort to disrupt environmental racism through the growing of healthy food and vibrant community. We will explore the theology of Laudato Si, then give you an opportunity to engage in some of the practical tools of community building and organizing that have helped this project succeed. |All Groups|
Become a Speaker
Organizations and individuals are called to share their work and passion for justice on the Teach-In MainStage or during one of three IFTJ breakout sessions.
Final deadline for applications: August 15
Speaking Opportunity Descriptions:
Students interested in speaking at the Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justices but not ready to apply should complete this inquiry form. We want to make sure that you have all the information you need to navigate the application process! Questions? Contact Erin Brown at ebrown@ignatiansolidarity.net or 216-200-4359.
#IFTJ
Attend
THANK YOU TO OUR MAGIS SPONSORS
STAY CONNECTED:
[smbtoolbar]
Sign up now to connect with the Jesuit network and learn how you can learn, educate, pray, and advocate for justice year-round.
Contact:
T: (855) 789-2004
E: info@ignatiansolidarity.net
Ignatian Solidarity Network
1 John Carroll Blvd.
University Heights, OH 44118
About:
The Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) is a national social justice network inspired by the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola. ISN was founded in 2004 and is a lay-led 501(c)3 organization working in partnership with Jesuit universities, high schools, and parishes, along with many other Catholic institutions and social justice partners.