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SOUL
It’s very different from most corporate environments.” In fact, leadership on the Commission is about raising others up, putting them into an energetic, dynamic, fluid environment, and then putting aside your own ego to do what’s best for the group’s success. Once a course of action is decided upon, the Justice Commission swings into action. Distribution links disseminate what they’ve learned. That’s how the struggle for justice reaches the broader audience beyond the Commission. Everyone in the community makes it her business to learn the Commission’s point of view. Sisters and Consociates interested in the topic ask to be kept informed. That way, when the advocacy phase begins, the community speaks clearly, loudly and with one voice. The Sisters have found, over the years, that a communal voice, calling for truth, justice and freedom for the poor and oppressed can be a powerful thing. Needless to say, the main work of the Commission and its many groups is advocating for justice. Bringing about change in the system peacefully through legislation. It is indeed about educating legislators on specific issues, but what the Commission is doing is not lobbying. Lobbyists are paid to represent one topic or special interest or industry. These advocates volunteer their time on the Commission, and they represent many different topics of interest. Locally, the thrust of this work is aimed at the Minnesota legislature in St. Paul, though the work also goes on within the national federation of the CSJs ––in Washington and up to the United Nations level.
Who better to explain how it’s done than Joan Wittman, head of the Legislative Advocacy Partners Working Group? The first subject: Action Alerts. “We have a ready network of 80 to 90 people called LAP (Legislative Action Partners),” she explains. “When they receive an Action Alert, they contact their own legislators by phone, or email or in person, to advocate on behalf of the dear neighbor.” The Action Alerts, coming out of the various working groups, describe in great detail the issues at stake in a matter before the legislature. During the last legislative session, the LAPs handled 14 Action Alerts. There is another way for the working groups to educate others. It’s called Justice Night. Each month, a different working group, with their unique focus, takes on the responsibility of hosting a gathering and presenting their own program. The evening is part education, part social event, part spiritual experience. Anyone who is interested is invited to hear what the group has to say. That includes the whole neighborhood. But perhaps the most popular means of advocacy the Commission uses is referred to as Conversations With Legislators, which take place at the CSJ Provincial House. Picture a dining room filled with constituents, sitting around small tables, primed and ready to talk something over with their senators or representatives. They have spent the morning going over extensive briefs on various topics. They are ready for in-depth discussions on matters of their choosing. In the afternoon, the invited legislators arrive, and for one and a
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