Ignatian Solidarity Network

FORMATION & NETWORKING OF YOUTH: In FY 2023-2024, ISN facilitated in-person programming and campaigns around various issue areas, including a consistent ethic of life, environmental justice, economic justice, and racial justice and equity. For over a decade, ISN has been connecting high school students across the U.S. at annual Arrupe Leaders Summitsempowering student leaders to enact positive social change in their schools, home communities, and beyond. The three 2024 summits brought over 120 high school students and 40 faculty and staff togetherall with a shared commitment to putting faith in action to build a more just world. SUPPORT OF EDUCATORS AND MENTORS:CULTIVATING RENEWAL, ENGAGING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES (CREST) - In April 2024, thirty-three high school educators from across the country gathered in Santa Cruz, California, to experience the first Cultivating Renewal Engaging the Signs of our Times (CREST) gathering. Through speakers, networking, and reflection opportunities using the lens of Catholic Social Teaching, CREST gathered secondary educators who are guiding young people to recognize and respond to the realities of injustice and inequity in their respective communities and the world. More than a technical conference, the experience allowed educators to go deeper within themselves and cultivate relational and leadership skills to continue accompanying young people on their faith & justice journeys. MOBILIZING CATHOLIC PARISHES FOR JUSTICE ACTION - This 4-part online program created a space for parishioners, parish staff, and educators to skill-build the techniques and methods needed to manifest our dreams for justice into practical action. Utilizing the lens of Ignatian discernment and grounded in the teaching of the Parable of the Sower, the sessions provided formation on building solid teams, mobilizing people to action, amplifying a message, engaging in strategic advocacy, building support in our institutions, holding campaign members accountable to directly impacted communities. Approximately 50 individuals participated in the online sessions.ISN PROMOTES ETHICAL COFFEE PURCHASING THROUGH IMMERSION TRIP THAT DEEPENED TIES TO JESUIT-SUPPORTED COFFEE COOPERATIVE IN MEXICO - ISN spent a week with a delegation of individuals from across the Jesuit network in U.S. from Santa Clara University, Creighton University, and MAGIS Americas, wherein the group visited Capeltics operation in Chiapas and other parts of Mexico where the cooperative has established coffee shops. Fair trade coffee is available for any Jesuit and/or Catholic parish or campus to purchase from ISNs online store.IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE TO PROMOTE ETHICAL PURCHASING PRACTICES IN CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS - In August 2023, eight staff from Catholic high schools, universities, and organizations outside the Ignatian Solidarity Network came together to learn and discuss ethical purchasing at CEPAs partners at The Industrial Commons in Morganton, North Carolina. The mini immersion was a two-day-long deep dive into The Industrial Commons cooperative ecosystem of ethical and sustainable garment production. The immersion allowed institutional and organizational leaders to network and connect, creating pathways for ethical purchasing in their community. The immersion was part of ISNs Catholic Ethical Purchasing Alliance (CEPA). Initiated in 2021, CEPA supports Catholic institutions and individuals efforts to integrate the values of Catholic Social Teaching (CST), related to the rights and dignity of workers and care for the Earth, into their institutional purchasing practices. CEPA partners with Catholic universities, high schools, parishes, health systems, and other ministries. The program helps these institutions build relationships with ethical purchasing partners, provides educational resources and presentations, and assists in integrating CST values into institutional purchasing policies and practices. In June 2024, CEPA produced its first webinar in a series to educate the Ignatian network about what Catholic Social Teaching has to say about labor rights and how we are called to support workers rights. The webinar outlined tools that can be used for reflection and action on labor rights. CEPA supports Catholic institutions and individuals efforts to integrate the values of Catholic Social Teaching (CST), related to the rights and dignity of workers and care for the Earth, into their institutional purchasing practices. CEPA partners with Catholic universities, high schools, parishes, health systems, and other ministries. The program helps these institutions build relationships with ethical purchasing partners, provides educational resources and presentations, and assists in integrating CST values into institutional purchasing policies and practices. In June 2024, CEPA produced its first webinar in a series to educate the Ignatian network about what Catholic Social Teaching has to say about labor rights and how we are called to support workers rights. The webinar outlined tools that can be used for reflection and action on labor rights.

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONSIn FY 2023-2024, ISN welcomed more than 195,000 website visitors and nearly 65,000 subscribers to our regular social justice newsletters. ISNs growth in reach also encompasses a host of social media platforms, with more than 27,000 followers on Facebook, more than 17,000 on Twitter, more than 13,000 on Instagram, and nearly 1,500 on YouTube. ISNs website is a hub for online campaigns, in-person program registration, and various resources related to Catholic Social Teaching and Ignatian spirituality to social justice work. Education for Justice, acquired by Ignatian Solidarity Network in January 2019, has become a core element of ISNs resource offerings. As of June 30, 2024, more than 1,160 Catholic educators and ministers are active members of Education for Justice through over 700 individual and institutional memberships. Through Education for Justice, the Ignatian Solidarity Network adds three to five new relevant resources each month to a digital library totaling over 2,500 total items, including prayers, discussion guides, lesson plans, and much more.

IGNATIAN FAMILY TEACH-IN FOR JUSTICEFrom October 28-30, 2023, in Washington, D.C., nearly 2,000 individuals gathered for the Ignatian Solidarity Networks 26th annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice (IFTJ). The 2023 teach-ins theme, Boundless and Beloved, invited attendees to root themselves in the history of the Teach-In and the legacy of the Jesuit martyrs and their companionskilled in 1989 in El Salvador for their commitment to standing with the oppressedand to renew a commitment to addressing todays injustices with creativity, courage, and resiliencetraits embodied by the first Teach-In in Georgia twenty-five years ago. The weekends keynote speakers included Ellie Hidalgo, Sister Norma Pimentel, and Monique Trusclair Maddox. Sunday concluded with Catholic mass, with presider Rev. Joseph OKeefe, S.J. The Teach-In culminated with a public witness in Washington, D.C.s Union Square and a legislative advocacy day on Capitol Hill. Over 1,000 attendees met Congressional members or their staffs to discuss humane approaches to immigration policy and call for increased action to respond to the realities of climate change. The advocacy was the nations largest Catholic advocacy day in 2023.

MIGRATION JUSTICE PROGRAMMINGISN continued to build its network of immigration advocates, addressing issues including the right to seek asylum, border policy, and support for DACA recipients and undocumented members of the Ignatian family. In January 2024, 32 college students gathered in Morristown, New Jersey, for ISNs 3rd annual Undocu Network Summit. Each of the attendees gathered had an immigration storyidentifying as undocumented, a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipient, or a member of a mixed-status family. The gathering provided attendeesall Catholic college and university students a safe place to build community, share concerns, seek advice, and grow their campus organizing skills. The network meets monthly throughout the year via Zoom to continue cultivating the relationships and collaboration developed during the January 2024 summit. On March 21, 2024, ISN was represented at the march and vigil for human dignity in El Paso, Texas. This event sought to bring attention to the disturbing attempts by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to shut down Annunciation House for allegedly unlawful activity. Annunciation House accompanies the migrant, refugee, and economically vulnerable peoples of the border region through hospitality, advocacy, and education.

OTHER PROGRAMMINGCONSISTENT ETHIC OF LIFE - In January 2024, ISN joined the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States in hosting the Ignatian Family Mass for Life in Washington, D.C. The mass welcomed over 350 students, faculty, staff, and parishioners to Saint Aloysius Gonzaga Church for prayer and reflection before the school and parish delegations took part in the annual March for Life through the streets of Washington, D.C. IGNATIAN ADVOCACY MADNESSOver seven weeks in March and April 2024, 13 Jesuit schools and 1 Jesuit province office participated in Ignatian Advocacy Madness, a fun and impactful competition aligned with the concurrent March Madness basketball tournaments. Approximately 12,000 people engaged in point-earning activities, promoting justice as the true champion. The activities fell into general categories of an education event, a prayer event, a legislative meeting, or a legislative phone/letter drive. On July 12, 2023, hundreds of parishioners joined Fr. Joseph Cheah, OSM. Ph.D. for his presentation, Beyond the Forever Foreigner: Unpacking Anti-Asian American Racism. Fr. Cheah is a Professor at the University of Saint Joseph in Hartford, CT, and authored Anti-Asian Racism: Myths, Stereotypes, and Catholic Social Teaching. His presentation examined how Black and Asian Americans are racialized differently, how systemic racism operates within these two groups, and how perpetual foreigner and model minority stereotypes operate in the lives of Asian Americans. On July 12, 2023, hundreds of parishioners joined Fr. Joseph Cheah, OSM. Ph.D. for his presentation, Beyond the Forever Foreigner: Unpacking Anti-Asian American Racism. Fr. Cheah is a Professor at the University of Saint Joseph in Hartford, CT, and authored Anti-Asian Racism: Myths, Stereotypes, and Catholic Social Teaching. His presentation examined how Black and Asian Americans are racialized differently, how systemic racism operates within these two groups, and how perpetual foreigner and model minority stereotypes operate in the lives of Asian Americans.