Welcome to the Office of Peace and Justice (OPJ). We are here to assist parish and school communities in understanding and acting on Catholic social teaching. OPJ works with parishes to implement formation opportunities in Catholic social teaching, including support and training for JustFaith and JusticeWalking Ministries, support and training in the development of Parish Social Ministry, and engagement with and development of partnerships between Catholic Charities Community Services, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Catholic Relief Services and parishioners and students throughout our community.

We encourage you to use this website to learn more about the programs and services offered by the Office of Peace and Justice and to stay informed about the various opportunities for engagement and education that are taking place in our local, national and global community.

Tricia Hoyt,

Director, Office of Peace and Justice                                      

602.650.4832

email at phoyt@cc-az.org.

Check out What's New!

Respond to the crisis is Myanmar (Burma).

Parish Social Ministry Training - April 25-27

Event Highlights and Resources, including our PSM Manual!

Join CRS in the World's Largest

Coffee Break Planned for May 10

Foster Care Forum - St Jerome and St. Helen's Catholic Church

Election '08- Forming Consciences For Faithful Citizenship

Check often for new News and Calendar items!

Spring 2008 Framework

Framework For Peace and Justice, our quarterly newsletter, contains stories about community members who are involved in activities that fulfill what Pope Benedict XVI describes as our call to be "engaged in the building of a better world [which] requires Christians to speak with a united voice in working to inculcate 'respect for the rights and needs of everyone, especially the poor, the lowly and the defenseless'”(Deus Caritas Est). We are proud to share these stories with you along with essays by prominent authors, recommendations for further study, and news about opportunities for involvement.

New! Our current Framework Newsletter:
Framework - Spring 2008 Newsletter - (PDF 893K)

To read past Framework Newsletters, go to the Framework archive!

Here is a list of some of our programs:

Parish social ministry is the empowerment of the parish as the people of God to fulfill the Church's mission of love, justice, freedom, and peace by communally responding in an organized way to societal and individual human needs.

Parish partnerships with Catholic Charities to accomplish these goals are called Catholic Charities Ministry.

For information about getting your parish or organization involved, contact the following:

Phoenix Regional Service Center
Contact: Diana Stickney
602.650.4835

dstickney@cc-az.org

East Valley Regional Service Center
Contact: Lisa Laliberte

480.964.8771 ext. 3273

602.650.4873

llaliberte@cc-az.org

West Valley Regional Service Center
Contact: R Scott Jones
602.650.4840
rjones@cc-az.org

Northern Arizona Regional Service Centers

Yavapai and Coconino-Mohave

Contact: Tricia Hoyt

602.650.4832

phoyt@cc-az.org

Administrative Service Center

Office of Peace and Justice

Contact: Scott Jones

602.650.4840

rjones@cc-az.org

¿Si quiere información en español?
Llame a Tricia Hoyt,
Directora de la Oficina de Paz y Justicia,
602.650.4832

JustFaith is an educational and spiritual process that seeks to integrate personal spirituality and social ministry. The goal of JustFaith is to empower participants to develop a passion for justice and to express this passion in concrete acts of social ministry. OPJ provides support and training to parishes engaging in this program.

Since its start in 1969, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) has worked to transform lives and communities, focusing steadily on breaking the cycle of poverty in thousands of communities across the United States. CCHD was established by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops with a two-fold mandate to fund low-income controlled empowerment projects and to educate Catholics about the root causes of poverty within the context of the Catholic social tradition. CCHD programs are funded through an annual collection in parishes each November.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) was founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States. CRS's mission is to assist the poor and disadvantaged, leveraging the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to alleviate human suffering, promote development of all people, and to foster charity and justice throughout the world.

Working through local offices and an extensive network of partners, CRS operates on five continents and in 98 countries. CRS aids the poor by first providing direct assistance where needed, then encouraging people to help with their own development. Together, these approaches foster secure, productive, just communities that enable people to realize their potential.

As the official international relief and development agency of the U.S. Catholic community, CRS is also committed to educating the people of the United States to help them fulfill their moral responsibilities toward our global brothers and sisters by helping the poor, working to remove the causes of poverty, and promoting social justice.

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