by Catholic News Service
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WASHINGTON -- JustFaith Ministries, the Louisville, Ky.-based social ministry program, has entered into partnerships with Pax Christi USA and Bread for the World. The partnerships were announced in late May.
Details of the partnership with Pax Christi, the U.S. arm of the international Catholic peace movement, will be announced July 16 in Chicago at the National Catholic Conference on Peacemaking.
The partnership, according to a Pax Christi announcement May 27, will focus on "promoting and practicing the social mission of the church among Catholics throughout the United States."
"JustFaith is one of the most incredible engines for educating people in the pew on Catholic social teaching and the Gospel values from which that teaching springs," Pax Christi USA executive director Dave Robinson said in a statement. "We look forward to how our two organizations together can reach Catholics who are hungering for the Gospel vision of a more peaceful, more just and more sustainable world."
The partnership between JustFaith and Bread for the World, the Christian citizens' anti-hunger lobby, was announced May 26. The intent of the partnership is to strengthen both groups' capacity to mobilize Christians to end hunger.
It is an expansion of a partnership started three years ago, when Bread for the World partnered with JustFaith to produce an ecumenical version of the JustFaith curriculum.
The original curriculum was developed primarily for Catholics and was based on Catholic social teaching. The partnership has been expanded to include both the Catholic and ecumenical versions. Both curricula include readings, films, prayers and retreats. Now, the Catholic version will include readings and materials from Bread for the World and a session in which participants do an "Offering of Letters," Bread for the World's annual Lenten letter-writing campaign.
JustFaith offers educational programs all over the country for small groups of Christians who want to deepen their commitment, both individually and within their churches, to people in need. About 20,000 Christians, mostly Catholics, have completed JustFaith's 30-week curriculum.
"This partnership can only build more advocates," said a statement from Pat Plant, a Bread for the World member and JustFaith board member. "The lessons ask: 'Why would a Christian advocate on behalf of hungry people?' We read books and watch films that help us learn more about U.S. and global hunger. This can help church people get beyond knowing, reading and talking -- to doing."