Hackensack, N.J. — As head of the social justice ministry at St. Mary's Church in Pompton Lakes, N.J., Jackie Schramm employs church teachings to tackle such issues as poverty, immigrant rights and racism. Recently, she began conducting a weekly church program - Just Faith - aimed at inspiring laypeople to develop a passion for those issues. She spoke about the church's social justice mission.
Q: You oversee the social justice ministry at one of the largest churches in northern New Jersey. What does social justice mean and how do you work it into the life of the church?
A: Any church that's alive and thriving involves itself in charity, which is reaching out to the community, to the neighbors, to the world. The difference for my ministry is we focus on the justice aspect. Why are the people poor? Why do we need the soup kitchens and the food pantries? What are the underlying issues that have led to these people that need to form these lines? We ask the questions, we research the issues to try to understand how we can change the situation.
Q: Is there an emphasis on social justice in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures?
A: Yes, going back to Abraham, there were different laws such as you don't plant or harvest more than you need. You don't store extra food for yourself. What you grow, you use. And a part of your (field) would be for people traveling through, for those that wouldn't otherwise be able to have food. No one would be hungry. It was a just situation. Those are the themes that Jesus speaks of. He comes from that tradition and the tradition of the prophets, who were calling people back to the tradition of justice.
Jackie Schram (Courtesy photo/Jackie Schramm)
Q: What did Jesus say specifically about social justice?
A: It's not that he said anything about social justice, it's the way he lived and what he did that is social justice. We would say Jesus has a preferential option for the poor. Those were the people he spoke to. Those are the people who came to him. They were the people who understood his message. The way he took cultural taboos, such as the way women were treated, and turned them on their head. He elevated women to an equal status, and if you know and understood his time, that wasn't the cultural understanding of women and the poor. The poor were thought to be sinners, that they were poor because they had done something to deserve this lower status.
Q: You're conducting a program called Just Faith that aims to help people develop a passion for social justice. What can the average parent or college student expect from the program?
A: Just Faith is a process, and it incorporates reflection, dialogue, hands-on experience and action as a way for people to change the world. What we use are books and videos. The books can be on specific values or they can be on issues that are in our world. It's very contemporary and relevant. If you look at the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the car you drive. It's your lifestyle and we study the connection or the consequences of the way we live.
Q: Do the participants go out in the community to perform a social justice mission?
A: We cross the tracks. We go to Paterson (N.J.) and we'll visit the Passaic County (N.J.) Jail. And it's not just to see what it looks like. We have a tour, and then we meet with inmates in a chapel and listen to their stories. It's building a relationship. We don't go there to bring anything. We don't go there in service. We go there in relationship. When we listen to their stories, that is a very transforming experience.
Q: How did you develop your own passion for social justice?
A: I went to the Philippines in 1978 as a Maryknoll lay missioner. I had a very romantic idea of the poor, and I thought we were there to help them and to save them. And that is where I had my first conversion experience, because when I got there, I realized they don't need my help. But I witnessed a people who were definitely on the margins - 70 percent were below the poverty line. And they were in a military dictatorship. They had no rights. They were very oppressed, yet their faith was enormous.
Q: You're playing a large role in your parish, yet you are a lay person. Are lay ministers taking on larger roles in the Catholic Church?
A: Yes, and that's because of the reality, we have fewer and fewer priests. The church is everyone. It's wonderful to see the laity being more involved and I hope that that trend continues. Because it's our church and we have to take ownership of it and be more responsible about it. That's what empowerment is.
at 11:25 a.m.
I love to read stories of faith in action. So many of us talk the talk but this woman is walking it, too!!