SOCIAL JUSTICE
Social Justice Groups:
Earthen Vessels Tutoring
English as a Second or other Language (ESL) Program
Gospel of Life
Peace and Social Justice Group
Community Service Team
Earthen Vessels Tutoring
Earthen Vessels is a program that brings together Harvard students and inner-city children and teenagers. Each tutor is paired with one tutee to begin a mentoring relationship. Tutees receive help with their schoolwork as well as basic academic skills. Earthen Vessels tutors gather periodically to grow as a community and to work together through challenges that may arise in tutoring. This service is incredibly rewarding, and tutoring takes place on one afternoon each week. We hope you will join us! For more information, please contact Angela Mayorga (amayorga@fas.harvard.edu).
English as a Second or other Language (ESL) Program
Meets weekly on Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. (St. Paul Parish Center)
St. Paul Parish hosts classes for the English as a Second or other Language (ESL) program every Saturday, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in the Parish Center. Additional options are available for students to practice conversation or pronunciation from 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The St. Paul ESL program is part of a larger network, which teaches students the English language through classes in five levels of instruction. The St. Paul ESL program offers classes is levels 1, 3, and 5. Students are adults with diverse cultural backgrounds from around the world. Volunteer instructors consist of Harvard undergraduates, graduate students, and parishioners of St. Paul Parish. No knowledge of a language other than English is necessary, and training will be provided. Those interested in volunteering may either contact Barbara Flannery (BarbNFlan@aol.com) or simply show up at the Parish office (29 Mt. Auburn Street) at 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday.
Gospel of Life
Meets weekly on Thursdays at 5:00 p.m. (Harvard Catholic Student Center Lounge)
The Gospel of Life is dedicated to promoting the sanctity and dignity of all human life, from its origins at conception in a mother's womb until natural death. Our goal is to raise awareness, foster discussion, and promote activism concerning a range of issues, from abortion and euthanasia to genocide and war to chastity and sexual ethics. We host a discussion group devoted to these issues twice each month. In the coming semester we will also arrange for pro-life speakers at our parish, serve at a women's crisis pregnancy center in Boston, host a baby shower, and provide parishioners with information about the Church's teachings with pamphlets and other sources. For more information, please contact Kamber Vittori (kvittori@fas.harvard.edu). You may also subscribe to the csa-gospeloflife email list by visiting the website listed below: http://lists.hcs.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/csa-gospeloflife/.
Kamber Vittori, Gospel of Life Coordinator
Peace and Social Justice Group
The CSA Peace and Social Justice Group is committed to prayer, education, and action on issues of social justice from poverty to war and peace, at the local and global level. Previous activities have included a fundraising and awareness drive to raise money for a school in Afghanistan, discussions on liberation theology, a talk by the founder of an AIDS orphanage in Kenya; and -- most recently -- the campaign to have the Harvard Corporation divest from companies with business ties to the Sudanese government, for as long as the human rights abuses in Darfur continue. We are always looking for new ideas and new members. Please contact Neil Murthy(nmurthy@fas.harvard.edu) with any questions.
Community Service Team
The CSA Community Service Team coordinates our volunteer activities with the Parish and local community. There are many ways to get involved, including visitation of the elderly at the Jean Jugan Residence for the Poor in Somerville, MA and help with the Parish food pantry on Saturday mornings. For more information about community service opportunities, please contact Neil Murthy (nmurthy@fas.harvard.edu).
