Washington DC: Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice

This weekend, more than 1,300 people connected to Jesuit institutions will converge on Washington DC for the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice. The Teach-In is the largest annual Catholic social justice conference in America and coincides each year with the anniversary of the murders of the Jesuits and two lay women in El Salvador on November 16, 1989.

Upwards of 1,000 of the 1,300 in attendance are college and high school students representing over 80 Catholic institutions across the US, Canada, and Mexico. They will encounter passionate speakers, including James Martin SJ, Tom Reese SJ, Marie Dennis, workshops, communal prayer, and a legislative advocacy where over a quarter of the US Congressional offices receive visits from delegates to discuss key human rights and environmental justice issues.

The IFTJ is a nationwide social justice conference sponsored by the Ignatian Solidarity Network, a national lay-led, faith-based, social justice organization that works to mobilize Jesuit universities, high schools, parishes, and ministries and the larger church throughout the United States in order to effect positive social change on critical issues facing the world.

Teach-In attendees will also have access to the first-ever print edition of The Jesuit Post (TJP) https://thejesuitpost.org, which will include posts by young Jesuits as well as specially invited lay women and men writers.

In addition to the workshops, keynote addresses, and policy discussions, participants will rally on Capitol Hill on Monday, November 17, before collectively meeting with more than 100 Congressional offices. Advocates will visit with their respective lawmakers to urge Congress to pass humane comprehensive immigration reform, support human rights oriented policies in Central America, and respond to climate change and effects marginalizing the economically poor.

The IFTJ started in 1997 in conjunction with the School of the Americas Watch movement to close the former US Army School of the Americas. In 2010, the IFTJ moved from Georgia to Washington, DC, to more directly impact public policy with legislative advocacy.

Christopher Kerr, Executive Director of the Ignatian Solidarity Network said: “This is a critical time for faith-based advocates to be calling on our leaders to act on important issues like immigration reform, climate change, and human rights in Central America.”

SUMMARY OF EVENTS

Saturday, 15 November, 2014
Crystal Gateway Marriott, Ballroom and Adjacent Breakout Rooms
1700 Jefferson Davis Highway Arlington, VA 22202
5pm – 10pm

Sunday, 16 November, 2014
Crystal Gateway Marriott, Ballroom and Adjacent Breakout Rooms
8.30am – 9pm

Monday, 17 November 17, 2014
US Capitol Building
Rally – 9am – 9.45am (corner of Independence & First St., across the street from the National Archives)
Advocacy Day – 10am (Advocacy will proceed after the public witness)
Click here: http://ignatiansolidarity.net/iftj/schedule-2/ to view the full schedule of events.

A Live Stream of the main stage events will be available on Saturday & Sunday at: http://igsol.net/iftlive

More information can be found here: www.ignatiansolidarity.net/