Meet Your Social Mission Core Team!
2020-2021
The Social Mission Core Team is a parish leadership team representing the breadth of our parish's social mission activity, with representatives elected to two year terms that begin in August. Core Team members serve as community organizers for the parish focused on sustaining and growing our social mission and forming active disciples. (You can learn more about their work in our weekly Social Mission Newsletter). Here, you can see who the current members are, what ministries they represent, and a favorite resource for peace and justice that has helped them through this time of pandemic. We hope you will consider checking out these resources for yourself!
Lance Borden
Parish Involvement: New Member of Social Mission Core Team, Inclusion of All Abilities Discernment Group, BYG Leader Resource: I want to share about Starfire. It helps people with disabilities get jobs and lead personal projects. It is centered around a sense of community unlike any other disabilities assistance program I have ever encountered. The way they include everyone and build a program around their abilities and interests rather than their disability. It is truly one of the most brilliant and inspirational methods of helping people with disabilities enter the workforce. |
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Chuck Catania (Co-Chair)
Parish Involvement: 1 Year on Social Mission Core Team, Inclusion of All Abilities Discernment Group, Liturgical Minister Resource: Self-Care, resilience and maintaining peace of mind are important in everyday life but difficult in times of stress and trauma. Helping children while all home together can be daunting. Something as simple as framing the situation as ‘safe’ at home rather than ‘stuck’ at home can make all the difference. Here are resources to help focus on family mental health and safety, plus some on understanding racism, that I have found helpful in my work:
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Diane Ceo-Difrancesco
Parish Involvement: 2 Years on Social Mission Core Team, Casa de Paz/House of Peace, Immigration Advocate, Xavier University Associate Professor in the Department of Classics and Modern Languages Resource: Hinton, A. R. & Hardin, L. L. (2018) The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row. New York: St. Martin’s Press. I recently read this book and it has become one of my favorites. Anthony Ray Hinton spent 30 years on Alabama’s death row for two murders he did not commit. This book broadened my understanding and awareness of extreme bias in our legal system and the structural and systemic racism that exist in our society. Themes of hope, forgiveness, and silver linings are some of the beautiful messages in this book. |
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Stephen Eckart
Parish Involvement: New Member of Social Mission Core Team, Fresh is Better Volunteer, Previously on the Evangelization and Discipleship Team, Young Adult Core Team, 7 PM Choir Resource: This Another Name for Everything podcast with Richard Rohr, hosted by two bright and insightful young leaders at the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, lifted my spirit during the early months of the pandemic. Their discussions in the first season center around the themes of Rohr's book, The Universal Christ, where he introduces us to a wide understanding of Christ's involvement in our lives and creation around us and calls for a more radically inclusive Christianity, not shying away from renouncing our historical and current shortcomings as a faith organization. |
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Donna Hutchinson-Smyth (Co-Chair)
Parish Involvement: 1 Year on Social Mission Core Team, GIFT Volunteer, Inclusion of All Abilities Discernment Group Resource: Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle, SJ. I was introduced to the work of Father Boyle when he visited Bellarmine a few years ago. As our family faced an especially hard time recently, this book offered needed stories of redemption and hope, bringing light into my darkness. Where We Stand: Class Matters by bell hooks. As a young person hooks’ work to expose the interconnection of race and class in our nation had a powerful impact on my choice to become an educator. Many truths discussed in this book from twenty years ago, sadly, remain the same. Our urban neighborhood schools in Cincinnati remain racially segregated and fundamentally unequal when it comes to access and resources. This current crisis continues to increase the disparities between the privileged and the poor in our community. Prayer App: Pray As You Go - beautiful music, scripture, the Examen and other prayer resources to bring peace and healing. |
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Nicole Ollier
Parish Involvement: 3 Years on Social Mission Core Team, Bellarmine Coordinator for Interfaith Hospitality Network Resource: YES! Media The stories and resources shared through YES! have been a source of hope and inspiration for me for many years. Their website, email newsletters, and quarterly magazine highlight people working toward a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world. Their coverage of COVID-19 has highlighted everything from the reality of how this virus impacts communities differently to the beauty of people coming together in creative ways to the impact on the environment. I have found their positive journalism to be a way to stay informed without getting trapped in the news cycle of fear. |
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Donna Park
Parish Involvement: 1 Year on Social Mission Core Team, Inclusive Language Team, Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center Resource: Our global pandemic is yet another reminder that our world is faced with many global problems that require global solutions. I find hope and inspiration in the work of Citizens for Global Solutions and other non-profits who promote a sense of global citizenship and a desire to transform the UN into a democratic federation of nations. Care for our global environment, protection of human rights for all, abolition of war and nuclear weapons, better management of global pandemics--all require better global governance. Check out:
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Rita Pritchard
Parish Involvement: 4 Years on Social Mission Core Team, Tender Mercies volunteer lunch coordinator, JustFaith Group Facilitator, Healthy Earth Team, Bread for the World Planning Team Resource: I recommend Mercy Reigns- a Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing by Bill Tonnis. This book has been a God-send to me especially in these times. My friend Bill is a wonderful musician and singer who I have known for many years. He incorporates his deep spiritual faith with words and songs in this book. I read it in the morning as part of my 5-minute meditation. It is one of those books that you can just keep reading over and over because our lives are ever evolving and each time I read or reread I find new meaning in the words and songs. |
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Melinda Reilly
Parish Involvement: New Member of Social Mission Core Team, Building a Bridge Team, Inclusion of All Abilities Discernment Team Resource: I have been connected recently to Reaching the Nations International. This is an organization started by a couple. The wife is from rural Kentucky and was called to serve, especially those on the margins. She and her husband live in an area of Columbus that is more run down and predominantly poor families. They have embodied the idea of living out the Word. They offer retreats and employ college students interested in social mission work. I went on a retreat with a group of students from MND one summer and was completely overwhelmed by their genuine love of God. They were very inspiring and unforgettable. I also find nature to be a resource for me. It is a place where I can rejuvenate, refresh, and see God. |
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Ed Schmidt, SJ
Parish Involvement: New Member of Social Mission Core Team, Assistant Pastor Resource: Though travel has been limited during the pandemic, I have enjoyed reading The Best American Travel Writing of 2020, which explores a variety of social issues in the essayists travels. |
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Anne Schoelwer
Parish Involvement: New Member of Social Mission Core Team, Parent Leader, Lector, Children's Liturgy of the Word Resource: Getting out into nature has been a great source of peace for me. My family likes hiking the trails at the Cincinnati Nature Center. One trail great for families combines the Geology Trail with a section of the Wildflower trail to create a loop. There are some beautiful thick-trunked beech trees and creek crossings along this loop. A game of 20 questions or sharing riddles can make the hike more fun when someone in the family gets grumpy or tired. The trails at Ault Park and French Park both have flat, easy trails along creeks and some steeper trails that follow the contours of the forest. Near the picnic shelters at French Park are several trees perfect for climbing on and sitting in with a good book. Along the Miami Whitewater bike trail in mid-summer, the prairie of wildflowers is dazzling. While in nature, a prayer for me is being still and paying attention to creation using all my senses. Even small children can do this for 2 minutes. |
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Jordan Sedgwick
Parish Involvement: New Member of Social Mission Core Team, BYG Leader Resource: I want to share information about the Cancer Justice Network, which my grandmother and brother work with. This organization helps people get to appointments and would usually go with them if COVID wasn’t happening. Their focus is to help low income minorities be/stay healthy. |
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Aubrey Turner
Parish Involvement: New Member of Social Mission Core Team, Immigration Team Resource: I follow many social media accounts related to immigrant justice. My favorite is Immigrant Families Together. They are an organization dedicated to reuniting families separated at the US/Mexico border. They regularly post content about what is happening at the border, and how you can help. Outside of social media, I recommend the documentary “Exodus Stories: Voices from the Caravan.” It follows the eyewitness accounts of three Central American Immigrants who join the migrant caravan and travel to the US seeking asylum and a better life for their families. |
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Mary Zuccarelli
Parish Involvement: 3 Years on Social Mission Core Team, St. Vincent de Paul Resource: Praying with Frederic Ozanam: Companions for the Journey by Ronald Ramson, CM. This book is inspirational for those who wish to serve as Jesus taught us through service to the poor. The meditations on Christian spirituality are a wonderful accompaniment for journeys of finding Christ in the poor and marginalized. |
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Tim Severyn (Staff)
Parish Involvement: Director of Social Mission since 2015 Resource: I love using the Ecological Examen prayer, especially when I’m outside, because it helps me connect to God and encourages me to act in a way that integrates my concerns for both ecological devastation and injustice in our world. This resource was created by the Jesuits in collaboration with the Ignatian Solidarity Network. |
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