In the global Society of Jesus, each regional conference, as well as our General Curia in Rome, has an office dedicated to the promotion of social justice and ecology, with each one operating slightly differently according to the regional context in which they work.
Inspired by Catholic social teaching and working closely with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, we focus on the following policy areas:
Inspired by St. John Paul II’s call to “build a new culture of life,” we promote economic and social policies that provide children, women and families with the support they need to flourish.
Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “The environment is God’s gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole.” In accordance with humanity’s God-given mission to take care of the earth, we advocate for policies that protect our common home for future generations.
We advocate for reforms of the criminal legal system that better uphold the dignity of all people involved in the criminal justice process and that foster “a justice that reconciles.”
Recognizing the grave injustices experienced by Indigenous peoples over the centuries, we work for policies that correct past injustices and help Native American communities to thrive.
The Catholic Church teaches that “[the] more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin.” We promote humane immigration policies that honor the inherent dignity of every person and that seek to alleviate the conditions that force people to migrate.
As the U.S. bishops have noted, “Despite many promising strides made in our country, racism still infects our nation.” We work to end racism in all its forms and to enact policies that make our nation more racially just.
