Number 2:   The registration deadline (December 4) for the Young Adult (ages 20 through the 30s) Christmas Gala on Thursday, December 7, 2006, 6:30 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel Mission Valley - proceeds to benefit Culture of Life Family Services

Adopt a Janitor's Family
Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
3727 Camino Del Rio South
Suite 100
San Diego, CA 92108

The ICWJ would like to thank in advance all those who will participate in the "Adopt a Janitor's Family" program. 

For additional information on the "Adopt a Janitor's Family" Program, please contact Kent Peters at the OSM:  858-490-8323

 

Number 5: Join us for the Annual National Night of Prayer For Life on Friday, December 8, 2006, 9:00 p.m to 10:30 p.m. at St. Ephrem’s Maronite Catholic Church, 750 Medford St. in El Cajon



Fighting the scourge of abortion with prayer and eucharistic adoration under the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Catholics from all parts of America will again this year kneel in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.  In San Diego the prayer will begin at 9 p.m.  This will be the seventeenth annual National Night of Prayer for Life.

National Night of Prayer For Life
Friday, December 8, 2006
Adoration in the church - 9:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
St. Ephrem’s Maronite Catholic Church
750 Medford St. El Cajon


For more information contact Sue Lopez: 619-276-7525 or slopez@integrity.com

Short Reports on OSM Related Issues/Events

Number 1:  Two Parishes Begin Domestic Violence Outreach Training Using the Safe Place Faith Community Model

On Saturday, November 11, the Safe Place Faith Communities Coordinating Group in association with the OSM trained 12 members from two parishes, St. Michael's Church in Poway and Resurrection Church in Escondido, with the goal of having team members available to struggling families sometime in early 2007.

Begun in January of 2005, Safe Place Faith Communities is an association of San Diego County congregations seeking to serve their own members and the larger community in the area of domestic violence.  A SPFC congregation will: 1) provide a safe environment for those seeking information or assistance, 2) collaborate with local domestic violence service providers and refer parish members experiencing relationship violence to them, and 3) provide companionship and spiritual support for those members who elect to utilize those community resources.

In consultation with service providers, the congregation offers assistance in the reconciliation process when it is deemed safe and realistic, and when relationships are irreparably damaged and no longer viable, it will assist in the rebuilding of individuals’ and families’ lives.

The congregations also seeks to educate its members, including youth, on: 1) the nature of domestic or relationship violence, 2) the causes and consequences of domestic violence, 3) the availability of community resources and services, and 4) opportunities for individual and group support.

Between now and early 2007, the newly trained members at St. Michael's and Resurrection will develop a plan of implementation, nurture working relationships with local service providers, and recruit additional members for their teams.

St. Pius X Parish in Chula Vista has been in the SPFC program since January, 2005, and has worked with nearly 40 individuals or families since that time.  It has assisted members and neighbors in the areas of spousal abuse, teen abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, and senior abuse.  Victims have been female, male, young, old, wealthy, poor, longtime parish members, visitors, and relatives and friends of family members.  St. Pius is rapidly gaining the reputation of being an organization that is both safe to use and competent in how it handles the grave issue of relationship violence.

Please keep St. Michael's and Resurrection in your prayers as they begin this important work, as well as the six other congregations already in the program.

For information on the Safe Place Faith Communities program, contact the OSM at 858-490-8323.

2. Prayerful witness for life at two locations (Sixth and Palm in San Diego and Pomerado Road in Poway) in San Diego County

Helpers of God’s Precious Infants weekly rosary prayer vigil from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. every Saturday at Family Planning Associates 2850 Sixth Ave, at Palm, across from Balboa Park.  Prayer warriors also needed as early as 7:30 a.m. 

Call Sue Lopez 619/990-1341 for more information.
 
2nd Saturday of the month:  20 decades of the Rosary are prayed in procession past 4 clinics following the 7:30 a.m. Mass, 15546 Pomerado Road, Poway.  For more information, call 858-748-2109.

3. St. Dismas Guild sponsors two weekly hours of prayer for the unborn in North County

Join members of St. Dismas Guild for a rosary picket at Womancare, 120 S. Craven Way, San Marcos, (across from Cal State San Marcos), Tuesdays, 9-10 a.m.

The Guild also sponsors prayer (the rosary) in front of PayLess at Mission Avenue and Escondido Blvd. 347 W. Mission on Thursdays, 10:30-11:30 a.m.  For information on these prayer vigils, call 760-751-8541.
 

4. St. Rose of Lima sponsors a regular Thursday Pro-Life Prayer Vigil in Chula Vista

Please join St. Rose of Lima parishioners every Thursday after the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Rose of Lima, Chula Vista, for a pro-life prayer vigil at the clinic located at 261 Church Street, Chula Vista.   For more information, call Evangely Aliangan, 619-427-0230.

5. St. John the Evangelist Parish in Encinitas Pro-Life Mass and Rosary held on the first Monday of each month

The first Monday of every month is designated Pro-Life Monday at St. John the Evangelist Church, 1001 Encinitas Blvd, Encinitas.  The 8:00 a.m. Mass will be followed by a Rosary for Life.  For more information, please call Helene McIlhon at 858-756-0622.

6. Most Precious Blood Parish Rosary Prayer Vigils held on Wednesdays each week

The Pro-Life Prayer Group from Most Precious Blood sponsors a Rosary Prayer Vigil in front of the Clinica Medica abortion facility at 1550 Broadway, Chula Vista every Wednesday at 8:45 a.m.  For more information, please call Shirley Henry at 619-420-7096 or Luis Mendoza at 619-300-5563.
 

7. The ministry associated with the Clinica Medica abortion facility in Chula Vista is seeking sidewalk counselors for Wednesday mornings - training will be provided

I am not a law professor.  But from where I sit as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, a family law that fails to encourage marriage ignores the fact that marriage has long been associated with an impressively broad array of positive outcomes for children and adults alike.  Experts who contend that we need to move "beyond marriage" say they are only responding to the facts.  But here is one major fact: High rates of family fragmentation hurt children.

For example, studies have consistently shown that children raised outside marriage suffer disproportionately from physical and mental illness; are more likely to drop out of school, abuse drugs or alcohol, and engage in violence or suffer it in their homes; and are less likely to attend college.  Child Trends, a nonpartisan research organization summed up the evidence in 2002: "Children in single-parent families, children born to unmarried mothers, and children in step-families or cohabiting relationships face higher risks of poor outcomes."

Of course, many hard-working single parents do an excellent job of raising children, and they need our support, too.  But I believe that building a healthy marriage culture in America is a legitimate concern for family law.

I am not alone. F or example, "Reconceiving the Family," a new book published by Cambridge University Press critiquing the ALI's "principles," has contributions from 27 family law scholars, including two other state supreme court chief justices.  The Institute for American Values recently published a statement, signed by many legal and family scholars, that concluded that "a prime goal of family law should be to identify new ways to support marriage as a social institution so that each year more children are protected by being raised within the marital unions of their parents."  Moreover, the supreme court in my state just established a Commission on Children, Marriage and Family Law with an important goal: to find ways to reduce unnecessary divorce and unmarried childbearing.

Why are state judges such as myself so concerned about strengthening marriage?  Start with the basics: Fragmenting families are flooding our court dockets. Since I became a trial judge in 1989, the percentage of domestic relations cases has risen sharply; they now account for 65 percent of all cases in Georgia at the Superior Court level.  Last year more than 14,000 children were in the care of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, and nearly 24,000 were admitted to a youth detention center.  One out of every four Georgia children under 18 has a case with the Office of Child Support Enforcement.

These figures are typical of what is happening in every state.  For judges, they represent a difficult workload. For families, they represent an astonishing level of necessary but intrusive government oversight.  For government, they represent a mountain of resources that could be used for other purposes.  For children, they are a tragedy.

As a judge I am often frustrated that I must work within a system designed only to pick up the pieces after families have already fallen apart or failed to come together.  We must work to prevent family fragmentation, because the consequences for children and society are severe.