Faith in Action

The STM Grants committee encourages parishioners to send suggestions of organizations working to address poverty, income inequality, and/or racism. Please send 1) a brief description of the organization, 2) the best contact information for the organization, and 3) any involvement you or other parishioners may have with the organization to Robert Weaver (weaver1776@bellsouth.net). We invite organizations to submit grants for the 2022-2023 year. As in past years, priority will be given to grant requests that address capital needs, rather than short-term operating funds.

A truly Catholic parish Is fundamentally oriented outward in service to the wider community. STM parishioners are engaged in a variety of outreach efforts in the Atlanta area and beyond. Our outreach is sometimes in the form of direct “hands on” service by parishioner volunteers, sometimes in the form of advocacy with public officials on behalf of the disadvantaged and threatened, sometimes in the form of educating ourselves in the nature and causes of injustice, and sometimes in the form of a substantial financial support of organizations that care for the poor and other needy. STM funds these ministries through a “social justice tithe.” Each year, STM allocates at least 10% of ordinary parish revenue to fund our outreach programs..

All of our social justice ministries are pro-life, that is, they recognize and promote the dignity of every human person at every stage of life. We are guided in what we do and how we do it by the Gospel of Jesus and by the Church’s traditional social justice teaching.

Our first choice in our outreach is to partner with and otherwise assist organizations that are already serving the poor and other needy. This partnership typically takes the form of providing volunteers and recurring modest financial support. STM has an on-going partnership with several local and non-local outreach organizations, including:

•  St. Vincent de Paul Society – emergency assistance to the poor
• Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School – education of the disadvantaged
• Decatur Emergency Assistance Ministry (DEAM) – emergency food, prescription, utilities, and lodging assistance to the poor
• Birthright – pregnancy aid
• Habitat for Humanity – low cost housing
• Hagar’s House – transitional housing for homeless families
• ServeHaiti – medical clinic in Haiti
• Good Shepherd Home – housing and food assistance to the homeless in Jamaica

In addition to these recurring commitments, STM also makes large, one-time financial grants to fund projects that promise a major impact and that likely could not have been undertaken without our assistance.

In the fall of each year, a committee of STM parishioners chooses a social justice priority area and invites local, national, and international organizations that minister in that focus area to apply for these grants. Due to the lasting impact of COVID and the scope of the priorities identified by parishioners and in the Jesuit Universal Apostolic Preferences, the justice priorities during FY 2022 will continue to be 1) poverty and income inequality, and 2) racial justice. The committee reviews the applications and recommends to the pastor which applications to approve. Grants are typically awarded in the spring of the following year.

A listing of the projects that STM has funded from the social justice tithe can be found here.

For guidelines on the 2022 grant cycle click here.

For more information about STM’s social justice programs, or to volunteer in one of the programs, call the parish office at 404-378-4588.