June 24, 2025 // Diocese

Holy Cross Parish Initiates Social Justice Ministry 

Jill Boughton

Freelance Writer

Although Holy Cross Parish in South Bend is relatively small in size – it has only 400 registered households – its members have long been involved in outreach to their impoverished west-side neighbors. Knowing this, the parish’s pastor, Holy Cross Father Jim Fenstermaker, wasn’t surprised that so many parishioners responded to his recent invitation to establish a formal Social Justice Ministry.

 

What’s the difference between works of mercy and a concern for social justice? As Deacon Mel Tardy of neighboring St. Augustine Parish put it: “Most people approve of feeding the hungry, but they get uncomfortable when you start probing why people don’t have enough food in the first place.” He pointed out that it’s easier to recognize injustice than to go beyond the violence of revenge to true justice: right relationships with all of God’s people. One positive example cited in a recent talk Deacon Tardy gave was Daniel Rudd, who was so impressed by reading Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum that he organized national Colored Catholic Congresses in the late 19th century.

Deacon Tardy gave this talk, entitled “Rejoice and Be Glad! Social Justice in a Year of Hope,” at the April 26 Social Justice Summit sponsored by the Social Justice Commission of St. Thérèse, Little Flower Parish. More than 30 leaders from churches and service organizations in the north-western part of the diocese spent three hours at the summit sharing what they are already doing and getting new ideas from one another. It convinced area Catholic leaders that united efforts and voices are far more effective than isolated ones.

“There will always be an urgent need for social justice,” according to Bill Odell, a member of St. Thérèse Parish and one of the organizers of the Social Justice Summit.

Social justice is a central concern for Holy Cross’s Father Fenstermaker, and it figured prominently in the pastoral plan the parish developed in his first year as pastor. Then COVID put a halt to those formal efforts. Receiving an invitation to the Social Justice Summit this spring reinvigorated this focus. Responding to their pastor’s simple notice in the bulletin, two parishioners, Phil Sloan and Delilah Pittsley, were able to attend the April 26 summit, and about a dozen people have come forward wanting to be involved in the ongoing organized Social Justice Ministry at Holy Cross.

“Of the several pastoral priority teams that we developed out of our pastoral plan, the Community Outreach Team had the greatest number of parishioners, a sign of our parish’s desire to be involved in the local community,” Father Fenstermaker told Today’s Catholic. “COVID hit this team’s outreach especially hard, and I was struggling to discern how best to reconstitute this ministerial outreach. Having several parishioners attend a brainstorming meeting after the Social Justice Summit and several more express an interest in this area have helped us to refocus our outreach efforts into a more formal social justice ministry.”

Several educational and advocacy initiatives emerged from the ministry’s initial meeting. Sloan, a retired Notre Dame professor, gave two talks recently on Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis’ fourth and final encyclical “On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus.” The encyclical, published last fall, draws a direct connection between devotion to the Sacred Heart and societal transformation needed to deal with such grave issues as war, consumerism, and socioeconomic inequities. The recently elected Pope Leo XIV’s chosen name signals a continuity with Pope Francis’ outreach to the marginalized as well as the centrality of social justice first gathered and articulated by Pope Leo XIII in his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. In that work, Pope Leo XIII advocated for a living wage, safe working conditions, and workers’ rights to organize into unions for collective bargaining. Holy Cross parishioner Catherine Osborne, who holds a Ph.D. in theology, plans to give a presentation on that encyclical near the six-month anniversary of Pope Leo’s election.

The new Social Justice Ministry is looking to build on the works of mercy already being done by the Holy Cross community. A large number of parishioners are directly involved in social justice initiatives, including the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Walking with Moms in Need, refugee family resettlement, and a mutual aid program in collaboration with the Near Northwest Neighborhood Association and Notre Dame Federal Credit Union, which offers small, interest-free loans. Holy Cross School enrolls many neighborhood children in its immersion program, in which students become fluent in both Spanish and English, as well as delving into Black history. Parishioners also serve meals at Our Lady of the Road and St. Augustine’s soup kitchen and volunteer with the Christ Child Society. A bilingual Sunday Mass is celebrated every month.

“I’ve been pleased to experience that whenever a need or opportunity arises, parishioners eagerly jump in to help,” Father Fenstermaker said. “For example, a house was fully furnished and equipped for an Afghan family of seven shortly after we learned of their anticipated arrival. Parishioners have continued to support that family with transportation, funds for medical bills, and other needs. More recently the same generosity was extended to a Venezuelan family, and then to two additional extended family members.”

Holy Cross has also fostered connections with other groups and organizations. It provides space for the Sant’Egidio Community’s monthly prayer meeting for an end to conflict in countries around the world. A Coptic Orthodox community celebrates divine liturgy in the parish center chapel.

“I was so touched when one of the Muslim refugees we sponsored many years ago asked to light a candle and hold a prayer service in our chapel to clear away impediments that were preventing his wife from joining him,” said John DeGuara, another member of the Social Justice Ministry.

All these initiatives allow Catholic social teaching to flourish in the lives of the Holy Cross community and its neighbors.

“This all helps keep us from being self-enclosed,” Father Fenstermaker said. “We can’t do everything to meet the overwhelming needs around us, but we keep trying to discern what we can do to make a difference.”