That is the opinion of Sr. Margaret Fitzpatrick, SC in this weeks installment in the Lent for Systemic Change series. She is a Sister of Charity and President of St. Thomas Aquinas College in New York. She points out how the book can be used in various settings as a tool for promoting deeper understanding of systemic change.
Podcast version – Text follows below.
My name is Margaret Mary Fitzpatrick. I am a Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and the President of St. Thomas Aquinas College. I am also the Chair of the Board of St. John’s Bread & Life, the second largest soup kitchen and social service agency in New York City.
Seeds of Hope is a book that communicates global stories of systemic change. Each story captures your heart, soul, and imagination as humble dedicated individuals, imbued with the passion of St. Vincent de Paul, work together to transform lives and communities. The reader is both overwhelmed by the abject poverty and degradation of human conditions and is simultaneously filled with hope when learning of the undaunted spirits of good people working together to right injustices. One discovers that lasting change must promote solidarity among the community members, education and training, engaging in political processes, and constructing effective structural models.
Seeds of Hope is a low-cost paperback comprised of thirteen chapters of approximately twelve pages each. Eight of the chapters take you to places around the world and tell of transformative stories. Four of the chapters articulate strategies around mission, personal solidarity, task development and co-responsibility. The culminating chapter connects the stories and strategies to the Vincentian mission in collaboration with the goals of the United Nations.
Seeds of Hope is well-suited for secondary and higher education courses in social studies, global studies, religious studies, and in campus ministry retreats. Parishes can form short-term study groups to learn and discern the mission of social responsibility that can lead to action. Non-profit Boards can discover the power of promoting systemic change to benefit its mission.
I encourage you to read Seeds of Hope – but be careful – it can change your life!
Tags: Advocacy, Featured, Fitzpatrick, Lent, Podcasts, Seed of Hope, Systemic change
