Contents

Words of Encouragement
Recent and Upcoming Events: exciting news from Boston and San Francisco !
John-Charles Duffy steps down as Media Director
MESJ - International
International Observances
Call for Submissions

Words of Encouragement

Just...do it!

The Church has called us to become "full participants in political, governmental, and community affairs," and nobody than President Hinckley himself has set a better example of how to go about it.
As no Church president before, President Hinckley has been a "full participant" in all areas of social-political action, and what an inspiring example he is to all of us!

As a grassroots organization MESJ hopes to become a catalyst for change by supporting and emphasizing prophetic calls for social justice. As individual Latter-day Saints, let's move from opinion to conviction, from passiveness into action. Our reluctance to get going certainly seems to be a focus of prophetic concern. President Spencer W.Kimball didn't waste too many words to convey just that:

Do it - Do it now!




Recent and Upcoming Events

Recent Events

MESJ-Boston Founded !

Better late than never. This of course pertains to the tardiness of 'Anxiously Engaged' to timely report on probably the most exciting MESJ news in 2005. We sincerely apologize for this breakdown in communication. Emily Bates, the contact person of MESJ Boston was kind enough to email us a copy of the lost information, and this is her report:

On July 17 2005, thirteen MESJ-members met at Harvard College to organize MESJ Boston. We discussed the MESJ mission, our interests, and how we would proceed to integrate discussion, education, and action. We will take advantage of the expertise of some of our members to learn about issues from literacy in the developing world, to peace keeping, homosexuality in the church, environmental concerns, and access to health care. Since our first meeting, we have alerted each other to service opportunities and issues that beg for attention-- locally and worldwide.

Discussion of Women's literacy in Pakistan
On August 14, Tiffany Ivins shared some background on integrated literacy programs in developing countries, particularly highlighting the dialogue approach to education which views all learners as
teachers. The presentation focused on Muslim women in rural Pakistan and the social, political and cultural obstacles that learners overcome as they learn to read and write. The group asked critical questions regarding respect for traditional cultures and the dangers of westernization. We also discussed the LDS church in Pakistan, which now has 2,000 members despite Pakistan's no-proselytizing laws. (I would guess that there were 25-30 people there)

Fundraising with Friends for hurricane relief
Under the leadership of Melissa Inouye and other members of MESJ-Boston, Latter-day Saints from the Cambridge Stake teamed up with members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) to run a massive community yard sale to raise funds for hurricane relief on Saturday, October 15th. The cultural hall of the LDS meetinghouse at Longfellow Park was full to overflowing with racks of clothes, tables
piled up with housewares, books, and jewelry, clusters of chairs and large toys, and just about everything imaginable. The sale raised $1650 for hurricane relief, half of which was donated to the Black Ministerial Alliance of Boston (an organization working with MA evacuees), and half of
which went to the Southern Farmers' Cooperative (a group working with farming communities in the South). More importantly, individual Latter-day Saints and Friends got to spend many hours working together and coming to know and appreciate each other. (Many people helped at different stages--set up, publicity, manning the yard-sale, and cleaning up--I have no idea how many MESJ members in
total, but definitely more than 12)

Discussion on Gender/Homosexuality in the church
After a ward list was used to distribute a petition to against homosexual civil unions, MESJ-Boston members came together to discuss homosexuality, gender, and the role of the church in politics. We also talked about how to reconcile faith and desire to follow leaders and our own personal feelings about political issues.

We're happy to have a MESJ chapter in Boston!
We're grateful to Jason Steffen for getting the ball rolling.

the latest update from the Boston chapter as per March 2006:
We've had at least one activity/meeting per month since July and we're up to about 45 members. In the January meeting, I would say we had around 30 people. In that meeting we discussed Socialized Health Care and how we could help to promote it. Andy Ashcroft, an MD here lead the discussion and provided a lot of information. The meeting was held at Laurel and Gael Ulrichs' home, just outside of Harvard Square. In February, we met at Tiffany Ivins' home to watch a film about micro-lending in developing countries. We discussed economic development and what we could do to help and some of the struggles faced by those who have been working in this area.

Also, we would like to high-light one of our awesome members:
Laurel Ulrich was recently given a big honor here at Harvard. It is rare to have a woman receive such a prize at this "ole boy's club" of a place-- and I can guarantee that she's the only mormon woman to receive such an honor. I think she is the only mormon woman to have tenure at
harvard. We need more women role models in the church.

We are pleased to announce that MESJ Boston is now up and running officially. We have 42 members on our email list and more than that who are interested and attend, but have not yet signed up for emails.

Congratulations Boston ! This of course is great news for MESJ as a whole and this probably makes Boston our most prominent chapter!

San Francisco Chapter revitalized

Liz McMillan, Janice and Bob Wrathall, Mark Oliver, Jeremy McMIllan,and Robert Poort in the picture above were present when on February 13th 2006, the San Francisco Chapter was reorganized after a number of members moved out of the area. A first meeting was held at the home of Liz and Jeremy McMillan (Liz is the chapter's contact person) and plans were drawn to commit to monthly activities.

For March a discussion meeting on 'Mormonism and War' is planned, and in April the chapter will participate in a hands-on activity with Habitat for Humanity.
(for more details see the Calendar of Local Activities)

The San Francisco chapter covers the entire San Francisco Bay-Area and anyone living in that area is more than welcome to join. Congratulations San Francisco!

Upcoming Events

Jump to the Calendar to see upcoming activities by local chapters. short description

Information about upcoming international observances can be found in the Holiday Resources section of our website.

Check out MESJ's family home evening ideas and electronic greeting cards

John-Charles Duffy steps down as Media Director

After years of dedicated service as Media Director of MESJ, John-Charles Duffy realized that the combined workload of his many activities was such that he needed to make some adjustments, and having to let go of his position as MESJ's Media Director was unfortunately one of those adjustments. John-Charles pioneered the website, which for many was a first introduction to social justice within the Mormon faith tradition. He made many improvements to the website and started the monthly online newsletter 'Anxiously Engaged'. Evident in all his publications, is his balanced and highly informed approach that makes his work so attractive to many, and it is clear that John-Charles will continue to get our attention as a gifted and succesful writer. We take this opportunity to highly recommend visiting the personal website of John-Charles Duffy to become familiar with some of his work, ...and to understand why he had to make some time adjustments!
John-Charles will remain a much appreciated member of the MESJ Steering Committee, where his experience and knowledge will prove very valuable. He is succeeded by Robert Poort as interim Media Director as of February 20th 2006. Thank you John-Charles!

Building on the achievements of parting Media Director John-Charles Duffy, it is relatively simple to continue the presentation of the MESJ website and her monthly online newsletter 'Anxiously Engaged', which publications are the focal point of MESJ-Mormons for Equality and Social Justice. After a brief two month interruption MESJ has quickly picked up the pace and continues to be “anxiously engaged” (D&C 58:27) in working for the gospel values of peace, equality, justice, and wise stewardship of the earth in a spirit of Christ-like charity and concern. According to the MESJ Mission Statement, we do this (1) by raising awareness in Latter-day Saint communities of the inequalities and injustices that exist in the world today, (2) by actively participating in political processes to resolve these issues, and (3) by promoting and engaging in humanitarian service.

While the homepage has a new look, the MESJ website will remain mostly unchanged. Beginning March 2006 the homepage will feature links and short editorials around a monthly theme that will help visitors of our website explore Equality, Social Justice, Peace, and Environmental issues. The monthly online newsletter 'Anxiously Engaged' will also be continued in its present form, with minor changes.
Both the MESJ homepage and the newsletter 'Anxiously Engaged' will be edited with new content and published by each first day of the month.
Depending on new developments and possibilities to manage our e-mail, we may or may not remind you of the monthly new editions of our homepage and newsletter, but please make sure to visit our website by each first day of the month to read the very latest news!

MESJ International

MESJ encourages speakers of languages other than English to consider starting language-based websites that can function much like MESJ's English website.

By encouraging the creation of independent "sister" organizations in other languages, we recognize the cultural diversity that exists in the Church and in the world. At the same time, approaching issues from the broad perspective provided by a language group, rather than from the perspective of a specific nationality, can help put things in a larger perspective.

As independent language-based LDS social justice web sites are created, we hope they will closely cooperate, exchanging ideas and experiences, and promoting social action among Latter-day Saints worldwide.

Presently, MESJ International supports sister websites in the following languages: Dutch, Afrikaans, and Esperanto.

This month we report on: MVG - Mormonen voor Vrede en Gerechtigheid, which is Dutch for: Mormons for Peace and Justice. Dutch is the language spoken in the Netherlands and Northern Belgium. There are only 8000 Latter-day Saints in the 'Low Countries', and just like many other church members in 'far corners' around the world, they find themselves quite isolated from the church at large, and at the same time somewhat isolated from their own societies as a very small religious minority. To better understand some of the implications of this double isolation, we recommend reading two interesting essays as published in Dialogue, a Journal of Mormon Thought by Wilfried Decoo and Walter E. van Beek:

Feeding the Fleeing Flock: Reflections on the Struggle to Retain Church Members in Europe

Ethnization and Accommodation: Dutch Mormons in Twenty-first-century Europe

There is no such thing as independent Mormon media in Belgium and The Netherlands.
Besides a handful of books translated from English, like Jesus the Christ, The Miracle of Forgiveness, and just a few others, there is a Dutch version of LDS.org and a Dutch edition of the Liahona International Church Magazines The great majority of local members do not speak or read English well enough to have access to the wealth of information in LDS English magazines and websites. The new MVG website has therefore taken the initiative to not only focus on Equality, Social Justice, Peace, and Environmental issues, but more extensively on other areas as well. MVG features columns like: Church and Society, Religion and Science, Art and Culture, and Interfaith. So far reactions are positive but small in number, undoubtely because church members have to get used to the idea of an independent Mormon voice in a thoroughly correlated church environment. On the other hand church members in Western-Europe are generally quite progressive and very much open to issues of social justice, so the outlook for MVG is promising.

additional readers:
Taking MESJ International
MESJ is going Dutch!
Edifices of Peace and Justice

Next month in MESJ International: a report on a LDS social justice website in Esperanto:
MPE-Mormonaro por Paco kaj Egaleco : Mormons for Peace and Equality, about social justice and language equality!

International Observances in March

From our list of international observances promoted by the United Nations: click on each link for suggestions about how to commemorate the observance with a brief family devotional (perhaps at the dinner table or before family prayer).

March 08 International Women's Day
March 21 International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
March 21-27 Solidarity Week with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination
March 22 World Day for Water
March 23 World Meteorological Day

Remember in your prayers ( regarding the March International Observances )

Give thanks for the great progress that has been made towards securing equal rights and opportunities for women.
Give thanks for the historic role played by the Relief Society in promoting women's suffrage and educational opportunities for women.
Pray for change in the social or cultural attitudes that keep women around the world from having equal access to political, economic, and educational opportunities.

Give thanks for the progress that has been made towards ending racial discrimination and towards securing equal civil rights for all people.
Pray for an end to racial prejudice, discrimination, and violence in our world.
Pray that the Savior's power will bring healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation as societies seek to overcome the effects of racism in their history.

Give thanks for the blessing of safe, readily available drinking water.
Pray for those who do not have safe or sufficient water for drinking, washing, or growing food.
Pray that a spirit of conservation will prevail among those who do have adequate water.
Pray that government and industry leaders will be blessed with wisdom in managing water supplies and preventing pollution.

Give thanks for the technology that allows meteorologists to predict weather or climate-related disasters.
Pray for those who have lost homes, livelihoods, or loved ones in recent weather-related disasters.
Pray that experts will come to better understand the causes of global climate change, so that solutions can be found.

Amen!

Anxiously Engaged and MESJ welcome submissions! We're especially interested in the following:

• Reports of acitivities from local chapters or of efforts on behalf of social justice by MESJ members who don't live near an organized chapter.
• Reviews of books about social justice or the intersection of faith and activism.
• Personal reflections from an LDS perspective about working toward a more just and equitable society.
• Real-life stories that show anxiously engaged citizens can make a difference.

Send submissions to the editor at poortfinau@aol.com Please put Submissions in the subject line.