Dear Friend,
The emerging of light from darkness marks the Advent and Christmas seasons. Light illuminates our world and our lives amidst the darkness that so often envelopes us.
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed the coming of the Messiah amidst the darkness… the darkness of colonial legacies, structural poverty, scapegoating of immigrants and refugees, debilitating inflation and rising housing costs, the rise of gender and sexual orientation discrimination, inadequate responses to climate change, the slow movement on Truth and Reconciliation, the growing toxicity of our socio-political discourse... spaces of darknesses that threaten to overwhelm us.
Yet... light is present. It illuminates our dark realities, calling us to address and respond to them. Recently, the Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice joined thousands of others in downtown Toronto in a solidarity march with Grassy Narrows First Nation, demanding action on their community’s mercury-poisoned drinking water. The witness of such diverse peoples uniting in support of Grassy Narrows First Nation was illuminating and hope-filled.
The Jesuit Forum seeks to contribute to the light of social faith and hope by bringing together people of all faiths and social backgrounds in discerning dialogue. Upon the foundation of intellectual and social awareness, we seek to create honest spaces to explore and respectfully challenge one another, to come together to more fruitfully respond to the unjust social realities around us, including reconciliation and right relations with Indigenous people.
Listening to Indigenous Voices (LTIV) remains central to our mission. We are grateful to the Anishinabe Spiritual Centre, Villa Loyola and the Christian Life Community of Northern Ontario for welcoming us at the Catholic Women’s League (CWL) Conference in Sudbury this past July to share LTIV with their members.
We also continue to explore new apostolic partnerships. Listening to Indigenous Voices has now reached the environmental NGO community through collaboration with Sustainability Network.
In November, Noah MacDonald, a member of Michipicoten First Nation and a Canon Lawyer with the Archdiocese of Toronto, and I will facilitate an online LTIV gathering with this new audience. This is an exciting opportunity to foster more dialogue between faith communities and the environmental NGO community.
In the next few months, we are also planning to hold an updated webinar on the issue of our water resources, this time on our broken relationship with fresh water and its consequences on both rural and Indigenous communities. This was an issue we highlighted in a previous webinar and edition of Open Space, as well as in Session #2 of LTIV: A Tale of Two Communities, to significant response.
On May 6, 2025, we will partner with Regis College, the Jesuit centre of learning in Toronto, on a public lecture featuring Duke Divinity School’s Prof. Norman Wirzba on climate change in the light of theological reflection. Prof. Wirzba is a Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology and Director of Research for the Office of Climate and Sustainability.
We will also continue to strengthen existing partnerships and form new ones. Our collaboration with Mary Ward Centre continues, particularly related to LTIV. We are also exploring new ideas with Catholic Charities on programs related to prayerful preparation for political elections, a podcast dialogue series on issues related to social faith, and how to more fruitfully address the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).
We recognize that partnerships are essential. Our emerging programs are not possible without collaboration, and our most important partner is you - your interest in and support of our endeavours towards a more socially just faith for our communities.
Without you, we would not have the opportunity to create the needed forums to deeply share with each other the light of our faith, hopes and aspirations... particularly needed in the darkness of the growing polarization all around us. Without your participation and support, there would be no Jesuit Forum community to help draw us back towards more contemplative and discerning dispositions and welcoming circles.
We seek your financial support at this time of renewal. Would you be willing to contribute to the Jesuit Forum with a donation towards our work? Your generosity helps us provide more resources for reflection and contemplation, helps us create forums for meaningful dialogue, and helps us build discerning communities of justice and right relations with Indigenous people.
We look forward to your continuing partnership with us as a Jesuit Forum community. Finally, for all of you who have financially supported us in the past, we are grateful. Your support helps prepare us to experience the reality of the light of Christmas.
Advent and Christmas Blessings to you and your
Fr. Trevor E. Scott, SJ
Executive Director,
Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice
You can donate:
Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice, 70 St Mary Street, Toronto, ON M5S 1J3