Social Justice Action Team (SJAT)

The Social Justice Action Team examines and responds to intersecting issues of race, class, education, and immigration. Our mission statement reflects this. To this end we offer adult education forums and initiate action on issues of race, class, and education.
The Social Justice Action Team meets monthly on Zoom. For more information about joining our Team or about our initiatives, please contact us.
The Social Justice Action Team at St. Paul’s Cathedral seeks to serve God and God’s people in the world by looking deeply at the root causes of and by combating social injustice; and by becoming and building God’s beloved community.
OUR INITIATIVES
UPCOMING EVENTS
VIDEOS

Climate Change
The lynchpin in social justice is to ensure that those who are underserved are safe and having their needs met. We take our inspiration from The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis
(Lynn White. 1967. Science 155: 1203-1207)
Earth Day
Earth Day was a huge success! Thank you to all who participated!
See the slideshow to the right...



Describe your image

Afghan Refugee Project

The Home Again Program is a unique opportunity for us to work with Journey's End to make a house a warm, welcoming home for a newly-arriving refugee family.

St. Paul's Cathedral (Buffalo), St. Martin in the Fields (Grand Island) and St. John's (Youngstown), three Episcopal churches along our international border with Canada, have collaborated to collect a full apartment of needed goods for our new neighbors from Afghanistan.
Refugee families arrive with little to no resources for establishing households during their first few months of resettlement. Journey's End relies heavily on donations from the community to provide these families with essential home furnishings, such as tables, couches, dressers, dishes, etc., and other household items like toiletries and cleaning supplies.
Our coordination of the three churches including the men’s bible study and the youth group from St. Martin's will help with moving day and collaborate to transform a barren apartment into cozy home for a newly-arrived refugee family, bringing a sense of security to them that have so little to start their new lives in Buffalo.
We were given a list of essential items and we have divided the collection by room for each church, the collection of donations is going well with very generous parishioners.
We are looking forward to our day when we are assigned the apartment so we can clean and set up.
We are building a community of volunteers all on the same goal of helping those in need, the least of us.
We hope you can join us on move in day sometime in April or May.
Education

Education has always been the cornerstone of national identity, and the means to evaluate issues facing the nation and the world. In order to better understand the challenges to educating an informed citizenry, we examine legislation and policies that impact education at local, state, and national levels
Adult Education Forum Discussions:
In the fall of 2021, three Adult Forums were held to discuss issues of inequality in Education. The discussion featured an examination of where we are as a nation since Brown vs. Board of Education, recent controversies around school choice and school curriculum, and an interview with a local public school superintendent.


Traces of the Trade Film Event:
In November we sponsored the showing of Traces of the Trade, in which the filmmaker, Katrina Browne, traces the participation of her ancestors in slave-trading. The screening was followed by a robust discussion.
Child Welfare and Foster Care:
In two Adult Forums we learned of the racial injustices involved with the child welfare and foster care system in our community, and we responded by holding a collection of new toys to help children in fostering homes feel some joy and comfort in their transition.


Sacred Ground:
Most of the members of our SJAT team, along with other Episcopalians around the Diocese participated in this ten-week course, leading to Beloved Community. The course included readings followed by Zoom discussions.