News Category: Faith & Justice Workers

Faith & Justice Workers

Justice Worker

All Saints Parish recognizes individuals who demonstrate the values of our community- seeking justice and walking humbly with our God. Justice workers do the hard work of noticing the needs in our community and advocating for change. They are persistent in pushing all of us to  see the problems and make us uncomfortable with things staying the same. It is through their drive to see a fairer community that we all get pushed to do better.  Justice workers lead us to make needed changes.

Faith Worker

Faith workers are those remarkable individuals who trust God and are willing to minister to others. They are role models for how we should spread the word.

Justice Leader in our Community

Meet Sophie

Father Jim Sauer and Rich Couture worked together after the dedication in October 2022 memorializing a lynching of 7 African American men in 1878 on the courthouse lawn in Mt. Vernon to recognize the young woman who got it started. 

Sophie Kloppenberg was just a junior/senior in high school when she started asking why this event wasn’t known in her community and asking that something be done to acknowledge these events, especially for those living relatives who have to grapple with this being a part of their history. She had to speak in front of the Mt. Vernon City Council and ultimately the County Council to gain approval for a memorial bench and plaque to be placed on the courthouse grounds. 

These two men started telling Sophie’s story and asking others to help them support her in future justice endeavors. Sunday January 22nd the duo along with Brenda Meyer and Emma Jean Couture traveled to Mt. Vernon to present a gift that she may during her studies at Columbia University in New York City after she graduates from high school this spring. 

All Saints Parish Justice Network Leader

Jerome Echele

Jerome was honored at the CAJE Celebration in June 2022 for immersing himself in CAJE activities from facilitating house meetings, attending research activities and training opportunities locally and nationally.

He guided his Network of CAJE Network members to participate in public meeting with City and County Council members and to show up for the Rally, the Nehemiah ACTION and Celebration.
He has also dedicated hours to advocating for businesses to invest in the work of CAJE. He truly is a man who believes he should work for justice in his church and community.

Faith Warriors- Emma Hoffman

80% of the people who leave the Catholic faith do so by the age of 23. This is a statistic that Emma Hoffman, a 22 year-old parishioner of Resurrection and graduate of Mater Dei and Indiana University has witnessed first-hand. She noticed that of the group of Catholic students who also attended IU from our area, very few participated in Mass or other activities at school. She found a need to get more involved in her faith and eventually joined a college Bible study.

The Bible study introduced her to The Fellowship of Catholic University students, or FOCUS- “A Catholic collegiate outreach whose mission is to share hope and joy of the gospel with college and university students inspiring and equipping them for a lifetime of Christ-centered evangelization, discipleship, and friendships in which they lead others to do the same.”

After getting more involved in the Catholic community and becoming good friends with one of the FOCUS missionaries at IU, Emma began to feel a call on her heart for the life of prayer and evangelization that the missionaries were living. For at least the next 2 years, Emma will be one of 800 missionaries within FOCUS who are committed to helping students continue in their faith after they leave home and enter college, a time when most students walk away from the Faith. She has been placed at Grand Valley State University in Michigan starting this fall. FOCUS missionaries rely completely on the financial support of others for their living and mission expenses.

As each missionary serves for at least 2 years, monthly support is greatly helpful for missionaries. Emma leaves Evansville to move to Michigan July 31st and is still short about $500 of monthly support from her goal of being fully-funded. If you are interested in learning more about FOCUS or how you can support Emma in this important mission of the Church, she would love to schedule a phone call or meeting with you sometime this week. Emma can be reached at 812-453-3404 or emma.hoffman@focus.org. 

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Luke 10:2

All Saints Parish Hires Justice Minister

All Saints Parish hires Brenda Meyer to lead our Justice Ministry Programs

When Brenda Meyer, retired after a 44-year career as a mental health provider, was approached about the All Saints Parish Justice Minister position, she responded that it should be a “justice saint”, someone she could follow like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa.

After some thought and encouragement, she realized that she had always been interested in how people work and work together in the larger community. She had participated in many justice activities because “people brought me along” on issues relating to voting, women’s issues, housing. Brenda had been active as an All Saints CAJE team leader and is currently serving on the CAJE board; she had also participated in several Just Faith groups sponsored by the parish.

Brenda began serving as Justice Minister in April of this year and now sees her job as bringing people along in the work of justice. Brenda’s energy and dedication are evident in several initiatives begun in the past year.

Believing that all work begins with prayer, Brenda and the justice committee prepared and distributed a justice prayer card, reminding all parishioners that they can be involved in the work for justice. Brenda initiated a group discussion of Pope Francis’s book Let Us Dream. After the successful conclusion of two groups, more are planned.

Brenda is working to increase team leaders for All Saints CAJE involvement and has joined the core team of Building Respect & Integrity in Diverse Greater Evansville (BRIDGE) in its work for racial equity.

Brenda is currently collaborating with Reverend Floyd Edwards of Mt. Olive Galilee Baptist Church to sponsor a Faith and Justice pilgrimage to St Louis. The pilgrimage involves a visit to St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church, stops at places at the center of the struggles for racial and civil liberty that call us to examine our own social justice actions. The pilgrimage is scheduled for Sunday, September 11. 
Anyone interested can contact Brenda Meyer at 812-457-5529 or bmeyer@evdio.org.

Additional Information about All Saints Parish Commitment to Justice Work and a Welborn Foundation Grant All Saints Parish has a long history of involvement in works of justice and charity. The former St. Anthony School was used for a family shelter for homeless (Ozanam Family Shelter), the early Echo Clinic, the UCC day shelter, and this summer as a cooling shelter.

All Saints’ pastor, Father Jay Davidson, and other ministers in the area were instrumental in creating a covenant to address social issues in the community. This was the beginning of CAJE and led to the first action in 2003.

In April of 2020, All Saints Parish began a listening session to determine strengths and needs in order to plan for the future. A survey sought input from parishioners. Responders highlighted the parish’s commitment to justice and charity as one area that attracted them to the parish.

This became the basis for a focus group to determine ways to strengthen and coordinate this work in the parish. Subsequent meetings of the Justice Focus Group led to discussion of a parish justice minister and a grant application to the Welborn Foundation to fund this work and the coordinator position. While the Foundation typically funds projects and not positions, in the summer of 2021 All Saints was awarded a 2-year $70,000 grant that included the hiring of a part-time Justice Minister.

Welborn stressed the importance of work to develop leadership in addressing racial issues in the community. The Justice Minister’s role is “to advance and facilitate parish justice and charity ministries.

The Justice Minister serves as a staff support person for the parish Justice Ministry committee and serves as a liaison between the parish, justice and charity volunteers, and other community justice organizations and partners.”

Welcome Brenda Meyer!