By Lenore Christopher

DAYTON DEANERY — The program works. It’s that simple.

Make a two-hour commitment each week for nine months and it’s practically guaranteed you will see your life and your priorities significantly altered.

Jack Jezreel

The presentation is "to encourage groups of people from parishes, especially from parishes throughout the greater Miami Valley, to come together and see what the program has to offer their parish," said Cori Thibodeau, regional director for the Catholic Social Action Office in Dayton.

JustFaith: A Formation program for Would-Be Profits© is the brainchild of Jezreel, who wondered, as director of social concerns, why he couldn’t elicit more energy from parishioners on social justice issues. His research confirmed one major reason: parishioners lacked formation. Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA), on the other hand, was working.

So Jezreel developed a nine-month intensive program, using a curriculum guide, videos and books similar to RCIA, focusing on social action and social justice.

"Well before the end of that first year's program, people who previously had been only marginally involved or interested in social ministry were now on fire with commitment," he wrote in his program materials. "In the months and years that followed the end of the program, these people became the movers and shakers of social ministry not only in the parish but also in the greater Louisville area.

"These were people who became chairpersons of the Hunger and Poverty Committee, who got on the Board of Habitat for Humanity, who initiated a relationship with a parish in the Third World, who started a women's issues committee and a Pax Christi group," he stated. They became experts on a variety of subjects, from deforestation to the causes of revolution in Latin America; changed jobs in order to do work that they saw as more socially redeeming; they sold large homes and bought modest homes just to express a commitment to simplified living; and gave away wealth in the name of justice, charity and compassion.

"These were changed people," stated Jezreel. "And, amazingly, the same thing happened year after year, as JustFaith© was experienced yet again by another group of parishioners."

Thibodeau admits she was at first skeptical of the program "because of the length of time and commitment required by parishioners." However, after completing the program herself, she said, "I’m convinced it is the best investment a parish and/or a parishioner can make.

"It has changed my life. It sounds dramatic, but I do find myself making different choices," including, she said, how she buys her food and where she chooses to live.

"Making those choices is a direct result of this program. For the first time, as someone who was supposed to be encouraging social ministry in parishes, I find there is a program that has lasting effects. This is not a one-shot deal." People who complete this program "will be committed for the rest of their lives to social justice," she said.

JustFaith© is now a project of Catholic Charities USA and was introduced in the archdiocese about five years ago. Participants meet in a parish setting once a week for two hours for nine months.

With the use of a highly outlined curriculum, there is no need for a special leader to be trained in social justice. "Every minute of every session is planned," said Thibodeau.

There are four hands-on experiences with low-income people and two weekend retreats. The archdiocesan social action office facilitates the retreats, coordinates the hands-on experiences for the group and provides follow-up for groups after they complete the nine months program.

JustFaith© is not about the study of specific social action issues. It is about conversion and value clarification, she said. "At the end of nine months, the hope is that there has been some kind of transformation."