Justice and Equality Mission Trip 2024

SAINT JOHN XXIII 2024 MISSION TRIP TO ATLANTA, GA AND MONTGOMERY, SELMA & BIRMINGHAM, AL

SIGN UP INFO MEETING:  March 10, 2024, Oldershaw Hall, St. Nicholas after the 10:30a.m.mass. Approximately 11:30 a.m.

WHEN: July 25, 2023-August 4th, 2024

WHERE:  Atlanta, GA (730 miles -12 hours from Evanston, plus stops). Note that Atlanta is in EST. We will take 2 days to drive to Atlanta, stopping in Nashville, TN.  After Atlanta, we will drive to Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham, AL. Birmingham is on CST. 

COST: $325 per person for food, lodging and programming at site. Travel in rental vans is  included,  provided through fundraising. $50 non-refundable fee due on sign up. Sign up priority date is March 10, 2024. Slots are first come, first served. If we fill there will be a wait list. Sign up is encouraged early to reserve your spot and for pre trip activities and trip planning. Balance is due May 15, 2023. Please contact us for sign up. 

WHO: This is an Adult Week. Participants must be 18 and older. Vaccinations for COVID (initial and a booster) are required. If you are not vaccinated at all for COVID due to health reasons, please talk to the coordinators. 

WHAT: We will learn about the Civil Rights Movement, as well as historical and continuing systems of inequality impacting many of our sisters and brothers. We also hope to engage with the local communities and serve where needed in Georgia and in Alabama. Examples: preparing and serving meals, giving out donations, visiting with the communities. We will also participate in activities to explore the history, culture, and environment of the areas we visit. 

Some sites we may visit, depending on time, include Roots 101: The African American Museum (Louisville),   American Music Museum (Nashville), the Martin Luther King Jr Historical Park and Monument , Ebenezer Baptist Church (Atlanta), National Center for Civil and Human Rights (Atlanta), African American Panoramic Experience (APEX) museum (Atlanta), Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site ( between Atlanta and Montgomery, AL),  Rosa Parks Museum (Montgomery), Freedom Rides Museum (Montgomery), Women's Gynecology Monument (Montgomery), Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Memorial Center (Montgomery), Dexter Ave King Memorial Church and Parsonage Museum (Montgomery), Court Square (Montgomery) the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and Freedom Monument Sculpture Park (Montgomery), the Edmond Pettus Bridge (Selma) , Brown Chapel AME Church (Selma) , National Voting Rights Museum (Selma), the 16th Street Baptist Church (Birmingham), Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Birmingham), Birmingham City Jail (Birmingham), Vulcan Park (Birmingham) Kelly Ingram Sculpture Park (Birmingham) and City Walk Civil Rights Park (Birmingham). In addition, we will meet and serve the communities of the Mercy Community Church and the Missionaries of Charity (Atlanta) and there may be others in Alabama. We will also meet other organizations that are working for justice and equality.  

WHY:

-We go to be a church of encounter. 

-We are on a pilgrimage to be changed, share our experience and become agents of change.

-Our understanding and empathy grow as we stand on another’s land, in their sacred space and with their community. News stories now come with faces and lives.

-Our witness becomes more direct, credible and impactful.

-In the end….we learn to love better.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

 Pope Francis calls us to be a church of encounter.  Join us when St. John XXIII travels far beyond our church buildings to Georgia and Alabama and you will be transformed. You will move outside of your comfort zone and see what is often unseen. You will return with a deeper understanding of and stronger sense of community with our sisters and brothers.