Connections

Imagine what might happen if every diocese across this nation were to raise up a handful of eager teenage prophets, anchored in the social teachings of our faith, hungry for Good News and newness of life, and immersed the spirituality of compassionate justice!

This is the dream of JustFaith Ministries, a national justice formation movement that is operative in over eighty dioceses across the nation. In response to repeated calls from the adult graduates of the intensive JustFaith program, JustFaith Ministries has created and piloted a process for older adolescents entitled JusticeWalking (J-Walking).

J-Walking Overview

J-Walking is an unconventional, nine-month journey into “engaged spirituality” with high school-age teenagers (16-18 years). True to its name and reflecting the hallmarks of a “JustFaith” process, J-Walking is a counter-cultural and demanding small-group (7-14 people) conversion process. J-Walkers commit to eighteen, bi-weekly, sessions, as well as two retreat days, and a weekend justice-immersion pilgrimage. Each group “adopts” a local social service agency for the duration of the process, and one meeting each month takes place on-site at the agency. The process also includes three public dialogues in which teams of J-Walkers offer creative presentations before family members, peers, and parishioners.

• When have your Gospel commitments led you to walk in a different direction?
• If someone observed the way you live, would they recognize a follower of Jesus?
• When you look at yourself through the mirror of your peers, do you see a prophet?
• What kinds of “unlikely friendships” mark us as disciples of Jesus?
• Faced with the global challenges and opportunities of our time, how is God’s compassionate justice inviting us into new ways of living and loving together?

Impact of J-Walking

These are some of the hard questions young J-Walkers wrestle with when they gather every other week to pray, dialogue, and build friendships with people at society’s margins. Like JustFaith, J-Walking is challenging and certainly not for everyone. The initial signs of this new JustFaith initiative are hopeful, as testified by Cara, a young J-Walker from St. Thomas Aquinas in Connecticut:

“J-Walking was an amazing experience. I have learned things that I could never learn in a classroom. I learned to reflect on the great pains that can be inflicted by (people), that are just as easily repelled with the help of fellow man (or woman). It has taught me that the world is my community, to be embraced and treated the way I would wish to be. From Africa to Hartford to my home town, there will always be people in my community who are less fortunate than I am and it is my now my goal in life to try to change that. There is a child without a change of clothes, or in fear of where their next meal is coming from and that just is totally unjust. J-walking has really had a deep impact on me, and reminds me to appreciate and be thankful for what I have. I have also seen a huge growth in my fellow J-walkers, and hopefully myself. We have matured so much as a group from all the experiences we've had. I hope to continue my J-walking and help with the Catholic Worker. I looked forward to every visit, and perhaps I can help out over the summer, or possibly even next year…”

God calls us to be prophets when we are still young enough to respond wholeheartedly, and J-Walking is an act of faith in the Holy Spirit active in the lives of our young people. God is surely calling young prophets to speak the Good News to these times, and it will take a supportive community to walk with them. The burning questions remains: Who will raise them up and J-Walk with them?

If you would like to know more about JusticeWalking, visit the JustFaith website www.justfaith.org or contact Joe Grant at joe@justfaith.org, 502-584-5977.

(JustFaith Ministries works in partnership with Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, and Catholic Charities USA. Joe Grant is By Joe Grant, former associate director of youth ministry for the Archdiocese of Louisville, is the author of JusticeWalking and associate director of JustFaith Ministries.)