The second annual diocesan Peace and Justice Conference rang in Respect Life Month Saturday at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington. Father Gerry Creedon, pastor and chairman of the Peace and Justice Commission, oversaw the daylong educational event, which began with Mass celebrated by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde.

"I believe it’s so important for us to pursue ways to peace and justice (through) education, formation and action," the bishop said.

Jeff Caruso, executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, outlined the principles of Catholic Social Teaching in his keynote speech in the church’s Benedict Hall. Priests, religious, lay ministers, students and concerned parishioners filled the tables to listen to Caruso highlight the following seven principles: life and dignity of the human person ("our worth is measured by our being"); call to family, community and participation ("we are all relational creatures"); personal responsibility versus social responsibility ("our Church teaches that it’s both"); preferential concern for the poor and vulnerable ("we are concerned first and foremost for the weakest among us"); dignity of work and the rights of workers (the right to decent and fair wages); solidarity ("we’re all members of the human family"); and care for God’s creation ("we show respect for our creator by our stewardship of creation").

Caruso also reminded the attendees of the November political elections, and the importance of faithful citizenship, or participation in the political process.

Catholics "have a consistent moral framework that deals with conception to natural death and everywhere in-between," Caruso said, emphasizing that Catholics pray and discern before voting. "I would just invite you if you are still discerning on a particular issue — take a closer look at what the leaders of our Church are saying on these issues.

"These issues may not always be easy for everybody to wrap their minds around and get their hearts involved in," he continued. "Catholic Social Teaching is not a partisan agenda. So many people are used to thinking in terms of party and not the issues. We all have to look objectively."

Four breakout sessions, offered individually by Steve Colecchi, Kevin Appleby and Maureen Bailey of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Sue Capers, of the Virginia Coalition for the Homeless, included peace in the Middle East, immigration, life issues and poverty issues.

Colecchi, director of the USCCB Office of International Justice and Peace, said that peace is more than the absence of war, and needs to be built on a foundation of justice.

"We have to replace fear and anger with hope and opportunity," he said. According to Colecchi, recent actions on both sides — a new president of the Palestinian authority and the first pullback of Jews from Gaza — "gives at least a tiny glimmer of hope" for peace in an area of the world so long fraught with violence.

Next door, Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the USCCB, outlined the USCCB’s Justice for Immigrants campaign, saying that the first goal of the Church on the issue of immigration must be to "educate Catholics about Church teaching."

Appleby also cited common reasons that Catholics and Americans resist immigration: the belief that immigrants break the law, take American jobs and change American culture.

"These statements are born of fear," Appleby said, and offered counter-arguments that questioned the justness of the laws immigrants are breaking, listed the "very important" roles immigrants play in the American work force and asserted that immigrants have not taken away from, but "added to and enriched our culture."

Capers specifically discussed the Virginia Fair Wage Act, a proposal to increase the current $5.15 minimum wage (less than $11,000/year), which organizations in Virginia will present to the January General Assembly. Bailey spoke specifically on the issues of abortion and the death penalty.

The conference wrapped up with a discussion panel led by Rev. C. Douglas Smith, executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, and included Margaret Reuthinger and Gina Cerasani.

Meg Dalmut, assistant director of campus ministry at Marymount University in Arlington, attended the conference with four members of the Campus Ministry Association’s Social Justice Committee, chaired by sophomore Eryn Smith.

Dalmut said that educating the campus on social justice issues is an important part of the committee’s ministry, and that the group came this morning to learn the facts in order to present them to others.

Father Creedon said he was pleased at the number of people who attended the conference and that he hoped participants would leave "with a deeper awareness … of justice as part of our Church’s mission," particularly in the four areas the breakout sessions focused on.

"We as Catholics need to be on the side of the vulnerable," he said.