St. Dominic’s Social Justice and Community Service Ministry is dedicated through prayer, time, effort, and material support to promote life and human dignity. Our comprehensive pro-life outreach includes providing basic necessities for the poor, offering services for mothers and children, supporting prisoners and their families, and welcoming immigrants.

Services for the Poor
For than 20 years, St. Dominic’s parishioners have been providing the noon meal at So Others Might Eat (SOME) four times a year. We also contribute spiritual and financial support to the SOME/Thea Bowman Transitional Housing Program and the Catholic Community Services 801 East Homeless Shelter. For more information about these agencies, please go to http://www.some.org and http://www.catholiccharitiesdc.org.

As part of the Southwest D.C. Ministry, St. Dominic’s help organizes the annual CROP Hunger Walk (www.cropwalk.org), which raises money for Martha’s Table, a DC hunger relief Agency, DC Hunger Solutions, an advocacy association, and the Church World Service, an international religious relief and development organization. Throughout the year, parishioners donate food to the foodbank maintained by the South Washington/West of the River Family Strengthening Collaborative. We also take part in Operation Rice Bowl (link to http://orb.crs.org), Catholic Relief Services’ annual Lenten program to fight global hunger.

Support for Mothers and Children
Our parish materially supports both the Northwest Pregnancy Center through a monthly collection of items needed by new families, including diapers and infant formula. Parishioners also participate in the annual March for Life in January.

Prison Ministry
We participate in the Prison Fellowship Ministries Angel Tree Project, which donates Christmas presents to children of incarcerated parents. We also support the Welcome Home Reentry Program, which provides spiritual and emotional support for former prisoners working to rebuild their lives. For more information about the Prison Fellowship Ministries, please go to: http://www.pfm.org/default_pf_org.asp.

Educational Opportunities
St. Dominic’s offers free English as a Second Language classes for adults on Sunday mornings at 11:00 throughout the school year. We also offer help for people studying for their GED, SAT and U.S. Citizenship.

Archdiocesan Legislative Network
Parishioners are also encouraged to join the Archdiocesan Legislative Network, which enables Catholics throughout the Archdiocese to work for policies and decisions that reflect our common faith. If you would like to add your voice on pro-life and social justice issues, please go to http://www.adw.org/service/advocacy.asp.

For more information about any of these programs, please contact Cecilia Daly at Cecilia@st-dominic-church.org