Catholic social teaching was the focus of several activities at St. Peter Church in Merchantville during the weekend of March 20-22.  On Friday, March 20th, parishioners and friends participated in a Lenten program called “Soup, Stations, and Solidarity.”  The evening began with a simple supper, featuring Pastor Anthony Manuppella’s pasta fagioli soup.  After supper, Father Manuppella and the attendees went into the church where he led them through the Stations of the Cross.  The evening concluded with a presentation on economic justice and fair trade given by Dennis Fisher, the program officer for education with the northeast region of Catholic Relief Services.

CRS is the official international humanitarian relief and development agency of the U.S. Catholic community.  Among other things, CRS assists disadvantaged people overseas through its Fair Trade Program, which guarantees the payment of fair compensation for the handcrafts and crops produced by artisans and farmers from developing nations.

Parishes can participate in the CRS Fair Trade Program by hosting fair trade sales where people may purchase handcrafts, chocolate, and coffee at a fair price.  In conjunction with Friday evening’s Soup, Stations, and Solidarity, St. Peter’s sponsored a fair trade sale after every mass on March 21st and 22nd, featuring religious goods made in the Holy Land and fair trade chocolate.

Father Manuppella said of the weekend:  “I wanted our parishioners to understand how we could concretely put into action some of our great Catholic social teachings so beautifully and prophetically enunciated by our popes.  Fair trade helps us do that.”  Parishioner Jim Illo enjoyed the sense of community fostered by the weekend’s events, both locally and globally.  He noted that the simple supper and the Stations of the Cross were a good way to bring the parish community together for an evening.  The fair trade sale, he said, “extended this sense of community even further by providing us with the opportunity to honor hardworking people from around the world by paying a fair price for their products.”

For more information on how to organize a fair trade sale at your parish, contact the Camden Diocese CRS Committee—Project ONE Global at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or go to either www.catholiccharitiescamden.org or www.crsfairtrade.org.