Our 2022-23 STM Grant recipients were:

• Georgia Justice Project, to support the renovation of a new office building that will allow GJP to expand the services it provides to persons in the criminal justice system and to remove barriers they face when re-entering society

• Decatur Cooperative Ministry, to support the renovation of the kitchen at Hagar's House, which provides emergency shelter to families experiencing homelessness.

• Manos Abiertas (Open Hands), in Argentina, to support the renovation of its facility that houses children removed from their families due to child abuse or neglect

• Xavier High School, in Micronesia, to support the renovation of the rainwater collection and storage system that the Jesuit boarding school relies on for water

Click Here to See the List of Grant Recipients from Previous Years

The STM Grants committee encourages parishioners to send suggestions of organizations working to address poverty, income inequality, and/or racism. Please send 1) a brief description of the organization, 2) the best contact information for the organization, and 3) any involvement you or other parishioners may have with the organization to Robert Weaver ([email protected]). We invite organizations to submit grants for the 2023-2024 year. As in past years, priority will be given to grant requests that address capital needs rather than short-term operating funds.

A truly Catholic parish Is fundamentally oriented outward in service to the wider community. STM parishioners are engaged in a variety of outreach efforts in the Atlanta area and beyond. Our outreach is sometimes in the form of direct “hands-on” service by parishioner volunteers, sometimes in the form of advocacy with public officials on behalf of the disadvantaged and threatened, and sometimes in the form of educating ourselves in the nature and causes of injustice, and sometimes in the form of substantial financial support of organizations that care for the poor and other needy. STM funds these ministries through a “social justice tithe.” Each year, STM allocates at least 10% of ordinary parish revenue to fund our outreach programs.

All of our social justice ministries are pro-life: that is, they recognize and promote the dignity of every human person at every stage of life. We are guided in what we do and how we do it by the Gospel of Jesus and by the Church’s traditional social justice teaching.

Our first choice in our outreach is to partner with and otherwise assist organizations that are already serving people and families in need. This partnership typically takes the form of providing volunteers and recurring modest financial support. STM has an ongoing partnership with several local and non-local outreach organizations, including:

•  St. Vincent de Paul Society – emergency assistance to the poor

• Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School – education of the disadvantaged

• Decatur Emergency Assistance Ministry (DEAM) – emergency food, prescription, utilities, and lodging assistance to the poor

• Birthright – pregnancy aid

• Habitat for Humanity – low-cost housing

• Hagar’s House – transitional housing for homeless families

• ServeHaiti – medical clinic in Haiti

• Good Shepherd Home – housing and food assistance to the homeless in Jamaica

In addition to these recurring commitments, STM also makes large, one-time financial grants to fund projects that promise a major impact and that likely could not have been undertaken without our assistance.

In the fall of each year, a committee of STM parishioners invites local, national, and international organizations that minister in social justice mission work to apply for these grants. Due to the lasting impact of COVID and the scope of the priorities identified by parishioners and in the Jesuit Universal Apostolic Preferences, the justice priorities during FY 2024 will continue to be 1) poverty and income inequality and 2) racial justice. The committee reviews the applications and recommends to the pastor which applications to approve. Grants are typically awarded in the spring of the following year.

A listing of the projects that STM has funded from the social justice tithe can be found here.
For guidelines on the 2023-24 grant cycle, click here.

For more information about STM’s social justice programs or to volunteer in one of the programs, call the parish office at 404-378-4588.

St. Thomas More is now a parish member of the Ignatian Solidarity Network
ISN offers programs and resources for equity and justice. Their mission statement: Network, educate, and form advocates for social justice animated by the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the witness of the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador and their companions.