Interfaith Education Fund

116 leaders, mostly from the Catholic Dioceses of Shreveport and Alexandria, participated in CCHD- and Organizers Institute- sponsored leadership training in Woodworth, Louisiana.  Leaders representing 42 congregations from 25 cities or towns learned how to put their faith in action through institutional organizing practices designed to strengthen their parishes and fortify their communities.  The sessions covered themes including the eucharist and what it means to be the body of the Christ, baptism and the mission of the church and building a team to do the work of the Church.  

In 2015, an effort to carve out a southeast portion of East Baton Rouge to form a new city called St. George failed to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot.   

This year, proponents returned with a similar proposal to breakaway, but under significantly different conditions.  Together Baton Rouge leaders point out that figures utilized by proponents of the St. George breakaway effort don't quite add up.  In addition to a significant drop in ethnic diversity within newly drawn lines, residents would likely be faced with immediate tax hikes and public safety subsidies to make the finances work. 

Civic academies about the upcoming vote have drawn significant crowds, including one session (photo above) at St. Margaret's Episcopal which drew 150 residents and congregational leaders.  A teaching on public finance, delivered by local professors, informed small group conversations led by local leaders. 

According to Together Baton Rouge,"We heard from a variety of voices and opinions, but the one thing that was clear is there is a strong desire for more honest information about what the true cost of the breakaway would mean, both for those in St. George and the larger EBR Parish."  The vote on whether to form a breakaway city is set for October 12th.

When parish leaders of Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission from the Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana learned that nursery workers were traveling to Dallas for basic immigration services, they turned to Northern & Central Louisiana Interfaith (NCLI) for help.  NCLI urged the Catholic workers to carefully invest in relationships with Anglos and African Americans – including Baptists and Methodists.  The workers responded.  At a monthly convening of mostly Black and White leaders, one immigrant shared that he felt caught between providing for his family and breaking immigration laws.  In response, an African American gentleman revealed that he had grown up on a plantation speaking only Creole, and that when he started school in the city he and his siblings were treated as strangers due to their accents and ways.  This encounter created the basis for trust –sufficient to work together not just in the founding of a local immigrant center, but also around reforming police practices to stop racial profiling.