Social Action Summer Institute (SASI)

This multi-day program offers first-time participants grounding in Catholic social teaching, biblical theology, and the spirituality of social justice. Returning attendees take part in an advanced program focused on particular areas of social action ministry. SASI is planned jointly with national collaboraters and partners, including the Offices of Justice, Peace, and Human Development and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development of the USCCB, Catholic Relief Services, and Catholic Charities USA. Recent topics covered at SASI have included Addressing Poverty, the Dignity of Work, Peacebuilding for the 21st Century, Economic Justice, Racial Reconciliation, and Restorative Justice, as well as numerous skills-building workshops.

Virtual Roundtable

The Virtual Roundtable is a discussion group, moderated by the Roundtable’s coordinator, on key issues of interest to members. Recent topics have included responding to economic strains, voter’s guides, partnering with Latino/Hispanic ministries and more.

Peer Consultation

Roundtable members and staff serve one another as consultants on issues, strategies, board and commission development and other matters of mission and management. The Coordinator serves as a source of referrals and information for members, linking people with potential allies and pertinent resources.

Roundtable Report: An E-Newsletter

This quarterly newsletter, geared to the needs and interests of diocesan social action offices, keeps members abreast of developments in the field, activities of member offices and resources for social action ministry.

Harry A. Fagan Roundtable Award & Servant of Justice Award

Named in honor of the Roundtable’s first secretary, the Harry A. Fagan award is given annually by the Board to a person or persons who have made an outstanding contribution at the national or international level to the Church’s social justice mission. The Servant of Justice award is given to a member or former member of the Roundtable who has made an outstanding contribution to the Church’s social justice mission at the local level. The awards are presented during the Social Action Summer Institute each July.

Annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering (CSMG)

The Roundtable is a major partner in planning the CSMG, a joint project led by USCCB-Justice, Peace, and Human Development and co-sponsored by the Roundtable’s SASI partners and a number of other national organizations and USCCB offices. Current information about the gathering is available here and a brief history of the gathering is available here.

Training Webinars

The Roundtable organizes webinar discussions on practical topics of greatest interest to the membership.

Roundtable Publications

When specific needs arise, committees of the Roundtable develop publications geared toward the membership. Some current publications include “Standards and Expectations for Diocesan Social Action Offices” and accompanying “Evaluation Tool,” “Congregation-Based Community Organizing,” and “Choose Life: A Roundtable Strategy Guide on the Death Penalty. The Roundtable also undertakes a comprehensive study of diocesan social action offices every five years. These studies, dating back to 1985, document trends and developments in the field.

Roundtable Annual Report

FY 2017-2018 Annual Report and Newsletter

FY 2016-2017 Annual Report

The 1985 founding of the Roundtable, the national association of Catholic Diocesan Social Action Directors, began with an idea three years earlier in 1982 during a lobby day at the Rayburn House Office Building. During this time, Harry Fagan, John Carr, Mary Heidkamp, Eileen Dooley and others began to discuss the state of Catholic Social Action. Urban ministry offices, which had been formed and staffed by diocesan priests in response to urban needs and realities in the 1960s were transitioning into diocesan social action offices, focused on serving the needs of parishioners and teaching Catholic Social Teaching in urban and rural settings.

In the early days Harry Fagan, former social action director in the Diocese of Cleveland, served as the Roundtable’s secretary and John Carr, a social action director in the Archdiocese of Washington, acted as chair of the board. The Roundtable was headquartered in New York as part of the National Pastoral Life Center, an organization founded by Msgr. Phillip Murnion. In 1986, the Roundtable hosted the first Social Action Summer Institute. In 1987, Roundtable gave their first Award, (which would be named for Harry) to Rev J. Bryan Hehir, current Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations.

After Harry’s passing in 1993, Msgr. Phillip Murnion became the Secretary of the Roundtable. He served as Secretary until 2001, when Jeff Korgen, former coordinator of Roundtable, became the Secretary for the organization. During this time the Roundtable began to change as the larger Church changed. Indeed, women, who had been previously been members of the Roundtable began to take on a larger role within Roundtable leadership.

A new era in the history of Roundtable began on November 30, 2009 when the National Pastoral Life Center announced that it would close. The Roundtable Board, chaired by Barbara Budde, social action director in the Diocese of Austin, sought to re-locate Roundtable in the nation’s capitol, where many of our partner organizations also have their headquarters. On September 23, 2011, the Roundtable became an officially independent organization. Now approaching its 30th year, the Roundtable continues to play a primary integral role in the social mission of the Catholic Church.

Roundtable is goverened by a Board of Directors, who volunteer their time to direct and manage the business affairs of the organization.  Board members are elected by the regular members, and every effort is made to maintain a diverse membership from large and small dioceses, diocesan and Catholic Charities offices, different genders and races, and from different geographical regions. 

Please contact Catherine if you are interseted in serving on the Board.