The Quest for Social Justice, Inc. took root in 1998 when a group of Catholics, including sisters from several religious communities, began meeting in a private home. Their goal was to reflect on the scriptures and on Catholic Social Teaching and to formulate action plans to be implemented in the Mobile, Alabama, area. They were motivated by the fact that there was at the time no identifiable religous voice of social justice in the Mobile, Alabama, area. Nor were issues of social inequities, clearly evidenced in the nation, addressed at the local level.
The group's first focus was public education on issues such as the School of the Americas, capital punishment, tax reform, and landlord-tenant legislation.
In the year 2001, the program expanded to the point that establishing an office of social justice was needed, especially since the orginal organizer, Greg Speltz, was leaving the area. A temporary Board of Directors was created and a fund-raising campaign began. The group was incorporated in the state of Alabama under the name of "The Quest for Social Justice, Inc." on March 15, 2001. In that same month an office was opened at 3263 Demetropolis Road in Mobile, Alabama. Since 2001, the Board of Directors has expanded to include representatives of a variety of faith-based and civic organizations working on the causes of peace and justice, including Alabama Arise, Citizens for Peace, and Bay Area Womens' Coalition.
Since its inception in 2001, the Quest has been able to accomplish many of its objectives. First of all, it has consistently produced a high quality, quarterly newsletter on issues of social concern. Although it had to step back from its original plan to sponsor four speakers a year, the Quest has made available an impressive array of local and nationally recognized spokes persons for justice to the citizens of Mobile.
Subjects addressed included:
The School of the Americas/WINSEC
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Father Roy Bougois, activist
Moratorium on the Death Penalty
Sister Helen Prejean, author
Donald Cabana, prison warden
Michael Farrell, actor
Gary Drinkard, death row survivor
George Ryan, former governor of Illinois
Peace and Non-Violence
Sister Ann Brady, student of the Holocaust
Ligia Ines Alzate, Colombian human rights & union activist
David Beckman, Director of Bread for the World
Sister Deirdre Mullan, UN NGO
Arun Gandhi, grandson of Hahatma Gandhi
Rev. John Dear, author and activist
Don Mullen, Irish author
Willima Schulz, former Dirctor of Amnesty International
Herman Boone, coach of newly integrated high school
Craig & Cindy Corrie, parents of Rachel Corrie, martyr for peace in Palestine
Sweat Shops Along the US Mexico Border
Barbara Martinez Jitner
The Quest has engaged in several types of action.
These include:
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A Pilgrimage for Peace which entailed walking in procession to eight different downtown sites that symbolize areas of social concern, including the courts, education and race relations.
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Hour long vigils on the evening of an execution in Alabama
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Several "Watch Parties" where people gather to watch a program of interest and react to it.
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Regular joint peace ralliles with Citizens for Peace and Veterans for Peace since before the start of the Iraq War.
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In 2006 Quest teamed up with The Bay Area Women to innaugurate a program called Bridges bringing people of differing races together for a meal and facilitated conversation. This event takes place three times a year.