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Committees/ Action Teams

In order to implement our various initiatives, Social Ministries of the Diocese of San Jose works through the participation of committees and teams of parish leaders.  These leaders meet regularly and generously offer their gifts and insights as a service to their parish and the local community.

Catholic Green Initiative Executive Committee

The mission of the Catholic Green Initiative of Santa Clara County is to encourage area Catholics to conserve water and energy, to become more educated about conservation efforts and environmentally friendly practices for the home and workplace and to collaborate on a unified green vision for the diocese. 

* Nationally trained & commissioned speaker for Catholic Coalition on Climate Change
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CCHD Grant Allocation Committee

The CCHD grant allocation committee reviews, evaluates and makes recommendations on grant applications for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Committee members support and promote CCHD in their parishes and the local community. 

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Global Solidarity Team

We commit to the Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative formulated by Catholic Relief Services. We strive to educate, involve and mobilize the Catholics in the Diocese of San Jose to defend the life and dignity of people living in poverty throughout the world. We advocate for our legislators to act in response to the many faces of poverty.

*CRS Global Fellows are priests, deacons and seminarians who travel and meet our brothers and sisters in the developing world. They return to spread the message of social justice to parishes and communities across the United States.

** CRS Fair Trade Ambassadors are trained and commissioned by Catholic Relief Services to promote fair trade events in the parishes and schools in their community.

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Justice for Immigrants

We are the official diocesan representatives of the USCCB’s campaign, Justice for Immigrants in the Diocese of San Jose. We belong the the Catholic community and we come from the Catholic tradition: Our actions are rooted in the concern for the dignity of the human being without regard to race, national origin, or creed. We help engage the Catholic community to participate in the immigration reform movement through direct advocacy, community organizing, leadership development and prayer vigils. We cooperate and coordinate our activities in collaboration with other individuals, organizations and groups that concern themselves with issues that affect the immigrant community.

  • Director: Rev. Jon Pedigo, All Clergy & Interfaith Contacts
  • Patti Basulto: Parishes, Community Building Between Immigrants & Non-Immigrants, Education on Immigration
  • Sarah Crary Gregory: Schools & University Partnerships
  • Jill Malone: Detention, Detainers, ICE Holds, “Secure Communities,” Advocacy
  • Dione Teves Rábago: Immigrants & Domestic Violence, Mental Health, Social Services, Human Trafficking
  • Stanley Taylor: Labor, Immigrant Workers & Immigration
  • Isabel V: Community-Based Advocates, Spanish Speaking Contact

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Restorative Justice Council 

As members of the Restorative Justice Council for the Diocese of San Jose, we commit ourselves to work for the promotion of justice and peace, serving as an advisory board to the diocesan office of Restorative Justice.  In our world, we strive to make a difference rooted in faith. We advocate for victims and their families, for offenders and their families, and for all who are affected by the criminal justice system. We advocate the rebuilding of relationships that have been broken by crime and the insertion of restorative justice principles into the criminal justice system itself. Guided by the principles of biblical justice, Catholic social teaching, and the life experience of those who are or who have been victims of injustice, we hope to create a more just and compassionate society.