Social Justice

Parts of Valley Forge National Historical Park will be closed to traffic tomorrow to accommodate two vastly different rallies - both under the broad banner of the First Amendment. At the amphitheater near the park's eastern end will be members and supporters of the National Socialist Movement, an anti-Semitic, white-supremacist group based in Minnesota that traces its political lineage to Adolf Hitler. About a mile away at Artillery Park near the Memorial Arch will be the Valley Forge Rally for Social Justice, a family-oriented event designed to counter the message of hate coming from the first group.

Shira EtShalom is rarely without her knitting needles or her sense of social justice. Only 19, she's an accomplished knitter with countless scarves, sweaters and blankets to her credit. She's also fiercely antiwar, pro-workers' rights and fervent about making a positive difference in the world. And she thought it only natural to combine her passions. EtShalom formed "Sew What?! Radical Knitters" in September. About 30 members - ranging in age from 6 to 50 but with a core of 20-somethings - meet biweekly.

Myrlie Evers (right), widow of slain civil-rights leader Medgar Evers, speaks with reporters yesterday after receiving the "Drum Major for Social Justice" award as presented by the Philadelphia Martin Luther King Jr. Association for Nonviolence.

Edythe Scott Bagley, 86, sister of Coretta Scott King, steward of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy, and an arts and education pioneer, died Saturday, June 11, at her home in Cheyney, Chester County. A teacher at Cheyney University for 26 years, Mrs. Bagley was the force behind the establishment of a theater-arts major there in 1980, her family said. She retired from the college in 1996. She was a close confidante of her younger sister, and recently completed a biography of Coretta Scott King, due out next year from the University of Alabama Press.

The Rev. Edward J. Walsh, 75, community affairs coordinator for the Camden Diocese who was known for his work with the urban poor, died of an apparent heart attack Monday at Sacred Heart Residence for Priests in Cherry Hill. Father Walsh divided his time between community work with the poor and his duties as a parish priest, coordinating clothing drives, hunger programs and legal-service programs for urban communities. He served on boards, commissions and committees throughout South Jersey and grappled with issues ranging from welfare reform to political ethics.

In "Civil-rights leaders need reality check" (July 14), Bishop Harry Jackson asserts that Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are not in touch with the pulse of the black community. I disagree. Unlike Bishop Jackson, I found the message that came out of National Conference and Revival for Social Justice in Dallas to be relevant and refreshing. Too often, media anoint conservative evangelicals as spokespersons for the entire faith and suggest their legislative priorities constitute "the" Christian agenda.

I am a graduate of Chestnut Hill College, with master's degrees in spirituality and psychology. My spiritual formation and life were formed by teachings in moral theology, social justice, and ethics, and through the example of the Sisters of St. Joseph. I thought they lived as they taught, with integrity and concern for the principles of social justice as reflected in the life of Christ. Learning about the manner in which the Rev. James St. George has been treated by the school has been shocking to me, not only his firing but the inhumane and dishonest way this situation was conducted ("Students backing former instructor," Wednesday)

H Fred Clark, 75, of Center City, a social activist who was one of a trio of Philadelphia scientists whose work on the rotavirus vaccine is credited with saving children's lives worldwide since 2006, died of complications from heart and Parkinson's diseases Saturday, April 28, at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. The target of the vaccine was rotavirus, "a cause of fever, vomiting and diarrhea and dehydration in young children," said Dr. Paul Offit, who along with Dr. Stanley Plotkin, formed the trio.

The Democratic Party is hurtling toward disaster, and not even the divisive politics of the pompous Ross Perot will save it. The reason is this party of FDR and JFK has alienated a group of its most ardent supporters: Roman Catholics. Catholics have been a strong element of the Democrats since the days of Roosevelt because he embraced the ideals of social justice so dear to the Catholic mind since Pius XI, and later John XXIII, proposed them as basic building blocks of the good life.

THE ROE V. WADE decision - announced 40 years ago Tuesday - is the best-known Supreme Court decision: When asked, Americans name it eight times more than the second-place Brown v. Board of Education . That's not surprising given the fact that, unlike most other Supreme Court decisions, this one's anniversary is regularly marked, as it was Tuesday, by demonstrations, pro and con. What some people may not remember is that Roe - the case of...