What do you do with a justice and peace studies major or minor?

Youth and parish justice ministry

Heidi Tousignant, nee Becker. 1992 justice and peace studies major, married with two children.

Heidi hated the ambivalent feelings that the Introduction to Justice and Peace Studies course evoked in her.  She felt sad about the injustice and poverty, inadequate to make changes, guilt over our responsibility for the problems, and anger at the system that perpetuated injustice. 

She spent the summer in Montana thinking about it, and returned in the fall determined to major in justice and peace studies. 

But St. Thomas didn't have a major yet–only a minor.  It was her persistent pressure and efficient research that led to the 1991-approved major which for her included one semester of study in Dublin, Ireland. 

After graduation she earned a Master's degree in theological studies concentrating on justice and peace issues at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

For several years she worked in Campus Ministry at Creighton University in Omaha, planning retreats. 

Now she is Director of Faith Formation at Guardian Angels Church in Oakdale, MN and founding President of the St. Thomas Justice and Peace Studies Alumni Association.  She has also returned to her Alma Mater to teach Theologies of Justice and Peace as an adjunct instructor.