By Karen Vance
Enquirer contributor

What goes into your morning cup of coffee? And why does the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati want to talk about it?

Millions of coffee-growing families in Latin America, most of them Catholic, are living in poverty. On Sunday, Bishop Alvaro Ramazini of San Marcos, Guatemala, will be in Cincinnati to talk about a coffee crisis that has dropped prices from $1.20 a pound to 50 cents a pound, and workers now making as little as $1 a day.

The program, "Java for Justice," at 7:30 p.m. at the Su Casa Hispanic Ministry Center, 115 W. Seymour Ave., Carthage, will discuss the impact on Latin America and how North Americans can help.

"It's our responsibility to know that when we drink a cup of coffee, there's a lot of pain going along with that," said Mike Gable, director of the mission office for the archdiocese. "Not to create guilt about it, but to educate and talk about what we can do in a positive way."

Volunteers from St. Monica-St. George Catholic Churchwill talk about their program to sell Free Trade coffee, a product that guarantees small family farmers a fair price for their crop.

While in town, Ramazini will also meet with Procter & Gamble Co. officials to discuss what the company is doing to help alleviate the situation.

For information, call 421-3131.

Churches sponsor multiracial cookout

The First Baptist Church of Mount Auburn and the Wells Springs Community Church of West Chester are hosting a fellowship and celebration in Jacksonhill Park, at the end of Dorchester Avenue, west of Auburn Avenue, noon-6:30 p.m. Sept. 27

The event includes lunch, with food served 1:45-2:45 p.m. and 4-5 p.m., with ice cream served 2:45-3:30 p.m.. There will also be singing, dancing, prayer and baptism.

For information, call First Baptist Church, 421-6785 .

Xavier University to host business ethics program

Denis Beausejour , a former vice president at Procter & Gamble Co., will speak on business ethics for for-profit and not-for-profit entities 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Schiff Family Conference Center on the Xavier University campus.

Beausejour left P&G in 1999 to pursue a spiritual calling, and now heads Dr. Henry Cloud's Answers for Life, based in Cincinnati.

The event, which is free to the public, is part of Xavier's Ethics/Religion & Society Lecture Series. For information, call Tom Clark, 745-2025.

To submit religion news, e-mail kvance@fuse.net or send a fax to 755-4150.