Morning Session

The friar participants opened the Second International JPIC Congress of the OFM in Uberlandia, Brazil. The morning session consisted of an official opening of the Congress by Luis Cabrera, a General Definator of the Order and the Director of the JPIC Office in the General Curia. Luis spoke in the context of the 800^th Anniversary of the Order and in the name of the General Minister. He reminded the participants that Francis said that the encounter with the leper was a significant experience in his life. The leper became Francis’s teacher. The friars, too, desire to be with the lepers of today. For this reason, Francis embracing the leper is the symbol and theme of the Congress: “Embracing the Excluded of Today.” [ paper]

Afterwards Manlio di Franco, the Provincial Minister of Salerno (Mother Province to the Foundation of Our Lady of Fatima here in Uberlandia) welcomed the participants, and then the participants introduced themselves. There are nearly 100 participants from 36 countries among the different Conferences of the Order: Southern Cone (Chile, Argentina), Bolivarian (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia), Brazilian (Brazil), Mexico-Central American (Mexico), Africa (Morocco, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Angola, Congo), COMPI (Italy), Holy Land (Israel), SAOO (Australia, Indonesia, West Papua, Pakistan), EAC (Philippines, Korea, Japan), South Slav (Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Slovenia), English-speaking Conference (United States, Ireland), West Slav (Poland), CONFRES (Spain), COTAF (Germany, Austria, France, Belgium).

An Afro-Brazilian musical group, Batupe Rosa e Azur, led the participants in a joyful prayer service. [ movie] Finally, the animation group explained the context, the objectives, the Spirit, the methodology and the logistics of the Congress.

Afternoon Session

In the afternoon, the participants worked in language and Conference groups. They discussed the questions: What is the process of exclusion in your area? Who are the ones excluded?

In the plenary session, each group presented a summary of their discussions. Almost all groups mentioned the exclusion of migrants, economic exclusion and political exclusion. Also highlighted were the lack of access to education, the lack of security, the lack of access to health care and the lack of access to information. Besides migrants mentioned as excluded were the unemployed, the homeless, those with AIDS and those without lands to farm. Tomorrow the participants will discuss in more detail each of the items raised.

In the evening, the participants attended a Mass with the people of a nearby parish. The homily presented the justice issues raised by the story of Jesus expelling the legion of demons from the possessed person. [ homily] The mass closed with local music and dances presented by a local Afro-Brazilian group called “Mozambique.”