Happy New Year to everyone! This is the first edition of Contact since Vossenack. By now you all should have received a copy of the final letter and commitments assumed by all Conferences. They were sent to every house of the Order. The office will send information on proposals made by the International Council and approved by the General Definitory.

 

JPIC International Council: A series of recommendations were made to the General Definitory, the Secretary of Formation and Studies and to several Conferences. The Council drafted and agreed on the contents of the final letter of the Congress. The roles of the Council and of the Conference coordinator were clarified. Interesting statistics on the life and history of individual JPIC Conference commissions were distributed. Copies of the survey in English were given to each coordinator.

Names for a new animation committee were proposed and a secret ballot was held. These names were submitted to the General Definitory at their November 2000 meeting. They appointed the following brothers to the Committee: Joe Rozansky (Holy Name, USA), Alejandro Castillo (Holy Gospel, Mexico), Bobby Vadakkal (St. Tomas, India) and re-appointed Jurgen Neitzert (Holy Trinity, Germany). Congratulations to these brothers and blessings on their work. The first meeting will take place in Berlin, Germany from 23-26 of April 2001. One of the central topics will be ethical investment. The Committee will make recommendations to the Order. A number of experts will be invited to help with the reflection. Another topic will be how best to follow up on Vossenack. Any ideas would be welcome.

 

 

Follow up on Vossenack: the office is compiling a book with all the relevant information on Vossenack. The contents will be in the original language of presentation. A copy will be placed in the Curia archives and in the JPIC office. This will be useful for historical purposes. Before the conclusion of the meeting every delegate received a disk with copies of talks, summaries of the days proceedings, an address list and other information. The office will try to have the most important talks and contributions translated into three languages: English, Spanish and Italian. Each provincial animator will receive a copy when this work is completed.

 

 

 

The Indonesian Province has decided to set up an aid project for East Timor refugees living in camps in Kupang and Atambua in the western sector of the island. It will be coordinated by the JPIC commission. It will run from February 2001 to February 2002. As a result of the murder of UN aid workers last year, the UN withdrew along with many other NGOÕs. Up to 100,000 refugees need material, psychological and spiritual assistance. Many refugees suffer from traumas linked to the conflict. The educational system is non-existent. In announcing the aid program, the Indonesian Province appealed to international solidarity for help. The estimated cost is $7,500 US dollars per month, for 12 months. For more information go to the JPIC page www.ofm.org

Irian Jaya: Theo Van den Broek, director of the church human rightÕs office and JPIC animator, informed us of a letter addressed to the Government Human Rights Commission, written in December 2000 by the leaders of the Churches in Irian Jaya, about a series of incidents: an attack on a local police office in the Abepura; following the attack, security forces raided some college dormitories. Students were treated badly and many were arrested. Three bodies were found on Dec. 8, 2000, apparently killed by gunshot or torture. Church leaders call for an independent investigation and protection for victims. A description of the problems of West Papua presented by the Catholic Church leaders can be obtained from the JPIC office in Jayapura: sekkp@jayapura.wasantara.net.id

Another English language edition of JPIC Resource Book: the Franciscan Press of the Australian Province has published an English edition of the JPIC Handbook. The Province assumed the costs of publication and distribution and have sent copies to all Provinces and entities in Asia and Africa. This will be an invaluable tool for JPIC animation both in initial and ongoing formation.

 

Colombia: Generally the position of the European Union is one of opposition to Plan Colombia in itÕs existing form. Different versions of the plan are circulating. ItÕs central tenet is a military solution; to end the conflict, eradicate the drug trade and guerrilla forces, but without resolving the underlying causes. The United States, co-author of the Plan, have approved $US1,158 million, of which $634 million are destined for military equipment, 224 million for refugees and the cultivation of food and the remaining 300 million for more traditional cooperation programmes already in place in the country. Europe does not agree with such a militaristic emphasis and asks for a more integral approach. Brothers from the Irish Province participated in a vigil in front of the U.S. Embassy in opposition to Plan Colombia. For information on displacement in Colombia CODES have a web page: www.codhes.org.co

 

Displaced families in Medellin: In July 2000, three hundred houses were burned in Vallejuelo, Medellin. One of the inserted communities of the San Pablo Province is located here. Several hundred displaced families live on condemned land. For many years they have struggled to get the local municipal council to re-locate them to another property. Anyone interested in helping may send contributions to: bank account number 003170535 of the Banco Santander, and the name of the account is: ComitŽ Comunitario Vallejuelos.

 

 

 

 

 

Letter from ESC Provincials: The Provincial Ministers of the English Speaking Conference gathered in their semi-annual meeting in October 2000, expressed grave concern in a letter to the Churches and people of Puerto Rico regarding the presence and activities of the United States Navy on the island of Vieques. Supporting the Franciscan Roberto 0. Gonzalez, Archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico, they concurred that the use of the island of Vieques for manoeuvres was ÒimmoralÓ. They wrote, Òaircraft, submarines, warships, helicopters and missiles have been involved in these on-going war games, most often with live ammunition. The resulting trauma to the nearly 10,000 people living on Vieques' 84 square miles, the exaggerated incidence of cancer among that population and the ecological devastation wrought by fifty years of explosives in and around the island surely merit condemnation.Ó They concluded by calling on President Clinton to Òrespect the wishes of the Puerto Rican citizens and order the withdrawal of all naval forces from Vieques.Ó We congratulate the Ministers for their prophetic letter. For solidarity news see the following web site: www.viequesfast.org

 

News from United Kingdom: Seamus Mulholland the JPIC animator of the United Kingdom Province writes that Òthe arrival of the new JPIC handbook will be of great benefit.Ó He hopes to develop a JPIC ÒMission StatementÓ for the Province. It is the Provinces intention to establish an International Institute for Inter-Faith Spirituality and Dialogue. This will help the brothers understand other faiths, their spiritualities and their visions of social justice and integrity of creation issues. He admits the hardest work is to get the brothers more involved in JPIC issuesÉdo I hear everyone say AMEN!

 

The School of the Americas: The annual vigil and protest to close the School of the Americas (SOA) took place on Nov. 17-19 at Fort Benning here. Some 10,000 people gathered in solidarity at the Army's main entrance to participate in the protest. Many friars took part. After several hours of non-violent civil disobedience, up to 2,100 were apprehended for refusing to leave the grounds. Larry Bernard ( JPIC animator of Our Lady of Guadalupe Province) was among those arrested.

However, from January 17^th, 2001, the SOA will re-open it's doors under the new name "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation." This is the latest move of the Pentagon in it's PR Campaign to save their School of Assassins. This poses a new challenge for everyone to continue working to counter the deception. For further information contact: www.soaw.org

 

Prayer centre and justice and peace institute: In late October 2000, Louis Canino ofm announced plans to build the St. Francis Springs Prayer Centre, a $2 million interfaith centre that will be used for meetings, contemplation and social justice workshops. The plan also includes two buildings: a six- to seven-bedroom Justice and Peace Institute. The Justice and Peace institute will be open to those of all faith denominations.

 

Projects and Responsibilities of the ESC-JPIC Council: The three member ESC JPIC Executive Council met and distributed tasks and responsibilities for 2001. Among the issues the Conference will be looking at are: Strengthening the Washington office for Latin America, publication of the Peace Mission statement to the Borders of Mexico/U.S., monitoring and advocacy around Plan Colombia, advocacy on nuclear missile issues, encouraging Franciscan Institutes of higher education to bring JPIC issues into their programmes, introduction of the JPIC Resource-Book into initial and ongoing formation programmes, maintain concern for the Vieques island issue and support for Agosthino Diekman in his role as Director of Franciscans International. The next meeting of the commission will is in Danville, California in May 2001.

 

 

JPIC Conference meeting report: The Spain/Portugal JPIC animators met from October 10-20, 2000. All but three Provinces were represented. A brief summary of some of the points discussed follows: An extensive report on the Vossenack meeting was given. It was very beneficial and regret was expressed for the absence of so many delegates. An analysis of the reality of the commission was made with a recognition of the need to Òreturn to the Christian and Franciscan sourcesÓ when developing tasks; to live the values ÒcoherentlyÓ and use of Òpositive languageÓ. Initial and permanent formation was again emphasized .

Tasks were assumed by each Provincial delegate: immigration, coordination with other entities, parishes, colleges, JPIC resource book, initial formation, Colombia, economy and human rights. A summary of a plan for each of these areas will be submitted at the next meeting.

A synopsis of the proceedings in Vossenack will be published in Provincial and Conference publications. Articles of interest concerning JPIC will also be circulated. Each member of the commission will try to have an e-mail address.

Jose Lucas, JPIC animator, communicated the reactions of Provincials to his letter. He criticized the lack of institutional support for JPIC work by provincials. Many Provincials reacted positively to his honesty and call for transparency, availability, permanent dialogue and collaboration. The JPIC animator will personally present his report in the future to the Provincials. The next JPIC Conference meeting takes place from 23-25 of February, 2001.

 

 

El Salvador: The JPIC commission of the Franciscan Family held a seminar in July 2000 entitled: An alternative economy in a globalized world.

 

Honduras and the Landless: The JPIC office received a letter from Oscar Granados ofm, member of the land pastoral commission of the dioceses of Trujillo, detailing the situation of nine hundred families occupying land in the municipality of Trujillo, Honduras. Apparently, these families have been defrauded of their land because of State corruption. In May 2000 the people started to occupy the land. Shortly afterwards they received threats from local landlords. Members of the Church land pastoral team have supported the people. Church people have been accused of fomenting violence by the landlords.

 

Mexico and the Jubilee for Land: As part of the Jubilee in November 2000 for the fruits of the land and farmers, the social commission of the Mexican Episcopal Conference wrote a pastoral letter. The JPIC commission of the Franciscan Family coordinates all Conferences work related to Ecology. Copies of the letter can be obtained through the JPIC office in Mexico at: ffimex@laneta.apc.org

 

 

¯      Franciscan Urgent Action: The JPIC office sent an appeal, using the Franciscan Urgent action network, for a secular Franciscan condemned to death in Texas, USA. The office received the information very late. However, several people wrote to President-elect Bush and the new Governor of Texas asking for the death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment. Jack Wade Clark was executed on the 9^th of January asking forgiveness from the family and reciting a prayer, closing with the words Òpeace and goodnessÓ before he died.

 

¯      An anti-death penalty network in Rochester NY is an organization that focuses on community education. Every second Friday of the month, the network holds community vigils outside the Rochester Hall of Justice, the site where capital murder trials are held. Through a $5,000 grant from the Holy Name Province Benevolence Fund as well as other donations, the New Yorkers against the Death Penalty were able to hold important activities.

 

¯      Franciscans International: The Board of Directors of Franciscans International at their meeting in Rome November 2-5, 2000 appointed Friar Agostinho Diekmann, OFM (Vice-Provincia de Nossa Senhora Da Assun�‹o, Brazil) as the new Executive Director. Fr. Agostinho was born in Winterberg, Germany and has ministered in Brazil since 1983. He has worked intensively among the poor in the Northeast of Brazil and with many small-Christian communities. Agostinho has held various positions within his Province and has been a member of both the Executive Committee of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Council of the Brazilian Conference and of the Brazilian Franciscan Family.

The Board of Directors also appointed Sister Florence Deacon, OSF as the Designated Representative and Director of the FI-New York Office.

 

¯      Refugees: Some 4,000 demonstrators marched in Manhattan to the United Nations calling for a general amnesty for immigrants. Among the organizers of the Oct. 14 event were Brian Jordan ofm, director of ÒBorderÓ, an immigration centre at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Manhattan.

 

¯      Washington office: the Washington office participated in a meeting organized by the Ò U.S. Major Religious Superiors of MenÓ to deal with some serious issues related to migration on the border between the US and Mexico. Several Church groups were present. Ed Dunne ofm, working with migrants in San Diego gave the key note address. Many church organizations are considering supporting work on the Border. In fact, the Mexico/ Central America Conference have made a commitment to open an inter-provincial inserted fraternity in Tijuana. The Vice-Province of Guadalupe, New Mexico, are also assessing their future commitment to migrants.

 

¯      Prisoners of La Tablada: It appears that, in conjunction with Mission Central, the JPIC office has been instrumental, through a letter to the President of Argentina, in getting a definition of sentence for some the prisoners of the Tablada. Some were sentenced to twenty years and had their sentence commuted to ten. One of these prisoners is Antonio PuigjanŽ ofm Cap, who, unfortunately, did not get his sentence specified.

 

¯      Congratulations to Job Toda, ofm, JPIC animator or the Japanese Province who wrote to the office on the thirtieth anniversary of his priestly ordination and forty years as a Franciscan. He currently is visiting the friars explaining JPIC projects.

 

¯      Some interesting sites on the Internet.

¤      Ecology site in Portuguese:http://www.infolink.com.br/~peco/main.htm

¤      Of the world's 100 largest economic entities, 51 are now corporations

and 49 are countries. For more information http://www.ips-dc.org/top200.htm and http://www.ips-dc.org (Institute for Policy Studies/Washington)

¤      Write to prisoners : http://www.amnesty-usa.org/action/holiday/

¤      Web-site with addresses of all the important politicians of the world: http://www.trytel.com/~aberdeen/index.html

 

¯      Update on email addresses: Mick Kulan of the Assumption Province, USA informs us that the JPIC officeÕs e-mail is: abvmjpic@wi.net

 

¯      Change of Addresses: The new address for the JPIC office of the Franciscan Family of Mexico is: Familia Franciscana Internacional MŽxico, Apartado postal 21-701, Coyoac‡n 04000, MŽxico DF

 

¯      New telephone number for Fr. Marcio Henrique Pereira, JPIC animator, Custody of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: 55-17-2806622.

 

 

Gear—id Francisco î Conaire, OFM

OFM JPIC Office

Via S. Maria Mediatrice 25

00165 Rome, ITALY

E-mail: pax@ofm.org Web: http://www.ofm.org/

Tel: (+39-06) 6849-1218       Fax: (+39-06) 6849-1266