A reminder - JPIC Continental Meetings and International Council meeting: They will take place in: Nairobi, September 16 Ð 21; Assisi, October 7-12; Mission San Luis Rey, California, November 25-30.

The JPIC International Council meeting: (15 JPIC Conference Presidents) will meet December 1-5, 2002 in San Luis Rey. They will also participate in the meeting of the Americas JPIC animators.

Request:

v       Ensure you have a visa, if it is required. Contact the organizers for a letter of invitation.

v       Book your flight well in advance, especially for the Americas meeting, as it is a national holiday in the USA.

v       Confirm your participation. ( with the Rome office for International Council members)

Prepare reports and send immediately the conference questioners for the Council meeting and the report on formation and JPIC in your conference to the Rome office.

 

A new web site: the JPIC office has set up an additional web site to bring all the formation materials together in one place. You can find the JPIC Manual, the Vossenack Book, Climate Change texts, Links to JPIC sites and, eventually, access to our Urgent Action network and Franciscan Nonviolence text. Jim McIntosh ofm helped set it up and will keep it up to date. Go to www.ofm-jpic.org

 

Proposals for the General Chapter: Any brother may make proposals to the General Chapter ( GG. SS. 125 #2). He can do this through the Minister Provincial, the Conference, the Minister General or directly to the secretary of the Chapter ( Fr. Francesco Patton ofm, segrcapitolo@ofm.org ). The suggestions must made before the end of October 2002.

 

Franciscans International and the Human Rights commission:

From 18 March Ð 26 April 2002, thirty-five brothers and sisters were actively engaged in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, bringing their work for and with the poor to this, the foremost human rights forum in the world. Every year during this time, Franciscans International hosts Franciscan men and women, together with Dominicans from the partner organization Dominicans for Justice and Peace, in Geneva to advocate on behalf of the poor, train them in human rights, promote contact-building with concerned NGOs and UN representatives and to facilitate constructive dialogues with the international community.

This year Franciscans came from Colombia, Pakistan, Papua (Indonesia), Togo and other countries, bringing numerous issues of critical importance to their communities at the local, grassroots level to the attention of the international community.

Fr. Philip Hira OFM, Director of the Justice and Peace Commission (Diocese of Hyderabad), brought the issue of Pakistani blasphemy laws that discriminate against Christians to the attention of an assembled group of interested diplomats.

Fr. Theo van den Broek OFM, Director of the Justice and Peace Office (Diocese of Jayapura) raised awareness of human rights violations taking place in Papua, Indonesia, by delivering a statement to the Commission, building contacts among the NGO community, giving an interview to Vatican Radio which was broadcast internationally on its English-language service, participating in seminars and roundtable discussions on the issue, and meeting with many interested diplomats, as well as the Indonesian Ambassador to the UN in Geneva.

Fr. Joseph Legonou OFM, pastor of the Church of Saint Antoine de Padoue de LomŽ (Togo), worked tirelessly to bring the issue of forced domestic labour of women and girls in West Africa to the Commission by presenting a statement and meeting with diplomats and other concerned parties.

Ms. Linda Backiel and Mr. Carlos Ventura represented the Franciscan and Dominican families of Puerto Rico, at the behest of Fr. Dario Carrero OFM, Vice-Provincial, and his Dominican counterpart, Fr. Mario Rodriguez OP, in order to demand an end to the testing of weapons on the inhabited island of Vieques by the United States Navy by meeting with concerned diplomats from Latin America and Europe, staging a well attended one-hour panel discussion at the UN about the topic and giving interviews to Swiss newspapers and television.

 

For more information about the work of Franciscans International, Geneva and the UN Commission on Human Rights, please write to: Christopher Duckett; Franciscans International; 37-39 rue de Vermont; Case Postale 104; CH-1211 Geneva 20; Switzerland. Alternatively, he can be reached at duckett@fiop.org.

 

 

JPIC seminars in Mozambique: Teddy Lennon JPIC, conference animator from South Africa and Francisco from the Rome JPIC office visited the Custody of St. Clare of Assisi, Mozambique, May 27 Ð 31, 2002. They met with all the friars in initial formation, their formators and other brothers in the vicinity of the four houses where the seminars took place. The Custody made a decision to constitute a JPIC commission at their Chapter in 2001 and four brothers were appointed, including Gabriel Gutierrez Ofm (muposi@yahoo.com ) as coordinator. The two principal objectives of the seminars were: a) to present a Franciscan vision of what it means to work in favour of JPIC in the context of the Order with special reference to formation, evangelisation and the local fraternity, and b) start to develop a JPIC project for the Custody in favour of the poor. The four seminars took place in: St. Bonaventures, the formation house, Maputo; Jangamo, the novitiate; Chimoio, a study house for 40 aspirants; and Mancia, a parish on the border with Zimbabwe. The distance between these houses is 1200 km. The journey was made by car along the main road, now undergoing extensive repairs after the devastating floods that crippled the country in 2001. The vegetation is varied and extensive in one of the poorest countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, ravaged by 25 years of civil war. One of the biggest challenges for a JPIC commission is to help the brothers open their eyes to read the signs of the times, cultivate a compassionate heart and the capacity to open their hands to serve the poor. This is a paraphrase of what Paul VI in 1967 indicated the role of the Pontifical JPIC commission should be. The JPIC office in Rome has provided didactic materials such as: the JPIC Manual, a book with talks given in Vossenack, and a variety of other information to help in the initial and ongoing formation of the entities of the Order. Teddy Lennon shared how the JPIC Manual has been successfully used, in a series of seminars in South Africa, to bring the vision closer to reality of JPIC as an integral part of the life and ministry of the Order; the brothers living peace, justice and in harmony with creation in their fraternities, as well as promoting these values in their apostolic ministries. The questions asked as a result of the reflection have been taken up at different levels of the Province, including within the Provincial Definitory.

 

JPIC promotion in Hungary: Markus Heinze ofm, JPIC coordinator for the Central European conference visited St. John Kapistran province in Hungary along with Francisco from the JPIC Rome office, June 8-13. One of the objectives was to try to encourage a participation by the Hungarian provinces in the JPIC Conference commission and in the European continental meeting, to be held in Assisi, October 2002. Another objective of the visit was to listen to the brothers, to understand their recent history under communism and the developments since then. The brothers organized a meeting with one of of the Parlimentarians from the Conservative party. As the visitors learned, the situation is complex and some historical movements associated with the communist party, including one called the Òpeace priestsÓ, have lead to a certain reticence by many brothers to become involved in anything that recalls such associations Ð JPIC being one of them! The government used these priests as collaborators. The history of Hungry is also a factor to be taken into consideration; divided up after the second world war, with ethnic Hungarians living in Rumania ( Transylvania Ð a land mass bigger than Hungry), Serbia and the Ukraine. Recently, the Socialist party won Parliamentary elections, taking power from the Conservatives. It came as a shock to many friars and church people to see many former communists party officials, now reformed socialists, taking over the direction of the country again. According to the friars this has served as a wake up call to the Franciscans and to the church itself. To what extent are Christians really prepared or formed to read the signs of the times, to bring their faith commitment to life issues, including political and economic, to move out to the confines of the church premises towards a commitment to evangelise the society at all levels?

Markus and Francisco met with the simply professed students in Szeged, where students from the three ethnic Hungarian provinces study philosophy. They were interested in what was happening to promote JPIC in the Order as well as particular JPIC work in Frankfurt where Markus lives. Some offered to translate the climate change booklet into Hungarian during their summer holidays. The young friars run a soup kitchen for the poor. Even though the level of unemployment in Hungry is low, with few immigrants, who prefer to move on towards Western Europe, there are many needy people being served by this charitable initiative.

Another meeting was arranged in Budapest. Only five friars participated, including the Provincial. A lively sharing and discussion took place on the challenges now facing the Order in Hungry and where JPIC fits into this scenario. Jacab V‡rnai ofm, Provincial, feels that the new dictatorship is consumerism, falsely presented as freedom, with little or no resistance presented by the people. The role of the church is to help form a critical consciousness, build community and strengthen peopleÕs sense of their own identity. The Church has to emerge from the trenches. The gospel needs to be preached and lived in a way that the social consequences become clear; JPIC explained in a language that is culturally Hungarian. Among the friars there seems to be a determined resistance to globalisation and itÕs very negative consequences.

It is hopes that the links between the Hungarian Friars and the Commission on JPIC will become closer and that the visit will help overcome some negative preconceptions.

Francisco was due to visit the brothers in Transylvania, but fell sick with malaria, which he contracted while in Mozambique. He spent five days in hospital and is now on his way to a full recovery. Note: Worldwide, malaria kills between one and three million people each year.

 

Joint inter-congregational JPIC seminar for Novices: From all over Germany Novices from different religious congregations met in June for a joint formation programme. Markus Heinze ofm, gave a talk on the theme of poverty with emphasis on the social and prophetic dimension of the vow.

 

JPIC meeting of the Franciscan Family in Assisi: From 4-6 of June, 2002 the JPIC commissions of the male orders of the Franciscan family met for their annual joint formation meeting with the theme Òtowards a creation spirituality: Biblical and Franciscan approachesÓ. The Italian JPIC commission has opted to give particular importance to ecological initiatives and study over the next three years. Francisco O Conaire and his counterpart from the OFM Conv. participated with an OFM Cap. representative. The scientific aspects of the theme will be studied at the next meeting and second Sunday of September will be dedicated to the care of creation. Francisco presented the booklet recently published: Ò A problem for religious today: global warming and climate change.Ó

 

JPIC commission meeting: the JPIC coordinators of the entities of the Bolivarian Conference met in Quito, Ecuador, May 3-5, 2002. Fr. Luis Cabrera, president of the Conference of Ministers Provincial, lisison person with the commission, gave the formal welcome to the members. He noted that there was an increased consciousness with regard to JPIC among the friars, supported by ample documentation, particularly the Ratio Studiorum and the Ratio Formationis. The Ministers Provincial approved the Statutes of the commission at their meeting in Cochabamba this year. Each entity gave a report on the situation in their country and what was being done to promote JPIC values. Dissatisfaction was expressed at the fact that the Continental meeting of the Americas would not take place in one of the countries of the Bolivarian Conference and clarification was sought as to why it would take place in the USA. Fernando Figueredo and Carmelo Gald—s were commissioned to prepare a working document on ways to incorporate JPIC into the stages of initial formation. ( copies of this document are available from Fernando/Carmelo or the Rome JPIC office). Poor communication between members of the commission, as well as the lack of support for the Colombian friars, are two major failures of the commission. Fr. Gerardo Moore, Definitor for Latin America, met and shared ideas with the commission, encouraging them to continue working in this important ministry. They proposed the following ideas for work during 2002-2003: a). Ensure local fraternities have a JPIC animator. b). participate at the September meeting of Provincials to reflect along with them on JPIC in initial formation. c). use the provincial publications to inform and form the friars. d). continue to support the brothers in the Holy Land. e). promote the setting up of an interprovincial fraternity in Sucumb’os, Ecuador, to work with people displaced by the Colombian guerrilla. f). encourage an international fraternity to promote ecology in the Gal‡pagos islands. g). promote reflection on themes related to water and genetic engineering.

JPIC commission of Santa Fe Province makes proposal to Provincial Chapter: Each local fraternity has a JPIC animator. At the end of April they All met to evaluate their work and to draw up proposals for the Provincial Chapter at the end of June.

Colombia Supports the brothers in the Holy Land: Mario Torro ofm, Provincial Minister of the St. Paul Province, Colombia, informed the Rome office that they helped organize a letter to the Israeli embassy, signed by 280 religious men and women, most of them provincial superiors of their congregations, during their annual assembly. Prayer services were also organized. A similar effort was made during the assembly of the Franciscan Family.

 

Friars on trial for protest against the School of the Americas: Two OFM brothers will be facing up to six months in federal prison in the United States and a $5000 fine for taking part in the nonviolent action at the School of the Americas November 2001 (now called the "Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation" located at Ft. Benning, Georgia). Louie Vitale is from the St. Barbara Province and Jerry Zawada is from the Assumption Province. Information can be found on the SOA Watch website www.soaw.org and click right lower corner titled "SOA 43" At the beginning of July charges were dismissed against six of the 43 summoned before the court. The other 37 will stand trial in Columbus, Georgia. The trial is expected to last one week and began Monday July 8th. Mark Schroeder ofm, JPIC coordinator of the Santa Barbara Province will be in Columbus during the course of the trial.

 

Ecological March: The JPIC commission of the Franciscan Family, El Salvador, organized a march, June 8, 2002, to commemorate International Environment day. The idea was to publicly express disquiet at the progressive deterioration of the environment in a colourful and expressive way. The marchers also drew attention to particular problems affecting the city, particularly a planned ring road and an incinerator for disposal of refuse.

 

What is happening in some of the Provinces of the Conference?

1.     Vice Province of San Felipe: A new JPIC animator has been named in place of Gabriel Romero. He is Daniel T. Noriega ofm and has also just been named Parish Priest of a new parish in the Dioceses of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. He may not be able to assume the JPIC animation role. The province experiences a crises in personnel. They have fifteen houses and are 35 solemnly professed brothers; twenty ordained ministers and fifteen lay brothers. They mostly work in poor indigenous parishes. Most of their parishes have Human Rights commissions and ecology schools. Francisco visited one of the human rights commissions in Tapilula while he participated at the conference meeting. The province also runs a home for Aids sufferers. The province has a commitment to migrants and works closely with the dioceses in Tenosique.

There is excellent JPIC work going on , but this needs to be better coordinated. Regular seminars on JPIC are given to friars in the initial formation process and they feel these values are understood and accepted.

2.     Our Lady of Guadalupe Ð Central America: The existence of two JPIC offices in the Province, in El Salvador and Guatemala gives stability to a commission that has had several changes of personnel in the last three years. Both offices are run jointly with members of the Franciscan Family. The most important JPIC initiative this year was a series of Seminars promoted in each of the countries of the Province, including Haiti Ð a decision made by the Provincial Chapter in 1999 (see Contact 3). About half the brothers of the 250 membership took part

3.     Holy Gospel, D.F. The principal method of internal animation has been the promotion of the JPIC Manual and Vossenack materials, as well as the publication of a Bulletin every two months. This bulletin published many of the talks given in Vossenack. With the evangelisation commission efforts were made to incorporate JPIC into the parish plans. The Plenary Council in 2001 supported a motion to promote ecology as a priority in the Province. Alejandro Castillo, JPIC coordinator, as a member of the Episcopal Social Pastoral commission and the commission of the Franciscan Family has been asked by the Bishops to promote ecological formation in the Mexican church. They initiated a campaign on October 4, 2001, distributing information and formation materials to all the dioceses.

4.     Sts Peter and Paul Ð Jalisco: The Vossenack meeting was crucial for Oscar Viallobus ofm, JPIC animator of this province. It helped him understand, for the first time, the role of an animator and gave him an understanding of the importance of JPIC values. There is still a lot of resistance in the Province to JPIC. He has given seminars to friars in initial formation. He is personally involved in a campaign to close down many of the bars and night establishments around the Basilica of Zapopan, the fourth most important in Mexico.

JPIC commission meeting: the meeting took place on June 8, 2002 in Madrid. Materials to celebrate the ÒSpirit of AssisiÓ were distributed to each delegate for use in the Provinces. Jose Luca, Conference coordinator, presented a document on formation which was accepted by the group. Finances will be sough for itÕs publication. To date six delegates will participate in the continental meeting in Assisi. Responsibilities requested of the Conference were discussed and tasks assigned among the members. The next inter-Franciscan JPIC commission meeting will take place 22/23 February 2003.

 

 

UN calls for International Day of Peace Vigil: The intention of the resolution is to have the entire world observe a full day of "global ceasefire and nonviolence". All peoples and organizations are invited to commemorate the day in an appropriate manner. Franciscans International, the JPIC promoters in Rome and the JPIC commission of the Franciscan Family have called for this day to be observed with prayer and other activities to promote peace. People are invited to observe a 24 Ð hour vigil of prayer and other spiritual activities in order to promote peace and prevent violent conflict. Any group may register their commitments at: www.idpvigil.com

 

G7 Announcement on Debt Relief Only Òrecycled peanutsÓ: The G7 leaders have pledged $1 billion to the Heavily Indebted countries (HIPC), but in fact, this is only partially fulfilling commitments already made last year. The big winner is Russia who has received $20 billion to make their nuclear war heads safe and beyond the reach of ÒterroristsÓ. Compare this with the $51 billion in subsidies US farmers will receive over the next six years from the US government. This lowers the prices of crops grown in the US with devastating consequences for the same crops grown in the poorer nations. The irony and tragedy is that this protectionism militates against the export market of poorer countries who are unable to acquire foreign currency to pay their unjust debts! Where does this leave the World BankÕs estimates? They say that between US$40 billion and US$60 billion a year is needed to get Africa to meet UN development funds.

 

Agostinho Dieckmann moves to Berlin: After the sudden death of a thirty eight year friar in the province of Saxony their provincial definitory asked the Province of Bacabal, Brazil, to release Agostinho (agojo@gmx.de ) for three years, to work as coordinator in their missionary evangelisation secretariat. He took up residence in Berlin in June 2002. We wish him every blessing in his new ministry.

 

JPIC - Franciscan Family, Mexico:

The JPIC commission of the Franciscan family met in April in Mexico city and inaugurated the new office. This is the third move in two years due to unwillingness by Franciscan houses to offer space. Their new address is posted at the end of Contact #4. The one day meeting started with a presentation of the ecological reality of Mexico. This is the main priority of the commission. In fact, some of the commission members work for the Episcopal Conference on this very issue. The commission is encouraging provinces to declare some of their properties ecological spaces. These are mostly retreat centres or hermitages. The idea is to promotion ecological consciousness and to provide space for people to come close to nature. The commission organized a seminar on Ecology as part of a series of ongoing formation in May/June 2002, on how to work together and create public strategies in defence of the environment. Several leading ecologists made presentations. There is an open invitation to all the members of the family to participate. The commission was also given an opportunity to present itÕs work at the meeting of the leadership of the Franciscan Family in April.

 

A quarter of Mammals face extinction: A quarter of the world's mammals could be extinct by 2030, according to a UN study recently released. Nearly 1,200 species of birds are also deemed to be at risk.

 

Terrorism in perspective: Over the last six years, approximately 25,000 people have died from acts of terrorism, worldwide. Over that same period, 52 million people have died from preventable hunger; about 24,000 people per day. Also Antiterrorism has replaced anticommunism as the 21^st centuryÕs all-purpose rationale for providing U.S. military aid, weapons, and training to foreign militaries. www.fpif.org/briefs/vol7/v7n04post911.html       

 

The American military presence in Vieques, Puerto Rico denounced in Geneva. A denunciation of what is happening in Puerto Rico, owing to the American military presence, was presented to the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, and was supported by the international humanitarian organizations of the Franciscans (Friars Minor) and the Dominicans.

The military presence is seriously degrading the environment, it is causing the progressive destruction and degradation of the natural habitat, with negative consequences on the typical activities and a substantial increase in unemployment among the families of fishermen.

The island is a base for almost 10,000 people between soldiers and civilian personnel; 60 years of presence have furthermore provoked an increase of respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, at a rate which is 27% higher than for the rest of the population of Puerto Rico.

 

Learn to Lobby: Mathias Doyle ofm, N.Y., joined the office staff as in intern of one of the U.S. Congressmen, for one month, earlier this year, in order to gain a better perspective on the workings of government. Mathias serves as director of The Resource Centre on Social Justice and is the former president and professor of political science at St. Bonaventure University.

 

JPIC and Formation: The inter congregational JPIC promoters, based in Rome, organized an open session on JPIC and initial formation processes. A number of contributions were made and copies of the talks are available in English from the JPIC office. Jose Carballo, intended to participate, but due to other commitments was unable to do so. He has received a copy of the talks.

 

Franciscan Creation Action Teams: Russell Testa, JPIC Holy Name full time lay animator, explains the purpose of Creation Action Teams. They will help develop a three-year plan to learn Franciscan theology, live in an environmentally sound way and do environmental lobbying. It will be necessary to hire somebody to help create these teams. They hope to commence on Aug 1, 2002. They need $285,000. Russel asks the commission to promote awareness and interest in North America, at least in the US.

 

Useful web sites:

v      Lead up to the conference on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, August 2002. Detailed analysis in several languages: www.joburgmemo.org

Members of the Bolivarian commission:

v       Bolivia - Carmelo Gald—s, galdoscarmelo@hotmail.com; Perœ - Jesœs Arana, ofmlamerced@terra.con (Prov. de San Francisco Solano), Emilio Carpio Ponce, 12apoczc@juan23.edu.pe (Prov. de los XII Ap—stoles); Colombia - Fernando Figueredo, berleru@tutopia.com        (Prov. San Pablo), Joaqu’n Echeverry, colpioxII@telesat.com.co (Prov. Santa fe), Germ‡n Arbelaez, german_arbelaez@hotmail.com (Prov. Santa Fe); Ecuador - Luis Cabrera, luigch10@hotmail.com (Presidente de la Conferencia), Luis Fernando Baraona (Venezuela - Custodia La Inmaculada, franciscanos@cantv.net.ve; Perœ - Custodia San JosŽ del Amazonas, Custodia Sant’simo Nombre de Jesœs, custsnj@cpi.udep.edu.pe.

v       Reu Galoy ofm, former JPIC coordinator of the Philippines province: rjgaloy@compass.com.ph

 

New JPIC animators:

v       Sr. Donna Graham, OSF, sjbjpic@franciscan.org, has been appointed as JPIC animator of the St. John the Baptist province, USA replacing Henry Beck Ofm, hbeckofm@juno.com , who has taken a Sabbatical year. Thanks Henry for all your work.

 

Conference and Provincial JPIC publications:

Let us know about your publications and how they can be accessed.

v       Franciscan Family El Salvador: ÒAlvernaÓ is published 2/3 times a year in Spanish. Contact the following address to be placed on their mailing list: bienjpe@navegante.com.sv Their web page: http://www.justiciaypazfranciscana.org.sv/

v       Central Europe: ÒTauwerkÓ is published 4/5 times a year in German and gives information on JPIC work in the Conference. Contact Markus Heinze to be placed on the mailing list: Markus.Heinze@t-online.de

v       Franciscans International News Brief: FI Geneva send regular updates on activities in the UN. To be placed on the mailing list contact Kristin at: kristin@fiop.org

 

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