Meeting of Presidents of the Conferences: the presidents of the Conferences met in Rome in May, 2002 to help prepare the General Chapter. A synthisis of the brief discussion, pretinent to JPIC, is summarized below.

 

 

The JPIC office has prepared a reflection paper for the JPIC Continental meetings as part of the ongoing preparation for the General Chapter. Subsequently, delegates will be asked to speak with their Minister Provincials and to share with them the advangages and disadvantages of certain structrual changes regarding JPIC animation in the Order.

 

War on Iraq? Don’t rush into this war.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster (England) in a letter to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blaire, clearly laid down tough conditions that would have to be fulfilled if and when an attack on Iraq could be considered legal and moral. He said that the Prime Minister has to provide “persuasive, preferably incontrovertible, evidence” that the threat posed by Iraq is “both grave and imminent”, and that “the regime must change itself or be changed”.

Tablet, Sept 7, 2002.

 

Communicating Contact: the JPIC office recently received a communication from the editor of a Franciscan publication asking for permission to reproduce some of the news. It is good to hear about so many interesting JPIC initiatives around the Order. Many friars are interested in receiving copies and many others are unaware of it’s existence. It is the responsibility of the JPIC Conference coordinators to send it to the Provincial animators who have in turn their responsibility to forward it to the friars. The office was considering asking friars, in one of the upcoming editions of Fraternitas, to let the office know if they wished to be placed on a mailing list. This initiative does not wish to interfere with the Conference or Provincial animator’s responsibilities. The office would be interested in hearing comments on this idea. An incomplete selection of back-issues of Contact is on the official Curia JPIC web site. We will also publish contact and all back-issues on the additional office site: www.ofm-jpic.org

 

GG.CC. Article 96 ‑

2.) Since a large part of mankind is still in bondage to need, injustice, and oppression, the friars, along with all people of good will, are to devote themselves to establishing a society of justice, liberation and peace in the Risen Christ. They are to investigate carefully the causes of each situation, and take part in undertakings of charity, justice and international solidarity.

3.) They are also to work humbly and staunchly in the bosom of the Church and of the Order, so that the rights and human dignity of all may be promoted and respected

 

Quote:

v       It takes quite a leap of faith to believe that when firms maximize profits they also "maximize the collective good." A much stronger case could be made for opposite conclusions

 

Prayer for Peace – September 21: The Inter-congregational Commission for JPIC has provided a prayer service for anyone interested in organizing a prayer event, to coincide with the United Nations call to mark efforts to bring about world peace. Copies of the text in various languages ( English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian French, German) are available on the additional office web page:

www.ofm-jpic.org Information can also be attained from the FI web page.

 

Pan-American Continental meeting: Three members of the Animation Committee, along with Mark Schroeder and Jose Maria ofm, met in San Luis Rey to continue the preparatory work for the November 2002 meeting. Neither Peter nor Francisco could attend. The agenda and list of participants (70/80 including staff) will be sent out before the end of September. For further information contact Alejandro Castillo (ofmjpic@hotmail.com), Joe Rosansky (jrozanskyofm@juno.com) or Mark Schroeder (bromarko@worldnet.att.net)

 

 

 

Phillipines: A national meeting of the JPIC commission of the Franciscan Family takes place September 20-22, 2002 in Cebu, Philippines.  Thirty three delegates will come from all over the country in order to reflect, assess, evaluate and plan JPIC programs and activities for 2003.

 

Chile: The Provincial JPIC commission has nine brothers, nearly all in initial formation. Every Friday the members of the commission meet to reflect on a series of themes: Abortion, Euthanasia, displacement of Peruvians into Chile, HIV/AIDS. These seminars motivate the members to reflect and prepare for the discussion during the week. The commission is preparing a liturgy for Peace, in the “Spirit of Assisi” on October 28, 2002, in the context of 450 years of the Franciscan presence in Chile. In order to strengthen links with the Franciscan Family the commission is preparing a week-long seminar including themes such as: the Canticle of the Creatures, justice in the fraternity and JPIC in the culture.

 

 

 

Singapore – Prayer for Peace: The Brothers, together with the Franciscan Family, organized a Prayer for Peace in August, 2000. It was an ecumenical event aimed particularly at the young, similar to the “Assisi Prayer” organized by the Vatican. For further information contact John Paul Tan ofm, jptan@franciscans.org.sg

West Papua: Br.Budi ofm, a member of the JPIC commission of the Custody in West Papua and of the Human Rights office for the Episcopal Conference, has gone on a two year scholarship to the Australian University of Canberra to study human rights issues.

Australia:

Ecological initiatives

v       Julie Morgan, the new full-time JPIC coordinator who works with Nick Lucas, Director of the JPIC office, informed the office of some initiatives taking place in the province. The Franciscans are supporting a new national environmental initiative, the 'St Francis EarthCare Grants'.  They have about $50,000 (approx $25,000 USD) to distribute to Catholic schools, parishes and indigenous catholic communities.  The funds will be given out for 2003. The grants will be between $500 and $3,000 and will enable communities to get involved in their local environment; they will also provide curriculum and parish material on spirituality and ecology. Their website has all the relevant information. You may want to check it out: www.franciscans.org.au. 

v       The Australian Catholic Bishops have recently launched a new Commission, 'Catholic Earth Care Australia' and it is will be attached to the secretariat which has responsibility for Caritas Australia and the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council. One of the Frairs is on the new Commission, Andrew Granc ofm, and the Province, along with Caritas Australia, are the two financial backers of the new video, 'The Garden Planet', which has gone out free of charge to all Catholic schools and parishes around the country.

 

 Refugees and asylum seekers:

The Australian community is very divided on this issue but, according to Julie, the the tide is slowly turning and the work of animating the friars and Poor Clares about this issue is beginning to bear fruit.

 

India:

v       Work with earthquake victims: Trevor D'Souza OFM has been coordinating a rehabilitation programme of the Earthquake victims in Bhuj, Gujarath with Caritas-India with the Franciscan Family. They built houses for 216 families. The Franciscan response to the disaster has spawned an unexpected project, a mixed inter-Franciscan community of seven brothers and sisters! They hope to involve themselves in education, community organization and empowerment of the people. This project was on the agenda for the CFMSI (Conference of Franciscan Major Superiors in India) who met in August 2002.

v       Dharma Bharathi National Institute of Peace & Value education: The province of India is collaborating with this institute to promote harmony within communities. Bobby Vadakkal ofm is one of the secretaries. In the wake of Gujarath Hindu-Muslim violence, a Citizens Peace committee was formed in Raipur, with Bobby as the Co-ordinator. Bobby lives in this town. The office at the Shantivanam Ashram (friary) at Raipur has already brought out two text books in English and Hindi on Peace Education for school children. A course to train promoters was conducted in the University of Raipur.

 

v       Justice & Peace Forum of the Conference of the Religious: Fr. Scaria OFM, Minister Provincial, participated in the evaluation and planning of the commission. He has been instrumental in formulating a letter, appealing to the Major Superiors of Religious, to name more personnel for work in JPIC issues because of an increasing number of excluded resulting from the present model of globalisation.

v       March for Peace: Bobby represented the friars on a march organized by a group of prominent NGO’s, during the Kashmir crisis, against the dangers of Nuclear War.

v       JPIC and Formation: The OFM students in India have been working in a variety of apostolate among the poor and organizations of civil society: among Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees, Street kids of Chennai, Garo and Bodo tribals of North-East, Environmental movement in Bihar, the migrant Tricycle pullers in Raipur, and the Catholic youth and domestic workers in Bhatkal. Their reflections on the experiences will soon be published.

v       Watershed management: Fulgence Tigga ofm, Athanasius ofm and Ms. Annie Drese, a lay volunteer, have produced a Video on Watershed management in Jharkhand state of India.

 

Mexico/FI Geneva - Franciscan Family make an appeal for condemned man:

Franciscans International, working with its partner Dominicans for Justice and Peace, intervened on behalf of Mr. Javier Suárez Medina, a Mexican citizen due to be executed in Texas, 14 August 2002. This intervention took place on the first week of August at the 54th Session of the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

The intervention prompted the Chairman of the Sub-Commission to issue a “Chairman’s Statement,” after receiving an additional formal request from the FI Geneva office.  Such statements are rare in the Sub-Commission, but when they are issued a great deal of attention is generated among the human rights community and other quarters, including the media.

Shortly thereafter, the Government of Mexico issued a statement in response to the Chairman’s Statement, supporting it and calling for a reprieve of Mr. Suárez’s execution. In turn, Mrs. Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a press release to explain that she had intervened with Gen. Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, for a “stay” (or, reprieve) of execution. Unfortunately, the appeal was unsuccessful and Javier was executed. For further information contact Chris Duckett: duckett@fiop.org

 

Colombia: The Colombian JPIC Commission of the Franciscan Family has called for a Day of Prayer and Solidarity with the victims of violence in Colombia on September 29th.  Every year the commission organizes a Forum on JPIC for the Franciscan Family and this year the Prayer will be part of the programme.

 

 

Update - Two Friars sentenced to jail for protest against the School of the Americas:

v       Louis Vitale ofm and Jerry Zawada ofm, were sentenced to three and six months imprisonment respectively. Jerry started his time immediately after the trial and Louis starts his in October. Correspondence for Jerry may be sent to: Crisp County Detention Center, 197 Highway 300 - South Cordele, Georgia 31015, USA Further information can be found on the SOA Watch website www.soaw.org

v       Testimony at the trial: Before becoming a Franciscan Louis Vitale had been a US Air Force pilot. As a franciscan Louie met his chief mentor, Cesar Chavez, who taught him about fasting, nonviolent civil disobedience and social change. Quoting Gandhi, Louie said, “No one has all the truth; we all have some of the truth.” He asked the sentencing Judge to add whatever sentence he would give to Tom Mahedy, father of three children, to his own instead.

Vieques (Puerto Rico) – Action Alert: The United States Navy began bombing again on the island of Vieques (Puerto Rico) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 and will continue for twenty-one days. The ESC-JPIC Council has repeatedly endorsed efforts to bring an end to the US Navy bombardment of the island of Vieques and the Franciscan Washington Office for Latin America has support efforts of the ViequesLibre Movement for an executive order to end the Vieques bombing. David Moczulski asks us to support the campaign to have the bombing stopped. Email President George Bush asking him to issue an immediate Executive Order to bring an end to the Navy bombing in Vieques. E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov

Also please help make public the case of Robert Rabin. Mr. Rabin is one of the chief organizers of the Campaign for Peace in Vieques. On August 27, 2002, Mr. Rabin was placed in solitary confinement. Officials had already cut off his phone calls and visits. He had announced his intentions to hold a liquid fast during the 21 days of bombing before he was sent to the "hole".

Email: Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, Director Bureau of Prisons khawk@bop.gov

Some activities in the U.S. Provinces:

1. Sacred Heart Province: Jim Hoffman is working with the movement to end war and racism and to defend civil liberties and the Colombian “stop impunity” movement. He is promoting the nonviolent peace force movement.
2. Santa Barbara Province: Mark Schroeder gave an 8-day mission on social justice issues at a parish in southern California. He is working on retreat material related to environmental issues.
3. Assumption Province: Mike Kulan does part time JPIC work and sends JPIC material every 2-3 weeks by email, fax and regular mail to all the members of his province. He is currently developing JPIC information for parish bulletins.
4. Holy Name Province: Joe Nangle informed that a group of people wrote a statement on non-violence after Sept. 11. The statement got 4500 signatures. It was sent to all the bishops.

 

 

 

West Africa: Joseph Leganu ofm, JPIC animator informs the office that a meeting will trake place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Lome, Togo, to evaluate JPIC work since the JPIC the last seminar in June 2001.

JPIC Manual: the Indonesian translation is now available. Contact Peter Amon ofm, peterca@cbn.net.id Well done and thanks for all the work

Inter-congregational JPIC Manual: the JPIC inter-congregational commission produced a Manual, now available in several languages on the internet. It is another valuable resource for initial and ongoing formation in JPIC. Go to http://www.consolata.org/imc/italiano/giustizia/index.htm A link is also on our page: www.ofm-jpic.org

Vosseanck Book: Jim McIntosh has recreated the document in both languages so that individual articles can be downloaded.

http://www.ofm-jpic.org/congress2000/index.html

Washington JPIC Office (FWOFLA): David Moczulski ofm, Director of the office, communicated in June with the brothers in Latin America inviting reflection on how to improve this service. After giving a history of the office he gave a brief account of his work: immigration and the problems at the US/Mexico border, highlighting Human Rights violations in Colombia, the World Bank and the I.M.F. David emphasises that the office serves the brothers in Latin America by highlighting the effects of their policies on the lives of the poor in Latin America to the political and economic institutions in the USA. He asks, what further issues need to be tackled? He clarifies that the office is not an aid agency. For further information: OFMWashington@att.net.

World Social Forum: Discontent with the actual model driving globalisation has led to an upsurge in the growth of grass roots and civil society organizations. For the last two years a Social Forum organized in Puerto Alegre, Brazil, has brought together over 10,000 activists. The object of the meeting is to improve networking, the exchange of ideas on how to develop a model of development that will truly tackle poverty and ecological destruction on the planet.

The Forum will take place again in Puerto Alegre, January 23-28, 2003 and in India in 2004. The JPIC animation committee was invited by the JPIC Brazil Commission to attend. They will then meet to discuss the wider implications for JPIC work in the Order.

 

Climate Change booklet: The climate change text, for reflection in the local fraternities, is available on our site at: www.ofm-jpic.org/globalwarming The Indonesian translation is the most recent addition. Please encourage the brothers to reflect on this important issue. It could stimulate interest in other ecological issues including the important theme of “Sustainable Development”. The inter-congregational commission on climate change sent the text to members of religious communities around the world via the Rome JPIC promoters network. They are also asking the Conferences of Religious Superiors in each country to place this topic on the agenda for one of their meetings. Please send the text to all our Franciscan fraternities. Encourage other religious communities, including those of the Franciscan Family in your country, to do the same. If you are in contact with the Conference of Religious in your country please encourage them to place this important theme on their agenda.

 

Comments from the brothers: Nicolas Vu Ngoc Hai ofm (nvnh@hcm.vnn.vn) from Con En island in the Me Kong Delta, Vietnam, wrote to the office thanking us for sending a copy of Contact. He appreciates the news and finds it very interesting. He comments on the fact that he has had malaria attacks for years, but thanks to enviromental imporvements he has not been affected in recent times.

 

HIV/AIDS

v       Adults and children living with HIV/AIDS around the world as of 2001:

Sub-Saharan Africa 28,500,000; South and Southeast Asia 5,600,000; Latin America 1,500,000; Eastern Europe and Central Asia 1,000,000; East Asia and Pacific 1,000,000; North America 950,000; Western Europe 550,000; North Africa and Middle East 500,000; Caribbean 420,000,;Australia and New Zealand 15,000.

Source: UNAIDS

v       International Response: The UN calculated in 2000 that a program designed to prevent and treat AIDS in Africa would cost $3 billion a year. For comparison's sake, Washington was sending $5 billion a year to Israel and Egypt. Now the UN says it needs up to $10 billion a year to counter AIDS. The rich nations of the world have given $2.1 billion -- but over three years. That equals 7 percent of the need.

 

Tobin Tax: Every day, $1.5–$2 trillion (three thousand million!) is exchanged on world currency markets; over 95 percent of that is speculative. The Tobin tax, a proposed small tax on currency transactions, would calm financial markets, protect developing countries, and generate billions of dollars to address global poverty. (See www.waronwant.org) A similar tax on stock transactions could slow stock speculation.

 

Control of Space: The United States Space Command has stated its goal as"dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect US interests and investment. Integrating Space Forces into warfighting capabilities across the full spectrum of conflict"?

United States Space Command - VISION FOR 2020

 

 

 

Conference and Provincial JPIC publications:

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

v       St John the Baptist Province: Justice, Peace and Integrity of creation is published by the office every month.    Their web page: http://www.franciscan.org

v       COMPI ( Italian Conference): Publishes “Perfecta Fetizia” every two months. Contact Cesare Azzimonti at c.azimonti@tin.it

 

JPIC English Speaking Conference and guest members:

Michelle Balek, OSF, srshell@fi-na.org; Larry Bernard, OFM, LarBernard@aol.com;

Jean Luis OFM, jlbruseeker@hotmail.com;George Bugeja, OFM, gorg48@hotmail.com; Courtland Campbell, OFM, cac421@aol.com; Donna Graham, OSF,sjbjpic@franciscan.org; Jim Hoffman, OFM,Jhoffofm@aol.com; David Hyman, OFM, friardlh@yahoo.com; Phil Kelly, OFM, Conv, philkelly812@aol.com; Michael Kulan, OFM, abvmjpic@wi.net; Thomas Luczak, OFM (Laison ESC-Provinces), Lucz@execpc.com; Charles McCarthy, OFM,: justicefund@hotmail.com; Reverend Craig Robert Miller, Order of Ecumenical Franciscans lecrmil@uti.com; David A. Moczulski, OFM, OFMWashington@att.net; Seamus Mulholland, OFM, semulholland@yahoo.com; Dan Mulholland, SFO, dannymai@aol.com; Sarah Mulholland, smulholland@apa.orgJoseph Nangle, OFM, jnangle@igc.apc.org; Philip Forker, pepe@iol.ie; Joe Rosansky, jrozanskyofm@juno.com; Mark Schroeder, OFM, bromarko@worldnet.att.net; Anne Symens-Bucher, sbjpic@aol.com; Russell Testa, testa@wtu.edu; Jim Zelinski, OFM, Cap, zelito@juno.com;

 

Change of Addresses/new appointments:

v       A new Irish Provincial Justice & Peace Commission- Philip Forker ofm (Chairperson) - Email: pepe@iol.ie - Declan Timmons ofm, Michael Holland ofm and Gerry Raftery ofm.

v       Julie Morgan (Australia), jmorgan@franciscans.org.au, JPIC@franciscans.org.au Tel: + 61 2 9357 2900, Fax: + 61 2 9357 2922

v       George Bugeja (Malta) gorg48@hotmail.com

 

Web sites:

v      Factbox – a summary of the key points agreed at the Earth Summit (english): http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=17598&newsdate=05-Sep-2002

v       Factsheet (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative - HIPC) has been

updated, and two new factsheets added: 4 (Miscellaneous Facts & Stats) and 5

(Frequently Asked Questions). Visit:

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/media/factsheets/jdcfactsheet1-july2002.doc 

v       AlterNet: Excellent ananlsis of current events in english: info@alternet.org

v       Religious Perspectives on Human Rights: http://www.rghr.net

v       Do You Know ? THAT the combined cost of solving global needs would be approximately 30% of the world's total annual military expenditures, which in 1999 was $780 billion? For more details go to: www.worldgame.org

v       The stories kept secret during 2002 (english): http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14016

 

Gearóid Francisco Ó 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