Contact
No.7,
October 2002
Newsletter of the OFM International Council for
Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation
(Prepared by the JPIC Office in Rome)
A Special
on
African and European JPIC Congresses.
The European Congress. The European
Continental JPIC animators Congress took place in Assisi from October 7-12,
2002, with 70 delegates present; including staff from FI, Geneva and members of
the Italian Franciscan Family. A
jojful and fraternal environment was developed during the week with a good programme orienting the
deliberations. The Minister
General, unable to be personally present,
sent a letter in which he describes the role of a JPIC animator, itÕs importance
and several challanging issues facing the brotherhood in Europe. The inagual eucharist was celebrated by
Peter Schorr ofm, Director of the office and Definitor General and the
concluding one by the Vicar General, Estefano Ottenbreit ofm.
The meeting proposed as an objective Ò to strengthen
the JPIC aniamtion among the European friars taking the sociopolitical,
ecomomic and religious realities into consideration as well as exclusion; a
growing tendency in Europe and in the world.Ó The slogan for the meeting was: ÒEurope: as franciscans an opportunity and a responsibility
for solidarity.Ó
Work began with a round table discussion on Europe
dealing with three aspects: the
socio/political and economic (presented by a Euro parlamintarian from Spain),
the ecclesial (an italian lay journalist) and the Franciscan ( Hermann
Schalueck).
The next day, simultaneoulsy, five workshops took
place dealing with the following themes: refugees and migrants, ethical
investment, environment, peace and inserted fraternities. Each workshop was conducted in the three
languages of the congress ( spanish, italian and english).
The Congress placed a lot of emphasis on
formation: how to educate JPIC
animators themselves and the initial and ongoing formation in JPIC of all the
brothers. In this context JosŽ Carballo, General Secretary for
Formation and Studies, gave a presentation on the integral nature of JPIC to
the franciscan charism, followed by a practical presentation by Francisco O
conaire on how to integrate this dimension into the life and ministry of the
brotherhood.
Experiences on animation work within the fraternities
and the Provinces were exchanged by the animators themselves, as well as
developing proposals for the local and provincial fraternities. A number of
proposals were made to be taken into consideration by the General Chapter in
2003.
These were:
1.
A
specific day of celebration should be instituted in which the entire Order,
together with all people of good will, would highlight the problems of our
times regarding JPIC (for example: International Earth Day of the 5th
June, Immigration Day, Peace day of the 21st September, HIV/AIDS
Day, etc.).
2.
a) A
chair dedicated to JPIC should be established in the Antonianum of Rome with a
special emphasis on the topics of creation and non-violence.
b) Courses on JPIC should be
instituted in all the Franciscan universities and institutes.
3.
During
the six-year period 2003-2009, a study on the relationship between fraternity
and eco-sustainability should be promoted in order to measure the environmental
impact (Òfoot-printÓ) of our fraternities and to find a way of life that is
more eco-compatible.
4.
During
the six-year period 2003-2009, a suitable organism should be instituted to
orient, in the ethical sense, the economic practices (receipts, expenditure,
investments) of the Order in the different Entities.
5.
The
Order should re-confirm the priorities of the 1997 General Chapter on the care
of refugees, migrants, ethnic minorities (cf. 1997 Chapter). In order to give
them practical implementation a friar should be appointed (or alternatively, a
lay person), who would work for these objectives in a full-time capacity in
close collaboration with the person responsible for the JPIC Office in Rome.
Each proposal contains suggested objectives,
those responsible for carrying them out and a time frame. They will be presented at the
Pan-American JPIC meeting in November and a final decision will be taken on
what to present to the General Chapter by the International Council meeting in
December 2003.
The
Congress made a pronouncement on the current Iraq crisis, calling for a
nonviolent and negotiated solution. They also sent fraternal letters of support
to the Colombian friars and to two US brothers imprisoned for conscientiously objecting to the School of the Americas.
1.
Sub
Saharan Africa
2.
Central
European Conference ( MEFRA)
3.
Italian Conference ( COMPI)
4. Bolivarian Conference
5. English Speaking
Conference (ESC)
6.
Mexico/Central America and Caribbean Conference
7. Spain/Portugal
Conference (CONFRES)
Useful Information:
Useful web sites:
v
Members of the Bolivarian
commission:
New JPIC
animators:
Conference
and Provincial JPIC publications:
Let us know
about your publications and how they can be accessed.
v
Franciscan
Family El Salvadorhttp://www.justiciaypazfranciscana.org.sv/
v
Central
Europe
Please send us any
news, dates of upcoming JPIC meetings, comments & suggestions to:
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