Content in this edition: 1) JPIC Proposals accepted by the General Chapter; ii) Concluding Homily at the General Chapter by the Minister General; iii) Statement by the Minister to the press; iv) News from the Conferences; v) Other JPIC news

 

JPIC office Web page: Please visit our web page at: www.ofm-jpic.org or through the Curia page www.ofm.org and click on to the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation office marker. There is a section entitled “What’s new?”, where all the latest items in different languages are placed.

 

Note: the Minister General is actively looking for two brothers to work in the JPIC office. The fact that no reference was made to the JPIC office in the publication of the Decree on personnel for the General Curia does not mean that the office has been cancelled! A decision will be made in this regard during the General Definitorium meeting in September.

 

Proposals of the General Chapter for Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation: (http://www.ofm.org/01other/DocFinCG.html)

 

General Definitory:

(38). The Chapter requests the General Definitory to provide the JPIC office with adequate personnel and means to achieve it objectives.

Entities of the Order

(39). The General Chapter requests that, during the six-year period 2003-2009 and with the help of the Office of JPIC, all the Entities of the Order should:

a)     examine our style of life and its impact on creation, take on more responsible behaviours with regard to the environment and defend the justice of the environment;

b)    promote a non-violent but active style of life and pay particular attention to the resolution of conflicts;

c)     pay special attention to refugees, migrants, ethnic minorities, landless people and fugitives.

(40). The General Chapter requests that, during the three year period 2003-2006, the Council for Economic Affairs, on the general and provincial levels, should draw up guidelines for the responsible use of its resources.

 

 

 

 

LET US SET OUT – Resume of the homily by Br. José R. Carballo, ofm for the concluding celebration of the General Chapter.

(http://www.ofm.org/capgen/00/01/000latest.html)

"A Chapter is always a time of grace, which allows us to turn our gaze ...to prepare the future with our trust placed in the Lord and the Brothers. This future, as I see it, passes through re-foundation, re-dimensioning and discernment.
Re-founding. If the crisis of the religious life in general and of the Franciscan life in particular is not simply skin deep, but really profound, the solution cannot lie in superficial innovation, but in an authentic re-foundation.

Re-dimensioning. The hour has now struck for us to concentrate more on the "ortho-praxis"… we have to act. …This re-dimensioning passes first of all, in my way of seeing things, through the recovery of the capacity to enter into relationships with the world or, which is the same thing, through the recovery of communication with those that surround us, particularly with those that suffer, with the world of the "broken" or "fractured", to those to whom we are called to announce the peace that comes from the Lord, by working for justice and peace (cf. "May the Lord give you peace", II, 2). We cannot continue to be locked into our big or small castles.
…Structures must be at the service of life and not life at the service of structures. Re-dimensioning our presences will demand, finally, the review of the location of some of them so that we may be close to the people by opening our life to the people and entering into solidarity with the poor. In this way we will recover the gospel poverty that we promised.
Discernment. All this requires us to enter into an attitude of constant discernment or, if it is preferred, of mental and structural itinerancy. …"Prophetic witness requires… the practice of spiritual discernment" (VC 84b). It is necessary to train ourselves, personally and in community, " to discover the signs of God in earthly realities" (VC 68), it is necessary to learn the art of discernment.

Greetings by the Minister General to the press on 16/6/2003

A summary of some of the important points (http://www.ofm.org/capgen/00/talks/talkcarbpr16it.html):

 

§      The Minister noted “ the growing chasm growing between rich and poor. The economic power concentrated in the hands of a few means that the common good is in reality only good for the few. The concept of a self-regulating market, establishes a market for the minority…

§      The XX century was one of the most violent in history, with a continuation of violence today. The Minister states that there is a growing consciousness that violence should cease and be replaced by “a desire for peace and justice among peoples”. He continues that as friars minor “ we wish to reaffirm our profound conviction that peace, justice and pardon are possible in our world.”

§      The Minister invites all friars to “announce peace and good, become an image of peace and good for all, without distinction of race, language or religion.”

§      He outlines to the assembled press some important elements that emerged in the General Charter; a call to conversion for all the brothers.

§      To announce peace and good. “we feel called to announce justice and peace, first with our life and then with words; we wish to proclaim by our fraternal life that it is possible to live together and to create family ties that respects differences.”

§      He reiterates the need to be close to “ the poor and those who suffer.” He states, that “in this Chapter we have made a special call to actively work in the world as instruments of peace and reconciliation.”

§      We are called to be “present in places of brokenness-rupture and close to those who suffer… The following of Christ challenges us, and we wish to take up the challenge; to open our eyes and see the poverty, in all its expressions, that surrounds us.”

§      In order to face up to the challenges the world makes of us we need “an integral and solid formation…that comprises the Human, Christian and Franciscan (dimensions)…(as well as) an intellectual formation…”

§      He concludes by saying that the new millennium offers us “a great opportunity to be present in the world in an original and contemporary way: like Francis to be messengers of peace and good, which Jesus came to bring us.”

 

 

European Meeting of Inserted Fraternities, Frankfurt:

The 8^th European meeting of intentional communities (inserted fraternities) took place during the Feast of Pentecost, 2003. Friars from four countries and seven provinces of our order met in Frankfurt to share their experience of living with the marginalized members of the society. The principal topic of this year’s meeting was the question of how much this form of life is or should be an integral component of formation. The head of the inter-provincial novitiate in Germany, Fr. Cornelius Bohl, participated. He spoke about the novices, who take part in a six-week experience in intentional communities between Easter and Pentecost. Cornelius emphasized that this initiative not only serves to familiarize the novices with the lifestyle of these communities, but also represents an essential part of each novice’s vocational discernment.

The next European meeting of intentional communities will take place at Pentecost 2004 in Germany. All friars interested in participating or who desire additional information can write to the following address:

Fr. Markus Heinze, O.F.M., Sigmund-Freud-Str. 111, D-60435 Frankfurt am Main, Tel: +49-69-545297, E-mail: Markus.Heinze@franziskaner.de.

 

Non-violent protest in Germany: Several Franciscans accompanied by other religious and laity organized a prayer service to remember the dead of the Iraq war. They met outside one of the U.S airbases, from where many flights originated during the conflict. After the prayer, three of the participants walked into the base and were arrested. They were a mother of three children, a priest and Markus Heinz ofm. Summons have been issued to appear in court.

 

New JPIC coordinators for Provinces of the Conference: Piotr Kwoczala ofm, continues as Coordinator of the Conference. However, most of the entities have appointed new JPIC animators. For details contact Pietr (kefaspiotr@op.pl) We welcome the following brothers to JPIC animation: Grzegorz Bloch ofm (St. Francis Province); Gabriel Kubik ofm (Czech Republic) and Leslaw Zachura ofm (San Bernardino Province).

 

Environmental educational resources for young people: Julie Morgan, JPIC coordinator, Australia, is looking for some resources that can be used for talking to young people (secondary school age) about Franciscan perspectives on the environment.  The friars have one secondary school in Australia – in Brisbane – and they’re trying to do more and more on the Franciscan perspectives on the environment. The SFO are also interested in the theme. She has decided to produce some of her own resources, but would be interested in receiving materials used by other provinces, or indeed any useful suggestion. Contact Julie at: JPIC jpic@franciscans.org.au

 

Mozambique: The ongoing formation theme of the seminar for the Custody of St. Clare will be on Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation. The brothers are aware of the multiple social problems: violence, inequality, extreme poverty, epidemics, including HIV/AIDS and corruption. What are Franciscans called to be and do faced with such poverty and injustice? The Custody have already organized three zonal meetings for all the brothers. The JPIC Resource Book was used to help the reflections.

 

Questioneer on JPIC – JPIC commission of the Lombardy Province: The JPIC commission sent a questionner to the friars of the province, as well as to the Poor Clares. It had two objectives: to discover the level of sensibility and information about JPIC and secondly, to stimulate reflection on these values. 60% of the brothers and sisters responded. The questions were inspired by the JPIC Resource Book and followed the themes (three sections) as outlined there, finishing with an evaluation of the priorities of the Order for JPIC during the Sexenium 1997-2003. It was composed in 2001, distributed in 2002 and the results compiled in 2003.

Recognizing that not all questions were answered or indeed understood by all some conclusions were offered: many friars recognized the centrality of these values for the Franciscan life and ministry. Many of the comments concerned formation and that JPIC not be the reserve of the few, but involve all of the brotherhood, especially at the local level. The biggest risk for some was the inability to transform proposals into concrete actions. Some expressed fear that a serious commitment to JPIC might distance them from their identity as religious and others that the methodology used could confuse the friars with ideological movements. In conclusion there seems to be a growing change of mentality towards involvement in the sufferings and hopes of the men and women of today. For copies of the questions, replies and analysis of the Survey contact Fra. Pietro at: frati.sabbioncello@libero.it or Cesare Ammonti: c.azimonti@tin.it

 

Rest In Peace - Joseph Sullivan, OFM: Joe was the first Director of the JPIC Washington office for Latin America. He died on July 14, 2003.

 

Water for Life – in defence of our “Sister Water”: The inter-congregational working group on the environment, of which Francisco is the coordinator, has just published a booklet in six languages on water. It is also available and can be downloaded from our web page: www.orm-jpic.org/agua Many other language versions will be made available over the next few weeks on the site. Please introduce this booklet to our brothers, members of the Franciscan family and other religious. Many religious are working on the theme with the laity in their parishes and schools. The office has some hard copies in different languages which will be sent to the JPIC conference animators, whenever someone offers to do the “donkey work”!

 

Preperation for European JPIC Continental meeting 2004: Four of the JPIC Conference coordinators meet in Seville, Spain, Sept 19-21, 2003 to plan the next Continental meeting.

 

Non-violence booklet: It is available in three languages (English, Spanish and German) on our web page: http://www.ofm-jpic.org/peace/index.html It will be shortly available in Italian and Portuguese.

 

Mission Central (MZF) and the World Social Forum: MZF are organizing a Study tour of India, which will include participation in the World Social Forum, January 15 – February 5, 2004. Participants will also have an opportunity to witness the work done by members of the Franciscan Family. The whole package costs 1.900,000 Euro. For further information contact Amaldas Belevendran ofm (Amaldas@missionszentrale.de).

 

Ethical Guidelines for International Trade: the Holy See published a Note in L'Osservatore Romano to the 5th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization. The WTO conference takes place in Cancun, Mexico. (http://www.zenit.org/english/)

 

Christians and the Environment: Pope John Paul addressing a group of scouts in Rome in relation to the environment said: "I would like to return to one of the formative topics dear to you, that is, the importance you must give continually to deepening your faith through practical love of, and respect for, nature." Today "this is an urgent and obligatory task for everyone, but it has always been so for scouts, who are motivated not by some vague ecological feeling, but by the sense of responsibility that derives from faith," the Pope said. "The protection of creation, in fact, is a distinctive feature of Christian commitment in the world," the papal message continued.

 

International convention on the rights of migrant workers and their families: This agreement became international law in July. The International Organization for Migration's (IOM) World Migration Report 2003 notes that 175 million people are estimated to be living outside their country of birth. Many migrate in search of education, better economic opportunities, or to flee violence or natural disasters. Separated from the protection of their home countries, migrant workers and their families have historically fallen through the cracks of the international legal system. The IOM focused on three aspects of the convention in a statement. The first is that the convention recognizes that migrant workers are not just economic units, but human beings with families, and as such, are entitled to basic human rights. It also clearly recognizes the reality of exploitation and abuse that many migrant workers face daily, and extends protection to them. Third, the convention calls upon states to cooperate on migration issues and outlines the responsibilities that countries of origin, transit and destination have in protecting migrants and developing sound labour migration policies.

 

Franciscan Centres of Latin America: The assembly Hill take place in Cochabamba (Bolivia) from March 4-7. The theme is: New tendencies and forms to express the Franciscan charism in Latin America. The Participants are the coordinators of the Franciscan Centres as well as invited guests. At a meeting of the Coordination the priorities assumed in Santo Domingo in 2001 were evaluated, including a commitment to promote JPIC through the work of the centres.

 

Lessons from a Social Activist: Jane Addams, a social justice activist, who lived in the US in the early part of the last century forsook the comforts of a middle-class college graduate's life to live in Hull House in the midst of a disease-ridden and crowded Chicago immigrant neighbourhood, determined to make it an educational and social centre that would bring pride, health and beauty into the lives of her poor neighbours. She was inspired by "an almost passionate devotion to the ideals of democracy," to combating the prevailing notion "that the well being of a privileged few might justly be built upon the ignorance and sacrifice of the many." Community and fellowship were the lessons she drew from her teachers, Jesus and Abraham Lincoln. But people simply helping one another couldn't move mountains of disadvantage. She came to see that "private beneficence" wasn't enough. But to bring justice to the poor would take more than soup kitchens and fundraising prayer meetings. "Social arrangements," she wrote, "can be transformed through man's conscious and deliberate effort." Take note – not individual regeneration or the magic of the market, but conscious, cooperative effort. (extract from an article written by Bill Moyers)

 

Italian Inter-Franciscan JPIC meeting: will take place in Assisi, September 24-26, 2003. The theme is non-violence.

Change of Addresses/new appointments:

v       JPIC coordinator, West Slav Conference (new address): Piotr Kwoczala ofm, ul. O. Alarda 3 46-345 Borki Wielkie, Poland. Tel: 0048 (34) 359 6011(int-26); Cel: 0048 608 224650 e-mail: kefaspiotr@poczta.fm

 

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