Animation and the How to Animate the Members of our Provinces:

 

What is the role of a JPIC Animator? How in practical ways to get the message across to the confreres? What are the tricks of the trade? What helped you? How did you cope with the slow progress? What are the doÕs and donÕts? What are the best tools that you have found useful in your work as animator?

My own background?

 

What have I learnt over the years?

The importance of helping each individual member of the congregation to see that she/he has a unique way of expressing his/her own spirituality for Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation, which is a way of being and of acting in the world today. This is a non threatening way of proceeding. Often people feel a sense of guilt or paralysis when confronted with the multitude of issues that are presented on TV and newspapers. It all seems so huge, so as an animator I stress again and again the huge value of doing something small, to change the part of the world that I live in.

There is more than one way of being and of doing in relation to JPIC. The important thing is that each person becomes attentive to how they are living out this Ò call within a callÓ. The role of the animator is to help each person to identify his/her own particular way of responding and of deepening this call, which is basically a Gospel call, a Church imperative and is also deeply imbedded in the spirituality of our congregations. Some can seem to be put off by individuals in the congregation who focus on and promote issues and who are good at lobbying and say Ò I have no interest in justice and peaceÓ, because they have equated JPIC with issues, lobbying, analysis only.

 

The elements for animation for JPIC are contained in the model for pastoral praxis developed by Joe Holland and Peter Henriot S.J. These are a framework for developing a spirituality for justice and peace.

Oval:                                                             1. Experience

 

 


                                   

4. Action         Reflection              2. Social Analysis

 

      

3. Theological Reflection Ð

Scripture and CST & Charism

 

I see these four elements like four doors Ð some people are more at home in the beginning when they enter through one particular door: experience, issues and analysis, Scritpure and the CST or action. The challenge is to move on from the place where we feel most comfortable and to build all four elements into a way of living. Put simply an experience of injustice, violence, destruction of the environment should challenge us to question and do analysis, looking for the causes in the light of the vision contained in scripture and church social teaching (CST) moving us towards various types of action. Ultimately these elements can lead us at both personal and social levels to conversion of heart, change of attitudes and new ways of being and acting in solidarity with those on the margins. Reflection is at the heart of the process and it is important then to approach each of the elements of the model in a reflective way:                                                 

 

(a) Experience:

 

As a JPIC animator I share my own experiences and tell my own stories. I explain how various experiences over the years have called me to change my attitudes and led me to become involved in various actions to help transform society. I point out that I am on my own journey in relation to the bringing JPIC into the center of my living and acting, that sometimes after reflection on an experience I have felt drawn to change a way of thinking, or join a group to bring about some social change, to pray in a new way or to read an article or book to become better informed.

Story: Charlie and Maggie

What I learnt through this experience was:

¤      I was more in need of change and conversion that they were

¤      The ÒpoorÕ are truly the means of my salvation because they open my heart and challenge my superficial way of living

 

When involved in animation work it can help in a workshop situation, in a province newsletter, when making a video etc. get people to tell their own stories and share how experiences with those who are poor, oppressed, marginalized have changed them, calling them to reach for the ÒmagisÓ (the more) of the Reign of God. I remind them that simple things like reading a newspaper, watching TV, listening to a colleague are all opportunities to wider the tent of our hearts. I challenge myself first and others to take opportunities to go beyond their boundaries. I make it quite clear that when I am saying something challenging it is a much for myself as for them. Some one has called experiences such as these Òsubversive memoriesÓ they really wont leave you alone.

 

(b): Scripture - Old Testament & New Testament

For some the door to enter into a deeper commitment is through Scripture and CST. I also include here our own congregational spiritualities and mission statements which give contemporary expression to Gospel imperative. As an animator I point out the Scripture basis for the concepts of justice, peace and integrity of creation. I also show the link between justice -mercy-compassion. In the OT and NT I explore the themes of oppression and salvation or liberation; the just person, the Reign of God, poverty and wealth and so on. There are some elements that I like to point out:

(a)   In the OT the core of IsraelÕs faith is equated with the doing of justice. To

know Yahweh is to take to heart the cause of the poor and needy.

(b)  In the NT Salvation depend on a personÕs attitude towards the poor and afflicted (Sermon on the Mount).

 

I encourage members of the congregation to do serious reading and reflection on the Scripture by:

¤      Following various themes that they feel attracted to/ repulsed by.

¤      Identifying the one theme Ðjustice, compassion, Reign of God, that seems to call them to a deeper level

 

It is important to emphasize that prayer on so many themes in Scriptures can help to deepen our compassion and solidarity with those who are on the margins of life.

 

In the parable of the mustard seed, Scripture teaches animators a valuable lesson. We may try long and hard and use many different approaches to raise awareness about JPIC and wonder if it is having any effect. Then suddenly after many months and years of effort suddenly the tree appears. I can remember such a moment when Ronald Regan came to Ireland at the height of US involvement in El Salvador. This was one of the issues that we had focused on as a Province and I often wondered had it made any difference and then on the day of a Peace March in protest in Dublin there were many more sisters than I would even have expected.

 

Congregations:

In each of our congregations the focus on JPIC has a particular meaning and significance in the context of the charism. The IBVM founded by Mary Ward has the Constitutions of St. Ignatius, the spiritual exercises and Ignatian spirituality as a guide for life. I spell out the links with key aspects of the charism Ð the Just Soul, finding God in all things, the values of freedom-justice-sincerity. There are also links which need to spelled out with the Constitutions and Chapter mandates

 

(c) Social Analysis:

 

In Octagesima Advenians Paul VI said

ÒIt is up to the Christian community to analyse with objectivity the situation which is proper to their own country, to shed on it the light of the GospelsÕ unalterable words and to draw principles or reflections, norms of judgment and directions of action.Ó (#4)

Social thinking and social practice inspired by the Gospel must show a special sensitivity

....towards those who are most in distress, those who are extremely poor, those suffering from all the physical, mental and moral ills that afflict humanity, including hunger, neglect, unemployment and despairÉ.. you will also want to seek out the structural reasons which foster or cause the different forms of poverty and injustice in the world so that you can apply the proper remedies. (John Paul II Ð Yankee Stadium).

 

 

Social analysis

I invite members of my congregation, who feel able to move towards focusing on some issue that they feel passionately and in particular to join a group or form a group who will support each other over a period of time.

 

(d): Action

 

The last gate is that of action. There are many types of actions which flow from experiencing and analyzing situations of injustice and oppression, and then reflecting on these situations from a theological perspective.

 

1. Indirect Support: This means providing material and/or financial helps or support by letters, appeals and by affirmation of those in direct support by encouragement and trust. It can also mean telling stories of transformation and liberation.

2. Direct Support: We take part in direct programmes to help the victims of social injustice.

3. Compassionate Prayer: We meditate and pray/fast over the experiences and issues

4. Advocacy: We make a cause our own cause. We speak out and demonstrate and lobby. We make clear to all that we are willing to suffer to whatever degree necessary to achieve justice.

5. Conscientization: Being informed and informing others

6. Solidarity: We are one with the wounded, the forgotten, the ugly, the naked, the dying poor. We live with them, work along with them, speak out with them.

7. Knowledge: We are well informed on the issues and know what is going on.

 

I say to members of the congregation to acknowledge and affirm what they are already doing and to challenge themselves to the ÒmoreÓ. This does not necessarily mean taking on another task but perhaps doing something they are already engaged in, in a different way.

 

In conclusion as an Animator:

 

  1. I try to live what I talk about and I also admit my failures. I donÕt try to do everything but I try to do something. I celebrate the successes, I point out where prayer, action, research etc have made a difference and changed some situation. JPIC animators are often accused of being prophets of doom. There is a real need to point our the seeds of justice, peace, integrity of creating that are growing in our midst.

  1. I begin my helping the members of my community to identify how they are already living out their commitment to make JPIC part of their lives. If all of us are deepening our commitment to JPIC from different starting points then we become richer as a body of women/men participating in the transformation of the world. Let us affirm each other, not feel threatened by one another and be in solidarity with each other.

  1. I try to be gentle and not to force any particular issue on them. I present certain issues as my way of responding to the needs of the world (trafficking of women and children, climate warming etc.) and I invite them to support me in those initiative. I also ask people to identify one issue about which they feel deeply and ask them to engage in some action for change.

 

  1. I present different opportunities for people to engage in a variety of issues through exposure programmes, research and analysis, prayer, and lobbying. I invite people to write about their experiences and to share how they are trying to make JPIC central to their lives and ministries. I run workshops for those interested in particular topics.

 

  1. I am convinced that the Christian way of bringing about a just, peaceful way of living with each other on the planet is as much through small tiny hidden actions (mustard seed approach) as it is through tackling systems and structures at national and global levels. Both are needed and the important thing is to show how both are playing an important role in changing peopleÕs hearts and ultimately the systems, structures and policies that prevent fullness of life.

 

 

 

Don Cullinan OSB says

 

ÒThose who are poor and broken remind us that ultimately God saves us through the chinks and holes in our armour, through our poverty, our weakness, our suffering and our many deaths in life. When we can acknowledge this then we can stand in solidarity with those on the margins, leave our world and our security and take the risks necessary to live and work together for the transformation of the whole human communityÓ                                                     

Pat Murray IBVM

(Rome Oct. 2002)