TARATA-COCHABAMBA, Bolivia — The Order’s International Council of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation met here Feb. 21 to 27, to discuss mandates of last year’s General Chapter and incorporation of JPIC values into formation.
Two Holy Name Province friars and one alumnus participated in this event with roughly 30 attendees from around the world. They were Jim McIntosh, OFM, who has been based in Bolivia since the fall of 2006, and Joseph Rozansky, OFM, of the JPIC office in the General Curia, and Ignatius Harding, OFM, provincial treasurer of the Bolivian Province and member of the Order’s JPIC Animation Committee.
The gathering was held in the brothers’ retreat house in Tarata, just outside the city of Cochabamba, Jim said.
Participants included the brothers of the Office of JPIC of the General Curia, a representative of each of the 13 conferences of the Order, and members of the animation committee.
The Order’s general animator for evangelization spoke on “How to Promote JPIC Values in Evangelization, in Light of the Final Document and the mandates of the General Chapter of 2009.” The general secretary of formation and studies presented a talk titled “How the Ratio Formationis Franciscanae Can Incorporate JPIC Values in Initial and Ongoing Formation.”
Also invited to the meeting were the provincial JPIC animator, the provincial secretary of formation, the provincial secretary for mission and evangelization from the Missionary Province of San Antonio in Bolivia, and the provincial minister of the Bolivian province, Martín Sappl, OFM.
The meeting attendees considered the decisions of the General Chapter of 2009 which refer to the JPIC, found inMandates 43 and 44, in order to reflect together on how to implement these decisions in our entities and fraternities, according to Jim.
This ICJPIC, or International Council of JPIC, a consultative council to the Order’s General Council, meets every two years. Since the year 2000, there have been two JPIC congresses — with JPIC representatives from all the provinces in the Order — at six years intervals, Jim said. “The JPIC animation committee, comprising four members plus Joe and whoever is working with him in the JPIC office, meets twice a year.”
Jim said that for him, “the most valuable parts were (1) hearing about the different work being done in each conference depending on the varying needs in different parts of the world, (2) watching the Order coordinate its JPIC work and priorities and (3) the fraternal nature of the meeting.”