Members of the Province’s JPIC Directorate met on Feb. 9 before the start of the JPIC Local Contacts Retreat at the Xavier Retreat Center in Convent Station, N.J. Highlights of the meeting are below.
- We welcomed Francis Soucy as the newest friar to join the JPIC Directorate. Francis brings knowledge of the political situation, particularly from the perspective of healthcare. With his help, we hope to do a better job of including the more senior friars in JPIC plans and actions.
- We finalized a revised plan for a “peacemaking skills” training program in which we encourage all the HNP ministries to participate this fall.
- We developed a plan for how to move forward with coalition work in comprehensive immigration reform. Information will be distributed in March.
- We agreed to join the Consistent Ethic of Life Network, http://www.consistent-life.org/, following on research from Peter Schneible and the recommendation of Chapter 2005.
- Building from much of the response from the visioning process, we are exploring ways to better highlight, grow and support the “Integrity of Creation” efforts of JPIC.
- We heard the details from Jacek Orzechowski about next week’s Franciscan Pilgrimage to the Holy Land that includes participants from the ministries in Durham, Raleigh and Camden.
The next meeting of the directorate is April 23 in New York City.
— Russell is director of HNP’s Office for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC). He can be resched at 202-541-5245 and jpic@hnp.org