ROME — The Order’s Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office of the General Curia is seeking reflections and reactions from many corners of the globe about anniversary commemorations held last fall of the Spirit of Assisi. People can send photos and “eyewitness reports,” no more than 250 words, to JPICRomans@gmail.com. The reports will be posted on the office’s blog.
This request was made in the January issue of Contact, the newsletter of the OFM JPIC Office.
Pope Benedict XVI called the 25th anniversary of the Spirit of Assisi celebration a good opportunity to “renew a common commitment to building peace.”
“The 25 years of our joint effort for peace have richly displayed our sense of brotherhood and solidarity in the service of our world and the human family,” the pope was quoted as saying in Contact. “But the years have also been fraught with challenges to the sense of man and history.”
The article also goes into detail about the ceremony at Santa Maria degli Angeli, which included declarations of peace presented by 10 members of the pope’s delegations. The pope met many world leaders of the Catholic faith at this ceremony, along with another event at the Basilica of San Francesco.
The newsletter also includes the text of the full address of the pope to the delegations.
Contact also reported on the Third Continental Meeting of JPIC of the Americas held in Quito, Ecuador, last November. Seventy-nine friars, sisters and Secular Franciscans attended.
The meeting, in large part, focused on the Amazon, and was themed “Environmental Justice and the Challenges of Amazonia.” The participants sought to deepen the OFM reflection on environmental justice, raise awareness of the Amazon’s ecological crisis and focus on the project, and form and animate those responsible for JPIC in the values and activities of this service.
Jacek Orzechowski, OFM, of St. Camillus Church, Silver Spring, Md., chairman of the Province’s JPIC Directorate, attended this meeting and wrote about it in the Jan. 4 issue of HNP Today.
The next JPIC course at the Antonianum in Rome is scheduled for April 17 to 27, according to Contact. Information is available from Joseph Rozansky, OFM, director of the Order’s JPIC Office.
— Wendy Healy is a Connecticut-based freelance writer.