Tag: Justice and Peace Page 3 of 7

JPIC/ED Bulletin and Antislavery Campaign

Pilgrimage Spirituality. A Journey into Liminarity

The feast of Eid-ul-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), the feast par excellence for the Muslims (Eid-al-Kabîr), in remembrance of the Sacrifice of Abraham, was celebrated on the 4^th October 2014. Thousands of Muslims from all over the world made a pilgrimage (al-hajj) to fulfil one of the five pillars of Islam. What a blessed coincidence that it fell on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, a saint for the promotion of interreligious dialogue!

Today, many believers living in multi-faith contexts are searching for a spirituality that can help them to ‘come closer’ to their fellow human pilgrims and in a special way to believers of other faiths with whom they share so much in common. Pilgrimage spirituality which is taught and practiced in different religions could be a major contribution to such a spirituality promoting inter-faith peaceful and constructive co-existence.

Speaking about pilgrimage, the anthropologist V. William TURNER says: “A pilgrimage liberates a person from the obligatory everyday constraints of status and role, also from our personal stories, our personal triumphs and defeats, and we are enabled to become ourselves again in a new model of human brotherhood. It is a journey into LIMINARITY, where we will acquire new insights about life, about mission, about God, others and ourselves.”

Is this ‘journey into liminarity’ not the journey that Abraham, our father in faith, obediently took in response to God’s command as narrated in the Bible: “Leave your country, your family and your father’s house for the land I will show you.” (Gen 12: 1)? Isn’t it the same journey we have to take in order to build a ‘new model of human brotherhood’ in our globalised indifference and violence?

Nnyombi Richard, M.Afr

Content of the Bulletin: Click on this link

News from the Society and Elsewhere

World Day of Peace 2015

The UN of Religions (4^th Sept. 2014)

African Interfaith Initiative on Post-2015 Development / United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC)

First text – PDF file

Second text – PDF file

Synod on the family (5^th – 19^th October 2014)

Visit of Pope Francis to Turkey (28^th – 30^th November 2014)

Lire le Bulletin en Français en cliquant sur : Spiritualité du Pèlerinage. Un Chemin vers la « Liminarity »

CJTR Lusaka Press Release September 2014

By Missionaries of Africa - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

On September 16, 2014

In News

Greetings from JCTR,

We are happy as always to share with you the latest Basic Needs Basket for Lusaka and accompanying Press Release. We hope this information is helpful for you.

To get more on this and other JCTR activities, please visit our Website, follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook page or contact us on the address and numbers indicated below. We also invite you to visit our well stocked resource room for your research and other information needs.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions, requests or comments. We always appreciate your feedback on how you are using the Basket.

Mwiinga Shimilimo (Miss)

E-mail: basicjctr@jesuits.org.zm Website: www.jctr.org.zm

Press Release

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has noted with great concern that poor infrastructure, particularly in the area of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are a hindrance to enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights especially for people with disabilities. READ MORE

Press Release 12^th September 2014

GOVERNMENT PLANS AND POLICIES SHOULD ADDRESS RISING COST OF LIVING

The Zambian Government through Ministry of Finance recently issued the Green paper. The Green Paper is a tentative government report and consultation document of policy proposals for debate and discussion usually without any commitment to action. The Green Paper in this case therefore provides details of Government’s current thinking as it prepares the 2015 Budget. The Ministry of Finance in its green paper states that the 2015 budget is premised on Government’s unwavering commitment to enhancing inclusive growth and advance social justice, so that all Zambians can benefit from the impressive economic growth the Country have been experiencing. READ MORE

Interview with Roger Foster

By Missionaries of Africa - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

On August 6, 2014

In Publications

This interview is about Playback Theatre, the intersection of art, social interaction and ritual. Roger shares with us the potential of this practice and how challenges issues related with trauma, identity and the debriefing of inter-cultural processes. Roger also shares about the challenges faced by peace builders. He says: “Some members of the helping professions, including many in the ‘peace building industrial complex,’ have surprisingly little experience or skill in the process of revising one’s personal narrative, particularly narratives that are rooted in intergenerational suffering or trauma. Some of these people are amazingly arrogant in their expectation that individuals and communities with whom they work can revise their self-referencing, self-reinforcing and unhelpful narratives quickly, efficiently, and without anguish.”

This interview open our eyes to another emerging tool for our Justice and Peace commitment.

Ghana and Nigeria JPIC-ED Newsletter – Volume 2, June 2014

By Missionaries of Africa - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

On June 8, 2014

In News, Publications

Ghana and Nigeria JPIC-ED Newsletter – Volume 2, June 2014

Bulletin JPIC-ED No 14 – May – June 2014

By Missionaries of Africa - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

On May 31, 2014

In News, Publications

Labour Day or Workers Day?
Some name the 1st May “Labour Day” while others “Workers Day.” Some name it both and others one of the two but putting the other in brackets! Which is right? Whichever name or names one gives this day, what is at stake are both the worker and the work. It is the issue of the dignity and value of the human person as well as the dignity and value of human labour for the individual and society.
This day and month could be an opportunity for ecumenical and interreligious mutual awareness on this issue trying to discover the ‘St. Josephs’ of other Churches, religions and even of those who do not believe in God. The Encyclical of St. John Paul II ‘Laborem Exercens’ (On Human Work) could offer us some food for thought in this exercise.
When we look around us and look at the statistics vis-à-vis the youth and employment-unemployment, we cannot remain indifferent. The figures of unemployment are so worrying that some speak about it as a ‘ticking time bomb’! How are we handling this ‘bomb’ in our respective areas?
Nnyombi Richard, M. Afr.

Bulletin in English

Bulletin en Français

Lusaka BNB January 2014 and Press Release

By Missionaries of Africa - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

On February 20, 2014

In News, Publications

Press Release, 11^th February 2014

Increased debt amidst high cost of living a cause for concern

Lately, there have been statements by senior government officials commenting on the state of debt levels in the country. The comments have partly been assurances that the current debt stock is sustainable.

Various sections of society have expressed fears that the country’s debt stock is increasing to levels that may become unsustainable. While the government has made several assurances that the nation’s debt levels are within manageable limits, it is important that the government is seen to contract and manage debt in ways that do not potentially worsen the livelihoods of the majority poor. If debt being contracted is not prudently invested on high return projects to enable debt repayment without compromising social sector spending, then debt contraction even in the current sustainable debt levels is a source of concern. Increasing debt levels now also imply higher future taxes on the already heavily taxed workers and consequently a higher cost of living.

Press Release

BNB January 2014

Bulletin JPIC-ED No 11 January / February 2014

By Missionaries of Africa - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

On February 19, 2014

In Publications

Born in Latin America, Reborn in Rome

At the beginning of this New Year, I travelled to Mexico to attend a meeting organised by our Province of the Americas on Justice and Peace, Integrity of Creation, Encounter and Dialogue. In preparation for this journey and during the long hours at the airports and in the air to Mexico, three points attracted my attention:

a) The large number of Catholics in this region – Brazil and Mexico are considered first and second respectively as the most Catholic countries in the world;

b) Liberation Theology from Latin American

c) The gift of Pope Francis from the Latin American Church to the Universal Church in particular and to the World in general READ MORE.

AUSSI EN FRANÇAIS.

Denis Hurley in 2014 – Justice & Peace in South Africa

By Missionaries of Africa - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

On February 14, 2014

In Publications

By Anthony Egan SJ

Ten years ago this week, on 13 February 2004 to be precise, Denis Hurley OMI the retired Catholic archbishop of Durban died. As a priest and bishop, as a theologian and religious leader in the struggle against apartheid, he made perhaps the greatest contribution to putting Catholicism firmly in the South African public square.

Before him, the Catholic Church in South Africa was cautious and quite inward-looking. Prohibited during Dutch rule, coolly tolerated by the British, and treated with intense suspicion after the Union of South Africa in 1910, the Church was (unsurprisingly) cautious in challenging apartheid. With the majority of its clergy foreign-born and thus vulnerable to deportation it was encouraged even by the Vatican to ‘play it safe’ after the 1948 National Party election victory. But Hurley, a white South African by birth, Oblate priest and bishop since 1946, thought differently. He believed that it was a matter of faith to oppose apartheid. FULL TEXT in PDF

Anti-Slavery campaign in the Southern Africa Province

By Missionaries of Africa - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

On November 29, 2013

In Publications

125^th Anniversary of Cardinal Lavigerie’s Anti-Slavery campaign.

Many events and initiatives at the level of SAP during the year

As I am writing these lines, one of the major events organised at the level of SAP to mark the 125^th anniversary of Lavigerie’s Anti-Slavery campaign, has just come to an end. Initially, it had been envisaged that a bus highlighting the Anti-Slavery campaign would tour through all the sectors of the Province picking up and dropping off people as it went along. As it was, the Mozambique sector was the only one able to organise this aspect of the campaign. A minibus set off from Beira on 29^th August and travelled to Tete, the boom town along the Zambezi River, picking up some people from our parishes of Dombe and Sussundenga. A two day awareness event was organised in Tete and the same happened in Chimoio a week later. Hundreds of people took part. The final event took place in Beira, at the Nazaré centre, from 12^th to 15^th September 2013. Conferences, debates, drama, radio and television interviews took place and there was a 4-day-long continuous and interested involvement of some 80 participants. This was a considerable achievement for our confreres in Mozambique.

By Claudio Zuccala, M.Afr

FULL TEXT

TEXTE COMPLET EN FRANÇAIS

Lusaka BNB October 2013 and Press Release

By Missionaries of Africa - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

On November 19, 2013

In News, Publications

Greetings from JCTR
We are happy as always to share with you the 2013 October Basic Needs Basket for Lusaka and accompanying press release. We hope this information is helpful for you.
To get more on this and other JCTR activities, please visit our website or contact us on the address and numbers indicated below. We also invite you to visit our well stocked resource room for your research and other information needs.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions, requests or comments.
We always appreciate your feedback on how you are using the Basket.
Namundi Siwale
Acting Information Officer
Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection

Press Release

BNB October 2013