Focus on Chapter Orientations: JPIC is getting ready for a new work year and we are looking forward to bringing alive our commitment to Care for Our Common Home and to continue our reflections and actions about Going to the Peripheries. We are planning a specific focus on water, climate justice and Indigenous Peoples. Bineta Ba, CND Social Justice Network Coordinator, inspires us by her example when she facilitated a creative session on water justice and the OK Water Project at the World Social Forum in Brazil last March. She collaborated with the organization ROJEP and the Oblates Franciscaines de Saint-Joseph, and was accompanied to Brazil by General Council member Sr. Ercilia Ferrera. In her proposal for the workshop Bineta wrote that she was 'inspired by the dance piece on climate change presented by the CND at the Word Social Forum 2016 in Montreal'. That project was initiated by Visitation Province and involved partnership with the CRC and Development and Peace with much help from KAIROS. JPIC looks forward to similar collaborative efforts in the coming months.
Monica Lambton, JPIC coordinator
"Awaken your spirit to adventure
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you."
John O’Donohue
Welcome, September – a time for new beginnings!
Much has happened since our First Associate Assembly and our last edition of Coordinators' Corner.
• Central Committee Meeting in Montreal in August
• Coordinators' Meeting last week also in Montreal
• Many retreats and gatherings across Visitation Province.
Our hearts are torn once again at the recent news of clergy abuse of the vulnerable and leaders' failure to respond appropriately. We strongly endorse the LCWR statement and join our prayer and resolve to theirs that our church be more fully a place of healing and nurturing for all.
We thank the Sisters and Associates who have worked to ensure that the vulnerable are protected and healed, as well as those who have come forward to report instances of abuse. We urge others who have experienced abuse to speak of this, and we promise them our prayer and support.