2009

2

Editorial

On the front cover: Passionist missionary Fr. Lombardo Lonoce,together with a family and a Baobab tree , in Tanzania.

Don’t we see the name of Jesus written on their foreheads?Their candor, their innocence and their questioning glances arebegging a response from us.These young girls from our Kerala mission in India are areminder of the selfless sacrifice of our missionaries.They speak to us of Evangelization, but also of human promotionand development.

The purpose of this new Passionist Solidarity and MissionOffice is to help our missionaries in their task of evangelizing the

people, but where their stomachs are empty there’s a concomitant

need for development. Solidarity, then, is “the way to peace and at

the same time to development “ (Christifideles Laici, 42.)

Mission and Solidarity are inextricably conjoined. Likewise

Evangelization and Human Promotion are inextricably conjoined,

as Paul VI tells us in Evangelii Nuntiandi, 31. How can the New

Way be proclaimed unless we promote, through Justice and Peace,

the true and authentic growth of humankind?

Solidarity is the

duty of wealthy

countries to assist

the poorer ones in

overcoming their

underdevelopment.

(SRS 22.)

Development

demands solidari-

ty. Without soli-

darity there’s no

development.

(SRS 33.)

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e met this time at our GeneralHouse in Rome, on 4th and 5thof February. The usual members

(Aristín, Roy Sánchez and NandoValsecchi) were joined on this occasionby:• John González, as representative for

the English-speaking laity; • William Lebba, representing the

African continent, and• Francesco Nicolò, as representative

for the Italian laity.

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Thus, for the first time ever,lay persons have actively par-ticipated in the Commission forSolidarity, as we seek to deter-mine how best to incorporate agreater number of laity fromour Passionist Family. This isnot an easy objective to attainand we agreed to affirm that theJPIC is something very specificto the laity, to their Christianand Passionist vocation, andthat a thorough process of for-mation and coordination isrequired if they are to seriouslyundertake the commitment.We treated the following

themes:1. The need to insist that all

the Provinces, and Vicariatesshould designate a religious toassume the task of animating

and promoting the JPIC so as toconstitute a network allowingus to undertake activities andcampaigns together, thusenabling us to reach every com-munity and individual religious.Each person present undertookto gather all pertinent informa-tion on such projects as arealready underway in our vari-ous communities and parishesin this broad field of Justice andPeace, in order to allow us topublish the information in abooklet which could then besent to all religious of ourPassionist Family.2. The need to improve our

website: www.jpicpassionist.org so as to make it a usefulpoint of encounter for all of uswho are engaged in the work of

International Commision

for Solidarity

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Days of Prayer and Reflection on JPICin our communities

1. 16th October: World Food day. Reflection on the Right to Foodin a Hungry World. The following day, 17th October, is the WorldDay for the Eradication of Poverty. These are two good occasions toreflect on our solidarity with millions of people facing hunger andpoverty. 2. 10th December: World Human Rights Day. It will have beensixty years since the United nations approved a universal declara-tion on Human Rights, and we should pray together in all our com-munities on this critical theme of fundamental importance.3. 30th January: Martyrs of Non-Violence Day. On January 1stwe shall all, as a Church, celebrate World Peace Day. Seeing that onthis day most of us will be engaged in various other activities, wehave decided to devote the whole of the month of January to thetheme of Peace, and we’d like to conclude it with the anniversary ofGandhi’s death, so as to come closer to the Beatitude of Peace. 4. 15th May: International Family Day. A good occasion to praytogether for all the world’s families..

Solidarity, Justice and Peace. Wemust try to enrich it through ourcommon effort.3. Finally, we agreed to try and

have four days of prayer andreflection on JPIC in all ourcommunities in the course of thepresent year. We also agreed toparticipate in such internationalcampaigns as may be organizedby the United Nations which,throughout the year, will affirmour desire to be ever more awareof the reality facing our world.We were adamant on the

importance of including theJPIC in the Initial Formation

programmes (for our postulants,novices and students) and inongoing formation, throughtalks, courses and workshops. Inthe coming months there will becourses and workshops in LatinAmerica: Mexico, the Argen-tine, Chile and Colombia.Each person present informed

fully on the work so-far carriedout in his area, and we sharedthe various difficulties encoun-tered. We thus encouraged oneanother to continue with thisdemanding work of animatingand motivating our communi-ties.

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he Democratic Republicof the Congo is a hugecountry with more than 60

million inhabitants with a bril-liant future awaiting it if itcould be rid of the war and thenefarious ambitions of themultinational corporations.

The Passionist missionariesarrived there in 1930 and wher-ever they went they openedschools, medical dispensariesand hospitals. At the momentthere are 52 Passionists andthey too look to a wonderful

future, given the large numberof young men who are request-ing to enter their seminary. Atthe moment there are 8 theolo-gy students.

Right now a new novitiatebuilding is under constructionat Kikwit. It has a total of 20rooms, capable of housing 20novices every year beginningthis July. In other parts of thebuilding there will be a library,recreation room, a readingroom, a kitchen, and a laundryarea. There is a good-sized

chapel in the middle of thebuilding large enough toaccommodate neighboringfamilies who live far fromthe parish church of St.Etienne. The grounds,which they have in conces-sion, cover 9 hectares(22.24 acres.) It’s good forcultivating the ground andbreeding animals, and it

Missionaries in R. D.Congo

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The Congoseminary underconstruction

will even be possible to put in afish farm, as there is a smallstream.

We have added a preparatoryschool year and at the momentthere are 9 candidates. We have11 postulants doing their phi-losophy and theology studies.Two deacons were ordained notlong ago and another deacon isdoing a year of pastoral experi-ence.

Our main difficulty regardingformation has been financial:

• Many young people areasking to enter, but our eco-nomic means and housing facil-ities simply don’t allow us toaccept them. They themselveshaven’t the means to cover thecost of formation.

• The reigning poverty in thecountry makes it difficult todiscern true vocations. (Many

would like to become priests asthis places one on a highersocial strata, so this makesproper discernment vital.)

• However, the biggest stum-bling block for all would-becandidates finding a way tocover the cost of their forma-tion. This explains the reducednumber of theology students inthe course of these last years.

• The arriving students are ofa very poor cultural caliber, so ayear of preparatory formation isfundamental before they cancontinue with higher studies.

• There is a dearth of forma-tion personnel.

• The relationship of theCongregation with students’families: even after theybecome religious there is still aneed to care for their familieswho are often very poor.

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Volunteers checking vision in an ophthalmological programme.The same group of volunteers took eyeglasses for the poor in El Salvador.

he Passionist Volunteers International(United States) were founded in 1973with a view to making our Passionist

presence felt among the poorest of society.“The main value the program seeks to

embody is to be in communion with the

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people we serve and with each other through the shared

experience of providing direct services that address particu-

lar needs of a community”. An attempt is made to form a com-munity between the volunteers and those amongst whom weminister. Our field of activities is for the most part in Jamaicaand Honduras, although we are also engaged in Brooklyn, NewYork. You can read a lot more on the web page (www.passion-istvolunteers.org). Our motto is, fittingly, “To Construct, Serveand Believe.” Every year a considerable number of volunteerswitness to their solidarity. We’ll be waiting for you!

Lay volunteers

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JPIC AustraliaMy name is Jose Ramon Sanchez,

CP, and I am a member of theAustralian Province. I am chair of myprovinces JPIC committee, as well asa member of the Congregation’sCommission for Solidarity, Missionand JPIC.

Our province’s commitment tothe work of JPIC is not old, onlyabout 8 years, but it is growing. I havebeen chair of this committee for only

about 2 years.

Most recently, our Provincial Council has seen that it isimportant to free me, at least part time, to work in this area.

This has enabled me to pursue a number of projects includ-ing working to ensure our houses are ecologically sound in theiruse of electricity, water and waste disposal; begin to organizeimmersion experiences to take young people affiliated with usfor a 3 week visit to do voluntary work in orphanages inVietnam and the Philippines with a Passionist guide to helpthem reflect on what it means to be with the crucified; andbecome involved in a more concrete way with local NGO's aswell as network with the JPIC representatives for the congrega-tion in the PASPAC region so as to collaborate on projects ofjustice. I believe we have made a concrete start at shifting thethinking of our province to see that JPIC is not only 'a theme'but rather 'The Theme,' central to our Charism, that will take usinto true Gospel living and keeping alive the memory of thePassion.

9

P

ssIoNIsTs

e held our ordinarymeeting on October 3rdand 4th 2008 as usual at

our community in New York.The new Superior General ofthe Sisters of the Passion andCross, Mother AngelicaAlcorta, participated for thefirst time.As usual at our meetings we

shared among ourselves thework carried out by each of ourmembers, especially regardingour presence at the UN. KevinDance explained his work at theUnited Nations which, in thecourse of these last few months,was centered on the followingthemes: • Millenium Development

Goals.• Funding for Development:

The Doha (Qatar) Round willevaluate its progress. • The Permanent Forum for

matters related to IndigenousPeoples.• NGOs involved with Israel

and the Palestinians. • Commission for Social

Development. More informa-tion is available on: www.pas-sionistsinternational.org .Sister Mary Ann Strain c.p.

spoke on her work at the UN,centred above all on defence ofthe dignity and rights of womenand girls. We also reflected on inculcat-

ing sensitivity for the sufferingof peoples among our religiousand communities, as well as onhow to discover Christ amongthe crucified peoples of our day

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INTeRNaTIoNal

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10

ear Passionist Brothersand Sisters, I am writing to ask your

help.

An important area of workfor Passionists Internationalat the United Nations is SocialDevelopment. This looks atextreme poverty and the dam-age this does to people’s livesand health and their chancesfor development. It looks atthe things that exclude peoplefrom participating effectivelyin their communities and howto change this.

social Integration is thepriority theme for the 2009-2010 review and policy cycleof the Commission for SocialDevelopment. The Commis-sion, composed of 46 govern-ments, will try to understandhow social exclusion makesthe experience of extremepoverty worse. They want tolearn from the experience ofpeople who are forced to livein poverty or from those what

are working to make theircommunities more inclusive.

► social inclusion is theprocess that ensures equalopportunities – so that every-one can achieve their fullpotential in life. It includespolicies and actions that pro-mote equal access to (public)services and enable citizen’sparticipation in the decision-making processes that affecttheir lives.

► social exclusion is theopposite of social inclusion. Itis the systematic neglect,oppression or discriminationagainst people in social insti-tutions, whether by govern-ment, organizations, commu-nities and households.

In the first year, 2009, theywill seek information fromreal people to understand thescope of social exclusion,what causes it and what dam-age it does. In the second year,2010, they will work to createsocial integration policies to

Social InclusionSocial Inclusion

DD

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reduce inequalities, promoteaccess to basic social services,education for all and healthcare, and increase the partici-pation and integration ofsocial groups.

With your help we, fromPassionists International,can bring the stories and infor-mation from you who are insuch close contact with thestruggles and sufferings ofyour brothers and sisters. Inthis way we can help to informand shape the policy decisionsof the Commission.

We would be grateful if youwould share from your experi-ence some responses to thefollowing questions with us:

1. Brief stories of howpeople experience socialexclusion and what effect ithas had on them.

2. From your work canyou name some of the thingsthat stop people from taking afull and active part in theircommunity and society?

3. Name some small proj-ects or actions you have devel-oped to enable people toachieve their potential. It does

not matter how small the proj-ect is!

4. What would help youand your people to be part ofbuilding a more inclusive so-ciety?

You can answer these ques-tions yourself; or ask the peo-ple you serve to give you theiranswers. We are happy toreceive your replies in French,Spanish, Portuguese orEnglish. We can learn fromthese and pass on the wisdomto governments. We will letyou know how your informa-tion is used.

It would be most helpful ifyou could send your responsesto me.

Thank you for your readi-ness to share your expertisewith us.

United in our Passion forLife,

Kevin Dance, C.P. Representing the Passionist

Family at the United Nations

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ur Congregation, Sisters of theCross and Passion of Our LordJesus Christ had its origin in

Manchester during the 19th Century.Its foundress, Mother Mary Joseph wasa young Englishwoman who convertedto Catholicism at the time the firstPassionist missionaries arrived inEngland. It arose out of the areas onthe margins of the city, from the poorand for the poor of their times. Duringthese last years, searching, in fidelity toour origins, we desire to deepen ouroption to continue “growing in solidar-ity with the crucified of today, sharingwith them our conviction of the powerof the Cross.” (Covenant of the Passion N.2.)

Present in the British Isles and Ireland, the sisters respond tothe needs of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, offer retreatsand follow their option to care for the earth. They have extend-ed their option to include work with terminally ill people inBosnia opening two hospice centres there.

In Peru, Chile and Argentina the communities are inserted inthe peripheral areas of the cities and in rural zones making a clearoption for the excluded, sharing their lives and committed to thestruggle in favour of ‘another world is possible’.

Botswana, is for us a re-commencement after years of min-istry accompanying the formation of a diocesan congregation“Sisters of Calvary”. In these last years we have faced the chal-

Sisters of the CrossSisters of the Crossand Passionand Passion

oo

Angélica Algorta

General Superior

lenge of working with and accompanying people suffering fromHIV and in preventative education.

The United States and Jamaica have opted to work in the areaof promotion of Women, offering retreats, and formal and infor-mal education. In some cases they work in collaboration with thePassionist Congregation.

Two years ago in dialogue with the Passionist Community weformed a small community in Melbourne, Australia to worktogether with the Priests and Brothers in pastoral work.

Knowing that our Charism is that of the Church and that itmust be nurtured, the sisters endeavour to share it with the laity.According to the place, we speak of associates, or Passionistfamily. It is a source of great happiness to know that the familyis increasing and that the sisters are no longer alone in bringing“the joy of the resurrection to the pain of the world today”.(Covenant of the Passion N.8).

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ithout a doubt one of the primary difficulties encountered byour missionaries in Kenya, Tanzania, D.R. Congo,Philippines, India, Peru, just to mention some of the more

typical ones, is their need to meet the expense incurred in formation.There are many Young candidates in these countries who call at our

doors asking to be Passionists. Needless to say some of them are justaspiring to improve their standard of living, understandable given thepoverty in their society. Hence the need for a wise process of discern-ment regarding the authenticity of their vocation. Such a process, byits very nature sometimes long drawn-out, requires some years ofexperience, and this in turn means considerable expense. One cannotsimply accept anybody who comes along out of good will, without asufficient in-depth knowledge of the aspirant. But it seems hardlyacceptable that he be sent back home because there’s no place in thebudget for a preparatory school where such young men can spendone or two years prior to a decision. In that space of time we should:

• seek to improve their normally low academic level; • enable them to better know us Passionists, and in turn• allow us to better know them.

All this requires funding, and these initial steps in formation areoften not given their due importance; the acceptance of candidates istherefore restricted and the entrance of new vocations to theCongregation is lower than it should be. All this spells out an urgentcall upon the Fund for Formation and the wealthier areas of ourCongregation to extend a helping hand to their less well-off brethren.So we are here calling uponall men and women of goodwill to show generous soli-darity toward the ongoingquest for new Passionistvocations. Everyone is invit-ed to make a free-will dona-tion. You’ll find our bankaccount number on the lastpage.

Solidarity in Formation

The Mozambique Seminarians

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his book has been pub-

lished in order to help sen-

sitize our communities and

religious. The main objective is to

show that a commitment to

Justice, Peace and Integrity of

Creation are deeply rooted in our

Passionist charism.

The Passionist charism is by no

means limited to promoting cer-

tain devotions or preaching mis-

sions; rather, to make THe

MeMoRIa PassIoNIs

(Memory of the Passion) is tanta-mount to living out the very kernel of Jesus’ mandate at the Last

Supper, “Do this in memory of me.” Keeping the Memoria

Passionis leads us to meditate on Christ Crucified even as we keep

in mind the many crucified people of our day, which must in turn

lead us to passionately live the struggle for Justice and Peace, and

all this because Jesus continues to die today, and we simply can-

not remain silent in the face of the enormous amount of injustice

which we humans are wreaking on our brothers and sisters living

in desperately poor areas.

An attempt has been made in the book to explain the main char-

acteristics of JPIC spirituality.

JPIC is a way of being a Passionist today. The book tries to

explain how JPIC perfectly dovetails with our Passionist charism

and hence should be kept very much in mind during initial and

ongoing formation.

Latest Book:Latest Book:

Passionist JPICPassionist JPIC

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trAnSferimento bAncArio A:

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