Latest OMI JPIC News
Advent Week 4: Called to Celebrate and Protect Life December 21st, 2018
Advent is a liturgical season of prayer, anticipation, hope and joy leading to the birth of Christ. This Advent season we invite you to join in prayer and reflection on how can we care for the Earth our common home; empower our youth to serve; resolve the plight of migrants and refugees; and protect the gift of human life.
We are pleased to offer 1-page weekly reflections on these issues to share with your congregation, communities and use in your own personal prayer time. Reflections will be available in English and Spanish.
A big thank you to our Missionary Oblates and JPIC Committee members for developing the resources. A SPECIAL thank you to Bro. Lester Antonio Zapata, OMI, for providing Spanish translation.
WEEK 4 — December 21
- Click link to download Advent Week 4: Called to Celebrate and Protect Life
contributed by: JPIC Staff & Collaborators - Haga clic aquí para descargar la versión en español: Semana de Adviento 4: Llamados a celebrar y proteger la vida
WEEK 3 — December 16
- Click link to download Advent Week 3: Called to Welcome Immigrants, Welcoming Hope, contributed by: Dr. Victor Carmona, University of San Diego
- Semana de Adviento 3: Acogiendo a los Inmigrantes, Acogiendo la Esperanza
WEEK 2 — December 9
- Click link to download Advent Week 2: They Give All They Have: Young Adults Called to Serve, contributed by: Fr. Ray Cook, OMI
- Haga clic aquí para descargar la versión en español: Semana de Adviento 2: Ellos dan todo lo que tienen: los jóvenes adultos son llamados a servir
WEEK 1 — December 2
- Click link to download Advent Week 1: Called to Care for Creation contributed by: Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, Oblate Ecological Initiative.
- Haga clic aquí para descargar la versión en español: Semana de Adviento 1: Llamados a cuidar,
Church Leaders and Experts Gather for 3rd Vatican Conference on Impact Investing July 26th, 2018
(2nd from right) Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI, Chief of Faith Consistent Investment, OIP Investment Trust (Photo credit: Remo Casilli)
From July 8-10, 2018 the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (IHD) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) co-hosted the third conference on impact investing with the theme, Scaling Investment in Service of Integral Human Development. Information about the conference can be found by clicking here.
Held in Rome, the event drew experts and Catholic leaders from around the world, including Frs. Séamus Finn, OMI and Rufus Whitley, OMI. Fr. Séamus spoke on the panel Advances within the Catholic Church and Fr. Rufus participated in discussions on Deploying Capital for Impact at the Base of the Pyramid.
Fr. Rufus Whitley, OMI, President and Chief Investment Officer, OIP Investment Trust (Photo credit: Remo Casilli)
Other panels addressed issues like climate change, health, migrants, refugees, and youth unemployment and how impact investment can improve conditions for people affected. The conference was billed as a ‘results-oriented’ event and a long-term global commitment.
(Photo credit: Remo Casilli)
Presenting Our 2019 Summer JPIC Report With a Fresh New Look! August 16th, 2019
We are excited to share the 2019 Summer JPIC Report with a fresh new look: we hope you like the new design. Please share your feedback and story ideas by emailing us at jpic@omiusa.org.
A PDF version of the newsletter can be downloaded here.
Past issues can be found in the Resources section of the website.
JPIC Report is the twice-yearly newsletter of the US Oblate JPIC Office. It is an informational resource about and for Oblates and others involved in the work of promoting justice, peace and the integrity of creation.
Mass Shooting Tragedies Are the Expected Consequences of Hatred and Violence August 6th, 2019
Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace and nonviolence movement, joins with the thousands of individuals and groups who have raised their voice over the mass shooting events of the past ten days.
These mass shooting tragedies are not the new normal, but they are the expected consequences of the continued and growing rhetoric of hatred, fear, bigotry, racism, and intolerance voiced consistently from the White House.
Read the full statement at: www.paxchristiusa.org
Missionary Oblates – U.S. Province Joins Faith Groups in 2019 Bipartisan Budget Letter to Congress August 2nd, 2019
Fr. Louis Studer, OMI, U.S.Provincial
Rev. Louis Studer, OMI (Provincial of the U.S. Province), joined national leaders representing a broad array of religious beliefs and faith traditions in a sign-on letter last week urging the administration to pass a bipartisan budget agreement that ‘lifts spending caps for non-defense programs and raises the debt ceiling.’
Citing their responsibility as faith leaders, the group advocated for an agreement that would enable all people to live with ‘dignity and the opportunity to flourish.’ “Federal nutrition assistance, housing assistance, reentry services, education and job training programs, international humanitarian and development assistance, and environmental protections are examples of the critical role federal funding plays in advancing these fundamental values,” the letter states. A bipartisan deal was reached on the bill last week. Read the sign-on letter here.
A Conversation with Bro. Patrick McGee, OMI August 1st, 2019
Brother Patrick McGee, OMi is Novice Director at the Oblate Novitiate in Godfrey, IL. As one group of Novices prepares to make their First Religious Profession, and a new group prepares to move in, Brother Patrick sat down to reflect on the year just passed, the job of an Oblate Formator, and his view on the future of Oblate Formation.
Fr. Roy Snipes, OMI Featured in PBS Video about Proposed Border Wall August 1st, 2019
Fr. Roy Snipes, OMI outside the chapel talking to some young men interested in an Oblate vocation.
For most of his 30 years in ministry as an Oblate priest, Fr. Roy Snipes has been known as the priest who brings his dogs along with him to Mass. But recently, he has found himself in the unwanted spotlight of an effort to stop the building of a wall designed to end the flow of undocumented immigrants into the U.S. from Mexico.
Fr. Snipes is Pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Mission, Texas, a small border town on the banks of the Rio Grande. In addition, he also oversees the historic, La Lomita Chapel, founded and built by the Oblates in about 1865 as a stop-over for itinerant Oblate preachers who traversed the Rio Grande Valley ministering to people living and working on remote ranches and farms. The Chapel is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of a municipal park owned by the City of Mission. Fr. Snipes continues to celebrate Mass there and minister to visitors.
Literally on the banks for the Rio Grande, La Lomita is separated from the City of Mission by a levee designed to hold back the river when it floods. As planned, the new wall would run along the levee, leaving the Chapel and many homes in a sort of “no man’s land” between the water and the wall. The local populace, Catholic diocese, government officials, Fr. Snipes and the Missionary Oblates have all registered their opposition to the wall, and in the national media, the Chapel has become a symbol for the political debate between those who support a border wall and those who don’t.
Fr. Snipes has been interviewed and profiled in national TV and radio, and in magazines and newspapers in his position as the local pastor. His folksy ways and straight-talk have made quite an impression on the cynical media. Though he did not seek this attention, given what’s at stake, he speaks his mind.
In this ten and a half minute film, which is part of the PBS Online Film Festival, film-maker Carlos Estrada profiles Fr. Snipes, who reflects on the La Lomita Chapel.
This copyright film by Carlos Estrada is available for viewing on the PBS website, you may click on the link below to view “The Country Priest,” by Carlos Estrada.
CLICK HERE to view “The Country Priest” on the PBS Website
Materials for Upcoming Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region July 3rd, 2019
EDITOR’S NOTE: A special assembly has been announced in a bulletin issued by the Vatican: “In accordance with the proclamation by Pope Francis on October 15, 2017, the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, called to reflect on the theme: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology, will take place in October 2019. New paths for evangelization must be designed for and with the People of God who live in this region: inhabitants of communities and rural areas, of cities and large metropolises, people who live on river banks, migrants and displaced persons, and especially for and with indigenous peoples.”
In preparation for the synod, Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI, Director of OMIUSA JPIC, has assembled the following resources.
The following three resources (1 article and 2 videos) are excellent resources as we enter the final phase of preparation for the forthcoming synod; “Amazonia, New paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology”
- In the article Mauricio Lopez locates the Synod within the context of the encyclical Laudato Sí and identifies some of the opportunities that the synod offers to the universal church and to each of us: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2019-06/the-pan-amazon-synod-walking-together-in-an-ecclesial-kairos.html
- The ‘love-the Nature’ film is a very attractive and engaging meditation on the Story of the Cosmos and how we have come full circle in absorbing the lessons of the natural world and building on those insights through our research and imagination: https://uplift.tv/2019/love-thy-nature/
- The PBS video tells the story of the Amazon bio region and its inhabitants and why we must be very careful in the choices that we make about its future: https://www.pbs.org/video/the-amazon-xs6uil/
