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The JPIC Office wishes you a blessed Christmas December 23rd, 2008

We wish you Christmas blessings and a Happy Holiday Season!

2009 promises to be a year of significant change in Washington, DC, and we hope that it will create many opportunities to bring renewal to U.S. foreign and domestic policy.

We are filled with hope for 2009, and we are grateful that you join us in our ministry.

Peace and Joy,

Rev. Séamus Finn, OMI

Rev. Daniel LeBlanc, OMI

Christina Herman

George Ngolwe

Mary O’Herron

Washington, DC

Oblate JPIC Endorses Interfaith Statement on Immigration December 19th, 2008

The Missionary Oblates JPIC office has endorsed the newly released Interfaith Platform on Human Immigration Reform 2009. We join the leaders of different faith groups and denominations across the country who are gravely concerned with the current state of immigration politics and policies. Enforcement raids, detentions, state and local anti-immigrant ordinances, and harmful rhetoric against immigrants continue separate families and create enormous fear in immigrant communities. Organizations and individual faith leaders can sign on to the platform by sending an email with your name and city, state to jsmyers@churchworldservice.org

Click here to read more »

Caritas in Sri Lanka Called to a Future of Peace and Reconciliation December 17th, 2008

Fr. Oswald B. Firth, former director of Caritas/SEDEC in Sri Lanka, addressing the organization on the 40th anniversary of its foundation, called for it to support peace between the Tamil Tigers and the army: “people are exhausted with the war.” Noting that the forty years it has spent helping the population has brought the Catholic organization respect and recognition, Fr. Firth said that, “maybe this is the time when SEDEC could lead such a campaign calling for a just political solution to the crisis. Vision, wisdom and courage will be forthcoming once the initiative is launched. We need to trust in the goodness of people, that they all want peace for their families and for the country.”

Read the article in Asia News, where you can find other articles on the situation in Sri Lanka.

Saving Homes Through Mass Appeal December 11th, 2008

At Mary Immaculate Parish in Pacoima, Calif., dozens of parishioners are at risk of losing their homes. Father John Lasseigne, OMI has been helping by organizing them to negotiate with their banks.

Fr. Lasseigne was interviewed on NPR on December 9. Listen to the broadcast.

In addition, you can read the LA Times story that generated the national attention: “Valley Residents make Fighting Foreclosures a Community Affair”

Khasis Demand a Ban on Logging in Northeast Bangladesh November 17th, 2008

A public gathering demanding a “Ban on Cutting Trees in Khasia Punji & Hilly Forest” was organized by APRA, BAPA on November 15 in the school grounds of Aliachhara Punji, Bahubal, Habiganj. Around four thousand environmentalists, indigenous people, and media persons from different parts of Sylhet Division participated in the event.

Click here to read more »

Oblates join Civil Society Groups calling for Democratic Reform of the International Financial System November 3rd, 2008

Members of the G-20 will be meeting in Washington DC on November 15 to discuss the global financial crisis - in what some are calling Bretton Woods II - after the site of the conference that led to the founding of the World Bank and IMF just after WWII. This time, groups around the world are demanding a more democratic, equitable and just process.

The Oblate JPIC Office has joined over 1,700 people and organizations in a statement on the proposed “Global Summit” to reform the international financial system. The statement demands a truly global response to the global crisis and lays out a set of principles for doing so.

Download full text of the statement (PDF)

Statement available in Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese

More information on the Bretton Woods II Conference…

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