Latest OMI JPIC News
OMI JPIC Hosts Bi-annual Meeting of Advisory Committee May 1st, 2017
Last week JPIC hosted the US JPIC Advisory Committee at a twice-yearly meeting to review and share progress on JPIC’s work. The Committee offered feedback on recent JPIC initiatives and discussed future opportunities.
The meeting’s highlights included viewing and discussing the film, Doctrine of Discovery, presented by Gary Elie and Carleton of the Presbyterian Eco Ministry movement in St. Louis, MO. They shared their insights on dismantling the ‘doctrine of discovery’, which Christian explorers used to lay claim to indigenous lands and called on the faith community to pursue environmental justice and protect the rights of indigenous peoples.
Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, shares latest happenings at La Vista Ecological learning Center in Godfrey, IL.
A second guest presenter was Fr. George Kirwin, OMI, archival researcher and former president of Oblate College, who gave a fascinating talk on the history of the Oblate property in Washington, DC from 1916 to present.
(From L to R) Bayor Chantal, JPIC Volunteer, Fr. Daniel LeBlanc, OMI and Fr. Quilin Bouzi, OMI
The group also toured 3-Part Harmony Farm, the District’s first commercial farm operation located on the grounds of the Oblate residence and listened to a owner/manager Gail Taylor’s update on the farm’s growth.
On Saturday, April 29, some committee members and staff attended the People’s Climate March in Washington, DC, a national event coinciding with President Trump’s 100th day in office.
(From L to R) Fr. Antonio Ponce, OMI, Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI, Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Christine Ilewski-Huelsmann (Gary’s wife) and Gary Huelsmann (Committee Chairman)
- Mr. Gary Huelsmann, Chair, is Chief Executive Officer at Caritas Family Solutions, Belleville, IL
- James Brobst, OMI, Consultant and Liturgical Organist and Midwest Area Councilor for the US Province
- Séamus Finn, OMI, is Chief of Faith Consistent Investing – OIP Investment Trust & Consultant
- Fr. Quilin Bouzi, OMI, is Parochial Vicar of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Buffalo, NY
- Dr. Victor Carmona, is Assistant Professor of Moral Theology at the Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, TX
- Antonio Ponce, OMI, is Director of JPIC
- Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, is Director of the Oblate Ecology Initiative
- Ms. Patti Radle, is Co-Director of Inner City Development, San Antonio, TX
- George Ngolwe, is Associate Director of JPIC
Seven Christian Leaders Arrested Protesting Trump’s Budget Proposal April 26th, 2017
Seven leaders from various faith traditions including Catholic, United Methodist, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, and the National Baptist Convention were arrested on Monday after protesting on Capitol Hill in opposition to President Donald Trump’s “immoral” budget proposal. The detainees were part of a larger march of people attending the annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice, an ecumenical event to mobilize for advocacy on a wide variety of U.S. domestic and international policy issues.
Faith-based Organizations Urge Congress: Border Wall Proposal Inconsistent with Interfaith Values April 25th, 2017
About eighty national and state groups from various faith traditions issued a letter asking Congress to stand against any funding for a border wall or other forms of border militarization. “We stand against a wall because our faith communities have ministries and relationships deeply rooted in border communities and through these relationships, we’ve found that walls do not deter migration, they are an ineffective and immoral use of public funds, they hurt communities, businesses, and landowners in the border region, they increase risk of flooding and cause other environmental harms, and they infringe on the rights of indigenous communities.” The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate JPIC joined other faith-based organizations in endorsing and signing the letter.
Investor Statement on the 4th Anniversary of the Rana Plaza Tragedy April 24th, 2017
Four years have passed since the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh resulting in over 1,100 garment workers killed and 2,600 injured. This massive tragedy drew attention to the systemic human rights abuses in the garment sector, as well as the failure of the Bangladesh government and corporate compliance programs to create safe and healthy workplaces that respect and protect the lives of workers and mitigate the risk to companies.
View the full statement with signatories here.
Hurley Shrine Opened, New Prayer Issued April 19th, 2017
Originally Published on OMIWORLD.ORG
(The Southern Cross, South Africa) On the weekend of March 19, crowds gathered at Durban’s Emmanuel Cathedral to pray at the newly opened shrine to Archbishop Denis HURLEY, who was ordained bishop of Durban 70 years ago this week.
Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Archbishop Hurley’s successor as archbishop of Durban, has given permission for a shrine and has encouraged acts of public devotion. The cardinal recently said that such devotions are the evidence that the archdiocese needs to open a cause for the canonization of Archbishop Hurley.
Following the Catholic custom, after he died on February 13, 2004, the archbishop was buried in his own cathedral, in a grave just in front of the Lady Chapel, which he loved. The shrine marks this out as a special place of prayer with a prie-dieu (or kneeler), a candle that will remain lit perpetually, and a special prayer invoking Archbishop Hurley’s example.
The date for the launch of the shrine was chosen because it was 70 years ago, on March 19, 1947 that the 31-year old Fr. Denis Hurley was consecrated bishop—at the time the youngest bishop in the whole Catholic world.
When the vicariate of Durban was elevated to the status of archdiocese in 1951, he also became the world’s youngest archbishop.
Archbishop Hurley retired in 1992 and then served as the parish priest of Emmanuel cathedral parish.
Masses were celebrated over the weekend by Mgr. Paul Nadal, who served as Archbishop Hurley’s last vicar-general, and by a number of Hurley’s fellow Oblates, including Bishop Barry WOOD, Natal provincial Fr Vusi MAZIBUKO, and Fr Chris RICHMOND, superior of Sabon House, the archbishop’s last community.
“Durban City Council has recognized Hurley’s importance with a street and now a museum dedicated to him; the Church is now formally encouraging us to pray for his intercession by the creation of this shrine. It is clear that he is an inspiration to Catholics and to all citizens,” said Hurley biographer Paddy Kearney.
Raymond Perrier, director of the Denis Hurley Centre, noted that “Pope Francis keeps reminding us that we are the ‘Church of the Poor’. Hurley’s example drives the work for the poor that continues in his name. With our prayers, and the work of the Spirit, perhaps in time he will be St. Denis of Durban, patron of the poor.”
Visit the Denis Hurley Centre’s website to read more about the work of the organization and for a gallery of historical photos.
Download the specially commissioned prayer to honor Archbishop Hurley and to ask for his intercession.
The prayer:
Loving Father, we thank you for the life, vocation and ministry of your servant Denis Hurley, our bishop, brother and friend in Christ. We pray that his work for justice and peace; his loving care for the poor and marginalized; and his vision for a reformed and renewed Church, may continue to inspire us with increased vigor. Grant that the gift of the Spirit may enable us to act in harmony to establish your kingdom in our lives, our work and our world as we strive to follow Denis Hurley’s motto: “Where the Spirit is, there is freedom!” Listen kindly to the intercession of your servant Denis on our behalf, and grant us the favor of his patronage in your kingdom. We pray that in Christ your Son, all may be sanctified, all may be one. Amen.
