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Preventing Corruption & Promoting Transparency in Cameroon, West Africa March 6th, 2020
Between February 27-29, 2020 OMIUSA JPIC partner organization, Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN) facilitated a workshop in Cameroon, West Africa on Preventing Corruption and Promoting Transparency.
The workshop was held at Monastère de Babete in Cameroon with participants from Diocesan social justice offices, religious communities, and local parishioners. (Photos courtesy of AFJN media)
2020 Joint Meeting of the General Mission Committee & General Service of JPIC February 28th, 2020
The Joint Meeting of the General Mission Committee & General Service of JPIC (February 24-28) Rome, Italy
On February 25, Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI, was the resource person of the day. He is the Chief of Faith Consistent Investing, OIP Investment Trust; and past Chair of the Board of Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR).
Among the pictures, you will find the translation booths where Bonga Thami, Diego Saez Jean Marie Sene help the participants with translations.
(L to R) Fr. Daniel Leblanc, OMI & Fr. Fernando Velazquez, OMI
Querida Amazonía: A Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation February 13th, 2020
Pope Francis has released the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia (Beloved Amazon), which is follow up to the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, ‘Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology,’ held in October 2019. Missionary Oblates participated in the synod in Rome.
In Querida Amazonia (Beloved Amazonia) Pope Francis emphasizes that “Our dream is that of an Amazon region that can integrate and promote all its inhabitants, enabling them to enjoy “good living”. But this calls for a prophetic plea and an arduous effort on behalf of the poor. For though it is true that the Amazon region is facing an ecological disaster, it also has to be made clear that “a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” We do not need an environmentalism “that is concerned for the biome but ignores the Amazonian peoples.”
Querida Amazonia (Beloved Amazonia): http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/post-synodal-apostolic-exhortation–querida-amazonia-.html
Superior General’s Letter for “Oblate Day,” February 17, 2020 February 12th, 2020
The Letter of the Superior General on the 194th Anniversary of the Papal Approbation of the Constitutions and Rules
Fr. Louis Lougen, OMI Superior General
Dear Brother Oblates and all who live inspired in the Oblate charism,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
Each time I hear these words proclaimed or ponder them in prayer, I believe that we are anointed anew for the mission of Jesus. The Trinity is working within and among us: the Father, in an outpouring of love, fills us with the Spirit and sends us to partake in the Mission of the Word made flesh.
Today, we celebrate the Church’s blessing upon the missionary vision of Eugene de Mazenod. Surprisingly, the Church’s approval was granted quickly. Eugene de Mazenod knew it was divine providence that guided him and that moved Pope Leo XII to grant pontifical approval of our Constitutions and Rules on February 17 1826. The Pope desired renewal of the Church, and hearing about the wonders of this band of missionaries in France, he sped up the process of approbation.
Click here to read the full letter.
Putting Treasure Where the Heart Is February 12th, 2020
Review by Kirsten Snow Spalding, rector of the Church of the Nativity in San Rafael, CA & senior director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk and Sustainability at Ceres, a non-profit advocacy organization
Fr. Séamus Finn , OMI authors chapter on human dignity, trafficking & investing in newly-released book,” Faithful Investing, The Power of Decisive Action and Incremental Change.”
Faithful Investing, edited by James Murphy, explores a range of perspectives on why and how congregations have used investment practices to address issues important to people of faith, including human rights and human trafficking, tobacco, gun control, climate change, gender diversity, pay equity, poverty, and immigration.
The collection includes essays written by investment professionals; faith leaders with long experience in corporate governance work and investment strategies; and advocates who work with a variety of institutional investors. Unlike many resources on this subject, Murphy’s collection offers alternative approaches, without taking a hard line about one “right way” to address these issues.
Each of the authors uses plain language to explain the rationale behind a particular investment approach — divesting or negative screening; engaging with companies through direct dialogues; collaborative engagements with other investors; filing proxy resolutions and voting on them; incorporating ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors into investment decision-making; taking a “best-in-class” fundamentals approach to building a portfolio or investing for impact in one or multiple asset classes. For someone new to the field, Faithful Investing suggests the critical questions that need to be asked before recommending a particular strategy. Read the full review here.
Book can be purchased online from Amazon.
This unique collaboration of voices from multiple Christian denominations include James W. Murphy, Byrd Bonner, Tim Brennan, Sister Patricia Daly, The Rev. Séamus P. Finn, Bobbi Hannigan, Lisa Hinds, Joseph M. Kinard, Kathryn McCloskey, The Rev. Aimee Moiso, Mark A. Regier, Greg Rousos, Carsten W. Sierck, The Rev. William Somplatsky-Jarman.
