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Project Grace: A Concrete Response to the Pandemic February 17th, 2021
From a very small start, Oblates at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Manila, Philippines have grown a hands-on ministry that is making an impact on the rise of hunger among the poor during the pandemic. It’s called, “Project Grace” and this engaging 12-minute video which has been seen around the world documents this important work being done by the Oblates.
OMI Webinar No 3: “Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Guidance from Laudato Si” January 21st, 2021
Input talk by – Joe Gunn – Executive Director Centre Oblat – A Voice for Justice
With a video presentation about “Project GRACE” at the Oblate parish of Our Lady of Grace in the Philippines.
Registration link: bit.ly/3hn0aPm
Date and Time – January 23, 2021
10:30 AM – EASTERN STANDARD TIME (EST)
7:30 AM – PACIFIC STANDARD TIME (PST)
4:30 PM – CENTRAL EUROPEAN TIME (CEST)
9:00 PM – INDIA / SRI LANKA
11:30 PM – THE PHILIPPINES
Statement of the OMI Province of the Philippines on the Jolo Cathedral Bombing January 29th, 2019
THE PHILIPPINES
We have lost brothers, sisters, and friends, and we are in deep grief and sorrow. We are one with their families in this difficult time – for they were also a family to us. Our grief is even greater as the bombing happened at a time when the Holy Mass is being celebrated at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral. Indeed, they have died as martyrs witnessing to their Christian faith as they braved to stay in Jolo despite constant intimidation and risks.
Our sympathy also extends to the men in uniform whose lives were sacrificed in their duty to protect the community. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this treacherous, inhumane, and evil act of violence against the people of Jolo, especially to the Christian community. Such barbaric deed has no place in a civilized society where sacredness of life and human dignity is respected. We therefore implore all concerned authorities to do their utmost duty to bring immediate justice to victims, their families, and the entire community of Jolo who are deeply afflicted by this atrocity.
Over the past decades, our people – Christians, Muslims, and Lumads – have been striving to work together to bring forth harmony, peace, and progress to this land. It is our hope that this tragic incident may not be a source of division therefore, but rather a strong reason to build-up a community that is centered on the values of peace, dialogue, friendship, love, and solidarity that transcends religion, culture, or belief.
Fr. Charlie M. Inzon, OMI,
Provincial Superior,
OMI Province of the Philippines
Philippine Counterinsurgency on Mindanao Fuels Civilian Displacement March 26th, 2015
Villagers fleeing fighting crowd refugee centers.
(Photo Credit: www.icrc.org)
Humanitarian agencies are struggling to cope with a growing number of people displaced by fighting between government forces and a Muslim insurgent group on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, says more than 120,00 have sought shelter in public buildings or informal camps since fighting broke out in January between government forces and rebels from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a splinter group of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Provision of food, water and latrines is proving to be a major difficulty. Meanwhile, the fighting has disrupted the rice harvest, which will lead to further food shortages for affected families.
Read the full story on UCANews…
Thousands rally for peace in southern Philippine city of Cotabato February 12th, 2015
Activists in the Philippines have urged government to pass legislation, and formalize an end to decades of war.
UCA News, an independent news source on Asia, reported that around 20,000 people held a pro-peace rally in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato on Thursday. Participants were calling for for the immediate passage of legislation to formalize the peace process in Mindanao and end almost four decades of Moro rebellion. Passage of the legislation has been threatened by the death of at least 67 people, 44 of whom were police commandos, in a bungled raid against suspected terrorists in the town of Mamasapano on January 25.
In the cities of Marawi and Davao, also on the island of Mindanao, peace activists join condemning the calls for war, saying the passage of the BBL “is the only solution for lasting peace.”
“We sympathize with those who perished in Mamasapano, but we should not make it a reason to abandon the peace process, abandon the BBL, and make millions more including helpless children, orphans, women and elderly suffer from the horrors of another all-out war,” said Ustadz Mauladdin Sagapan, who led a group from the religious sector in Davao Oriental to the rally in Davao City.
