The new Zimbabwe provincial, Fr Stephen Buckland, SJ, has issued an urgent appeal for aid to starving Zimbabweans. Buckland is trying to get two shipments of food, valued at just over $300,000 each, to the country before Christmas. So far, the British Province's Jesuit Missions has helped raise enough funds for the first shipment, and has made a significant contribution toward the second shipment.
"While the protracted political continue, most ordinary Zimbabweans are starving," explained Fr Tim Curtis, SJ, director of Jesuit Missions. "Their currency is worthless and their salary does not even pay their bus fare to get to work." Buckland's inaugural homily as provincial stressed the need for Jesuits to respond to this hunger, instability and unrest, violence, and poverty in Zimbabwe. [Independent Catholic News, 6 August 2008]
Friday, December 5, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Jesuit Contribution to Orissa Peace Building Process
India Update:
Since anti-Christian violence broke out in the Indian state of Orissa on 23 August, Jesuits have been involved in many kinds of activities to mend the broken communities. Soon after the first outbreak of the violence, Mike T. Raj SJ (the Provincial of Jamshedpur), Prakash Louis SJ and Xavier Jeyaraj SJ went for a week to the area to coordinate the initial response together with civil society groups, international NGOs, faith-based groups and the Jesuits of Orissa.
In the course of the weeks that followed, Jesuits and their colleagues in social centres all over the South Asian Assistancy mobilised people for rallies and other direct action to protest the violence in Orissa, while the website www.jesaonline.org and frequent emails were used to report news from the ground. In mid-October, the triennial Convention of Jesuits in Social Action took place (see Headlines 10-2008) and the participants adopted a number of recommendations, which were subsequently supported by the Jesuit Conference of South Asia.
Click here to read their statement: http://jesaonline.org/forum22.html S. Tony Raj SJ and his team of Jesuits in Orissa are coordinating the work in Bhubaneswar and in the relief camps in Kandhamal. A coordination centre run by S. Tony Raj has been set up, which will house the documentation, media and legal work of the archdiocese. Jesuit lawyers have volunteered to help the victims file the all-important First Information Reports (FIR). Apart from financial help, the Jesuits intend to take up 30 villages (750 families) in Kandhamal district where they are working already, and to continue their peace building and rehabilitation work in the region.
(Source: Xavier Jeyaraj SJ jesadelhi@gmail.com)
Since anti-Christian violence broke out in the Indian state of Orissa on 23 August, Jesuits have been involved in many kinds of activities to mend the broken communities. Soon after the first outbreak of the violence, Mike T. Raj SJ (the Provincial of Jamshedpur), Prakash Louis SJ and Xavier Jeyaraj SJ went for a week to the area to coordinate the initial response together with civil society groups, international NGOs, faith-based groups and the Jesuits of Orissa.
In the course of the weeks that followed, Jesuits and their colleagues in social centres all over the South Asian Assistancy mobilised people for rallies and other direct action to protest the violence in Orissa, while the website www.jesaonline.org and frequent emails were used to report news from the ground. In mid-October, the triennial Convention of Jesuits in Social Action took place (see Headlines 10-2008) and the participants adopted a number of recommendations, which were subsequently supported by the Jesuit Conference of South Asia.
Click here to read their statement: http://jesaonline.org/forum22.html S. Tony Raj SJ and his team of Jesuits in Orissa are coordinating the work in Bhubaneswar and in the relief camps in Kandhamal. A coordination centre run by S. Tony Raj has been set up, which will house the documentation, media and legal work of the archdiocese. Jesuit lawyers have volunteered to help the victims file the all-important First Information Reports (FIR). Apart from financial help, the Jesuits intend to take up 30 villages (750 families) in Kandhamal district where they are working already, and to continue their peace building and rehabilitation work in the region.
(Source: Xavier Jeyaraj SJ jesadelhi@gmail.com)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Colombian Jesuit work receives death threats
Colombia: Death threats against Jesuit project
On 10 April, the Development and Peace Programme of Magdalena Medio (Programa de Desarrollo y Paz en Magdalena Medio - PDPMM) was the second Colombian Jesuit programme to be targeted by a rearmed wing of the AUC paramilitary group, which calls itself the "Black Eagles - The Rearmament."
In this most recent communication the paramilitaries threatened priests, parishes, human rights groups and humanitarian workers with death, claiming the peace workers targeted were named by Colombian government sources as allies of the guerillas. The Black Eagles have been responsible for deaths and displacements throughout the Atlantic Coast and Southern regions of Colombia in the past year and appear to be growing in size and strength.
The message describes the parish priest of the Regidor municipality (in southern BolĂvar, Colombia) as "an obstacle to the municipal government," the parishioners of Tiquisio and Arenal as "war workers," and members of the Development and Peace Programme of Magdalena Medio as "perpetrators of criminal acts against democratic security". The Catholic Dioceses of Barrancabermeja and MaganguĂ© and the Jesuit-run Development and Peace Programme of Magdalena Medio responded on 15 April with a joint statement addressing the threats against priests, parishioners, and humanitarian workers. Condemning the ongoing violence, the statement denounces the killing of over 2,000 people in the region since 1986, including 28 workers of the PDPMM.
The public statement can be found here: http://www.sjweb.info/documents/sjs/docs/PDPMM_ENG.pdf (in English) and here: http://www.sjweb.info/documents/sjs/docs/PDPMM_ESP.pdf (in Spanish); and on the website of the PDPMM http://www.pdpmm.org.co (in English, Spanish and German).
On 10 April, the Development and Peace Programme of Magdalena Medio (Programa de Desarrollo y Paz en Magdalena Medio - PDPMM) was the second Colombian Jesuit programme to be targeted by a rearmed wing of the AUC paramilitary group, which calls itself the "Black Eagles - The Rearmament."
In this most recent communication the paramilitaries threatened priests, parishes, human rights groups and humanitarian workers with death, claiming the peace workers targeted were named by Colombian government sources as allies of the guerillas. The Black Eagles have been responsible for deaths and displacements throughout the Atlantic Coast and Southern regions of Colombia in the past year and appear to be growing in size and strength.
The message describes the parish priest of the Regidor municipality (in southern BolĂvar, Colombia) as "an obstacle to the municipal government," the parishioners of Tiquisio and Arenal as "war workers," and members of the Development and Peace Programme of Magdalena Medio as "perpetrators of criminal acts against democratic security". The Catholic Dioceses of Barrancabermeja and MaganguĂ© and the Jesuit-run Development and Peace Programme of Magdalena Medio responded on 15 April with a joint statement addressing the threats against priests, parishioners, and humanitarian workers. Condemning the ongoing violence, the statement denounces the killing of over 2,000 people in the region since 1986, including 28 workers of the PDPMM.
The public statement can be found here: http://www.sjweb.info/documents/sjs/docs/PDPMM_ENG.pdf (in English) and here: http://www.sjweb.info/documents/sjs/docs/PDPMM_ESP.pdf (in Spanish); and on the website of the PDPMM http://www.pdpmm.org.co (in English, Spanish and German).
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