Posted on

2020 AEFJN Contact Persons Seminar

2020 AEFJN Contact Persons Seminar

On 5 March 2020, 19 religious women and men participated in the 2020 Arica Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN) Contact Persons Seminar held at the Generalate of the Missionaries of Africa. The main topic of the seminar was, “How the contact persons could support the Antennas around the world?”

Fr. Chika Onyejiuwa, CSSp, the Executive Secretary, introduced the advocacy work of AEFJN, then added the current situation of Antennas. Br. Christian Roberti, CSSp, from the Belgium Antenna, Fr. Wolfgang Schonecke, MAFR from the German Antenna, Sr. Begoña Iñarra, MSOLA from the Madrid Antenna, Fr. Armel Fopa from Cameroon Antenna shared about their activities. After the talks from four Antennas, Sr. Pilar Trillo, LSA, the Contact Person of the Little Sisters of the Assumption, shared how her Congregation commits to AEFJN actions. 

After hearing from six speakers, the participants broke up into two groups for group discussion with the guide question “How can your Congregation contribute to the work of Antennas? What is your role as a Contact Person in this action?” The groups reported in the plenum about their discussion.

After the reporting, it was informed that the AEFJN Executive Committee would study the different comments and take concrete action with the Contact Persons to support the Antennas in Europe and Africa.

The seminar was an excellent opportunity for the Contact Persons, Executive Committee, Secretariat, and Antennas to get to know each other, and learn the work of Antenna. It was also an opportune time to discuss different ways of collaboration. The Executive Committee is grateful to those who participated and contributed for the Seminar.

Fr. Daisuke Narui, SVD, for the AEFJN Executive Committee

Posted on

JPIC Way of the Cross – Lent 2020

JPIC Way of the Cross - Lent 2020

This way of the Cross was prepared by Sr Anne McCabe, SM, Sr Juliana Karomba, MSOLA, and Fr Andreas Gépfert, MAFR, for the JPIC commission of USG and UISG in Rome. We want to give special thanks to the Procure of the Mill Hill Missionaries in Rome for granting us permission to use these paintings of the Stations of the Cross for publication. But most of all we like to express our gratitude to the artist, Ms Chessy Roffe-Silvester. Her inspirational translation of the Way of the Cross into the settings of our modern world are not only a welcome invitation for prayer and meditation, but also give a new perspective to this old devotional prayer of the Church, on how to follow Jesus in his passion and death. We are also grateful for all encounter, prayer, reading and exchange which inspired us for the preparation of the stations.

To view in full screen, please click on the little square on the toolbar at the bottom of the presentation, and click on the ESCAPE key on your keyboard (top left) to return to normal status.

Use the right and left arrows on your keyboard to move the slides forward and backward, or click on the presentation with the left mouse button.

By default, without any action on your part, the slides will automatically advance every minute. However, you can change the time interval or delete it by clicking on the gear wheel on the toolbar.

You can download here this presentation in several formats. You might have to do some adjustments because of the variety of fonts.

You can make a notebook in A5 format by downloading this document and printing it on both sides.

Posted on

Feast day of Saint Bakhita (various languages)

Feast day of Saint Bakhita

The 8th of February 2020 we celebrate the feast day of Saint Bakhita, which is also the sixth World Day of Prayer and Reflection against Human Trafficking. In many parts of the world, trafficking is a scourge that strikes everyone without distinction, but it strikes above all the poorest and those who in various ways can be defined as “the least”, the “discarded” of our society. Those who live on the margins and the weakest, such as women and children, are the targeted victims of injustice and abuse. May Saint Bakhita intercede for us and for the many Josephine Bakhitas of our time!

Download here the prayer in different languages spoken in Africa:

Prayer in English 

Prayer in Yoruba (Nigeria)

Prayer in Swahili (Tz, DRC, …)

Prayer in IBO (Nigeria)

Prayer in Senoufou (RCI)

Prayer in kirundi (Burundi)

Prayer in Kabiye (Togo)

Prayer in Haussa (Niger)

Prayer in French

Prayer in Arabic

Posted on

Season of Creation 2019

Season of Creation 2019

Every Christian community around the world is invited to celebrate “The Season of Creation” in its own way. It is a privileged moment to pray, reflect and take concrete measures to preserve creation and to integrate our concerns for the “Common House” into our daily attitudes and behaviours.

    • September 1st, World Day of Prayer for Creation, opens the season every year.
    • October 4 is the feast day of St. Francis and the last day of the season of creation.

This year the theme of the Season of Creation, chosen by its international steering committee, is “The Web of Life: Biodiversity as God’s Blessing”, ​ a theme that resonates with the important and popular message of Pope Francis that ​everything is connected​.

There are educational materials available. Attached to this mail, you will find already some proposals for prayer. In the coming weeks, you will receive further information on possible activities. If you already want to know more, please consult the following page: https://seasonofcreation.org/guide/

Fraternally wishes

Andreas Göpfert, Coordination JPIC-ED

Manuel for the Season of Creation 2019

Ecumenical Prayer Service for the Season of Creation

Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Email
Posted on

World day of migrants and refugees

Pope Francis: ‘It’s not just about migrants, but about all of us’

By Devin Watkins

Pope Francis released his message on Monday for the 105th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which will be commemorated on September 29th.

As the Vatican’s Migrants and Refugees Section announced in March, the theme is “It is not just about migrants”.

In his message, Pope Francis spells out what that means, reflecting on how we can all build the “city of God” if we welcome, protect, promote, and integrate those seeking a better life.

“It is not just about them,” he says, “but about all of us, and about the present and future of the human family.”

“When we show concern for them, we also show concern for ourselves, for everyone; in taking care of them, we all grow; in listening to them, we also give voice to a part of ourselves that we may keep hidden because it is not well regarded nowadays.” The Pope adds several examples of what he means.

A mural at a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos

Our fears

“It is also about our fears.”

He says sometimes fears are legitimate but that they become an obstacle “when they condition our way of thinking and acting to the point of making us intolerant, closed and perhaps even – without realizing it – racist.” Fear keeps us from encountering the Lord in another person, he says.

Charity and humanity

Pope Francis says the issue of migrants and refugees also has to do with charity and humanity. “Through works of charity, we demonstrate our faith. And the highest form of charity is that shown to those unable to reciprocate and perhaps even to thank us in return.”

Compassion for our shared humanity, he says, leads us to recognize suffering in another person and to take action to heal and save them. “To be compassionate means to make room for that tenderness which today’s society so often asks us to repress.”

Excluding no one

The Holy Father says it is also about seeing that no one is marginalized, observing that today’s world “is increasingly becoming more elitist and cruel towards the excluded.”

“Wars only affect some regions of the world, yet weapons of war are produced and sold in other regions which are then unwilling to take in the refugees produced by these conflicts.”

The price is always paid by the poor and the most vulnerable, he says.

Last put first, the whole person

Pope Francis says it is about putting the last in first place, calling this a Christian’s true motto.

“In the logic of the Gospel, the last come first, and we must put ourselves at their service.”

It is about the whole person and about all people, he adds.

“In every political activity, in every programme, in every pastoral action we must always put the person at the centre, in his or her many aspects, including the spiritual dimension.”

Building the city of God and man

Finally, the Pope says it is also about building the city of God and man, which he notes is not the same as a technological and consumerist paradise.

The phenomenon of migration, he says, debunks “the myth of a progress that benefits a few while built on the exploitation of many.”

Migrants and refugees are our brothers and sisters, he points out, and are “an occasion that Providence gives us to help build a more just society, a more perfect democracy, a more united country, a more fraternal world and a more open and evangelical Christian community.”

Posted on

Lent 2019 – Way of the Cross

The Lenten Way of the Cross was prepared by the JPIC-ED Coordination of the Missionaries of Africa (Rome, 2019).

The texts for reflection are drawn from the apostolic exhortation “Gaudete et Exsultate”. The images of the Way of the Cross, a work by the artist Amblé Sonaglia, come from the Church of St Polycarp in Rome. The stations are made with nails… which connect us, unite us, even more so with Jesus crucified.

To pray the Way of the Cross personally, or to evaluate its content, please click on the square halfway down the bottom bar of the “Google Slides” presentation below, to view the presentation in full screen. By default, slides switch from one to the other every minute, but you can force a slide through or back by manipulating the arrows to the left of the bottom bar. And to exit the full screen presentation, press ESC.

 

 

Below, you can download three PDF documents:

Simply print the first document on both sides on “A4 landscape” paper to form a 16-page A5 notebook (4 A4 sheets).

You can also download another PDF document with photos of the 15 stations of the Way of the Cross, ready to be projected.

The third document is the stations, page by page, like those in the “Google Slides” presentation above.