“We can be lit candles…” – Integrating JPIC into everything we do

On February 21, the JPIC Commission of the USG-UISG called on religious men and women involved in JPIC or related ministries in Europe. 80 people participated in this first meeting.

After a moment of prayer, Fr. Mathew Vatamattan, CMF, co-chair of this Commission, welcomed us.

Fr. Roy Thomas, Sr. Maamalifar M. Poreky, and laywoman Catalina Hinojosa guided the meeting, which aimed to: get to know each other, present the mission and activities of JPIC at the local level (Rome), strengthen collaboration at the continental level, discern collective strategies, and organize initiatives that promote JPIC. The underlying question was: How can we, as Congregations, get involved in observing, analyzing, reflecting, and acting together? There was space to identify the issues in our European reality and its challenges.

We are aware that working in JPIC is part of our Christian being and our religious vocation, especially in these times when reality “screams out” for us to build a better world together. Only by walking with others can we do something.

Thanks to the JPIC Commission of the USG-UISG for this initiative… we are starting a journey together… one more step in the construction of a synodal church. Let us be “lit candles” in the midst of so much darkness.