Speak the Story – New Beginnings - Vol.5,Issue 1, January/February 2016

Mandate of IPA:

We commit ourselves to:

2. Create space for contemplation; create new ways of expressing evolving consciousness of our interconnectedness with all creation, especially with those kept poor.

Events and Actions of our JPIC committee:

This issue deals firstly with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). You will find several references to videos and the links to access them as well as references to the encyclical of Pope Francis – Laudato Si’ - Care for Our Common Home.

·  Sustainable Development Goals:

In 2015, more than 190 world leaders committed to 17 SDGs to help us end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and fix climate change. We need to realize that each of us has an important role to play if we hope to achieve these goals of an equitable and sustainable world.

On New Year's Day a new song and music video, "We Love the SDGs" was released. It features people (and animals) from around the world, moving to the music. The lyrics translate the SDGs into a danceable pop song. A "rap" in the middle of the song covers the whole list of goals. The song and video have already been informally adopted by some governments and UN training initiatives around the SDGs. And everyone is welcome to use them. Please view the video here. And here is a free download of the song, in .mp3 format. Merely download it.

Finally, you can get the lyrics -- and even a "study guide" showing how the words to the song reflect the SDGs -- here. This song and video were the product of many people's creativity, and they are now offered by 17Goals (a volunteer-driven, multi-stakeholder partnership on the SDGs) to everyone. Enjoy!

Another excellent resource - Getting Started with the Sustainable Development Goals.

  • We receive monthly reflectionson one of the 17 goals from the Congregational Justice Co-ordinating Team – an international group formed last year by the CLT to help us integrate and understand the goals. So far we have received reflections on Goals 1, 13 and 11.
  • We can google SDG goals and access many good resources – including short You Tubes that make them more accessible and memorable
  • Pope Francis’, Laudato Si’ is closely aligned with each of the SDG goals, and one of the best videos on the encyclical as it explores the 6 chapters from a Canadian perspective is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bti86O_Tw5A&feature=youtu.be

·  David Suzuki Foundation []

If you do not already subscribe, you may want to check out the David Suzuki Foundation. It has regular brief articles on Climate Change and Sustainable Development.

Other News and Views

·  Dare to Dine

On February 6th all tickets were sold for the Dare to Dine fundraiser – a joint project of the staffs of the Motherhouse and The Lantern and of the JPIC Committee. The proceeds will go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation to support the Grannies of Sub-Saharan Africa who are raising their grandchildren orphaned by the death of their parents from HIV/AIDS.

·  Syrian Refugees

Ken Walsh, coordinator of Association for New Canadians, is working alongside other groups including several parishes of different denominations. So far, 165 refugees have arrived and all have permanent housing. More to come on this!!!

·  Human Trafficking

Emma Rooney represents us on the NL Coalition against Human Trafficking - an organization that partners with Religious Communities, The Association for New Canadians, the Salvation Army, the Police, Civic, Provincial, and Federal leader, health care professionals and other interested parties. The goal is to raise awareness and educate the wider community about the prevalence of this evil while educating first responders and attempting to rescue those trapped in it.

·  Housing Committee:

Clo, Emma, and Angela are part of a Faith and Housing Committee that explores the challenges of affordable housing in our city. On December 8 and on January 27 they and some members of the Leadership Team attended sessions at City Hall on Housing for Seniors. The City, in collaboration with others, aims to create 500 homes by 2017. Bruce Pearce, of the St. John’s Community Advisory Committee on Homelessness says that “Homelessness has been a creation of many societal hands, and it takes all those many hands to craft a solution to the problem.”The committee works as well with Renew IT – an offspring of Habitat for Humanity – which helps with renewing existing homes for seniors.

·  Communication

The JPIC Committee has decided to send one mail-out to all Sisters and Associates instead of each committee member forwarding information. The Sisters and Associates on the committee will still communicate with the groups as they did but we are hoping this will make the reception of material more consistent.

·  REMINDER: February 20: World Day of Social Justice –

According to the United Nations, social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. Social justice is advanced when barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, or disability are removed. For the United Nations, the pursuit of social justice for all is at the core of their global mission to promote development and human dignity. Additional information is available at: tinyurl.com/9dn8dsn.

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