In the framework of the Centenary of the Stigmata of St. Francis, on Tuesday the 17th September, at the retreat house of the Franciscan Seminary in the city of Boquete, David, Panama, the VI Continental Meeting of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation of the Americas began.
On the first day, the twenty-six participants from seventeen entities of North, Central and South America experienced moments of prayer and reflection led by Br. Juan Jairo Rendón, who motivated the brothers to continue to live and serve the stigmatized of the American continent through Justice, Peace and Care for our Common Home.
In his welcome address, Br. Edgardo Manuel Pérez Tejeira, OFM, Minister Provincial of the host Province “Our Lady of Guadalupe” of Central America and the Caribbean and on behalf of the Conference of Our Lady of Guadalupe, paraphrased the Apostle James by stating that “just as a faith without works would be a dead faith, so Franciscan spirituality without JPIC would be a dead spirituality.“
The VI JPIC Continental Meeting of the Americas seeks to open a space to share positive experiences in the five agreed thematic axes related to JPIC values, namely parishes and shrines, education, civil society and political advocacy, lifestyles and, finally, migrants and forced displacement.
The General Office of JPIC, in the person of Br. Daniel Rodríguez Blanco, presented the general guidelines that the Order implements in the different continents. For his part, Br. Jaime Campos offered a historical look at the last five continental meetings.
Br. Massimo Fusarelli, Minister General, in a message sent to the participants, thanked the friars for the animation service they offer and recalled that the work in JPIC is not only “a series of actions that we carry out, but a need that springs from the very heart of the evangelical charism of St. Francis and St. Clare.“
The Eucharist was shared with the community of the Franciscan parish of San Juan Bautista de Boquete and was presided over by Br. Edgardo Pérez.
Throughout the day, Juan López, pastoral agent of the diocese of Trujillo, Honduras, committed to Justice, Peace and Care for Creation, assassinated on Sunday the 15th September, was remembered.
