Federation Justice and Peace
Ministers Report: Seized by Love
for Justice and Peace

Throughout this past year the justice and peace efforts of the US Federation have been plentiful, productive and transformative as we continue to “be and act more as one.” The major focus of our efforts included: Poverty, Peace/Non-violence, Immigration Reform, Human Trafficking, Death Penalty, MDGs and Earth/Ecological issues. Reports from the various congregations were replete with significant actions that highlighted the effectiveness of our work for justice. To name a few:

• The Generous Promises that the new congregation agreed to at our first Chapter, three of which focus on peace and justice issues
• The enthusiasm of our 28 students and several faculty who participated in the CSSJ High School Conference
• The planning, development and opening of the Center for Nonviolence in the name of Sister Karen Klimczak, SSJ
• A project to help raise funds for a school in Malawi where two of our sisters minister
• The affirmation of our commitment to justice issues at our Chapter
• Success in our state (NY) in efforts to pass human trafficking legislation
• Conversations with nineteen Minnesota legislators
• A trip to New Orleans to help those in the Katrina area who were not yet in their homes
• Being able to award eight grants for water projects in places where Sisters of Saint Joseph minister through Change for Global Change
• Personal contact and collaboration with undocumented people in Pittsburgh as we worked for immigration reform
• The stay of execution for death row inmate Cathy Henderson and the hope for a new trial
• Deepening our mission and charism with International Sisters in LePuy

Desirous of strengthening our work for justice even further, twenty four US Federation Justice and Peace Ministers joined three of our sisters from the International Justice Team (Brazil, Mexico, and Senegal) in Brentwood, NY from September 25-28, 2007 for our annual Federation Justice and Peace Ministers Meeting. Our goal was to deepen our relationships, offer solidarity in our justice work, stretch our thinking to be globally inclusive, broaden our vision to the global reality and integrate the experience of the first LePuy International Meeting with our work as US Federation Justice and Peace ministers.

We know that corporations and nation states recognize the need to be global; we recognize our need as US Justice Ministers to work with others around the world, to be in connection with our sisters from other countries and to bring our charism to that reality in order to effect change in policies and attitudes needed to bring unity and reconciliation to our world. Being with our international sisters was a rich gift that helped bring this reality to our work and prayer. We are growing in our awareness of being a global Joseph Family born of the presence of our international sisters.

We modeled this growing awareness in our prayer using Scripture texts that were proclaimed in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish, leading us into sharing of the heart. Sitting as ONE in a circle replicated the prayer experience in LePuy. Our introductions involved a process of passing a globe around the circle to introduce ourselves and name our geographical location followed by a litany of the fifty-five countries where Sisters of St. Joseph live, thus inviting them into presence and the work of our time together.Passing a piece of LePuy lace, we each shared "how I come here and what my hopes are for this meeting". This was a poignant and profound way to visualize our unity and to begin to build relationships.

A trip to the United Nations Church Center for presentations from representatives of various UN agencies and a visit to the United States Mission at the UN marked Friday’s events. Barbara Adams from the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) enlightened us on gender issues particularly the gap between gender equality and money. She introduced us to “gender responsive budgeting” and encouraged us to track the link between budget and equality. Jim Sniffens, representing the UN Environment Programme, challenged us to find ways to bring the environment into the forefront of government policy development. Azza Karam from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) joined us for lunch and with the contagious exuberance of a mid-wife shared the birth history of “culture” coming into it’s own at the UN. Now culture matters and how important this was to Azza! She persuaded us to from partnerships to address human rights of every man, woman and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. Following these extraordinary presentations we strolled to the UN Mission amidst the police and barricades that cordoned off the area around the UN during the General Assembly. At the UN Mission we met with Jason Lawrence, Financing for Development, for a session on the United States response to the MDGs. We were dismayed to hear statements such as the “MDGs are patronizing to developing countries” and that “US is not prepared to use US taxpayers money to support them.” But strains of “do not fear to hope” resounded in our hearts as we savored the input we heard from our morning speakers and deepened relationships even further over a wonderful dinner in NYC!

A full day of input, sharing and group work was scheduled for Saturday as we focused on “Advancing Justice as a Global Joseph Family”. In Session I: The Global Joseph Family, Carol Zinn painted a portrait of the nine Joseph organizations, described the NGO purpose and structure, and provided a reflection of mysticism and prophecy. In Session II, The LePuy Experience, we toured LePuy via a powerpoint presentation prepared by Diana Oleskevich followed by a profound sharing by our international sisters on the lived experience of our mission and charism in Senegal, Brazil and Mexico. The sincerity and depth of these sharings touched us deeply. From Marie Ines who spoke in Portuguese we heard that in Brazil “we have passion…we give ourselves over to the project of God.” In French, Marie Pierre shared “that in her local community in Senegal there are sisters from several other countries. When people see us living together without shouting, they are inspired by the peace in our community. We are simple, too and people notice the way we are with other persons.” She went on to say, “that when the sisters first went to Senegal they built school and dispensaries and the people came to them. But now, we go to where they are - in their homes - where we teach them about AIDS/HIV and wash and care for them.” Griselda, who chose not to use a translator, told us that “in Mexico we are very conscious that we have to live with love and be close to the poor people. We don’t have money but we have the heart. Each sister has hope for this moment.” What most impressed us about our international sisters was that when asked what they needed from the US Federation, not once did they mention money! Although they acknowledged that they didn’t have enough money to do their work (ministry) what they most needed from us was, in Griselda’s words, "for the US sisters to feel our poverty and pain." They deeply wanted to be in relationship with us. The sisters also noted how organized we are for justice work and are hopeful that they can learn some organizational strategies from us and implement them in their countries.

Moved by these heartfelt reflections on mission and charism, in Session III: Being and Acting More as One, we broke into small groups to do strategic planning around the Millennium Development Goal priorities that were identified in LePuy: Poverty (MDG #1), Empowerment of Women (MDG #3), Environmental Sustainability (MDG #7), and Forming Global Partnerships (MDG #8). As a result of this planning we agreed to "act as one" in implementing the following actions as a US Federation this year:

• Poverty: We will designate May 1, 2008 as a Federation “Poverty Awareness Day”. A prayer service will be provided to all of our congregations with suggested action.
• Empowerment of Women: We will advocate for local laws for trafficking of women.
• Environmental Sustainability: We will integrate Earth into all aspects of our life.
• Global Partnerships: We will research various organizations that address poverty. Additionally, we committed ourselves with joy and passion:
• To continue building relationships with the global justice family by inviting some international sisters to join us at the Federation Justice Ministers Meeting in October, 2008.
• To "act as one" in financing their travel and hosting them during their visit to the U.S.
• To send Mary Ellen Gondeck, CSJ and Diana Oleskevich, CSJA to LePuy in April, 2008. Diana clearly stated that she would be unable to return to LePuy but we recognize that continuity of presence and participation is integral to this international justice venture, especially in the early stages of its formation.
• To "act as one" in financing the travel expenses for the 2008 trip to LePuy. In 2007 Carondelet, St. Louis and Nazareth (now Congregation of St. Joseph) supplemented the funding that was received from the Federation congregations to finance this trip.

We affirmed the work of the planning team: Jeanette Bussen, Mary Ellen Gondeck, Mary Beth Hamm, and Diana Oleskevich and, for the sake of continuity, asked them to serve in this capacity for our meeting in Brentwood from October 2 – 5, 2008. We scheduled our 2009 meeting for October 1 – 4 in LaGrange.

With heartfelt gratitude we expressed thanks to Carol Zinn for her passion, energy, and commitment to justice and for all she is and does for us as NGO at the United Nations.

Words seem inadequate to capture the depth of this Federation Gathering and the impact the international sisters had on us but we believe a sampling of the words spoken at our oral evaluation of the Brentwood meeting could, in some small way, convey the profound experience this was for all of us. We invite you to savor these words as you read...

• "Having our international sisters here changed the conversation."
• "We have opened our arms to a new challenge with a fire inside from what we have experienced."
• "I prayed for a human face on issues and now I have it."
• "I feel energized and encouraged to do more because I realize I’m not alone."
• "My sisters have shown me that I need to change my lifestyle so that the lives of their people can improve."
• "I am tremendously energized with the solidarity of being one and working together."
• "Last year we talked of the family of Joseph and this year we ARE that family".

Love poured forth from the fires of LePuy in the seventeenth century and love burst forth in each of us as we returned to our neighborhoods in the universe -- seized by love for justice and peace as a global Joseph Family!

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