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JUSTICE AND PEACE INTEGRITY OF CREATION LAY NETWORK

(JPIC Lay Network)

 

 

 

 

This network is a newly formed group of lay people who are either paid or officially volunteering for a Religious Order, diocese or Catholic agency and focusing on justice and peace work. There were about ten people at the inaugural meeting. They represented Religious Orders such as the Congregation of Notre Dame, Sisters of Providence, the Diocese of Ottawa, the Jesuit Forum and Jesuits International and the Canadian Augustinian Centre for Social Justice (Order of St. Augustine).

 

THE ISSUES

 

Membership/Purpose

 

The main purpose of the network is to come to know of others working in the field of justice and peace as lay people. In addition, there will be a level of support and information exchanged between groups and individuals, and responses to various issues in justice and peace as they arise.

The membership is open to any lay person working for a religious order, diocese or Catholic agency in the province of Ontario.

The meetings will be held about twice a year. There have been two meetings to date and they have taken place in Kingston at the Sisters of Providence Mother House.

 

Climate Change Statement

 At this inaugural meeting the issue of climate change and the Church’s response to it was discussed. There was a public evening event sponsored by the Canadian Council of Churches in October 2011.  The participants discussed the moral responsibility to address global warming. They produced a report. In addition, they issued a document entitled a Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change. Many Church and faith groups signed this document. The Catholic Bishops were part of this process and helped in the editing of it. When it came time for endorsers to sign on, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) did not. The Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) (http://www.crc-canada.org/en) has signed on and so have many individual religious orders – Sisters of Providence, Congregation of Notre dame etc.

The decision at the meeting was that the lay group sends a note to the CCCB and asks what their intended response might be to this document.

 For further information click here: Climate Change