Our Superior General writes to all Visitors announcing a new Vincentian social justice network.

Rome, April 19, 2017

To all the visitors of the Congregation of the Mission

Dear Brother,

May the grace of our lord Jesus Christ be with us all.

In our last Tempo Forte we welcomed Father Guillermo Campuzano from our office at the United Nations.  He presented his proposal for a Vincentian unified network that would channel the collective efforts of the members of the Congregation of the Mission especially in the field of political and social advocacy. After listening to the council, I have approved the creation of the VIN-JPIC: Vincentian International Network for Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation. This initiative is inspired by best practices of congregations that have a presence at the UN.

I have asked Father Guillermo to move ahead with the implementation of the VIN-JPIC. As you may remember this was one of the issues we discussed during our 2016 General Assembly and included in our final document as a call to action (Cfr. Lines of Action and Commitments, in the 3rd part). I hope that this initiative will continue to advance our work with the poor and our agenda of positive systemic change.

This will be further aided by uniting our efforts in trying to influence social policy and the promotion of structural change at all levels. As you will read in the document attached, the main structure of the new network implies that you select a confrère to represent your province in VIN-JPIC.  As soon as Fr. Guillermo has these names he will send the appropriate list to each Conference of Visitors and ask them to name a regional coordinator from among those on the list. These five coordinators will work directly with Father Guillermo in the implementation of the network. All the details of the work (collecting and sharing information, online distribution of pertinent materials, advocacy training, etc) will be directly explained to the confreres you select as the representatives of your provinces. This confrere does not need to be freed from other ministries to render this service, hopefully he is someone who is curious and interested in social and political issues.

Please send the name directly to Father Guillermo Campuzano (gcampuzanovelez@gmail.com) no later than July 1st 2017.

“There is no act of charity that is not accompanied by justice or that permits us to do more than we reasonably can.” (St Vincent’s letter to François du Coudray, In Toul, 17 June 1640)

VIN-JPIC doc ENG