News from Visitation Province (Canada)
Action To Care For Our Common Home
Visitation Province participated in the March 11th Faiths4Climate action. Thousands of faith groups from around the world took real and virtual action and it was fantastic that we were part of it. It was very inspirational to scroll the sacred people sacred earth Facebook page and see what was happening. One of the great slogans there was “killing the planet is against my religion.”
JPIC Core Committee
Organ Scholarship In Sister Emily Doherty’s Name
The Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO) Kingston Centre, offers scholarships for talented pianists of all ages who would like to be introduced to and develop their playing skills on the pipe organ. Scholarships provide 10 hours of instruction with a qualified instructor. The Archdiocese of Kingston is sponsoring one scholarship in the name of Sister Emily Doherty and is inviting local parish musicians to take advantage of the opportunity to apply.
Maureen Lamarche, CND
Racism Educational Resources
Race as distinguished from racism was a word invented in the 16th century based on skin colour. BIPOC is currently used as an acronym standing for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour to reference groups encountering systemic racism. March 21 is designated by the UN as The International Day for the Elimination of Racism. I would highly recommend this 90-minute YouTube video posted by St. Basil's parish in Ottawa of a recent presentation there by Rev. Dr. Anthony Bailey of Parkdale United Church. It's entitled "Racism, White Privilege and Invention of Race." He shares his own experiences of racism and his choice of a non-violent educational approach using little known scriptural, historical and current Canadian references with suggestions on how each of us can learn and grow in improving things.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=IOCkglMlHhc&feature=youtu.be
Kathy Kelly, Ottawa Associate
World Day Of Prayer – First Friday in March
At Andrews of Charlottetown, we welcome the opportunity to pray with residents of different Christian denominations. The World Day of Prayer provides such an occasion. The service this year was prepared by the women of VANUATU (a chain of South Pacific Islands formerly known as the Hebrides). We ordered materials in advance and several residents led prayers and readings. Hymns familiar to all Christian denominations were sung. The service was held in our spacious dining room where we sat in our regular "cohorts" of four per table. (Although we were vaccinated, we still observe COVID rules.) We pray that this unity among us may spread throughout the world.
Réjeanne Bourque, CND
Film On Women Resisting Mining In Latin America
Join KAIROS’ MERE Hub on Tuesday, March 16th at 7:00 p.m. EST for the second installment of its virtual film club on the gendered impacts of resource extraction. MERE hub refers to the group, Mother Earth and Resource Extraction: Women Defending Land and Water. The main feature will be “No Tenemos Miedo” (“We Are Not Afraid”), which tells the story of how land defenders in El Salvador mobilized against mining. Simultaneous interpretation (English-Spanish) will be provided. Register here:
https://secure.kairoscanada.org/civicrm/event/register?id=214&reset=1
Monica Lambton, JPIC Coordinator
Stretching Into The Peripheries For Peace
The focus on working for Peace has faded quite a bit all over the world. We don't see the massive Peace Marches that were typical in the latter half of the last century. And at JPIC we don't often participate in direct action around the 'P' in our name – Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation. Nevertheless, it is always present in how we intentionally bring an approach of non-violence, love and harmony to everything we do. Earlier this year though, we did take an overt action, by publicly signing on to the Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED-NB). https://crednb.ca/.
The CND Sisters and Associates of Maria Province in Japan touch our hearts with how they live courageously through the fallout of the extremely serious nuclear energy accident that came as a result of the earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima Province. As we remember this tragic event from 10 years ago yesterday (March 11, 2011), we offer our solidarity action of working for green and safe alternatives to nuclear energy in Canada.
JPIC Core Committee
International Women's Day: Andrews of Charlottetown, PE
Thanks to Sr. Rosemary Shannon, we were able to access a site on the computer which carried a beautiful prayer with a theme adapted from Miriam Therese Winter's " VALIANT WOMEN" (Cathy O'Keefe, Mercy High School, Baltimore). Prayer: March 8 International Women's Day (sistersofmercy.org)
The prayer reminded us of the valiant women in Scripture and acknowledged all the valiant women, past and present, invisible and visible in our homes, our industries and our governments. We were invited to share, if we wished, someone we considered a "Valiant Woman" in our lives. The prayer ended with our singing the hymn, "Women of the Church."
Anne T. Gillis, CND
Book recommendation
Off Script: Living Out Loud by Marci Ien, a Canadian woman already well-known to many. Marci has had a lengthy career in broadcasting (CTV – Canada AM and The Social. She was the first Black woman in Canada to co-host a morning news show.) For readers who like stories about real people, this one is an easy read. It shows us a gifted woman – sensitive, compassionate, loving her work and always open to change and challenge. She writes about mistakes, hurts, huge efforts and resiliency. In late 2020 she took a leave of absence from Bell Media to be the Liberal candidate in the Toronto Centre riding. She was elected to Parliament in October, 2020.
Eleanor McCloskey, CND