JPIC COORDENATOR (Euro-Zone)

Fr. Norbert Mushoff SVD

Report 15

JPIC Report GER, April 2008

Since May 1st 2007 the former GEN and GES are united in one GER Province. A new JPIC Coordinator and hopefully a Commission have yet to be founded. The former one collapsed, when the former secretary, a returned MaZ-man took on a new job. We had enjoyed the good cooperation of a representative of the Mission Procure, the Steyler Bank, the theology students, and the two provinces´ coordinators. We had been net-working with our SSpS Sisters, VIVAT International, NAD, ai, Südwind, Erlaßjahr 2000 and Pax Christi. We intended to concentrate on some of the Millennium goals, especially Good drinking water for 50% more of the thirsty of the world, Food sovereignty, Achieving Gender Equality, Access to Primary Education for all children, debt relief for the HIPC countries, our Moos resolutions, and submitting our signatures to requests to our Chancellor, ministers, and European Commissioners against injustices of the WTO and EPA-s.
During the Klosterfest 2007 however it became obvious, we do no longer exist, though I continued to cooperate with NAD, Gerechtigkeit Jetzt and Weltweit Taube Ohren to prepare for the Anti-Summit of the G8 in Rostock/Heiligendamm. But we have the assurance of our Provincial Bernd Werle that he has somebody in mind to revive JPIC in the SVD German Province. He can count on my cooperation as much as my new Migrant Ministry involvement will allow me, while Paul Heider says, his book-shop keeps him too busy.

Norbert Mushoff


JPIC Report, Euro zone SVD and SSpS 2008

From our JPIC Conference 2005 in Moos on the theme The Unredeemed World as an Ethical Challenge with the main points:
We have to learn from history
The role of the Prophets
Roots of Globalisation
The main views of the Great World Religions concerning human life, peace, family, justice etc. in this multicultural world
Our challenges as Religious and Missionaries in this world of today, our net-working chances.
What kind of net-working of spiritual powers are possible, and what are the roots of our
spirituality?
7. What explosive situations of today should be our main concerns?

From all this we had chosen our theme for the Nitra conference: Christian – Muslim Dialogue on the background of our Migrant Ministry in Europe. The Province Reports showed us the extent and variety of Muslims in our various nations of Europe from only 5000 Muslims in Slovakia to 3 Million in Germany, from the little tensions it causes in e.g. Portugal to the great fears in e.g. The Netherlands and Germany. (See the Province Reports! For our next Zonal Assembly I will give a Report on the SVD Zonal activities. But here I leave it for the mean time to our able writer of our Minutes from the Nitra Conference, Sr. Petra Simone Hanel SSpS)
I wish to make a strong appeal once more, to send your Province JPIC Report to the Zonal Coordinator at least annually, not only bring them along, when we have a Euro zone JPIC Conference!!!!!!! That way we can learn from one another and inspire one another much more intensively. And the Zonal Coordinator needs to give a report in the Zonal Assemblies to all Provincials. Without your Zonal Reports, he has little to report on. Apart from NEB actually no SVD Province sent anything since our meeting in Moos. The NEB Reports are inspiring and deal with a great variety of JPIC themes. They connect us, especially the new coordinators with what transpires in our AEFJN Office in Brussels and in VIVAT International. So feel free to order our English short version of the NEB Commission Minutes from Toon van Bijnen, our lively senior of the JPIC work in the Euro zone!!
As we are only half way through the Millennium Goals Period 2000 - 2015, report please on how the priorities of your SVD Province are coming on and progressing. If you are a new Coordinator for JPIC, ask please your predecessor or Provincial, what themes had been chosen and what so far has been done in your Province. Otherwise please identify your Millennium goals afresh. For the sake of poverty reduction worldwide, let us not relent and not resign to live up to this “Kairos”.

Here a word on the World Social Forum of January 2007 at Nairobi: We are grateful Fr. General invited all Zonal Coordinators to attend. We had great days with our VIVAT International representatives, our new aspirants of five Mission Societies wishing to join VIVAT, and our SVD AFRAM ZONE Provincial JPIC Coordinators. We met with 80 000 idealists and “ambassadors” and multiplicators for the ideas of “Another World is possible” the motto of that big important meeting for Social Justice, which counter-acts the Davos-Meeting of the big Industrial and Financial Powers of this world, the G8 so to speak, the WTO and EPA promoters, who in their very selfish ways try to secure and perpetuate exploitation of the poor through rich of this globe.
I wish all Province JPIC coordinators would get such a chance, at least once in their time of office, if they have served their provinces for more then one term of office. It was so inspiring, also to our SVD host communities in Nairobi!
Highlights of the meeting for me: meeting with Desmond Tutu of SA! Listening to the good talks of the VIVAT WORKSHOP on HOW TO HOLD TRANSNATIONAL COMPANIES RESPONSIBLE FOR INVIRONMENTAL HAVOC CAUSED IN POOR COUNTRIES.

It wa a very good preparation for our Workshop in Rome with the five new members wishing to join our VIVAT INTERNATIONAL. Our Coordinator General Michael Heinz together with Sr. Mary John SSpS and our two VIVAT leaders Gretta Fernandes and Bernard Espiritu have done extremely well in organising the workshop and let us in presentations and group work find out, what we could do together, if we stay, pray and work united. I was tasked to bring these five Congregations also together on a national level in Germany. That proved not successful, b´se all we could do, is and was done also by NAD (Network Africa Germany). We can avoid doubling! But in Rome, these congregations should cooperate closely. There they are together already. There they can also see, how best to share costs and personell ¡!

Both events prepared me also excellently for The G8 Anti Summit in Rostock /Heiligendamm in June 2007. It had the same theme: Another World is Possible. If only the Big Shots had attended our Anti Summit! If only they would have listened to our speakers and the concerns from the grass roots!!
But of course they didn’t. We strongly stood in for the Millennium Goals also prepared by our 80 big pupits depicting scenarios of injustices, the have-s against the have – nots, the exploiters versus exploiters. But it achieved something: conscientisation of Heads of States and Ministers of “Third World Countries. We told them of the true and dictatorious intentions of the EU, to force them to sign up to the end of December 2007 through signing EPA- s, so-called Economic Partnership Agreements, which in fact would have been merely to the economic and financial advantage of the rich European Countries and to keep the poor as perpetual providers of completely underpaid raw materials. But they resisted EU Commissioner Peter Mandelson, when the Heads of State and Prime Ministers of Africa met the Heads of State in Lisbon in November 2007. Yes we can be proud, that net-working with many others, our Network Africa Germany (NAD) together with the other national antenna of AEFJN had prepared us to prepare them to frustrate their collective selfishness, they had planned to inflict on those we support through our work of advocacy.
Let’s continue that way for the benefit of all the poor of all the world! We frustrated somehow the WTO and the EU, but in the name of our God, who is on the side of the poor. Well done, my good servant and my maid, I hear him say one day.

Go into the joy of your Lord!

Norbert Mushoff, SVD