JPIC in Fraternity - some tips

The Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Committee of St. Francis of Assisi Fraternity, Cornwall, PEI, Michael Cassidy, Doug Hagen, Louise Larkin and Marion Marshall would like to share with all of us their recent one and a half page document of tips for organising JPIC in Fraternity so that JPIC can be integrated in to our daily routines.

Here are their tips in a nutshell:

1. Form a committee of 2-4 people and appoint a chairperson
2. Meet once a month for a maximum time of one hour.
3. At each fraternity meeting, schedule 5-8 minutes for an instructional JPIC Moment.  
   
4. For 3-4 months at a time, focus on one of the three JPIC themes.
5. Contribute a JPIC article to every issue of your fraternity newsletter.
6. At least once a year, at a regular fraternity meeting, engage the fraternity in a 45-minute formation session on some JPIC issue.
7. Encourage the fraternity members to read the newspapers with a critical JPIC eye.
8. New to JPIC - a good place to start is with ‘Integrity of Creation.’  
9. Start small to be successful. 
10. Communicate with other JPIC groups.

From left to right: Michael Cassidy, Marion Marshall, Louise Larkin, Doug Hagen

Photo: Courtesy of Michael Cassidy, OFS

The document also lists some issues / concerns under each component of JPIC with suggested practical activities that many fraternities might already have undertaken e.g. buying locally-produced foods; recycling and re-using materials; using Fair Trade coffee at home and at meetings; volunteering at the local soup kitchen and avoiding the use of plastic and Styrofoam at large gatherings.

Thank you for sharing your tips. The original document is now available for download on our Formation page.

Please keep your ideas coming so that we can continue to help each other in our JPIC focus.