Dear Brothers and Sisters, Just before he finished his term a few months ago, our beloved former Master, fr Bruno Cadoré, sent you a letter on 25 June, announcing that the focus of our annual Dominican Month for Peace for 201’9 would be on India. We hope that his letter was widely distributed and that you are all ready to celebrate this unique moment of solidarity of the whole Dominican Family during Advent, praying that the Prince of Peace will bless all of our efforts. lt will begin on the First Sunday of Advent (1 December), run for the whole of December, and culminate on the Church’s World Day of Peace on l January
Rome, 11 October 2019To all the members of the Dominican Family
Dominican Month for Peoce 2079 Final letter
Prot. 50/19/1L7 Promoter of J&P
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Just before he finished his term a few months ago, our beloved former Master, fr Bruno Cadoré, sent you a letter on 25 June, announcing that the focus of our annual Dominican Month for Peace for 201’9 would be on India. We hope that his letter was widely distributed and that you are all ready to celebrate this unique moment of solidarity of the whole Dominican Family during Advent, praying that the Prince of Peace will bless all of our efforts. lt will begin on the First Sunday of Advent (1 December), run for the whole of December, and culminate on the Church’s World Day of Peace on l January.
ln case you did not receive fr Bruno’s last letter, we attach it again here in order not to repeat all that he has already written. ln summary, we can just say that, after showing our solidarity with the valiant efforts of Dominican men and women to build peace in Colombia in2017 and in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018, this year we turn to a new continent, Asia, with our focus on lndia’
As fr Bruno has said, «ln the wake of the Synod on Youth that took place in October, 201-8, we have decided to reinforce this priority of the Church by including a particular focus on peace as it applies to youth, with whom many of our Dominican brothers and sisters in lndia are working, W¡th this priority in mind, and while forms of violence are prevalent at so many levels of the huge and eomplex lndian society, ourfocus in the 2019 Dominican Month for Peace will be on countering violence, in the form of deprivation and abuse, against children, women and «tribals» (indigenous people), struggles in which many Dominicans are present.» Our concern for indigenous people willalso echo the preoccupations of Pope Francís in calling the Synod on Amazonia in October, 2019, which is coinciding with our own effort.
To concretise our attention on lndia, we will focus on two Dominican projects in particular that are directed at youth: t. The Project Bloom for street children run by Dominicans in Nagpur; and 2. The Dominican Family Safe Childhood Project to train trainers to address child sexual abuse.
We therefore invite you, during this month, to organise activities of prayer, preaching, awareness-raising, fundraising, producing drama, songs or art, media publicity or anything else that can creatively direct our energy towards our Dominican sisters and brothers in lndia and to these two projects in particular, to strengthen them in being signs of hope, especially to the young and the marginalised.
To assist you in the organisation of the Month, please find attached the following information and materials: 1.. A pamphlet describing the situation in lndia, where Dominicans are located and what they are doing to bring hope to the people. 2. Suggestions of ways to express solidarity. 3. Testimonies of young people who have been touched by the Dominicans. 4, Descriptions of the Common Dominican projects regarding children in lndia. 5. A description of a «Labyrinth» – a creative form of prayer. 6. Links about lndia and the Dominicans in lndia. 7. Art contributions made in the past three years.
lf you have other suggestions on ways to express solidarity with our brothers and sisters in lndia, please do share them with us.
How to send contributions?
FinanciaI Contributions: Account Name: lndian Centre for lntegrated Development Account Number: 13390100062926
Bank: The Federal Bank LTD Address: HN 576, Yashwant Apartment, Near Central Mall, East High Court Road, Nagpur – 440010, Maharashtra State; lndia
I FSC Code: FDR10001339:
Swift Code: FDRLINBBIBD
Contributions of Works of Art: Write to the General Curia: Promoter for Justice and Peace un@curia.op.org
Generol Information: fr Herald D’Souza, harryop@gmail.com; Tél: +91 90494 737 43
As a next step, we urge you
1. to appoint a coordinator for the Month for Peace for your entity/congregation,
2. to ¡nform our promoters of Justice and Peace, fr Mike Deeb un@curia.op.org and Sr Cecilia Espenilla ip.dsi@curia.op.org of the name of the coordinator appointed for your e ntity/congregation, and
3. to altocate time for possible events in your regular programme for that month.
Thank you very much for your cooperationl May our small actions of solidarity, like the mustard seed, contribute to enablíng peace to reign in lndia!
ln St Dominic,
rd Timoner/ Ma of the order
sr Cecilia Esgénilla / DSI lnternational Promoter for Justice, Peace and lntegrity of Creation
fr Mike Deeb General Promoter for Justice and Peace