There are 69 armed groups which are still active in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in a strongly degraded humanitarian context with 1.6 million people displaced. According to a statement sent to Agenzia Fides by the Peace Network for Congo, which cites a recent report carried out by the Study Group on Congo (GEC). The presence of so many armed groups derives from the fragmentation of larger formations. In 2008 in fact the armed groups present in the two Kivus were only twenty. Most of these militias are small groups which comprise “no more than 200 members, usually recruited on an ethnic basis”.

The strongest active armed groups in the region are mostly foreigners: the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the Allied Ugandan Democratic Forces (ADF) and Burundian National Liberation Forces (FNL). The FDLR include between 1,000 and 2,500 members. According to GEC, we are talking about an important rebellion, but “has been unable to undertake significant raids in Rwanda since 2001”.
Another group, much smaller and with less than 300 to 500 men, appears much more dangerous: we are talking about the Ugandan ADF, a rebel group and initially opposed to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. If these rebels, present in the DRC for over 20 years, “have largely abandoned their ambition to overthrow the Ugandan government”, however, they are responsible for many massacres in the Beni region (North Kivu): At least 600 dead in October 2014.
 Asked about the thesis of some local NGOs under which the ADF was strengthened with foreign recruits and have taken in recent months, a “jihadist” turning point, General Jean Baillaud, interim commander of MONUSCO (the UN Mission in the DRC ), said: “It is a hypothesis to be taken very seriously. It must be verified. Their number has increased. They have heavy weapons, mortars, machine guns, a lot of ammunition. It was not like this a few months ago. And this raises the question of who will supply them (Al Shabaab of Somalia? Forme r members of the former M23 fled from Kivu to Uganda after their defeat? Commanders of the Congolese army? …). To complicate things, fighter men wear uniforms of the FARDC, the regular Congolese army, and women fighters wear the Islamic veil”. 

Committed to our vowed life for mission, we will explore changes of structure and language in our ‘membership-leadership relationship’ that will enable a more integrated and prophetic contribution to mission. (General Chapter 2014)
This statement from the General Chapter is more than a simple recommendation and was seen as such by the Leadership Team in Britain and Ireland. Over the past year, a series of workshops has been held in the Unit to explore, in depth, the meaning and implications of co-responsibility, collaboration, and accountability among members and leaders. Understanding is growing that, through interrelatedness in this way, our efforts for the common mission can be truly at the service of communion.
Then came the second step  
Meeting of the Extended Leadership Team:
The title is expressive of a new language. The meeting took place in Crewe (England) from 20 – 22 November. At it were the Unit Leadership Team and the other Teams of Participation. The aim of this meeting, planned at the Unit Chapter a year ago, was “to review the work of the teams since then and, if necessary, to revise our mandates and reformulate strategies in order to achieve our aims”.
We have already read Gemma’s letter to the Unit in which she gives an account of this meeting. For those readers who have not had the opportunity to read it, we repeat her account here. The meeting began with a time of prayer and the telling of a story by means of a PowerPoint presentation. The story, entitled “Our iceberg is melting”, is about a colony of giant penguins living in the Antarctic. One particular penguin called Fred is a contemplative bird, devoted to the study of his environment and always on the lookout for danger. Gradually he notices that their home, where they have lived happily for many years is in grave danger of melting. He brings his fears to the leaders of the colony. They listen to his concerns and call a meeting to inform every one of the danger. Scouts are sent out to search for a safer home and eventually the whole culture of the colony changes. Instead of being settled and always returning to the same place to breed, they become nomadic, moving frequently from one iceberg to another as soon as they realise they are in danger.
The story is about change. As we know, change is happening all around us at an unprecedented speed. Unless we are open to change there is a danger of us being happily settled in our closed little world and thus becoming totally irrelevant. We need to be willing to move out of our comfort zones and reach out to those who call to us for help.
The story, based on a book by John Kotter, a change management consultant from Harvard University, outlines eight steps to needed change:
1. Develop a sense of URGENCY. Suffering can’t wait until we feel we are ready. Now is the time to act; tomorrow may be too late.
2. Assemble TEAMS who will work together to achieve our goals.
3. What motivates us is our VISION. In our case it is the vision of Jesus – the Kindom of God;
God’s dream of gathering all into the one Family of brothers and sisters.
4. We must relentlessly COMMUNICATE the vision so that all our members are totally committed and
working together.
5. We need to EMPOWER one another to work for change by delegating and removing obstacles.
6. We need to celebrate SHORT TERM VICTORIES but not be tempted to sink back into complacency.
7. We need to keep up the momentum. DON’T STOP.
8. Do everything we can to integrate the changes into our CULTURE.
Although this model is mainly for businesses, we felt it had something to say to us. Fred the brave penguin taught us a few valuable lessons:
 
? spend time in contemplation so as to be aware of the needs around us and offer an effective response; speak out our truth and gather support from all our members;
? never go it alone.
We need each other as, guided by our vision and by God Alone, we move out of our comfort zones to build that new society spoken of by our Founder. We also talked about how this model could be seen in the life of Jesus and how he set about realising his mission to establish the reign of God on earth.
The second day of the meeting was taken up with reports from all the teams; work in small mixed groups and then in our teams to revisit our mandates and revise them where necessary. The meeting ended with a prayer of recommitment.
We are now more acutely aware that we are all responsible for leadership within the unit and therefore we regard the teams as an extension of the unit leadership team.
A Participant’s comment on the weekend:
Worthwhile, plenty of energy around, enthusiasm, good atmosphere, willingness to listen, good to feel trusted and responsible for leadership (extended leadership team member); important to hear what other team members are doing; hopeful; strengthened and encouraged by the whole team effort.

Major step towards religious unity – EDITORIAL
2015-11-24 Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) Editorial
     
In a major step towards inter–religious dialogue and unity, the Catholic Church yesterday held an unprecedented memorial service of thanksgiving for the Most Ven. Sobitha Hamuduruwo who passed away on November 8th after giving prophetic, selfless and sacrificial leadership to the movement which led to the people’s silent revolution of January 8.

One of the priority goals in the Ven. Sobitha Hamuduruwo’s vision and mission for a new Sri Lanka was multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural unity in diversity. He spoke out sincerely and strongly for people of all races and religions to respect, promote and even celebrate diversity. The Ven. Sobitha Hamuduruwo who believed that a spiritual leader needs to get actively involved in politics or desha palanaya, though not party politics, paved the way for the election of President Maithripala Sirisena and the new National Government we have today. It was the revered prelate who built the high road for the new National Government for its journey towards good governance and democracy, social justice, sustainable, people-friendly and eco-friendly development, public accountability, transparency, sincerity and integrity.
One of the main speakers at yesterday’s service of thanksgiving was the chief prelate of Kotte’s Rajamaha Vihara, the Ven. Aluthnuwara Anuruddha Nayaka Thera. He paid a glowing tribute to the life and work of the Ven. Sobitha Hamuduruwo, describing him as a spiritual torch bearer of good governance and social justice, not only for Sri Lanka but for the whole world. The Kotte Rajamaha Vihara prelate underlined the need for inter-religious dialogue and co-operation. He said that when there were major events at St. Thomas’ Church, the Kotte Viharas willingly and lovingly provided parking space for vehicles, while when there were major events in the viharas the Kotte Church did the same. He told the monks, priests, nuns and the people at the thanksgiving service that the Ven. Sobitha Hamuduruwo’s passing away was not the end of a journey. The spirit of Ven. Sobitha Hamuduruwo would come alive in the leaders and people to renew their commitment to good governance, democracy and public accountability without corruption, cover-up of corruption or nepotism

Hamuduruwo’s passing away was not the end of a journey. The spirit of Ven. Sobitha Hamuduruwo would come alive in the leaders and people to renew their commitment to good governance, democracy and public accountability without corruption, cover-up of corruption or nepotism.

 
The main speaker at the ceremony was Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando, also a social justice prophet and a close associate of the Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Hamuduruwo and the National Movement for a Just Society (NMJS). Fr. Reid outlined the four stage evolution of the Ven. Sobitha Hamuduruwo’s vision and mission. He first worked to deepen the role of the Buddha Sasana. He then got involved in social justice activities including the temperance movement, the tsunami relief operations and the provision of assistance to war victims, mainly those in border villages. The third stage was the formation of the National Movement for a Just Society which gave moral leadership to the people-power movement that brought about the non-violent revolution of January 8. The fourth stage was Sobitha Hamuduruwo’s vision for the future – a just society where the common good of the country will come before the desire for personal gain or glory. The prophetic priest said it was the duty and responsibility of people of goodwill whatever their religion, race or social status – to recommit themselves to ensure that the leaders of the new National Government work towards Sobitha Hamuduruwo’s three main goals – the abolition of the executive Presidential system, a pro-active role by the nine Independent Commissions and a new electoral process without the preference voting system.

The main appeal was for the new National Government to continue to work in a spirit of consensus till the just society – the vision of Sobitha Hamuduruwo – is achieved. In this context a key issue would be the local council elections next year. An appeal was made to the Government to work out a process whereby people committed to the values of unity, goodwill, good governance and integrity would be given nomination instead of party political-based nominations whereby rogues and racketeers would again come in to plunder our resources instead of sincerely and sacrificially serving the country and the people. Then we would have politicians who would ask not what they could get from the country, but what they could give to the country.
 
See more at:
http://www.dailymirror.lk/96577/major-step-towards-religious-unity-editorial#sthash.0xFQcUpf.dpuf
 

This was the theme of the Regional Assembly of the Conference of Religious of Brazil which took place in São Paulo on 8 August, 2015.
Carmem Lucia, a laywoman, addressed the topic. She spoke knowledgeably and, as a layperson speaking to religious, gave us an outsider’s view of consecrated religious life. Carmem is a teacher of sociology.  She began by saying that a vocation is a choice, a decision, and that there is no prophetism without mysticism and no mysticism without prophetism. 
Taking Pope Francis’s encyclical “On Care for our Common Home” (Laudato si), she emphasised that mission is everyone’s task and not just the concern of a few people or a group.  All religious women must form a group with a plan of action for the Pastoral Care of Vocations.  They must re-think community life as shared formation. Young people are looking for something that will give meaning to their lives.    
Carmem showed us a video to let us see the socio-political and economic situation before continuing her talk and helping the assembly to understand and be aware of the differences between the social classes where wealth is in the hands of a few while the great majority have nothing.  It is in the latter class that we find young people.  
We need to identify “the margins” where the VRC is called to be at the service of transformation. Very often, the pastoral care of vocations is more concerned with getting vocations for an Institute than with the transformation of society. Transformation requires us to go forth, to go out to the margins where young people are. This presupposes that we lose our fear of young people and leave the UTI (The Intensive Therapy Unit).
How do we get close to young people?  By using our preconceptions and acquired structured mind-sets? Or by looking at things from the point of view of young people and their needs?  Is our work for vocations focused on transforming society or on looking for vocations in order to maintain our institutions? Are we looking at young people from the stance of the communications media or from the stance of the Gospel?       
Some ideas never change. Where have we heard similar opinions? 
“Present-day adolescents love luxury.  They are bad-mannered, have no respect for authority and spend their time on the streets. They often offend their parents and monopolise the conversation when they are with older people. They gobble up their food and tyrannise their teachers.  (Socrates, 500 B. C.)
“I see no hope for our people if we are depending on today’s frivolous young people and all young people today are definitely frivolous…When I was a child, we were taught to be quiet and to respect our elders.  But today’s young people know everything and will not tolerate any constraints.”  (Hesiod, 800 B. C.)
Getting more vocations is a slow process, taking three to five years.  It requires continuity and the accompaniment of young people.  We need to know the world we are living in and how we wish to be of service to that world.  We must review our structures.  That’s what Jesus did.
We live in an “adultcentric” world. Sometimes we are afraid of young people’s questions because when young people ask questions they want to know what is best for themselves.  If we wish to transform and form thinking young people, we must change our mind-set, move out of our frameworks, see things from their point of view, overcome fear and preconceived ideas and have a plan of action.    
 
Elements necessary for a plan of action.
Listening to young people in order to make the necessary changes
Forming groups of young people
Knowing who young people are today
Taking young people seriously
Letting them see what we have to offer
Being clear about our objectives.
Sr. Vanda
Latin American Network
 
 

This has been a year of instability in the small kingdom of Lesotho. The situation has not been pleasant after the general elections held on the 28th February 2015 which resulted in seven political parties forming a coalition government.  After the formation of the current government all seemed to be back on track for a few weeks only, thereafter people started receiving threats and the opposition leaders fled the country for the own safety.
The parliament was forced to close down in early July due to the absence of the opposition .the members of the army were held captive and accused of having plotted a mutiny to overthrow the government. The peak of all these happenings was when the former Lieutenant General of the army was gunned down in his home village by the members of the army. The late Lt. Gen. Maaparankoe Mahao’s brutal murder brought the SADC heads of states to form an investigating commission whose prime aim was to investigate on the murder. All these events have left many Basotho fearing for their safety especially the spouses of the detained army members.
On the 24th October 2015, a Peace Walk was organised by the APS, Action for Peace and Solidarity, this movement was formed to carry on the legacy of the late Lt. Gen. Sr.Maria Fatima KHOTLE, our own sister and the only religious attended this peace walk, and even had a chance to plant one of the forty seven trees indicating his age that we were planted in Mokema, the place where the brutal shooting took place.
We as the church in Lesotho are still concerned about the safety of the detained soldiers as a release warrant was issued but they are still in custody.
Sr. Maria Fatima when describing the events of the day said, “It was a peaceful walk indeed, nothing politically inclined but rather a prayerful and touching event”. she further explained  that the peace movement  had formed a memorial foundation in the honour of the late Lt. Gen, whose aim is to educate all orphans and needy children.
Yesterday, the 31st October, saw the opening of the parliament, with only the members of the ruling parties because the opposition leaders have sought refuge in the neighbouring country of Republic Of South Africa. Our country is still not stable and we continue praying for peace.

“Exterior things exercise
A great influence on our exterior senses”
A garden,
a meeting place of the creature and his/her God,
A space where nature and the hand of human beings intermingle
to create beauty, harmony and freshness.
 
 
 
An Atmosphere that opens
                        to the space of silence,
                        to the murmur of the wind
           to the glamour of music
                        to prayer.
 
Celebration of the rhythm of the days and the seasons,
of the shades and the light,
in harmony with their roots,
                       with the earth, the air, and the light.
 
Create this space,
                       this garden in your work,
                        in your city,
                        in your heart,
 
Your look will abide attentively,
Your breath will breath in the open space
Your heart will beat to the rhythm of the, infinite…..
And you will perceive God walking,
Even if He remains hidden.
(Dossier No. 4)
 
 

CONVINCED THAT COMMUNION IS POSSIBLE
A series of meetings of different groups in the Spiritual Family of Pierre Bienvenu Noailles took place at the Holy Family General House, Rome from 18 – 26 September’.
The Council of the Family, 18 -21 September
The Leadership of the Association of the Holy Family of Bordeaux resides in the Council of the Family. It guarantees the unity and spirit of the Family and is the only body which can speak and decide for the Family as a whole.
It is composed of the three General Councils of Consecrated Life (Apostolic, Contemplative and Consecrated Seculars), the Intercontinental Committee of Lay Associates, and a representation from Priest Associates.
The Council meets to consider issues related to the Family, to maintain and strengthen our charism and to promote communion among the various vocations so that we may continue offering this gift to the world in new ways. It reports on the status of each vocation and attempts to assess its life and influence. It promotes meetings at different levels, encouraging joint initiatives for the common mission.
At the meeting this year the main objectives were to:
Review the impact of the 4th Congress of the Family held in 2012, and see how the orientation emanating from it might be reinforced and made even more concrete.
Advance in the understanding of our identity as Family
Reflect on how to celebrate the Bicentenary of the Association of the Holy Family in 2020
Look at how the Cause for Beatification of the Founder is progressing.
 
The Three Councils of Consecrated Life, 23 – 24 September
In the Holy Family we are blessed in having the three forms of consecrated life in the Church – Apostolic, Contemplative and Secular. There are elements common to all states of consecrated life, such as the Vows. There are specific ways of living these elements in the different forms of consecrated life.
For Holy Family consecrated women there is also the call to live this life as members of one Spiritual Family, in communion with one another and with the other vocations.
The Council of the Secular Institute, 25 -26 September
The Holy Family Secular Institute has members in 16 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.
At their meeting, the members of the General Council reviewed the situation of the Institute in each country.
They also began preparations for their General Assembly due to take place in June 2016.

“It is important that today, as in the past, the voice of faith continue to be heard, for it is a voice of fraternity and love, which tries to bring out the best in each person and in each society.”
Here is th text of Pope Francis’ address to a Joint Session of the United States Congress at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Vice-President,
Mr. Speaker,
Honorable Members of Congress,
Dear Friends,
I am most grateful for your invitation to address this Joint Session of Congress in “the land of the free and the home of the brave”. I would like to think that the reason for this is that I too am a son of this great continent, from which we have all received so much and toward which we share a common responsibility.
Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility. Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation. You are the face of its people, their representatives. You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics. A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people. To this you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you.
Yours is a work which makes me reflect in two ways on the figure of Moses. On the one hand, the patriarch and lawgiver of the people of Israel symbolizes the need of peoples to keep alive their sense of unity by means of just legislation. On the other, the figure of Moses leads us directly to God and thus to the transcendent dignity of the human being. (APPLAUSE)
Moses provides us with a good synthesis of your work: you are asked to protect, by means of the law, the image and likeness fashioned by God on every human face.
Today I would like not only to address you, but through you the entire people of the United States. Here, together with their representatives, I would like to take this opportunity to dialogue with the many thousands of men and women who strive each day to do an honest day’s work, to bring home their daily bread, to save money and –one step at a time – to build a better life for their families. These are men and women who are not concerned simply with paying their taxes, but in their own quiet way sustain the life of society. (APPLAUSE)
They generate solidarity by their actions, and they create organizations which offer a helping hand to those most in need.
I would also like to enter into dialogue with the many elderly persons who are a storehouse of wisdom forged by experience, and who seek in many ways, especially through volunteer work, to share their stories and their insights. I know that many of them are retired, but still active; they keep working to build up this land. I also want to dialogue with all those young people who are working to realize their great and noble aspirations, who are not led astray by facile proposals, and who face difficult situations, often as a result of immaturity on the part of many adults. I wish to dialogue with all of you, and I would like to do so through the historical memory of your people.
My visit takes place at a time when men and women of goodwill are marking the anniversaries of several great Americans. The complexities of history and the reality of human weakness notwithstanding, these men and women, for all their many differences and limitations, were able by hard work and self-sacrifice – some at the cost of their lives – to build a better future. They shaped fundamental values which will endure forever in the spirit of the American people. A people with this spirit can live through many crises, tensions and conflicts, while always finding the resources to move forward, and to do so with dignity. These men and women offer us a way of seeing and interpreting reality. In honoring their memory, we are inspired, even amid conflicts, and in the here and now of each day, to draw upon our deepest cultural reserves.
I would like to mention four of these Americans: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. (APPLAUSE)
This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the guardian of liberty, who labored tirelessly that “this nation, under God, [might] have a new birth of freedom”. Building a future of freedom requires love of the common good and cooperation in a spirit of subsidiarity and solidarity.
All of us are quite aware of, and deeply worried by, the disturbing social and political situation of the world today. Our world is increasingly a place of violent conflict, hatred and brutal atrocities, committed even in the name of God and of religion. We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. This means that we must be especially attentive to every type of fundamentalism, whether religious or of any other kind. A delicate balance is required to combat violence perpetrated in the name of a religion, an ideology or an economic system, while also safeguarding religious freedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms. (APPLAUSE)
But there is another temptation which we must especially guard against: the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners. The contemporary world, with its open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every form of polarization which would divide it into these two camps. We know that in the attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within. To imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. That is something which you, as a people, reject. (APPLAUSE)
Our response must instead be one of hope and healing, of peace and justice. We are asked to summon the courage and the intelligence to resolve today’s many geopolitical and economic crises. Even in the developed world, the effects of unjust structures and actions are all too apparent. Our efforts must aim at restoring hope, righting wrongs, maintaining commitments, and thus promoting the well-being of individuals and of peoples. We must move forward together, as one, in a renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good. (APPLAUSE)
The challenges facing us today call for a renewal of that spirit of cooperation, which has accomplished so much good throughout the history of the United States. The complexity, the gravity and the urgency of these challenges demand that we pool our resources and talents, and resolve to support one another, with respect for our differences and our convictions of conscience.
In this land, the various religious denominations have greatly contributed to building and strengthening society. It is important that today, as in the past, the voice of faith continue to be heard, for it is a voice of fraternity and love, which tries to bring out the best in each person and in each society. Such cooperation is a powerful resource in the battle to eliminate new global forms of slavery, born of grave injustices which can be overcome only through new policies and new forms of social consensus.
Politics is, instead, an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life. I do not underestimate the difficulty that this involves, but I encourage you in this effort. (APPLAUSE)
Here too I think of the march which Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery fifty years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his “dream” of full civil and political rights for African Americans.(APPLAUSE)
That dream continues to inspire us all. I am happy that America continues to be, for many, a land of “dreams”.  (APPLAUSE)
Dreams which lead to action, to participation, to commitment. Dreams which awaken what is deepest and truest in the life of a people.
In recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dream of building a future in freedom. We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners. (APPLAUSE)
I say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from immigrants. (APPLAUSE)
Tragically, the rights of those who were here long before us were not always respected. For those peoples and their nations, from the heart of American democracy, I wish to reaffirm my highest esteem and appreciation. Those first contacts were often turbulent and violent, but we know it is very difficult to judge the past by the criteria of the present.
(APPLAUSE)
Nonetheless, when the stranger in our midst appeals to us, we must not repeat the sins and the errors of the past.
(APPLAUSE)
We must resolve now to live as nobly and as justly as possible, as we educate new generations not to turn their back on our “neighbors” and everything around us. Building a nation calls us to recognize that we must constantly relate to others, rejecting a mindset of hostility in order to adopt one of reciprocal subsidiarity, in a constant effort to do our best. I am confident that we can do this.
Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions. On this continent, too, thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities. Is this not what we want for our own children? (APPLAUSE)
We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal. We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you (APPLAUSE) would have them do unto you” (Mt 7:12).
This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us. (APPLAUSE)
The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. (APPLAUSE)
This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. (APPLAUSE)
I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Recently my brother bishops here in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the death penalty. Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation. (APPLAUSE)
In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints.
How much progress has been made in this area in so many parts of the world! How much has been done in these first years of the third millennium to raise people out of extreme poverty! I know that you share my conviction that much more still needs to be done, and that in times of crisis and economic hardship a spirit of global solidarity must not be lost. At the same time I would encourage you to keep in mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. They too need to be given hope. The fight against poverty and hunger must be fought constantly and on many fronts, especially in its causes. I know that many Americans today, as in the past, are working to deal with this problem.
It goes without saying that part of this great effort is the creation and distribution of wealth. The right use of natural resources, the proper application of technology and the harnessing of the spirit of enterprise are essential elements of an economy which seeks to be modern, inclusive and sustainable. “Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good” (Laudato Si’, 129). (APPLAUSE)
This common good also includes the earth, a central theme of the encyclical which I recently wrote in order to “enter into dialogue with all people about our common home” (ibid., 3). “We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all” (ibid., 14).
In Laudato Si’, I call for a courageous and responsible effort to “redirect our steps” (ibid., 61), and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity. I am convinced that we can make a difference, I am sure. (APPLAUSE)
And I have no doubt that the United States – and this Congress – have an important role to play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a “culture of care” (ibid., 231) and “an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature” (ibid., 139). (APPLAUSE)
“We have the freedom needed to limit and direct technology” (ibid., 112); “to devise intelligent ways of… developing and limiting our power” (ibid., 78); and to put technology “at the service of another type of progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more integral” (ibid., 112). In this regard, I am confident that America’s outstanding academic and research institutions can make a vital contribution in the years ahead.
(APPLAUSE)
A century ago, at the beginning of the Great War, which Pope Benedict XV termed a “pointless slaughter”, another notable American was born: the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton. He remains a source of spiritual inspiration and a guide for many people. In his autobiography he wrote: “I came into the world. Free by nature, in the image of God, I was nevertheless the prisoner of my own violence and my own selfishness, in the image of the world into which I was born. That world was the picture of Hell, full of men like myself, loving God, and yet hating him; born to love him, living instead in fear of hopeless self-contradictory hungers”. Merton was above all a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the Church. He was also a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions.
From this perspective of dialogue, I would like to recognize the efforts made in recent months to help overcome historic differences linked to painful episodes of the past. It is my duty to build bridges and to help all men and women, in any way possible, to do the same. When countries which have been at odds resume the path of dialogue – a dialogue which may have been interrupted for the most legitimate of reasons – new opportunities open up for all. This has required, and requires, courage and daring, which is not the same as irresponsibility. A good political leader is one who, with the interests of all in mind, seizes the moment in a spirit of openness and pragmatism. A good political leader always opts to initiate processes rather than possessing spaces (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 222-223). (APPLAUSE)
Being at the service of dialogue and peace also means being truly determined to minimize and, in the long term, to end the many armed conflicts throughout our world. (APPLAUSE)
Here we have to ask ourselves: Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade. (APPLAUSE)
Three sons and a daughter of this land, four individuals and four dreams: Lincoln, liberty; Martin Luther King, liberty in plurality and non-exclusion; Dorothy Day, social justice and the rights of persons; and Thomas Merton, the capacity for dialogue and openness to God.
Four representatives of the American people.
I will end my visit to your country in Philadelphia, where I will take part in the World Meeting of Families. It is my wish that throughout my visit the family should be a recurrent theme. How essential the family has been to the building of this country! (APPLAUSE)
And how worthy it remains of our support and encouragement! Yet I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without. Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family. I can only reiterate the importance and, above all, the richness and the beauty of family life. (APPLAUSE)
In particular, I would like to call attention to those family members who are the most vulnerable, the young. For many of them, a future filled with countless possibilities beckons, yet so many others seem disoriented and aimless, trapped in a hopeless maze of violence, abuse and despair. Their problems are our problems. (APPLAUSE)
We cannot avoid them. We need to face them together, to talk about them and to seek effective solutions rather than getting bogged down in discussions. At the risk of oversimplifying, we might say that we live in a culture which pressures young people not to start a family, because they lack possibilities for the future. Yet this same culture presents others with so many options that they too are dissuaded from starting a family.
A nation can be considered great when it defends liberty as Lincoln did, when it fosters a culture which enables people to “dream” of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work, the fruit of a faith which becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative style of Thomas Merton.
In these remarks I have sought to present some of the richness of your cultural heritage, of the spirit of the American people. It is my desire that this spirit continue to develop and grow, so that as many young people as possible can inherit and dwell in a land which has inspired so many people to dream.
God bless America! (APPLAUSE)
Washington, D.C., September 24, 2015 (ZENIT.org) 

Holy Father’s address during his Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, September 9.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! Today I would like to focus our attention on the bond between the family and the Christian community. It is, so to speak, a “natural” bond, because the Church is a spiritual family and the family is a small Church (cf. Lumen gentium, 9). The Christian community is the home of those who believe in Jesus as the source of fraternity among all men. The Church walks in the midst of the peoples, in the history of men and women, of fathers and mothers, of sons and daughters: this is the history that counts for the Lord. The great events of the worldly powers are written in history books, and they remain there. However, the history of human affections is written directly in the heart of God; and it is the history that remains in eternity. This is the place of life and of faith. The family is the place of our initiation – irreplaceable, indelible – to this history, to this history of eternal life that will end with the contemplation of God for all eternity in Heaven. But it begins in the family! Therefore, the family is very important. The Son of God learned human history in this way, and he lived it to the end (cf. Hebrews 2:18; 5:8).
It is good to contemplate Jesus again and the signs of this bond! He was born in a family and there he “learned the world”: a shop, four houses, a nothing village. Yet, by living this experience for thirty years, Jesus assimilated the human condition, gathering it in his communion with his Father and in his very apostolic mission. Then, when he left Nazareth and began his public life, Jesus formed around himself a community, an “assembly,” namely, a convocation of persons. This is the meaning of the word “church.” In the Gospels, Jesus’ assembly has the form of a hospitable family, not of an exclusive sect: we find Peter and John, but also the hungry and thirsty, the stranger and the persecuted, the sinner and the publican, the Pharisees and the crowds. And Jesus does not cease to receive and to talk to all, also to one who no longer expects to encounter God in his life. It is a strong lesson for the Church!
The disciples themselves were chosen to take care of this assembly, of this family of God’s guests. For this reality of Jesus’ assembly to be alive today, it is indispensable to revive the alliance between the family and the Christian community. We can say that the family and the parish are the two places in which that communion of love is realized, which finds its ultimate source in God himself.
A Church that is truly according to the Gospel cannot but have the form of a welcoming home, with the doors always open. Churches, parishes, institutions with closed doors must not be called Churches; they must be called museums! This is a crucial alliance today. “We put our hopes again in these centers of love, against the ‘centers’ of ideological, financial and political ‘power.’ We put our hope in these centers of love, evangelizing centers, rich in human warmth, based on solidarity and participation,” also on forgiveness among us (PONTIFICAL CONSTITUTION FOR THE FAMILY, the Teachings of J.M. Bergoglio – Pope Francis on the Family and Life, 1999-2014, LEV 2014, 189). It is urgent today to reinforce the bond between the family and the Christian community. There is certainly need of a generous faith to rediscover the intelligence and the courage to renew this alliance. Sometimes families draw back, saying that they are not up to the measure: “Father, we are a poor family and also somewhat unhinged,” “We aren’t capable,” “We already have so many problems at home,” “We don’t have the strength.” It’s true, but no one is worthy, no one is up to the measure, no one has the strength! We can do nothing without God’s grace. Everything is given to us – freely given! And the Lord never arrives in a family without doing a miracle. Let us recall what he did at the Wedding of Cana! Yes, if we put ourselves in his hands, the Lord makes us do miracles  — those miracles of every day when the Lord is in that family.
Of course, the Christian community must also do its part. For instance, it must seek to overcome too directive and too functional attitudes, fostering inter-personal dialogue and mutual knowledge and esteem. Families take the initiative and feel the responsibility to take their precious gifts to the community. We must all be aware that the Christian faith is played in the open field of life shared with all; the family and the parish must work the miracle of a more communal life for the whole society. The Mother of Jesus was at Cana, the “Mother of Good Counsel.” Let us listen to her words: “Do whatever he tells you” (cf. John 2:5).
Dear families, dear parish communities, we must let ourselves be inspired by this Mother: let us do everything that Jesus tells us and we will find ourselves before a miracle! – the miracle of every day. Thank you.
Vatican City, September 09, 2015 (ZENIT.org) 

First of all, I would like to welcome you and express my gratitude to each one of you for having accepted the invitation to come and take part in this meeting. We hope that, during these days, we will have an experience of being Family and rekindle together the Gift we have been given.   We are here in the very place of our origins beneath the gaze of Our Lady of All Graces, the Founder and the first members of our Family.  The setting itself is on our side.
We have some objectives for our time here:
To evaluate what we have done since 2013 
To have some time to reflect on the way we live the Gift (the Charism).
To become aware of our responsibility as members of the Family.
To become sensitive to, and spur ourselves on with regard to the urgency of passing on our Charism.
I want to comment on the last objective: To become sensitive to, and spur ourselves on with regard to the urgency of passing on our Charism.
 “I think the movement of this sensitization and spurring on has to be one that begins within each one of us and then goes outwards.  Otherwise, even during this meeting, we could be like “consumers” or “onlookers” with regard to what the Team has prepared for us.  If we can become “active participants” rather than “onlookers” it will change everything.  When things affect us directly, when they touch our story, our deep desires, the values which give meaning to our life, the future of many people, not just ours… of the planet..…then our way of taking part in the meeting will be very different.
With regard to the Holy Family Charism, I can ask myself from the very beginning,  “Am I personally affected  by the Charism?  Do I feel responsible for this Gift?”
I think, at some time or other, we will all have had the experience of moving from being spectators to playing a leading role.  When we take this leap, everything changes.  We move from theorizing to being involved because something affects us directly. Something similar can happen to us with the Charism.   I can stay at a safe distance where I am neither too far away nor very involved – accepting suggestions without going into them deeply;  I choose whatever I find interesting, thought-provoking or practical… This stance is not enough, nor it is satisfying, because the Charism is our specific way of living the Gospel; it is the Good News that changes and transforms our lives and gives meaning to our Mission in the world by determining our identity as individuals and as a Family.
At this point we can ask ourselves if our Charism – our vocation – is just one more thing among the many which occupy us on a daily basis or if it is our point of reference which colours and gives meaning to everything.
The Holy Family came into being in order to give new responses to a changing society, to open up a new path, to respond in a flexible way to unexpected needs.  The promptness with which the Founder and the first members of the Family responded to the needs of their time was remarkable.  Do we feel the same urgency to respond to the needs of our particular society?  Have we the same apostolic enthusiasm, the same availability, the same involvement as they had in their time?  What kind of desire do we have to share the Gift of the Charism? It does not belong to us alone.  We must always remember that the Charism is a gift to be shared with others.
This does not mean that we have to proselytise.  We who have the grace of being called to live this gift and share it must do this, above all, by “infecting” others with it through the quality of our lives, presence and action wherever we are. We must be “embers” which radiate their fire and warmth around them from underneath the ashes.  We know the social context we are living in and that is where we are called to be “embers”.
It is not a question of numbers.  What matters is that the lives of those who are here and of those who will come in the future are as consistent as possible with who we say we are,  i.e. with the gospel values  that inspire our spirituality as we contemplate the Holy Family – the lovely image of the Trinity – and the first Christian communities. “Being and creating Family” as we understand it today – embracing the whole of creation – is inescapable when we take on the Mission we have received and listen to the cries of Humanity and of the Planet.
Revitalization will result from a sense of belonging, from the personal and collective owning of the Gift, the common call to be ONE “Family” which embraces all of creation.  Vitality will also result from sharing the Gift with others who feel called.
Am I passionate about what I live and share with the other members of the Family of PBN? Am I committed to and involved in the common project? Have I hopes, dreams, plans for this Family?
If we live what we are with passion, we will be able to transmit and spread the Gift we have received.
It is not our task to create the Family of God.  God will do that.  It is our responsibility to make it visible.
Ana Maria Alcalde