International Justice and Peace Commission Report - 1997
Cebu, Philippines - August 10-21, 1997 

Our Vision

Madeleine Sophie saw the Heart of Jesus violated and outraged in a culture that had lost its faith in a God of love and had made reason and science its god.

Today we see a culture that idolizes money bringing in its wake violence, poverty, exploitation. Persons are sacrificed on the altar of mammon; nature and cultures are disposed of when they get in the way of profits.

Unchecked economic and financial globalization continues to create an ever widening gap between rich and poor, and threatens the existence of our planet. Millions of families live in poverty and are forcibly displaced by aggressive industrialization and military conflict. Workers. mostly young women, are exploited and their lives wasted in dehumanizing activities. There is widespread unemployment, lack of education, and violence, largely fueled by the arms trade. Materialism has resulted in meaningless and emptiness. Such globalization has impoverished and made victims of us all.

In Madeleine Sophie's day as in ours the social fabric was disintegrating. Her response was to try to rebuild and transform society through an education based on solid intellectual training and spiritual values leading to the development of the whole person. She saw women as the key agents in this transformation.

In the past thirty years the Society has felt the urgency to be in solidarity with the poor. Today the magnitude of the problem calls us to new and even more creative responses. Like Madeleine Sophie our response is to commit ourselves to a transformative education as a critical factor in building an alternative future, as we yearn for that peace that is the fruit of justice.

Our time calls for a courageous and audacious response rooted in reality contemplated in the light of the Gospel. We are doubly called upon because we are deeply implicated in this consumer culture and because we have the resources in our charism, in our educational mission, and in our international and multicultural presence, to help effect change.

Our Objectives

As the international Justice and Peace Commission mandated by the General Chapter of 1994, we see ourselves contributing, in the next three years, to the task of:

1. educating and forming ourselves to understand and respond to injustices, especially those brought about by globalization.

2. committing ourselves to develop educational concepts and methodologies which correspond to the present reality and help bring about an alternative future.

3. reflecting on how we can make choices to resist consumerism and to be closer to the poor and marginalized.

4. encouraging and supporting apostolic engagements in favor of those who suffer injustice and struggle for transformation.

5. networking among ourselves and with others in diverse ways and at different levels with and in favor of those whose rights are violated.

6. focusing on a common project where our international resources can make a difference.

Our International Strategies

Develop a Resource Kit to educate ourselves about the effects of economic and financial globalization

Activate the RSCJ Action Network

Before the year 2000, identify and engage in at least 5 actions on a common project focused on injustice brought about globalization using our international Justice and Peace Network

Regional and provincial strategies will be worked out at the appropriate levels.