It is with the lens of the social spirituality, articulated in the last blog post, that the regional and international Passionist community has taken to develop these offices or ministries of JPIC. Through JPIC, the Passionists have set three objectives or tasks.

Promote Social Ministries: Engaging in social ministries is not a new initiative for the Passionist family. We can trace early expressions of social ministries from the Passionist founder himself. St. Paul of Cross is known to serve the community as a hospital and military chaplain. He was known to advocate for the poor and to use the opportunity of his missions to organize social charity for the poorer members of society. He also advocated for peace in the midst of a battle during the “War of the Polish Succession.” He was also known to value the integrity and wisdom of the environment and believed in having Christian retreats in places where people had the opportunity to enjoy the presence of God through the beauty of God’s natural creation.

The Passionists have continued to organize various aspects of social and ecological ministries. Through JPIC we look to further these expressions by promoting these isolated ministries into the visible life of the community. The office looks to develop relationships with these social ministries and our institutional ministries like parishes and retreat centers. The JPIC office is also looking for opportunities for the public to engage in these ministries or to create new ones through the Passionist communities and spirituality.

Coordinate Advocacy: The second objective is to empower our Passionist family to engage in the world as a member of civil society and to offer its spiritual wisdom on social issues that concern us. Based on our spirituality we are concerned with social policies or actions that cause tremendous suffering to humanity and creation. We are organizing to be in solidarity with those who suffer. Whenever possible we will walk with those who suffer from the injustices of our global society and we will tend to the needs of those that may be marginalized. Where the dignity of human life and the integrity of the environment are being violated we will be advocating against policies that cause such violations.  

In working with civil society the Passionist JPIC Office will be working with the Catholic Church and several other faith based organization to promote policies that will transform the world into a vision of Justice and Peace that respects the integrity of all creation. This is a vision that we consider to be based in scripture and reflected in that vision which Christ called, “The Kingdom of God.” At the international level we are fortunate to have our own UN organization, Passionists International. At regional levels we will have a number of JPIC offices that will advocate on domestic and foreign issues.

Education and Formation:  The third objective for the office is to develop and create resources on the Passionist spirituality of JPIC. We start by emphasizing Catholic social teachings and principles which are powerful aspects of our faith and tradition which are sadly neglected. On top of this we will promote the social and ecological dimensions of our own spirituality which again is focused on the memory of Christ’s Passion.

Through JPIC we will develop resources for lay and vowed formation. We will also develop liturgical resources on social spirituality either in observance of Holy Days or in observance of social issues. Using some of newest forms of technology like blogs or social networks we will also promote this spirituality along with the other objectives of Passionist JPIC. In North America the JPIC Office is also developing workshops and retreat programs for our retreat and parish ministries.

May the Passion of Jesus, Be Ever in our Hearts