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Peace and Justice
Fall 2006

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Dear Brothers,

May God give you peace.

It is an honor to be your new Justice and Peace director.� Thank you to the Provincial Council for giving me this role.� Thank you to Brad Baldwin who has carried it for the last four years.

I remember a few years ago not knowing what peace and justice was all about.� Why did the two words go together as one?� I received some insight recently about this when the Nobel Peace Prize winner was an economist, a Bangladeshi who enabled poor women to receive loans to build small enterprises.� Here economic justice brings peace. My ministry at Saint Bridget�s and life in Minneapolis has helped me to understand why peace and justice not only fit together but are integral to the gospel and our Franciscan way of life.� Meeting a poor man who works hard cleaning offices to support his family but can never get ahead with the low wages and few benefits he receives teaches me about justice.� Talking to a Mexican woman who struggles in similar conditions at a grocery store teaches me about justice.� The immigrant boy who grew up in the United States but still has no papers and cannot afford college at triple the tuition teaches me about justice.� While these injustices exist, peace cannot happen.

These days I am working on environmental justice, organizing with our Secular Franciscans the showing of the movie �An Inconvenient Truth� to open people�s awareness of global warming.� I am proud that our brother Pat Foley was part of a recent radio panel discussion on this important topic.� The movie confirms how often the heaviest effect of pollution is felt in poor neighborhoods and countries.�

I am also working with an inter-faith group to promote community benefits for expensive developments such as the Twins Stadium.� We are organizing a coalition to demand that those of us who pay taxes toward the construction of this ballpark have a right to determine that jobs and contracts coming from this ought to be given to those most in need.

I am passionate about this type of justice work.� I feel it deeply as part of my Franciscan vocation and pray that I exhibit that part of me whenever I minister.� I hope you join me in some of these pursuits and I welcome your assistance and suggestions.� We have a unique opportunity to show the world how Francis of Assisi inspires our call toward peace and justice today.

����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Bro. John Kerr, T.O.R.


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