Justice, peace and integrity of creation are biblically rooted. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19

They are expressed as essential principles of Catholic Social Teachings. “…action on behalf of justice and the participation in the transformation of the world is a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel”.  Synod of Bishops, 1971, no. 6.

“When man turns his back on the Creator’s plan, he provokes a disorder which has inevitable  repercussions on the rest of created order. If man is not at peace with God, then earth itself  cannot be at peace…” John Paul II, 1990 World Day of Peace Message, no. 5.

Since then, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation has become organizationally intrinsic to Catholic Church structures as a department, dicastery, commission or as ministries and programs.

The Second Vatican Council had proposed the creation of a body of the universal Church whose role would be “to stimulate the Catholic Community to foster progress in needy regions and social justice on the international scene” (Gaudium et Spes, No. 90). It was in reply to this request that Pope Paul VI established the Pontifical Commission “Justitia et Pax” by a Motu Proprio dated 6 January 1967 (Catholicam Christi Ecclesiam).

Two months later, in Populorum Progressio, Paul VI succinctly stated of the new body that “its name, which is also its programme, is Justice and Peace” (No. 5). Gaudium et Spes and this Encyclical, which “in a certain way… applies the teaching of the Council” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, No. 6), were the founding texts and points of reference for this new body.

Justice, peace, and integrity of Creation are central and fundamental to Catholic spirituality. For many these words are dreams to aspire for. They are social values and ethics to uphold. 

Core values of a Christian lifestyle.

The Association of Major Superiors in the Phillippines (AMRSP), now the Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines (CMSP) created the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission (JPICC), as a permanent commission in 1995. The Commission is “mandated to act on and mobilize members of Religious   Congregations and all the Mission Partners in response to urgent, pressing and   common issues affecting all sectors such as climate change, migration, good governance, corruption, transparency and other similar advocacies. 

AMRSP JPICC Implementing Guidelines, Mission Partners’ Manual  #II – 2.3. Since its inception as a permanent commission of the CMSP (AMRSP), the JPICC has consistently and unfailingly led, initiated and encouraged concrete and viable actions to upholding the integrity of creation, safeguarding democracy and human rights for all, promoting good governance. In the late 1990s, responding to the call of the UISG (International Union of Superiors General) The CMSP JPICC has added to its advocacy the issue of ending human trafficking the abuse of vulnerable persons.  

The JPICC hopes to fulfill an important objective of the CMSP as stated in its Mission, Vision and

 Objectives:

To work with the poor and the marginalized to reclaim their dignity so that they become partners in transformation. As a prophetic community, the JPICC, together with some sixty congregational JPIC department, ministry and program, critically discerns the Good News in the context of the signs of the times. Part of the discernment process is a bi-annual General Assembly, the last of which was held in November 2017.  The JPICC General Assembly allows for transformative and collaborative relations among the many congregations with JPIC programs and related networks, within and outside of AMRSP, to achieve the goals of peace based on justice and justice for the whole of creation. Organizationally, the JPIC Commission is led by the JPICC National Coordinator who is accountable to the two Co-Executive Secretaries. The National Coordinator, together with the program staff and the four (4) committee heads on

1. Transformative Education and Good Governance 

2. Integral Ecology

3. Human Rights and Solidarity

4. Talitha Kum – Anti-Trafficking In Persons in partnership with the UISG Talitha Kum Rome, work as a Coordinating Team ensures JPICC’s overall organizational sustainability and program development and that the five major concerns are mainstreamed and integrated in  JPICC’s bi annual convention, the congregational JPIC and pastoral ministries in parishes, schools, communities.

All five program concerns have, through the years, developed their own strong network of partners.

All JPICC concerns are evolved with the approval of the local Church. JPICC ensures a strong partnership with the NASSA (National Secretariat for Social Action), ECMI (Episcopal Commission on Migrants and  Itinerant Peoples), ECLA (Episcopal Commission on Lay Apostolate) and the local Bishops where there is a JPICC presence.

JPICC is still working on a directory of religious and lay resource persons among its members to foster inter-congregational collaboration.

Until the year 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic, the JPICC Coordinating Team was composed of John Din for Integral Ecology, Sr. Sonia Aldeguer RSCJ for TEGG, Sr Vivian Fernando HFB for TKP and the National Coordinator.

Finally, JPIC, is about:

• Restoring ‘right relations’ with: oneself, others, creation and God.

• Identifying and responding to the ‘signs of the times’.

• Making a ‘preferential option for the poor’.

• Dealing with the CAUSES of injustice (political charity) and not just the consequences.

• Transforming the ‘structures of sin’ (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 36, 37c, 38f)

• Proposing and initiating prophetic Gospel non-violent responses

• Encouraging prophetic attitudes and responses to: Lifestyle, Ministry and the Excluded.

 https://www.lasalette.info/news/313-why-justice-peace-and-integrity-of..

JPIC links. (There are more)

https://www.uisg.org/en/

https://rscjinternational.org/jpic

https://www.lasalette.info/news/313-why-justice-peace-and-integrity-of..

https://secularfranciscansusa.org/jpic