Our world today is not in a good state. There are so many crimes that occur in society and within the family. Pax Christy is one of the Catholic organizations engaged in the Non-Violent field. Pax-Christy works together with religious women and men to raise the issue of Non-Violent. Pax-Christi sees so many crimes in various aspects and especially highlights the wars that occur in various countries such as Palestine, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Iran and other countries. The wars are detrimental in many aspects. Many people’s children lose their freedom. They lose their families, their homes, and even their lives. Therefore, we must all take part in promoting justice and peace without violence. Sr. Sheila together with the Pax Christi community is trying to speak out against violence in the world, especially in countries that are experiencing war. One way to motivate the world is to recognize people who are fighting for peace and helping victims of crime.

Human Traffiking

Nowadays, there is a lot of talk about human trafficking, especially in developing countries. More than millions of people are victims of human trafficking. Victims of human trafficking are of all ages and genders. The percentage of human trafficking victims is increasing every year. Many reasons are found why victims become victims of human trafficking. In terms of percentage, most newspapers are children and women.

December 20, 2024 Sr Tarcisia, Sr Evifania, and Sr Damiana attended a seminar on Human Trafficking with the theme of trafficking of women in narcotics trafficking networks. The seminar was organized by the Indonesian Embassy to the Holy See. The Embassy invited Indonesian resource person Prof. Sulistyawati Iraianta. She teaches at the University of Indonesia (UI) and has made several studies on human trafficking in various countries in Asia and the Middle East.  She said there are various reasons why women and children become one of the most common victims, namely being used as girlfriends, married, trapped in debt and then used as drug dealers with international syndicates. In addition, human trafficking occurs because of various manifestations and tantalizing promises. Asians are generally well known for their religiosity. They uphold family unity and conservative sexual morality but are often the biggest victims of sex slavery. Those who have been victimized are initially recruited as immigrant workers and some of them do not understand foreign languages so that with their ignorance of the local language they sign labor contracts that can ensnare them in human trafficking.

International World Peace Day

On January 1, 2025, Sr Tarcisia participated in praying with Pope Francis and JPIC Rome from various congregations and communities of San. Egidio Rome (as organizer). This activity is held regularly in St. Peter’s courtyard at the Vatican. In his short speech, the Pope bound the whole world to unceasingly pray and fight for peace in the world, especially in countries that are still at war (Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Sudan, etc.). The Pope also prayed for all pilgrims in the world especially in this Jubilee year. The Jubilee Year is a year of hope and reconciliation for all Catholics to renew themselves and deepen their faith and hope in God. Then this activity was closed with the Angelus prayer and blessing from Pope Francis in Latin.

On January 17, 2025 JPIC Rome held a joint meeting with Mark Hilton to learn together from the synod and its relationship to the JIPC. In this joint learning JPIC is a joint promoter to make synodality a strategy to walk together in fighting for Justice, peace and the integrity of creation. JPIC and Synodality mutually enrich each other’s equity. JPIC places great importance on Equity Synodality encourages us to be inclusive and give opportunities to all, using conversation in the spirit method around the key issues of JPIC, share with our communities and the people we serve.

Written by Sr. M. Tarcisia Lumban Siantar FCJM