Office For Justice, Ecology and Peace

World Toilet Day
2021-11-19 00:00 - 23:59 (Australia/Sydney)
Toilets save lives, because human waste spreads killer diseases. World Toilet Day is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which promises sanitation for all by 2030.

1989: Murder of six Jesuit priests and two co-workers in El Salvador
2021-11-16 00:00 - 23:59
In the early hours on 16 November 1989, six Jesuit priests, a cook and her 16-year-old daughter were shot and killed at the Pastoral Centre of José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador. The victims were Fathers Ignacio Ellacuría, Rector of the University; Ignacio Martín-Baró, Vice-Rector; Segundo Montes, Director of the Human Rights Institute; Amando López, Joaquín López y López and Juan Ramón Moreno, all teachers at UCA; and Julia Elba Ramos and her daughter, Celina Mariceth Ramos. The priests publicly opposed U.S. support of the Salvadoran armed forces, and pleaded for peaceful dialogue between the right and the left. They polled poor citizens and kept detailed records of refugees fleeing the country.

Report of the UN Truth Commission on El Salvador pages 45-47

International Day of Tolerance
2021-11-16 00:00 - 23:59
“At a time when extremism and fanaticism are unleashed too often, at a time when the venom of hatred continues to poison a part of humanity, tolerance has never been more vital a virtue.” — Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the International Day for Tolerance.

The United Nations is committed to strengthening tolerance by fostering mutual understanding among cultures and peoples. This imperative lies at the core of the United Nations Charter, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is more important than ever in this era of rising and violent extremism and widening conflicts that are characterized by a fundamental disregard for human life.

For reflection

In Fratelli Tutti (On Fraternity and Social Friendship) Pope Francis goes beyond tolerance to encourage dialogue, friendship and encounter. How might tolerance be related to these aspirations? Might it be a stepping stone?

World Diabetes Day
2021-11-14 00:00 - 23:59
Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and lower limb amputation. Healthy diet, physical activity and avoiding tobacco use can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. In addition diabetes can be treated and its consequences avoided or delayed with medication, regular screening and treatment for complications.

Communities experiencing poverty and disadvantage often have higher than average rates of diabetes due to factors such as lack of access to reasonably priced fruits and vegetables, recreational facilities, and health care services, and greater exposures to environmental toxins

Find out more about World Diabetes Day here.

1991: Dili Massacre, Timor-Leste: more than 271 people killed
2021-11-12 00:00 - 23:59
On November 12, 1991, 271 unarmed and peaceful protesters were massacred by Indonesian troops at Santa Cruz Cemetery in Dili, the capital of Timor Leste. 250 people are still listed as missing. Timorese protesters attended Mass at Motael Church on the morning of the massacre to honour and remember Sebastião Gomes, a fellow protester, who had been killed by the Indonesian military on October 28. The protesters then walked two kilometres in procession to Santa Cruz Cemetery where they were met by an unprovoked assault by automatic weapons. Those who were not killed in the initial attack were bayonetted. People who fled to nearby houses for shelter were hunted down and murdered. In the following days, Indonesian security forces arrested suspected protesters, and many were tried and imprisoned. Others were tortured and killed.

This horrific episode in the history of Timor Leste was minimised at first by some governments around the world, including the Australian government. Indonesian government officials alleged that the deaths in Dili were the result of isolated actions from rogue elements within the Indonesian military, capping the death toll at 19. However, a video record of the massacre taken by British journalist Max Stahl was smuggled out to the BBC. The truth of the ongoing and sanctioned violence against the Timorese people by the Indonesian government and military could no longer be denied.

The Timorese people had suffered violent oppression since the Indonesian invasion in 1975, and thousands of Timorese has been killed. Xanana Gusmão proved to be an effective and galvanizing resistance leader against the Indonesian occupying force, and the Santa Cruz Massacre turned the eyes of the world on Timor Leste. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture was in Dili on November 11, 1991. Evidence of the massacre, and the brave witness of survivors of torture over many years, led to Timor Leste becoming an independent nation in 2002. Gusmão became the first President of the Democratic Republic of East Timor (Timor Leste).

Prayer on the 30th Anniversary of the Santa Cruz Massacre

by Sr Susan Connelly RSJ

Ever-living God, refuge of the oppressed and comforter of the sorrowing, we trust in your infinite mercy and care.

Today we remember the young Timorese who died for freedom in the Santa Cruz cemetery thirty years ago.

We pray for them, their families, and for all the Timorese people.

We ask you, O God, for the wisdom and courage to follow the way of Jesus your Son, to work for the peace that comes from your justice, and to see you in all whom we meet.

We ask this in the name of Jesus, who died and rose again, and who lives with you for ever and ever,

Amen

Music:

Plaint over Dili by Christopher Willcock SJ

Listen to the music here

This instrumental music was written as a lament response to the violence suffered by the people of Timor Leste at the Santa Cruz Massacre in 1991, and from 1975. It is a meditation of 9 minutes that acknowledges the cry of the oppressed, and the hope for freedom and redemption even amidst grief and loss.

Image:

Santa Cruz Tragedy Monument, Santa Cruz Cemetery, Dili, Timor Leste.

This monument is usually covered in flowers, especially on November 12 each year.

For more information:

Remembering Santa Cruz:

Remembering-Santa-Cruz-Download

A History of the Conflict:

History-of-the-ConflictDownload

Saint Josaphat
2021-11-12 00:00 - 23:59
In 1595, the Orthodox bishop of Brest-Litovsk in present-day Belarus and five other bishops representing millions of Ruthenians, sought reunion with Rome. John Kunsevich — who took the name Josaphat in religious life — was to dedicate his life, and die for the same cause. Josaphat was the first saint of the Eastern Church to be canonized by Rome.

Franciscan Media

1975: Dismissal of the Whitlam Government
2021-11-11 00:00 - 23:59
“On 11 November 1975, after a series of dramatic events including a 1974 double dissolution and a budgetary supply crisis, the Gough Whitlam-led federal Labor government became the first (and only) government in Australian history to be dismissed by the Governor-General. While this constitutional crisis has overshadowed the Whitlam years, the administration left a lasting legacy of social and political reform.” National Museum Australia

For reflection

Which social and political reforms of the Whitlam era are you most grateful for?

What social and Political reforms do you think are needed today?

How might we answer Pope Francis’ call in Fratelli Tutti (On Fraternity and Social Friendship) for a ‘better kind of politics’?

Remembrance (Armistice) Day, commemorating the end of World War I in 1918
2021-11-11 00:00 - 23:59
“At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns on the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare… The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month attained a special significance in the post-war years. The moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front became universally associated with the remembrance of those who had died in the war. This first modern world conflict had brought about the mobilisation of over 70 million people and left between 9 and 13 million dead, perhaps as many as one-third of them with no known grave. The allied nations chose this day and time for the commemoration of their war dead.” Australian War Memorial

1995: Execution of nine Nigerian environmentalists and human rights activists
2021-11-10 00:00 - 23:59
On this day in 1995, writer and human rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed in Nigeria despite worldwide pleas for clemency. The country’s military rulers ordered the execution of Mr Saro-Wiwa and eight other dissidents.

BBC On This Day

World Science Day for Peace and Development
2021-11-10 00:00 - 23:59
By linking science more closely with society, World Science Day for Peace and Development aims to ensure that citizens are kept informed of developments in science. It also underscores the role scientists play in broadening our understanding of the remarkable, fragile planet we call home and in making our societies more sustainable. This year’s theme focuses on how science can help society to deal with the pandemic.

Saint Leo the Great
2021-11-10 00:00 - 23:59
“At a time when there is widespread criticism of Church structures, we also hear criticism that bishops and priests—indeed, all of us—are too preoccupied with administration of temporal matters. Pope Leo is an example of a great administrator who used his talents in areas where spirit and structure are inseparably combined: doctrine, peace, and pastoral care. He avoided an “angelism” that tries to live without the body, as well as the “practicality” that deals only in externals.” Franciscan Media

1989: Opening of the Berlin Wall
2021-11-09 00:00 - 23:59
“On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced a change in his city’s relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country’s borders. East and West Berliners flocked to the wall, drinking beer and champagne and chanting “Tor auf!” (“Open the gate!”). At midnight, they flooded through the checkpoints. More than 2 million people from East Berlin visited West Berlin that weekend. The reunification of East and West Germany was made official on October 3, 1990, almost one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall.” The Berlin Wall: The Fall of the Wall

1907: Harvester minimum wage judgement by Justice Higgins
2021-11-08 00:00 - 23:59
“In 1907 Justice Henry Bourne Higgins, President of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court, set the first federally arbitrated wages standard in Australia. Higgins’s ruling became the basis for setting Australia’s minimum wage standard for the next 70 years. Using the Sunshine Harvester Factory as a test case, Justice Higgins took the pioneering approach of hearing evidence from not only male workers but also their wives to determine what was a fair and reasonable wage for a working man to support a family of five. The decision was a landmark case because, for the first time, employers were challenged to formulate wages on the basic needs of their employees rather than being solely concerned with the company’s profits.” National Museum Australia

Did you know?

Justice Higgins’ determination of a just wage was influenced by Pope Leo XIII’s definition of a just wage in Rerum Novarum in 1891. Leo XII says that “remuneration must be enough to support the wage earner in reasonable and frugal comfort” (n 34) and goes on to specify that wages must be sufficient to enable a worker to “maintain himself, his wife, and his children in reasonable comfort” and “by economy” be able to save and purchase property (n 35).

For reflection

Neither Justice Higgins nor Pope Leo XIII considered the role of women in the workforce or question of wage justice for women workers. How might the ideal of wages sufficient to support a family be enacted today in a way that recognises the right of women to participate in the paid workforce and the responsibility of men to share in unpaid family and community responsibilities?

International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
2021-11-06 00:00 - 23:59
“… the environment has often remained the unpublicized victim of war. Water wells have been polluted, crops torched, forests cut down, soils poisoned, and animals killed to gain military advantage. Furthermore, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has found that over the last 60 years, at least 40 percent of all internal conflicts have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources, whether high-value resources such as timber, diamonds, gold and oil, or scarce resources such as fertile land and water. Conflicts involving natural resources have also been found to be twice as likely to relapse.” United Nations

Action

Read the United Nations resolution declaring 6 November the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. How can you respond?

What does Pope Francis have to say about this in Laudato Si’? How might you include action to prevent harm to creation as a result of war and armed conflict in your commitment to justice, ecology and peace?

World Tsunami Awareness Day
2021-11-05 00:00 - 23:59
In the past 100 years, 58 tsnamis have claimed more than 260,000 lives, or an average of 4,600 per disaster. The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 lone caused an estimated 227,000 fatalities in 14 countries, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand hardest-hit.

“In December 2015, the UN General Assembly designated 5 November as World Tsunami Awareness Day. World Tsunami Awareness Day was the brainchild of Japan, which due to its repeated, bitter experience has over the years built up major expertise in areas such as tsunami early warning, public action and building back better after a disaster to reduce future impacts. The date for the annual celebration was chosen in honour of the Japanese story of “Inamura-no-hi”, meaning the “burning of the rice sheaves”. During an 1854 earthquake a farmer saw the tide receding, a sign of a looming tsunami. He set fire to his entire harvest to warn villagers, who fled to high ground. Afterwards, he built an embankment and planted trees as a buffer against future waves.” Tsunami Day, United Nations

Day of Prayer for Anglican-Roman Catholic Reconciliation
2021-11-04 00:00 - 23:59
In 2002 the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches in Australia agreed to set aside 4th November as a day of prayer for reconciliation and greater understanding between the two communities. On 4th November, Anglicans and Roman Catholics are encouraged to pray either individually, as communities or small groups, for greater mutual understanding and reconciliation. Find out more about the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue here.

Saint Charles Borromeo
2021-11-04 00:00 - 23:59
“Trained in civil and canon law in Pavia, Charles Borromeo was called to Rome as a young man by his uncle, Pope Pius IV, to be secretary of state at the Vatican. “Always clear and precise in his views, firm in his demeanor, and constant in the execution of his projects,” as one biographer has remarked, he played an important role in convincing Pius to reconvene the Council of Trent, which sought to address corruption in a sixteenth-century church beleaguered by Protestantism. Under the auspices of that council, beginning in 1563 Borromeo supervised the writing of an accurate catechism, rewrote liturgical texts and music, and began enforcing clerical reform in Rome. Charged with implementing the reforms dictated by the Council of Trent, Borromeo had to blend tough love and personal integrity.” Loyola Press

All Souls' Day
2021-11-02 00:00 - 23:59
On the feast of All Souls, and throughout November, we remember and pray for our deceased relatives, friends, and all the those who have died.

Prayer

Let perpetual light shine upon them,with your Saints forever, for you are merciful.Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,and let perpetual light shine upon them,with your Saints forever, for you are merciful.Amen.

All Saints Day
2021-11-01 00:00 - 23:59
From the first centuries after Christ, Christians who died a martyr’s death were considered saints, who live in God’s presence forever. In the ninth century, Pope Gregory IV designated November 1 as the day to remember all the saints living in God’s presence.

Loyola Press

World Cities Day
2021-10-31 00:00 - 23:59
The United Nations General Assembly designated the 31st of October as World Cities Day, by its resolution 68/239. The Day is intended to promote interest in global urbanization, push forward cooperation among countries in meeting opportunities and addressing challenges of urbanization, and contributing to sustainable urban development around the world.

How can you take action today to make your city or town more sustainable?

World Teachers Day
2021-10-29 08:00 - 17:00

1834: Battle of Pinjara, WA
2021-10-28 00:00 - 23:59
One hundred years after the Battle of Pinjarra, someone writing under the nome de plume ‘Cygney’ recounted the story in The West Australian newspaper. What do you make of this 1934 account of the battle?

Saints Simon and Jude
2021-10-28 00:00 - 23:59
Jesus chose some unlikely people: a former Zealot, a former (crooked) tax collector, an impetuous fisherman, two “sons of thunder,” and a man named Judas Iscariot. It is a reminder that we cannot receive too often. Holiness does not depend on human merit, culture, personality, effort, or achievement. It is entirely God’s creation and gift. God needs no Zealots to bring about the kingdom by force. Jude, like all the saints, is the saint of the impossible: Only God can create his divine life in human beings. And God wills to do so, for all of us.

Franciscan Media

2019: Ban on climbing Uluru comes into force
2021-10-26 00:00 - 23:59
On this day the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Board of Management decision to close the climb to the top of Uluru came into force. The Board is made up of a majority of traditional owners of the park. This date was chosen as it was the date in 1985 when the park was handed back to the Anangu people.

1985: Return of Uluru to the traditional owners, the Anangu people
2021-10-26 00:00 - 23:59
On 26 October 1985 the Governor General of Australia, Sir Ninian Stephen, handed over title for the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to the Traditional Owners of the area – the Anangu.

The hand over and lease back ceremony was held in the Mutitjulu community near the base of Uluru. It was a night of singing and dancing for the Traditional Owners and other Aboriginal people. The celebrations marked a long struggle for Anangu to be recognised as the rightful custodians of Uluru, Kata Tjuta and the surrounding land.

AIATSIS Handback

Disarmament Week
2021-10-24 00:00 - 2021-10-31 23:59
“The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was a defining moment for global efforts to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit arms trade: the Agenda included a specific target to significantly reduce illicit arms flows by 2030.”— UN Secretary-General’s report

Disarmament Week begins on the anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (24 October). The creation of this week was recommended in the Final Document of the General Assembly’s 1978 special session on disarmament (resolution S-10/2). That document called for abandoning the use of force in international relations and seeking security in disarmament.

1945: Establishment of the United Nations
2021-10-24 00:00 - 23:59
In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States.

The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.

World Development Information Day
2021-10-24 00:00 - 23:59
“Information and communications technologies have the potential to provide new solutions to development challenges, particularly in the context of globalization, and can foster economic growth, competitiveness, access to information and knowledge, poverty eradication and social inclusion.” — General Assembly Resolution (A/RES/65/141)

The General Assembly in 1972 established World Development Information Day to draw the attention of the world to development problems and the need to strengthen international cooperation to solve them (resolution 3038 (XXVII)). The Assembly deemed that improving the dissemination of information and the mobilization of public opinion, particularly among young people, would lead to greater awareness of the problems of development, thus, promoting efforts in the sphere of international cooperation for development.

United Nations Day
2021-10-24 00:00 - 23:59
UN Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter. With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being.

This year is the 75th anniversary of the UN. Learn about the celebrations here. To mark the anniversary, the UN has launched a global conversation on how to tackle the challenges we face and build a better future for all. Join the conversation here #UN75

World Mission Sunday
2021-10-24 00:00 - 23:59
“Here am I, send me.” (Is 6:8)

“Mission is a free and conscious response to God’s call. Yet we discern this call only when we have a personal relationship of love with Jesus present in his Church. Let us ask ourselves: are we prepared to welcome the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to listen to the call to mission, whether in our life as married couples or as consecrated persons or those called to the ordained ministry, and in all the everyday events of life? Understanding what God is saying to us at this time of pandemic also represents a challenge for the Church’s mission. Illness, suffering, fear and isolation challenge us… The celebration of World Mission Day is an occasion for reaffirming how prayer, reflection and the material help of your offerings are so many opportunities to participate actively in the mission of Jesus in his Church. The charity expressed in the collections that take place during the liturgical celebrations of the third Sunday of October is aimed at supporting the missionary work carried out in my name by the Pontifical Mission Societies, in order to meet the spiritual and material needs of peoples and Churches throughout the world, for the salvation of all.” Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for World Mission Day 2020.

Read the full text of the here:
