Feb 2006

New York ERCBNA Meeting

24/02/06 11:00 Filed in: News

Donal met with the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers North America Province (ERCBNA) Leadership Team in New Rochelle on January 23rd. The meeting took place in the Province House at 21 Pryor Terrace, New Rochelle. It was a good meeting with excellent communication and rich exchange. Given the extremely demanding schedule for the Leadership meeting, with all nine members of the team present, it was a very gracious and generous demonstration of support for the Edmund Rice global Advocacy and Justice project that the time was made available for the meeting.

Kieran Murphy chaired the meeting. Kevin Cawley, Coordinator for Justice and Peace, ERCBNA, welcomed Donal in his role and explained the relationship between his role and that of the Congregation Coordinator for Advocacy and Justice. Following the presentation, there was a period of probing and supportive exchange. The overall response from the ERCBNA Leadership was very positive and encouraging. "We are interested and support what you are doing," was the clear message from ERCBNA.

Both ERCBNA and Edmund Rice International are embryonic organisations. It is good for us to share the excitement, challenge and opportunities that New LIfe with Edmund offers the world today.

Thank you North America!

Philippines Disaster

18/02/06 06:09

The news from the Philippines

www.edmundriceinternational.org

17/02/06 08:25 Filed in: News

Yes, it's up an running. Edmund Rice International now has its own World Wide Web address. It is a bit of a typing exercise but, yes, the URL is now: www.edmundriceinternational.org. It is hosted on the servers of a web-hosting service called Blacknight, one of Ireland's best web-hosting services. Depending on where you are in the world you may experience a time lag in accessing the site because it takes up to 72 hours for all routers and servers worldwide to resolve the new domain name.

Break out the champagne! And click on Edmund Rice International. The existing .Mac address will be maintained for a while.

News from Downunder

17/02/06 07:57 Filed in: News

I had an email this morning from Peter Faulkner. Peter described the excitement generated by the Brisbane Shaping Our Future Conference. He mentioned that Lynne Moten and he had met with Edmund Rice Associates to brief them on the Kolkata Symposium. So it is clear that the FULF message is spreading around. Let us keep fanning the flame!

Peter works with the United Nations Association in Australia. He has a keen interest in environmental issues and has been campaigning for quite some time on sustainability issues. In working for justice we need to always aware of the holistic and integrated context of the struggle for a better world. We cannot have a better world for children and young people if we do not also address issues relating to the destruction of the ecological system that sustains us all.

BONO at the Washington Prayer Breakfast

16/02/06 19:47 Filed in: Events

Kieran Murphy over there in the Edmund Rice North American Province has alerted me to a recent speech that Bono made at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. It is a refreshing speech and as Kieran remarked in his email to me, 'right on the point'. A recent commentator in Ireland who was somewhat cynical about Bono and his publicity machine said that 'even Bono is fed up with Bono'. One of the more engaging features of his Prayer Breakfast Speech is Bono's own self-deprecating humour; he is only too willing to concede the commentator's point. If you read his speech, however, you will see the steely earnestness and compassionate commitment that underpins his public advocacy stance. Well done, Bono!

Rather than posting the whole speech here, you can read it here. Enjoy!

FULF follow up: Damien Norris

15/02/06 10:07 Filed in: News

Peter Harney from the Christian Brother Renewal Team has informed us that Damien Norris will be taking on new responsibilities for communicating and nurturing the spirit of the Flare Up like Flame (FULF) Kolkata Symposium. This and similar initiatives will be of immense help and support to centres, projects, schools and individuals who wish to keep the FULF momentum going. Damien is currently based in the Edmund Rice Centre in Fremantle. See below for further news on Damien!

Meeting with Presentation Brothers Leadership Team

15/02/06 08:37 Filed in: News

Donal Leader met with the Presentation Brothers Congregation Leadership Team in Cork over the week-end. Brother Martin Kenneally had met Donal in Manila at the Christian Brothers Leadership Conference and invited him to make a presentation. The presentation was well received. There is very strong support from the Presentation Brothers to move ahead jointly with the Christian Brothers in establishing Edmund Rice International or Edmund Rice Global as quickly as possible.

On a related note, Brother Andrew Hickey will be taking up a coordinating role for the Presentation Brothers in regard to advocacy, justice and peace, and human rights matters generally. Andrew is very interested in advocacy approaches, in particular in promoting a rights-based approach to education in the schools and services of the Congregation. Andrew will be working very closely with Donal as the project develops.

Ecumenical Advocacy Days

15/02/06 08:35 Filed in: Events

Do you live in the United States? If you do, you may be interested in the Ecumential Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice conference taking place in Washington DC from March 10th to March 13th 2006. You can check this out and download a brochure from the following site: advocacy days

Damien Norris and Donal Leader go to Geneva

15/02/06 08:31 Filed in: News

Those of you who participated in the FULF Conference in Kolkata will remember Damien Norris and Donal Leader. They are now both off to Geneva next month for an intensive human rights course with the International Service for Human Rights based in Geneva. Chris Sidoti, who spoke at the Kolkta Symposium, is the Director of the course. Both Damien and Donal are looking forward to the course. Perhaps in the future other members of the wider Edmund Rice global network will have the opportunity of attending this course. It is primarily intended for activists on the ground who are working in advocacy and human rights. Application forms can be obtained from ISHR around July of each year. We will keep you posted on this.