Rich Gosser, Lay Spiritan Associate and member of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Committee for the US Province, joined JPIC coordinators from five other US religious congregations at the end of October to participate in a “Poverty and Care of Creation” immersion trip to Central Appalachia.

The “Pilgrimage to Appalachia”, planned and sponsored by the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) Justice and Peace and Mission Committees, provided opportunities to visit organizations working closely with people on the margins in rural, Eastern Kentucky including some of the poorest counties in the United States.  In response to Pope Francis’ encyclical linking care for creation and poverty with “integral ecology”, the 5 day pilgrimage was an immersion encounter with people engaged in the concrete struggle for more just and sustainable world.

The pilgrimage group visited organizations that address health care, housing, women and children, sustainable food production, and alternative education.  In addition the group traveled to sites that illuminate issues of environmental destruction and related public health issues including “mountain top removal” (MTR) strip mining of coal, deforestation, flooding due to mining, black lung and other pulmonary diseases related to air-born particulates resulting from mining practices.

Bishop John Stowe, ordinary of the Diocese of Lexington, KY, joined the JPIC representatives for dinner at the beginning of their pilgrimage to the “Holy Land of Appalachia”.  Fr. John Rausch, an award-winning author and Glenmary priest who has lived 40 years in Appalachia, accompanied the JPIC pilgrims.  He introduced them to some of his many friends who minister to some of the poorest and most marginalized people in the United States.  In turn the pilgrimage participants affirmed the “local folk” by listening respectively to their stories and learning about their struggles and successes.

Scholar in Residence, Center for Spiritan Studies

Lay Spiritan, Dr. Anne Marie Hansen, is serving as the Scholar in Residence at the Center for Spiritan Studies October 2015-2016.  In this role, she is researching the founders of the Spiritans, particularly Francis Libermann, the Spirituality of Mission, Justice and Peace and integrity of Creation resources and other resources from the Spiritan Collection at Duquesne University and Church documents on laity in the Church.  The outcome will be a draft of a formation program for Lay Spiritan Associates in the US province.  Anne Marie is collaborating with the Generalate as well as Lay Spiritans in other provinces throughout the world.