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Greetings to each and everyone of you.


This section for English-speaking viewers –
and all those enjoying the culture –

has developed over the months and is now offering materials of all kinds:

texts, images, poems, videos, etc.

It will continue to provide you with rich contents week after week.

 

International Justice Day – 17 July

16 juillet 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: crimes against women, International Criminal Court ICC, International criminal justice, Justice Day, Rome Statute, violence
ijdexample2016

International Justice Day is celebrated throughout the world on July 17, 2016 as part of an effort to recognize the emerging system of international criminal justice. It is also referred to as Day of International Criminal Justice or World Day for International Justice. July 17 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the International Criminal Court (ICC).

On 17 July 1998, the Rome Statute was adopted by a vote of 120 to 7. The seven countries that voted against the treaty were Iraq, Israel, Libya, the People’s Republic of China, Qatar, the United States, and Yemen. Under the Rome Statue, the ICC can only investigate and prosecute in situations where states are unable or unwilling to do so themselves. Thus, the majority of international crimes continue to go unpunished unless and until domestic systems can properly deal with them. Therefore, permanent solutions to impunity must be found at the domestic level.

Each year, people around the world use International Justice Day to host events to promote international criminal justice, especially support for the International Criminal Court. The day has been successful enough to attract international news attention, and for groups to use the day to focus attention on particular issues such as genocide in Darfur, Falun Dafa, and serious crimes of violence against women.

Source: Text: With material from: Wikipedia The text « International Justice Day » has been taken from www.cute-calendar.com  Image: #global JUSTICE

16th Sunday of the Year, C

14 juillet 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Abram, Bethany, Gn.18:1-10, guest, invitation, Jesus, Luke 10:38-42, Martha and Mary, Sarah

Martha, againComparisons, contrasts – they are part of our daily life and in all kinds of situations.
From them, a judgement arises deciding that things are different, equivalent, or plainly opposite!

The texts of the liturgy of this Sunday (16th, year C) present us with situations that reflect this.
In the 1st reading (Gn.18:1-10), we hear Abram telling his wife Sarah to hurry and prepare some food for the visitors who have come to their house.

The gospel scene (Lk.10:38-42) shows us a woman, Martha, doing exactly that for the special visitor who has come to their home.
But the visitor, Jesus, is the one now inviting his host NOT to hurry, not to fret about preparing food for him.

Jesus wants Martha to attend to him, yes, but attend to him by simply being there!
He insists that only one thing is necessary – that of sitting at his feet and listening to him, as her sister Mary is doing.

The comparison made between her and her sister must be somehow unwelcome to Martha.
She must find it unpleasant to be told to do what Mary does when Martha wanted the opposite: that Mary does a bit of the work that she, Martha, has been busy with.

It is somehow as if Jesus turns things around.
Last week, the gospel message was that we should not ask who is our neighbour but rather of whom we should make ourselves the neighbour.
This week, Jesus received as a guest in Bethany is the one inviting Martha to be his guest – a guest to whom he offers the most precious food: a sharing in his message about who he is, who the Father is.

No need to worry and to fret – that food is always ready, always available, and sufficient to satisfy all our needs!

Source: Image: blog.sina.com.cn

World Population Day – 11 July

10 juillet 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: adolescent pregnancy, challenges, Child marriage, development programme, health, human rights, poverty, reproductive health, UN

2016-teenage-girls« On this World Population Day, I urge all Governments, businesses and civil society to support and invest in teenage girls. Everyone deserves the benefits of economic growth and social progress. Let us work together to ensure a life of security, dignity and opportunity for all. » Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

2016 Theme: Investing in teenage girls.
In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended that 11 July be observed by the international community as World Population Day, a day to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues. This year’s theme is ‘Investing in teenage girls.’

Teenage girls around the world face enormous challenges. Many are considered by their communities or parents to be ready for marriage and motherhood. Many are forced from school, damaging their future prospects. Even among girls who stay in school, access to basic information about their health, human rights and reproductive rights can be hard to come by, leaving them vulnerable to illness, injury and exploitation. These challenges are exacerbated among marginalized girls, such as members of ethnic minorities or those living in poverty or remote areas.  Yet when teenage girls are empowered, when they know about their rights and are given the tools to succeed, they become agents of positive change in their communities.

UNFPA’s programmes aim to end child marriage, curb adolescent pregnancy, and to empower girls to make informed choices about their health and lives. In 2015 alone, UNFPA programmes helped 11.2 million girls between ages 10 and 19 gain access to sexual and reproductive health services and information.

Source: Text: UN   Image: teenage girls © UNFPA/Anra Adhikari

International Gun Destruction Day – 9 July

8 juillet 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Arms ammunitions, governments, guns, illegal weapons, NGOs

l_389With as many as 640 million guns circulating in the world today, approximately one per every ten persons, the fear of and threat to civilians posed by small arms and light weapons (SALW) cannot be overstated. With this in mind, governments, international organization and NGOs around the world mark 9 July as the International Gun Destruction Day.

By providing independent, impartial and neutral technical advice as well as assistance for the development and implementation of safe and effective SALW destruction initiatives, SEESAC has directly contributed to the destruction of approximately 240,341 pieces of SALW and ammunition across South East Europe since 2002, making the region that much safer.

These SEESAC activities are closely linked to its regional effort to help the collection of illegal and unwanted SALW and to raise awareness among the civilian population about the dangers these weapons present.

Source: Text & Image: SEESAC

15th Sunday of the Year, C

7 juillet 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Good Samaritan, Jesus, Lk.10:25-37, neighbour, parable, Pr.6:2, question, walk the talk

Things we know too well, situations too familiar to us, or texts we know ‘by heart’, are in danger of no longer having an impact on us. The message has been heard long ago and ‘registered’ – it is G.Samaritanthere, at the back of our minds but with little bearing on how we live from day to day…

This may be the case for the parable of this Sunday (15th Sunday, Year C, Lk.10:25-37): The parable of the Good Samaritan. We know it so well, we could tell it with all its colourful details. But knowing it ‘by heart’ and knowing if ‘from the heart’ is quite different!

We could say that this text presents a typical case of someone being caught in his own trap. The lawyer was trying to catch Jesus by asking what he thought was a clever question. But his cleverness turns out to bring him shame. He may then have recalled a text of Holy Scripture: “You have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth” (Pr.6:2).

Most interesting – and inspiring – in Jesus’ reply is how he turns the question asked by the lawyer into another question with a completely different focus. In other words: what is at stake is NOT: “Who is my neighbour?” but in Jesus’ words: “Who proved himself a neighbour?”

The reluctant answer of the lawyer is followed by Jesus’ injunction:  The modern colloquial equivalent of WALK THE TALK!

Source: Image: www.youtube.com

International White Band Day Against Poverty – 1 July

1 juillet 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: anti-poverty campaign, Make poverty history, World Social Forum

GCAP_LogoGlobal Call to Action Against Poverty
The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) is a growing worldwide alliance consisting of national coalitions (or platforms) of campaigns to end poverty.
It is involved with some 38 million people in actions in 2005 in over 75 countries and 23 million people in 2006 in over 85 countries.

GCAP was initially a worldwide alliance committed to making world leaders live up to their promises and to making a breakthrough on poverty during 2005. However due to the success of the campaign during 2005, the 170 members of the campaign’s International Facilitation Group (IFG) met in Beirut in early 2006 and unanimously agreed to continue the campaign up to December 31, 2007. At a global assembly in Montevideo, Uruguay in May 2007 the national coalitions and other constituencies voted to extend the campaigning alliance until at least 2015.

The campaign was founded at a conference in Johannesburg, South Africa in late 2004 and officially launched at the World Social Forum in Brazil on the January 1, 2005. It rapidly grew to earn its status as the largest anti-poverty campaign in the world by building on existing networks, and their strategies and activities. Currently it boasts of more than one thousand member organisations and millions of supporters worldwide.

Source: Text: Wikipedia; Image: GCAP

14th Sunday of the Year, C

30 juin 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: God as Father, God as Mother, God's compassion, God's kindness, God's mercy, God's tendernessmercy, Is.49:15. Is.66:10-14, Lk.15:11-24, Psalms

nursing motherWe could easily have missed it! Yes, I mean the text for our reflection this Sunday (14th Sunday, Year C). The 1st reading is that of Isaiah 66:10-14. The book of the prophet Isaiah has exactly 66 chapters and the last one has 24 verses in all. So our reference for this Sunday comes… very late in the book and someone who has gone through all the previous contents could be forgiven to ‘forget’ the very last section. But then, that person would miss… a jewel!

In these days when we are very often reminded of God’s mercy, some preachers like to stress that, God being a Spirit, is not only a male figure – a father – but includes within Itself feminine attributes as well. They assure us that the Bible uses the metaphor of a mother and, at this point, they quote the well known text of Isaiah 49:15: “Does a woman forget her baby at the breast?… Yet, even if these forget I will never forget you.”

This Sunday presents us with the same image and perhaps even stronger. Here, we see God somehow playing with her child! We read: “Her nurslings will be carried and fondled in her lap”. And the text adds: “Like a son comforted by his mother will I comfort you.”

How encouraging, how comforting indeed, and what a forceful correction to our abstract presentations of an almighty distant God. Yes, God is mighty and all-powerful , but the Psalms keep repeating how kind and merciful, tender and compassionate he is (Ps.103; Ps.145).

Jesus best known parable (Lk.15:11-24) says it in a most vivid and convincing way: God is a father who cannot bear seeing his children far from him – yet, he will never force us, oblige us, or impose on us to return to him when we have gone away. God’s way is not that of coercion or threat, he knows only the way of gentle invitation and tender fascination. He knows us too well to attempt anything else!

Source: Image: www.desipainters.com

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – 26 June

26 juin 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: crime against humanity, international treaties, law, rehabilitation centers, solidarity, torture, UN, victims of torture
2016-2

« The law is crystal clear: torture can never be used at any time or under any circumstances, including during conflict or when national security is under threat.  On this International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, we express our solidarity with and support for the hundreds of thousands of victims of torture and their family members throughout the world. » Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Over the past 25 years crimes against humanity, including torture, have been committed in a widespread and systematic manner in Eritrean detention facilities, military training camps and other locations across the country. Torture seeks to annihilate the victim’s personality and denies the inherent dignity of the human being. The United Nations has condemned torture from the outset as one of the vilest acts perpetrated by human beings on their fellow human beings.

Torture is a crime under international law. According to all relevant instruments, it is absolutely prohibited and cannot be justified under any circumstances. This prohibition forms part of customary international law, which means that it is binding on every member of the international community, regardless of whether a State has ratified international treaties in which torture is expressly prohibited. The systematic or widespread practice of torture constitutes a crime against humanity.

On 12 December 1997, by resolution 52/149, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 26 June the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, with a view to the total eradication of torture and the effective functioning of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, (resolution 39/46), annex, which entered into force on 26 June 1987.

Recovering from torture requires prompt and specialized programmes. The work of rehabilitation centres and organisations around the world has demonstrated that victims can make the transition from horror to healing. This year, 2016, also marks the 35th anniversary of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, administered by the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva, a unique victim-focused mechanism that channels funding for the assistance to victims of torture and their families.

Source: Texte: UN   Image: Eritrean refugees wait for protection and assistance, May 2014. © EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

13th Sunday of the Year, C

23 juin 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: anger, daily life, desire to retaliate, discernment, disciple, frustration, generosity, grâce, James and John, Jérusalem, Jesus, kingdom of God, personal experience, Rom.8:28

2092087_how-did-the-apostles-die_phoi6mn445vbbn4o2ra4kwuovmeatuw6lrlcsphco3flmkbrawuq_757x425Reading the gospel text for this Sunday (Lk.9:51-62, 13th Sunday, Year C) someone could explain with a touch of humour: “This is a mixed bag!” Indeed, we find in those few verses all kinds of ideas. More than one theme is presented to our reflection:

    •    Jesus resolute march to Jerusalem as the time of his passion draws near.
    •    The frustration of James and John faced with the Samaritans’ refusal to allow them to pass through their territory, their anger and desire to retaliate.
    •    A man’s desire to be a disciple of Jesus, perhaps without enough discernment.
    •    Two other individuals called by Jesus to follow him who make excuses for their delay and Jesus’ reply to each one of them.

As I look at the different people and the attitude of each one of them, I realize that, in fact, they represent much of what makes up our daily life: determination, frustration, anger, desire to take revenge, generosity, hesitation to commit ourselves… Yes, all this, and much more, makes up our personal experience from day to day.

What is wonderful is that God makes use of all of this to fashion us into the people he want us to become… if only we allow him to do so. No material is too coarse, no attitude is too rebellious, nobody is too unworthy – God’s grace is sufficient to transform all human experience into building material for the kingdom! Paul had assured the Christians of Rome – and it remains ever true: « By turning everything to their good God co-operates with those who love him » (Roma.8:28). Everything? Absolutely!

Source: Image: channel.nationalgeographic.com