CATHOLIC JUSTICE AND PEACE DEPARTMENT

CJPD is a social justice ministry of the Church. The Church always sends out the Department go and deal with a specific social context that injures peoples well –being.

To work against social injustice affecting community or an individual, or a disaster or any event that threatens human life.

CJPD was established in 1988 by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishop in Kenya. At Eldoret Diocese, it started as a programme at Education office in 1991 until 1997 when it became a Diocesan Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC), in 2017 the commission was changed to the Commission on Integral priority for Human Development (CIPHD) to specifically respond to the peoples need for social justice and Peace .Facilitate the empowerment of the people /community on justice and peace through the social teaching of the church and particular programme designed to response to the needs of the people.

CJPD BROAD MANDATE

CJPD is mandated by the Church to awaken God’s people to a full understanding of Justice and Peace. Do consciousness rising, sensitize, empower individual, groups and communities on social justice, peace, and reconciliation. To raise awareness on the roles and duties of the people in addressing and transforming conflict, development, evangelization, governance, human advancement, and human rights.

To actualize this mandate CJPD undertakes specific programmes that response to the needs of the people in promotion of justice and peace. These programmes include the following: -

• Peace Building and Conflict Resolution.
• Governance and Democracy.
• Advocacy and Lobbying.
• Transformative Civil Education.
• Lenten Campaign.

This programme can be broken into specific actions that address a particular need and situation that people are found in.

STRATEGY AND APPROACH

CJPD approach is friendly and gentle. To have facts rights. To dialog with parties concerned.

1. To facilitate finding solution.
2. To monitor and evaluate progress.
3. To inform the Church Authorities on the process.

This means that Justice and Peace Committees who are the executive agents of the parish are answerable to the parish council. On their assignments of social justice, peace, and reconciliation the committees need to have their facts right, isolate issues/matters from persons and deal only with the issue. Avoid being partisan. Consult and seek advice from the Relevant Authority.

CJPD committees Representation.

During a Diocesan clergy. Religious and lay meeting held on 25/08/2012 at St John the Baptist pastoral centre the participants proposed that the composition of the parish (CJPD) commission may include the following: -

1. Parish priest as a patron of the commission.
2. A representative of the parish council.
3. A representative of CMA.
4. A representative of CWA.
5. A representative of Youth.
6. A representative of Religious.
7. A representative of Catechists.
8. A representative of persons with disabilities.
9. A representative of Catholic professionals.
10. A representatives of other lay groups.
11. A nominated member by Parish Priest.
12. Representatives of outstations not represented by the above members.

Election of the Parish Commission Officials.

The parishes will hold election for the parish Committees which must be free, fair and democratic in principal and without any manipulation. All the parish commissioners drawn from outstations will meet at the parish to elect their officials. The presiding officer will ask member commissioners to propose by secretly writing the name of the person they propose for certain position. The first two names with the highest and the higher voters will go to the next stage of secret ballot. The person who will attain 51% votes of all the people present and voting will be declared the winner. The elections will produce Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, and their deputies.

What are the roles and responsibilities of the parish CJPC Commission? The roles or activities of the parish commission will include the following: -

1. To promote justice and peace in parish. (Peace is the fruit of justice. If you work for justice, you will get peace.)
2. Peace building and conflict resolution. Resolving conflicts amicably.
3. Promoting Democracy, Human Rights, Transparency and Accountability.
4. Lobbying and Advocacy. Lobbing for community friendly law at the county level and fight corruption. Advocate for protection of human right and speaking for the voiceless.
5. Do parish civil education training.
6. Do social teaching of the Catholic Church.
7. Plan and carry out Lenten campaigns.
8. Do other assignments to be by the parish priest.
9. Implement CJPC other activities at the parish level.
10. Network with other sister parish commissioners to form a strong watchdog Platform.

Strategy for parish commission is to work in pairs that are working in twos in service delivery- wawili wawili wanakwenda kuhudumia with Na kufundisha watu (two commissioners will go to offer services to the people). Be a company of two people. Two are better than one. Two people are sent on mission to teach in an outstation or in a small Christian Community.

PARISH LENTEN COLLECTIONS AND DONATIONS

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE

• Use of the family packs. The small boxes or containers where a family collects the proceeds that the family members sacrificed.
• Weekly collections at the parish or small Christian communities.
• Use of envelopes.
• Use of exercise books to record what the family sacrifices.
• Asking friendly corporate bodies to support.

On Easter Monday or other day agreed by the parish commission and the parish priest. The parish commission officials Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, and the parish priest meet to open the Lenten boxes, envelopes and other donation containers. Add all the proceeds of the envelopes or boxes together in monetary terms. Assemble all other donations after careful consideration and consensus the parish commission will share out the donation to the needy people in the parish or give Bishop to donate elsewhere.

The money collected and added up will be shared in the following manner: 1/3 of the total money (cash/cheque) will remain with parish treasury, and 2/3 of the total will be sent to the Diocesan finance office.

Diocesan Lenten Remittance

2/3 of the parish collection is remitted to the Diocesan finance office. The Diocesan finance administrator will receive all remittance from the parishes and do the following: -

1. Write cheque to CJPC national office 1/3 of the total remittance.
2. Write cheque 1/6 of the remaining 1/3 of the remittance to Bishop Office for donation to the needy.
3. Write another cheque for 1/6 to CJPC office.

Parish use of 1/3 Lenten collection

• The 1/3 Lenten collection will be kept at the parish treasury. This money will be used first to facilitate the work of the parish commission. The parish commission will make a budget and present it to the parish finance committee for execution. The budget will include the following items: -

1. Commission parish meeting expenses.
2. Cost of travels to outstations for training parishioners
3. Cost of attending Diocesan Lenten planning meetings
4. Cost of making parish Lent banners.
5. Cost of purchases of parish training materials.
6. Estimate for the parish charity work
7. And other items as may be decided.

Diocesan use of 1/3 Lenten remittance

1. 1/6 of 1/3 Lenten remittance will go to Bishop Office for donation to the needy.
2. 1/6 of 1/3 Lenten remittance to CJPD office will be used in the following activities:

• Cost of accommodation and meals for Diocesan Review and planning Lenten Campaign meeting in May.
• Cost of travel for the Diocesan s CJPD secretary and the winner of the year remitter parish to attend National Lenten Campaign planning meeting. (the parish that will remit the highest amount of Lenten collection money is the winner of Lenten remitter of the year)
• The coordinators cost of travel to the parishes.
• Purchases Lenten envelopes and other collection aids.
• Purchases Lenten related materials for training.
• Making banners for Lenten campaign.
• Communication – Airtime/Internet service.
• Any other approval item.

ACCOUNTABILITY

• Diocesan level

At all levels we must practice transparency and accountability to promote justice and peace.

Diocesan CJPD secretary is accountable to the parishes for the 2/3 Lenten collections remitted to the Diocese. She or He must show how the remittance was shared and account for the 1/6 that was given to CJPD.

• Parish level

The parish commission must account to their parishioners 1/3 of the total Lenten collections that remained at the parish treasury. Before the next Lenten period all levels of the commission need to make public their accounts. How they use the Lenten money, and they intend to use the next collection.

What is the work of the Diocesan CJPC Committee?

1. To make Diocesan CJPD policy. They are policy makers.
2. To fund raise for CJPD programmes.
3. To coordinate parish CJPD activities.
4. To plan and facilitate major Diocesan CJPD activities.
5. To represent the Diocese in National CJPD activities.
6. To promote Catholic Social teaches and Ecumenism- working with others for common good.
7. To network and link-up with other church bodies.
8. To be Trainers of Trainers.
9. To participate in Bishops Commendation Process.
10. Approve plan and budgets.
11. To promote democratic practices and good governance.
12. To plan and carry out Lenten Campaigns.
13. To monitor and Evaluate CJPD programmes.
14. And other assignments given by the Bishop.

BISHOP COMMENDATION

There will be a yearly Bishop Commendation award for exemplary service to the people. The CJPD Diocesan commission will formulate ways of vetting the candidates.

They will analyze, evaluate, and recommend to the Bishop to grant commendations people within the diocese for their contribution and exemplary service to the well being and justice for all.

How many times the Diocesan Commission does meet?

They must meet twice in twelve months but also meet at other times as need arises,

Lenten campaign programme

What is lent?

Lent is the period in the liturgical year from Ash –Wednesday to Palm Sunday.

40 days for preparation before Easter (the passion and the resurrection of Our Jesus Christ)

The traditional purpose of lent is to prepare the faithful through:

1. Prayer
2. Repentance
3. Almsgiving / Self – denial (Isaiah 58:6,78)

Forty days of fasting, prayer, and penitence before Easter. From Biblical discussions of forty days, Moses went up Mt. Sinai to receive the 10 commandments and stayed for forty days without water and bread. Elijah went to Mt. Horeb for forty days without food. In the New Testament Jesus went to the wilderness without eating for forty days. FASTING for FORTY DAYS. Let’s campaign door to door to make our sisters and brother prepare themselves before the biggest event in our faith, the PASSION, and the RESURRECTION of OUR LORD and SAVIOR. The Lenten campaign is like no other campaign the commissioners take upon themselves the awakening spirit of Lent to appeal to their fellow parishioners organized by the Catholic Church in Kenya during Lent to advocate for peace, justice, and promotion of human dignity. This campaign seeks to transform communities by getting people to do acts of charity, reflect on real life issues that are plaguing our society today and advocate for positive social change. Pastoral Letter of Bishop of Kenya of 1988 promulgated the ‘JUSTICE AND PEACE DEPARTMENT’ and mandates it to be a useful advocacy tool for justice and peace in Kenya.

Diocesan Lenten Campaign Preparations: -

1. Attend the National Lenten Campaign Planning Meeting.
2. Receive materials from national office Booklets, Posters and Calendars.

These Lenten materials come early enough to allow good parish preparations

1. After national launch of the Lenten campaign, the Diocesan CJPD SECRETARY will immediately call for one day meeting of all parish commission representatives for the planning, learning the Booklet, collection of parish Lenten materials. This is done a week before Ash- Wednesday.

On Ash-Wednesday the Diocesan Lenten campaign Launching is done.

Parish Lenten Campaign preparations

1. All parishes will collect their Lenten materials for readiness of parish campaigns launching on Ash-Wednesday or the first Sunday of Lent. The launch will be preceded by carry Lenten Campaigns banners along the road to: -

Mark the start of Lent season. The commissioners with their fellow parishioners will match singing Lenten Songs to the Church for Ash- Wednesday Mass or Sunday Mass.

1. All parish commissioners from all the outstations will gather at the parish hall as from 9.00 am to prepare and share Lenten materials. Their chairperson or a member who represented the parish during the Diocesan launching will take the commissioners through the booklet to prepare them for the campaigns.
2. The commissioners will work in pairs to spread the campaign message out to all parishioners in the main parish stations, outstations, and small Christian communities.
3. Keep reminding the parishioners of purpose of Lent, the presentation before Easter.

• Prayer and fasting
• Penitence-repentance, clean your soul. The church law of repenting at least once in a year before Easter.
• Giving to their poor. Almsgiving, - sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked. (Mt.25;35-36, Isaih 58:6-8) ‘For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink- I was naked and you clothed me.

The emphasis will be the three pillars:

1. Prayer /fasting
2. Penitence-repentance
3. Almsgiving.

The commissioners in pairs should visit their fellow parishioners in main station, outstations, and small Christian communities whenever they are to remind them of the three pillars and use of the Booklets to bring changes among the parishioners.

The Booklet has good passages linked to the liturgical reading from the Bible.

The users of the Booklet will follow simple method of: -

• Read careful
• See/hear
• Judge
• Act and change

All these activities will help to prepare the parishioners to enter Easter with a changes heart and spirit. Acquire positive attitude towards others- to be instruments of love of Christ, the risen Lord and Savior.

COMMISSIONING OF CJPD COMMITTEES

All the democratically elected CJPC commissioners must be sworn into the service of the church by the church ministers/ the parish priest. It is after the commissioning exercise that the CJPC parish commission became a legitimate organ of the church in service-dealing with issues of justice and peace. The commissioning can be done during a public mass so that Christians/ parishioners get to know their commissioners in service of the church.

Parish commission life span

The parish commission life is three years just the parish council. The commission is executive arm of the parish in social justice and peace. The parish mandates it to teach, create awareness, capacity building and integration to bring cohesion among the parishioners.

Deanery Committees

The three democratically elected parish commissioners (officials) from every parish in that deanery will come to the deanery meeting patronized by the Dean.

These commissioners will democratically elect three officials Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer who will represent the deanery at the county level. These three officials and Father Dean will move to the county to form inter-deanery working committee. The working committee will be composed of all the deans in that county and the three commissioners representing each deanery. For example, in Nandi Hills deanery will send Father Dean and three commissioners and Nandi Hills deanery will do the same. There will be six commissioners and two deans. In the three counties we shall have an inter-deanery working committee. Why have we chosen to this way?

It is because we shall with others play watchdog role over government to remove the chronic corruption that has plagued and bedeviled our public life. We want to guard against bad practices. We fear that officials may increase opportunities for misuse of public funds. That the new system may come with impunity, we fear there may be discrimination and marginalization. So Catholic Justice and Peace Department should be on top of those things and be able to call attention of the leaders.

To bring to the conscience of the leaders the need to serve their people and be accountable to them.

COUNTY LIAISON OFFICE

The inter-deanery working committee and Diocesan CJPD programme coordinator will create liaison office in every county and employ a full time Liaison officer.

The Liaison officer will do the following: -

• To be secretary to the inter-deanery working committee.
• Collect data information / legislation/ bills or by- laws tabled on the county Assembly.
• Inform the inter-deanery working committee and the Diocesan CJPD Coordinator.
• Maintain a databank/ideas bank and records of inter-deanery deliberations.
• Be trainer of trainers
• Write reports
• Prepare notes for lobbying on county assembly for community policy legislation.
• Ensure networking of inter-deanery working committee with other like-minded organization for common community interests.
• Work and consult very close with the deans.
• Work directly under the Diocesan CJPC coordinators.
• Do other assignments given by the Diocesan coordinators.

Diocesan CJPD committee

Composition

Under the direction of the Bishop the Diocesan committee has a Head of Department who is the secretary and a programmes coordinator who is an ex official.

Membership (Maximum 9 voting people)

1. Bishop or his representative as a chair
2. Diocesan CJPD programme coordinator as a secretary and not vote.
3. One dean representing the deans
4. One lay CJPD commissioner from each county (3 people)
5. Two nominated people a man and a woman by the Bishop.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

MONITORING

The Lent season is prayerful period and many catholic do a lot more of charity work, to visit the sick, feed the hungry and cloth the naked. How can these charity activities be captured for motivational purpose? We could ask those Christians who participated in these acts of charity just give their names for record. Such people have been there in the past and they inspire other to do the same. So therefore, let our Christians give their stories and their names for record. CJPD will monitor parish activities of those Christians. CJPD interest is to assess how effective the strategy was during Lenten Period. Also, to observe how many people have read or reading the Lenten Booklet.

EVALUATION

Some suggestions of how to evaluate Lenten Campaigns; 1) how were the Lenten materials used, how many booklets were distributed to SCCs? From the records of the parish how many Christians participated in charity work during the period of lent. Did the parish make returns of the last Lenten collections to the parishioners? How was the reaction about the same? What method did the parish use in collecting Lenten almsgiving? How much was collected last year? How was your parish CJPD commission’s budget look like? How much did you give to charities in your parish? What innovations did make in trying to involve many people in the campaign? What changed during the campaigns?

Rev. Fr. Walter Kibet Cheboi

CJPD Father in Charge