Sri Lanka, former superior of the Claretian brings Jesus' mission to the UN
Rohan Dominic was appointed coordinator of the Claretian missionary group at the United Nations in New York. He will take the post on 11 April. The group has obtained consultative status and is associated with other religious networks.
Colombo (AsiaNews) - "I consider this appointment as the continuation of Jesus' mission, which is to proclaim the good news to the poor, as our founding father and many other Claretians have done in the past before me, according to the means as are available to them in their times”, says Fr. Dominic Rohan, regional superior of the Missionaries former sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (known as the Claretians) in Sri Lanka. He spoke to AsiaNews about his recent appointment as coordinator of the Claretian group at the United Nations in New York. The priest explains what will be its main areas of action: promoting human rights, supporting the activities of the Church International organization, representation of the problems of the country of origin.
Fr. Dominic will take office on April 11 during an orientation day for all organizations that have received recognition for DPI / NGO (Department of Public Information / Non-Governmental Organization) to work at the United Nations. This assignment, he explains, is only the first step towards the real lobbying itself. "Now we are waiting approval of consultative status with ECOSOC, the Economic and Social Council serves as the central forum for international discussions on the subject of economics, politics and society."
Being included in this forum is very important "because this is where you create the recommendations to be presented to UN member states." In this forum he will pursue "the main focus of our group, which is the attention to human rights." In particular, it refers "to the three generations of rights, as they were established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: political rights (life, liberty, religion, peace); economic rights, social and cultural rights (food, work, health, development, housing); of peoples' rights, for example to self-determination of indigenous peoples, respect for their cultural heritage and so on. "
The Claretians of the group has already got the association of "Vivat International", a network of various religious congregations founded by the Society of the Divine Word and the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, which also has consultative status at the UN. The Claretians have also been associated with the RUN (Religious at the United Nations), an informal group of nuns, priests, religious brothers and representing 200 congregations and over 100 thousand members in 177 countries worldwide.
The purpose of joining forces, he reports, "has groped to influence the world body's policies. I believe that the United Nations must work together to unite the tragedies and successes of other nations, and bring them our prayer with new methods. Here we can find a new answer to Jesus' question: 'Who is my neighbor?' ". Fr Dominic ultimately hopes to bring world public attention of the problems facing Sri Lanka: the pacification of the country, missing persons, the eradication of poverty, the rights of women and children, trafficking in human beings , the displaced, the environment and health issues.
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13/09/2021 16:14
