Solidarity Sunday

April 10, 2011 Building a World of Justice

T
Partners on the Road to Freedom
hroughout the dark days of the 24-year
Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste,
the Catholic Church was an important
defender of the Timorese people’s
human rights. Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, with
the help of Development and Peace, the
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and
other Catholic agencies worldwide, brought the
world’s attention to the human rights abuses
the Timorese people were suffering. In 1999,
Indonesia withdrew from the country. In 2002,
Timor-Leste became a nation.
Development and Peace has worked in
solidarity with the Timorese Church’s agencies
such as the Justice and Peace Commission and Radio
Kmanek since the early 1990s. In recent years we
have also accompanied women’s organizations as
they work on issues that primarily affect women
and children, including domestic violence. All
of our Timorese partners are journeying on the
long road to building what Bishop Belo calls
‘compassionate democracy’.

To learn more, request your copy of the 2011 Share Lent Magazine or visit us at
http://sharelent.devp.org.

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 “I am the resurrection and the life,” John 11.25

“We, the predominantly Christian people of East

Timor, like to think of the road we have taken to
freedom as the road that Jesus Christ took toward
Easter – toward the Resurrection. It is a Way of the
Cross, a Paschal experience in its deepest sense: life
through death, consolation through desolation,
freedom through oppression, justice through impunity,
victory through defeat, hope through despair. ...We
have suffered enormous losses on our road to freedom.
We must commit ourselves to truth and reconciliation,
to justice and peace. We must travel with hope,
looking behind the horizon–to a compassionate
democracy. It is our road to Easter–to Resurrection.” Bishop Ricardo da Silva of Dili presents
an award of thanks for Development
Msgr Belo, Road to Freedom, 2000. and Peace to members of the first
Bishop Belo was the first Catholic Bishop to be awarded Timor-Leste exposure tour.
the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1996.

2011

DPC-11-E-23D
1 888 234-8533 www.devp.org

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