Province History
Joseph Nassal were elected to the provincial council. This
Assembly brought together many of the justice and peace
issues that dominated the headlines in the 1980s and
how we could draw on the resources of Precious Blood
spirituality to respond to these issues. Since many of our
members served in rural areas, the farm crisis was a major
issue and the province sponsored a workshop on the crisis
at the 1987 Assembly.
As part of the Justice & Peace Speaker Series, Sr. Helen Prejean, c.s.j. spoke at St. Francis Xavier Parish in St. Joseph, Missouri on
March 7, 2015. She is pictured here with Fr. Ron Will, c.pp.s. and Br. Daryl Charron, c.pp.s.
Making Peace and Justice a Priority
by Fr. Joe Nassal, c.pp.s., Provincial Director
At the members’ retreat in early June, our retreat
director, Gabino Zavala, invited us to reflect on themes
of gratitude, passion, and hope. In the dialogue one
evening about the grace of the day, I shared my gratitude
for how the members of the Kansas City Province have
always been willing to take risks, to try new ministries, to
move to the margins as missionaries are called to do. The
province’s willingness to take corporate stands against the
death penalty and gun violence and to focus our energies
and resources on issues of justice, peace, human dignity
and the poor has been an important part of our history.
At the 1975 Provincial Assembly, the membership
discussed and passed a resolution rejecting a raise in the
monthly allowance and “resolved that $10 per month
per contributing member be pooled as our community
witness of poverty to be used in the cause of poverty
and starvation, local, national and international.” This
resolution became known as the Poverty Fund and was
the forerunner to the Human Development Fund.
The 1981 Assembly established ѡ