Edmund Rice International

The New Year has now lost some of its gloss and the harsh reality of working towards a more equitable way of sharing the earth’s limited resources confronts people of good will everywhere.  Yet the Christmas message still lingers in our ears in the invitation of good King Wenceslaus, who looked out of his warm […]

This year’s Human Rights Day celebrated on December 10th highlighted the right for all people, no matter their race, colour, creed, socio-economic stratus, ethnicity or intellectual ability, to claim and enjoy fully their inherent human rights.  To have the freedom that comes with being included in their local community as worthwhile people with a voice […]

 “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world.” – Eleanor Roosevelt This morning, on my way to the office, I passed a young woman, let’s call her Fatima, sitting on the footpath, […]

When I first heard of Edmund Rice, as an excited young recruit into Eddie Rice camps in Perth, I had no idea that my involvement with the Network would incite the passion for social justice and advocacy that has become such a fundamental part of my adult life. The more involved I became with various […]

  Human Rights are inscribed in the heart of people; they were there long before lawmakers drafted their proclamation. (Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights) Through an invitation from Peter Clinch and Shane Wood who lead the ministries outreach of Oceania, I was privileged to present workshops on the vision and work […]

Aidan Donaldson is Chaplain at St Mary’s Christian Brothers’ Grammar School, Belfast. He also plays a key leadership role in the Edmund Rice Network particularly in ‘Project Zambia’ part of the Christian Brothers’ Developing World Immersion Program. Here is Aidan’s reflection on a recent experience in Zambia:- “Trying to come to any sort of an […]

When I arrived in Geneva to start my work as an ERI intern I did not know what to expect. Would I be getting coffee for four weeks, or perhaps making photocopies? These questions could not have been farther from the truth. In my four short weeks in Geneva I was able to apply years […]

 Vijay Kumar was one of the group of young people who came to Geneva recently to lobby around the submission that a group of children had written for the Universal Periodic Review of India. Here is his account of the visit:- A couple of years ago when I was in school I was introduced to […]

Today, in the Anglican Church, the Book of Common Prayer commemorates John Donne, priest and poet. I was struck by the beauty and aptness of this combination. Priests and poets are both breakers of the Word, albeit in different ways. Macrina Wiederkehr has a beautiful poem, Twilight Hour, which I post here. “Twilight’, she says, […]

Sometimes we wonder about the connection between prayer and doing the work of justice. Scrabbling around on the Internet this morning searching for a prayer resource I came across a reference to Margaret Rizza, the composer of chant and sacred music. Margaret has been involved for many years with spirituality and with different groups seeking […]