CCCB Standing Committee on CCODP and CCODP Liaison Committee: Joint meetings of 31 May and 1 February 2012

Monday, June 18 2012

The CCCB Standing Committee on the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP) met with the Liaison Committee of the CCODP National Council on May 31, 2012, at the offices of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) in Ottawa, and previously on 1 February at the Development and Peace offices in Montreal.

Each of the joint meetings was preceded by separate meetings of the Liaison Committee and of the Standing Committee. Following their separate discussions, the two committees met together. Both the 31 May and 1 February joint meetings considered a practical process to follow-up on an earlier CCODP invitation that the CCCB offer suggestions on various draft documents being prepared by Development and Peace.

The May and February meetings also discussed a CCODP initiative to develop a “3D approach to partnership,” based on Dialogue, Discernment and Decision. Dialogue would include conversations by Development and Peace with its actual or proposed partners. Discernment includes the ways by which CCODP liaises and dialogues with its partners and with the Bishops of Canada as well as with local Bishops in the Global South. Decisions remain the responsibility of Development and Peace as part of its overall accountability. There was agreement at both the February and May meetings to continue work on the 3-D process as a constructive way to ensure objectivity, transparency, and input from all parties involved. 

The members of the CCODP Liaison Committee are Mr. Ronald Breau, New Brunswick, President of the Development and Peace National Council; Mr. Patrick Hogan, Newfoundland, Past President of the National Council; Mr. Dick Mynen, British Columbia/Yukon National Council member; Mme Madeleine Pothier-Picard, Quebec National Council member; and Mr. Michael Casey, CCODP Executive Director.

The members of the CCCB Standing Committee are the Most Reverend John Boissonneau (Chairman), Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto; Pierre-André Fournier, Archbishop of Rimousk; André Gaumond, Archbishop emeritus of Sherbrooke; Fred Henry, Bishop of Calgary, together with CCCB General Secretary Msgr. Patrick Powers, P.H. In addition, the two Bishops currently appointed by the CCCB as members of the CCODP National Council also participate in the meetings of the Standing Committee: the Most Reverend Claude Champagne, O.M.I., Bishop of Edmundston, and Richard Grecco, Bishop of Charlottetown.