Promoter of Justice and Peace
Brother Aniedi Okure, O.P. is the new General Promoter of Justice and Peace and the new Delegate to the United Nations. He was appointed by the Master of the Order, Brother Gerard Francisco Timoner III, O.P., on October 25, 2020, and assigned to the Convent of Santa Sabina, Rome, on December 10, 2020.
Until his appointment as the General Promoter of Justice and Peace as well as Delegate to the United Nations, Brother Aniedi served as the Executive Director of the Washington DC-based Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN), and as a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at The Catholic University of America. His key involvement with AFJN has focused on advocacy for just African policies and the formation of civil society groups based on Catholic social teaching, contextual social analysis, techniques and the mobilisation of groups for concrete advocacy on issues that impact their communities.
Brother Aniedi has diverse experiences in pastoral ministry in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States, including serving as youth chaplain, chaplain of the Nigerian Federation of Catholic Students, collaborator at St. Ambrose Parish in Boston, Massachusetts, chaplain of the University of Ife, Nigeria, chaplain of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, and chaplain of the Geisinger Medical Centre in Danville, Pennsylvania.
He has set as his number one priority learning about the Commission, about the environments in which members of the Dominican family minister, the challenges they face in their different contexts, and how they negotiate those challenges: “Knowing that we are spread across 120 countries, this will take some time, given the great diversity within the family and the divergent contexts in which we are called to serve.”
He concludes, “The Dominican family has a rich heritage, a multitude of resources, talents and experiences. My goal will be to work with them to find innovative ways to use their treasures to mobilize us for better results.”