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May 6, 2021

5/4/2021

Andrew Conradi, ofs acknowledges and thanks the Lkwungen People,
(of the place to smoke herring) also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations,
for allowing me to live, pray, work, and play on their lands.
May 2021 Blog

Promises need to become Real Action now!

Laudato Si’ Week 16-24 May 2021
will be the crowning event of the
Special Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year, & a celebration of the great progress the whole Church has made on its journey to ecological conversion.

For more info https://laudatosiweek.org/events/

He said in LS 13: “for we know that things can change”

Can faith leaders shift public opinion toward climate action? by Brian H. Smith, Professor emeritus of religion at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin, USA. He was a member of the Society of Jesus for 21 years.

Time for bold action from leaders

How many Catholics, for example, know of the important work of the Global Catholic Climate Movement ?

This is the time for religious leaders to act boldly, since saving the environment is a pro-life issue.

The World Health Organization (WHO) projects that climate change will cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050. Elderly people, children and those living in coastal cities are expected to be particularly vulnerable.

Catholic bishops regularly speak about abortion and the sanctity of traditional marriage. … If they began to support policies to protect the environment and called pollution an "ecological sin" (as did the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon in 2019), those in the pews might be mobilized to channel their environmental awareness and concerns into action.

Members of the hierarchy are sometimes very specific when they point out what they believe is wrong in public policies affecting the unborn. There is no serious reason why they could not make saving the environment a major moral imperative for Catholics, as well.

It is one of the most critical pro-life challenges of our era, and time is running out to prevent massive deaths in the coming decades.

If one is "pro-life" for the unborn, one cannot remain "pro-choice" regarding the environment. Without bold action now, millions of born humans will die in the next 20 years because of inaction in face of this planetary crisis

AND NOW TURNING TO MINING:

What AngloAmerican’s logo should say…

TAKE ACTION: Send a message

See Kairos Canada: Faithful Action for Justice

Barrick Gold Mines Focus of Conflict Globally
“Barrick’s global environmental and human rights track record at these and other mines remains dismal,” says Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada. … “Barrick must stop turning a blind eye on the demands and rights of local communities,” says Diana Martin of MiningWatch Canada. “For many of these communities, Barrick’s mining practices mean the destruction of their livelihoods and ecosystems. As they so often tell us, their water is their gold.” See Mining Watch

Fossil fuel $$ in the B.C. Budget
The B.C. NDP released its new budget 20 April 2021, and it contained over $1 billion for oil and gas companies in the form of tax breaks, incentives, and direct funding. Let’s be clear: This budget was a huge missed opportunity to diversify B.C.’s economy and invest in creating new, sustainable jobs in renewables (or really – anything but fossil fuels). Instead, the government decided to continue its policy of giving fossil fuel CEOs massive handouts from the public purse. If you haven’t already, help increase the pressure on the government by signing the petition to stop fossil fuel subsidies. Just click on the preceding sentence link!

Pope Francis: no time to wait on climate change

In twin Earth Day messages, Pope Francis warned a gathering of world leaders and the global community at large that "we are at the edge" with climate change, and the time to take action is now.

Waste and plastic

Pope Francis, 2015, Laudato si’, n 22. “ … problems are closely linked to a throwaway culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish. … our industrial system, at the end of its cycle of production and consumption, has not developed the capacity to absorb and reuse waste and by-products. We have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations, while limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximizing their efficient use, reusing and recycling them. A serious consideration of this issue would be one way of counteracting the throwaway culture which affects the entire planet, but it must be said that only limited progress has been made in this regard.”

DID YOU KNOW?

According to the Environmental Justice Network: “Trash incineration is the most expensive and polluting way to manage waste or to make energy. It’s dirtier than coal and is more polluting than direct landfilling of trash. For every 100 tons burned, over 70 tons becomes air pollution and nearly 30 tons end up as toxic ash that is dumped in the county’s landfill, making it more dangerous than if waste were placed there directly.” (FAN Newsletter: Love is of God, 3 May 2021)

In Canada approximately 97% of the waste requiring final disposal is sent to landfills and 3% is incinerated. Incineration can reduce the volume of MSW by 90%. Today, incinerators use advanced air pollution controls and can include technologies that remove 99% of the dioxins and furans emitted from incineration. [Can include? How well and how much do they actually remove?]

Training and mobilization for campaigns against incinerators and landfills and for recycling initiatives comprise the majority of The Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) actions.

ZWIA launched a new program at its last board meeting, The Albatross Alliance, to be headed by world-renowned captain of the oceanographic research vessel Alguita, Charles Moore, author of Plastic Ocean. “Zero Waste is the only strategy that can save these legendary seabirds and the oceans where they feed and breed.”
(ZWIA) continues to react to the world wide challenges posed by mismanagement of materials known as solid waste. A Zero Waste future is not only possible, but also inevitable in a crowded world such as ours.
Zero Waste Europe welcomes the [Laudato si’] encyclical of Pope Francis and is pleased to see that there is a growing consensus on the need to transform our wasteful societies into zero waste ones. As Paul Connett once said, “God recycles, the devil burns”.

BUT HOW CAN WE DO IT? YES;
WE DO HAVE TO CHANGE!

RECOMMENDED: HERE ARE SOME WAYS:
ZERO WASTE #BREAKFREEFROMPLASTICS

How much plastic do we ingest?
We Consume a Spoonful of Plastic a Week

You’ve heard about all the microscopic plastic in our water supply. We’re breathing microplastic, eating it and drinking plastic-infused water every day. It is everywhere: in mothers’ milk and in the Arctic.

To date, humans have produced 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic. About 8 million tons of it washes into the oceans every year, where it doesn’t biodegrade—because its large polymer molecules were designed to last forever, and they do. Instead, bigger plastic objects break down into smaller, microscopic fragments, littering marine ecosystems from deep ocean sediments to polar icecaps. And as they float down the rivers and into the ocean these miniature fragments come back to us with the water we consume.

Plastic does not biodegrade. Instead, it breaks down into smaller pieces, and ultimately ends up everywhere, including in the food chain. Pieces that are less than five millimeters in length, around the size of a sesame seed, are called “microplastics.”

People could be ingesting the equivalent of a credit card of plastic a week, a recent study by WWF International concluded, mainly in drinking water but also via sources like shellfish, which tend to be eaten whole so the plastic in their digestive systems is also consumed

Every week 5 grams of plastic. That’s about the same weight as a plastic bottle cap and enough shredded plastic to fill a porcelain soup spoon.

“We have been using plastic for decades but we still don’t really understand the impact of micro- and nano-sized plastic particles on our health,” said Thava Palanisami of Australia’s University of Newcastle, who worked on the WWF study. “All we know is that we are ingesting it and that it has the potential to cause toxicity. That is definitely a cause for concern.”
Are we responsible? What should we do?

Bottled water sellers beware: This student is coming for you

Mireta Strandberg-Salmon campaigned to end bottled water sales in her B.C. high school and university.
...READ MORE

Photo submitted by Mireta Strandberg-Salmon

She was asked: Do you have anything to say to older readers?
Listen to youth voices. Step in when you are needed and then step back. Create space for young people to lead, and keep an open mind when young people challenge the status quo. ...READ MORE

Merci, les évêques/ thank you, bishops!
Quebec’s Catholic bishops don’t just want a recovery, they want change.

The Quebec Assembly of Catholic Bishops’ annual May Day message [St Joseph the Worker] calls for a basic income, higher minimum wage, an economy less dependent on fossil fuels, tax reform that redistributes wealth away from the wealthy and policies that recognize how women have been disadvantaged in our economy.

“Women and young people have been especially hard hit,” the bishops write in “Towards a Just Recovery: Paying Attention to the Lives of Workers.” Read more...

Peace & joy, Andrew, ofs,
6 May 2021

2 Comments

April 09th, 2021

4/9/2021

0 Comments

April's 2021 Blog

 Did you fast during Lent?

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” From Gospel to Life: Isaiah 58:6

Non sola scriptura sed magisterium: Pope Francis, Laudato si’, 217:
“Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”

As Pope Francis has written: “We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.” (Laudato si’, 139). This is clearly exemplified by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) who reflected on the health and humanitarian consequences of climate change in a humanitarian policy brief published as part of The Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change 2020.

“Studies from 2015 to 2020 have shown that climate change had a role to play in 76 floods, droughts, storms and temperature anomalies” said two of the MSF co-authors. Specialists warn how human-caused disruptions to the environment will exacerbate existing medical and humanitarian needs, particularly in climate hot spots.

Re Climate change and covid-19 - consider this:
“But we must not suppose that all the trials and hardships of life are punishments. Many of these are tonics for the soul, and remedies for its deficiencies. The physician who requires his patient to swallow bitter medicine or to undertake painful exercise, is not punishing the patient, but assisting him to health. The physician is not inflicting penalty, but conferring benefit. So it is with many of the pains and distresses which we endure in life; these are medicines prescribed by God for our eternal welfare.”
So said St Thomas Aquinas, OP READ MORE...

Belated Happy 85th Birthday to
David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC, OBC, FRSC
and many thanks!

In June 2018, Pope Francis hosted oil and gas executives on “Energy Transition and Care for our Common Home.” He said: “Yet even more worrying is the continued search for new fossil fuel reserves, whereas the Paris Agreement clearly urged keeping most fossil fuels underground… Civilization requires energy, but energy use must not destroy civilization!”

[PM Justin Trudeau; Conservative leader Erin O’Toole & Premier Jason Kenney are Catholic. And yet …? Then there is the mind boggler from the recent Conservative Party resolution – see below]

Fast from the silence...

We must
speak up!

See video 37 sec

“The businesses, national or international, which harm the Amazon… should be called for what they are: injustice and crime.” Pope Francis, 2020, Querida Amazonia

OFS Canada National Fraternity and Franciscan Voice Canada recently co-signed a letter by The Special Commission on Integral Ecology and Mining for the Brazilian Bishops' Conference (CNBB), the international Catholic network Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) and the German Catholic Church Bank: Bank für Kirche und Caritas (BKC) to Brazilian government officials with clear demands to protect the Amazon and the indigenous people living there. By supporting this letter as a co-signatory, we give more weight to these demands and joined the first Catholic engagement in this dimension.

I asked the three OFS First Order Franciscan Spiritual Assistants if their Provinces had co-signed. Thank you Br Ben Ripley, OFM for passing on the suggestion to his Provincial; from the list of co-signers I see the Franciscans of Canada co-signed. I know all Spiritual Assistants are busy but I did not hear back from the Conventual and Capuchin SA’s if they asked their Provincial before the deadline of 25 March; but I wonder: if not, why not?

Daniel DiLeo of Creighton University told an online audience that the U.S. Catholic church is failing to respond to the climate emergency. He said: “"The U.S. Catholic response has not been anywhere near what is commensurate with the science and the magnitude of what [Pope] Francis describes as the climate emergency. So we've done some things, but it's not anywhere near commensurate with what's required."

This prompted a mea culpa from Archbishop Michael Jackels of Dubuque, Iowa, in his response to the lecture. Can we say the same for the Canadian Catholic Church and the Franciscan Family as a whole, with only a few exceptions, in Canada? Are some more mea culpa’s due? As the Bishop of Rome wrote (Laudato si’, 161): “The effects of the present imbalance can only be reduced by our decisive action, here and now. We need to reflect on our accountability before those who will have to endure the dire consequences.”

I continue to ask: can you imagine the positive effect on youth “who will have to endure the dire consequences” if they saw a Canadian Bishop or a religious Provincial at a Fridays for Future demo?
Cardinal Hollerich invites us to celebrate the #SeasonOfCreation

Pope meets Greta Thunberg 17 April 2019 and supports the Fridays for Future climate strike.
https://youtu.be/cj-ErzvbLfk

Montreal high school students march 27 Sept 2019 as part of a worldwide day of protest against climate change. (Louise Gravel/Radio-Canada)

INFINITE GROWTH
FINITE PLANET

The financial sector is at the heart of an economic model that is killing us and irreparably damaging the planet we inhabit. Failing to act now will have catastrophic consequences for life on Earth. Yet big banks have funded the fossil fuel industry to the tune of 2.7 trillion dollars since 2016. What drives this suicidal behaviour is our economic system. Addicted to infinite growth and ever-increasing profit extraction, this system requires more burning of fossil fuels, more resource extraction, more deforestation and more consumption.

We need an economic system that prioritises human welfare and flourishing, not infinite growth on a finite planet.

DEMANDS
We demand governments, banks, and other political, economic and financial institutions:
Tell the truth about our global economic system which creates staggering inequity, distorts priorities and causes harm. Financial institutions must fully disclose the social, climate and ecological impacts of funding, so it is clear who is paying the true cost.

Act now to stop financing death, destruction and social collapse. Start repairing damage, and make the necessary investments to prepare for the climate, ecological and health crises.
Champion Citizens’ Assemblies at all key levels, including global, with legally-binding mandates to design a fair and just economy in service to all people and life on earth.

Programs in Earth Literacies are about igniting our connection with the living Earth and the profound connection of all life that emerges on it. But did you know that our work promoting Earth Literacies goes beyond our workshops? Read more...

The world needs climate justice, and we need it now. Our politicians, corporations, and leaders have been promising a greener, better future for years, but the world continues to spiral into climate chaos, jeopardizing the present of many, and the future of all. As the end of the fossil fuel era approaches, it is necessary that we move forward from this pivotal point in history through a Just Transition that will ensure the security of our futures. This "Just Transition", as called for by the international trade union movement, must be at the heart of solutions as we work towards a greener economy.

The youth movement is here, more than ever, and we are demanding that Canadian government stop abandoning the promises they have made. Because there is still hope for a better future, once we act.

We as grassroots groups from across Turtle Island [the name used by some First Nations for North America], unite in calling on the pillars of the fossil fuel industry, the government, banks, and insurance companies to #ActOnYourPromises in order to build a safe and healthy planet for all.
Go here to find out more about telling our banks to divest from fossil fuels.

Laudato si’, 13:

“for we know that things can change”

This is what the major Canadian banks have invested
and need to change.....

If you are a Secular Franciscan ask your Franciscan First Order Spiritual Assistant to ask their local Minister and Provincial what bank they deal with and join this campaign. Refer to Caritas in Veritate & Laudato si’! Pope Benedict XVI in his social encyclical Caritas in Veritate wrote that...

the economy - and by extension finance too –“needs ethics in order to function correctly— not any ethics whatsoever, but an ethics which is people-centred” (CiV, n 45) and...

Pope Francis calls in Laudato si’ for a renewed sense of responsibility on the part of all for the common good and for our brothers and sisters worldwide, and this in a spirit of fraternity. (nn 25, 189 & 190)

Individual actions, necessary though they are, are not enough alone and need to be accompanied by government and corporate action. We can Raise Our Voices to make that happen:
The Royal Bank of Canada is the fifth largest fossil fuel funder in the world and the biggest one in Canada. Since 2016, when the Paris climate agreement was signed, RBC has poured over $200 billion into dangerous fossil fuel projects that threaten the very existence of our planet.

Sign now: Tell RBC to stop funding climate destruction and respect Indigenous rights.

Here is a way we can celebrate Earth Day 22 April

The For the Love of Creation faith-in-action campaign is calling on the Hon Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, to commit to:

reduce Canada's national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 60 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, and
invest in a just transition to a fair, inclusive, green economy that creates good secure jobs, and promotes the well-being of everyone in Canada.

Send your letter to Minister Wilkinson now!
It will be automatically copied to the Prime Minister as well as to your local Member of Parliament.
Go to the letter here.

Check out these GCCM-Canada Eco-Invest webinars.
Also see Matching Catholic values with investments

A mind boggler or what?
Conservative party members vote down resolution to officially recognize climate change (20 Mar 2021)(Global News)

Though the party’s policy declaration already contains a lengthy section on that subject, 54 per cent of delegates voted against expanding it to include the sentence “we recognize that climate change is real. The Conservative Party is willing to act.”
Ahead of the convention, the anti-abortion group Campaign Life Coalition had circulated a “voters guide” to the resolutions and had urged its membership to vote down the one on the environment, saying “global warning alarmism” was being used to justify population control and abortion.

[I can only ask should they not also care about pollution which according to an article in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet (19 October 2017) reports that pollution overall accounts for an estimated 9 million premature deaths each year? And how many lives is climate change causing?]

However, according to CBC, 22 Mar 2021, despite Conservatives voting against climate motion, O'Toole says he'll have a climate plan before election and hints at targeting big emitters rather than households.

   About time! But actually everybody - all of us - will have to pay our fair share.
What is our fair share?

Belarus, Hong Kong, Syria, Honduras plus many others
& now Myanmar

Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, OFM Cap wrote a book (2021) entitled:
Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

Things Worth Dying For? Good question! Consider this:
Sister Ann Rosa Nu Tawng, of the Sisters of St. Francis Xavier congregation in Myitkyina in Myanmar is speaking out after photos spread around the world of her kneeling in front of security officers in a desperate bid to shield anti-coup protesters from violence, 28 Feb 2021. The 45-year-old told the UCA News that she had prepared herself to “give my life for the Church, for the people and for the nation.”

Notice the three finger sign pictured below. The Hunger Games salute became commonplace early after the May 2014 military coup d’état in Thailand. Days after then-General Prayut Chan-o-cha assumed power, protesters began flashing the three-finger salute in defiance. Many early on saw the salute as emblematic of the French Revolution, a gesture of liberty, equality and fraternity. Others viewed it as meaning freedom, election, democracy. It has since been used in Hong Kong and now Myanmar.
Could it also mean justice, peace and care of creation?

Naypyidaw, Myanmar 18 Feb STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES| https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-12/
https://www.ucanews.com/news/a-brave-nun-makes-a-stand-in-myanmar/91607

28 February 2021

8 March 2021 Pic: Myitkyina News Journal

Sister Ann Rosa Nu Tawng's resolve to protect peaceful protesters 28 Feb 2021 drew global praise. Sister Ann Roza put herself in danger again just over a week later on 8 March 2021 as she tried to stop police using violence against protesters in Myanmar. Sister Ann Roza pleaded with police not to harm protesters. See Skynews and Aleteia

UCANews reported that hundreds of Catholic laypeople joined by priests and nuns marched in Mandalay, praying the rosary out loud and calling for a peaceful solution to the crisis. Let us pray for them! See Vatican and Catholic Register

By 8 April Al Jazeera reported over 600 protesters killed by the military. In a video message to an online prayer service March 14, Yangon Cardinal Charles Bo said the Feb. 1 military coup and the ensuing crackdown plunged Myanmar into "yet another chapter of darkness, bloodshed and repression." A "decade of reform and opening" has been replaced by a return to "the nightmare of military repression, brutality, violence and dictatorship."

Ucanews.com reported Cardinal Bo praised "the amazing courage, commitment and creativity of our people, demonstrating throughout the country in their thousands for many days."

"They have shown their determination not to allow their hard-won democracy and freedoms, their hopes of peace, to be stolen from them. It was a beautiful sight to see and a great inspiration. The sense of unity and solidarity in diversity -- with people of different ethnicities and religions coming together for the same cause -- was remarkable. But that was met with bullets, beatings, bloodshed and grief. So many have been killed or wounded in our streets, and so many thousands have been arrested and disappeared."

Catholic priests joining Myanmar 's protests against the military coup, demanding the restoration of their elected government and leaders. Learn more

Did you wonder about the story of the woman and young girl
pictured in this Share Love Share Lent poster?

They are María Felícita López (31) and her daughter Hilda (8). María opposed hydroelectric project Los Encinos on Río Chinacla in La Paz, Honduras. Maria is the Coordinator of the Independent Indigenous Lenca Movement of La Paz, Honduras, (MILPAH) that defends mountains, forests and rivers and was born in response to the irregular concessions of rivers and territories to mining companies and hydroelectric projects in their lands. Maria and family have been harassed, insulted and their lives threatened because she defended her people against the building of a dam without community consent which is a breach of International Labour Convention 169. Instead, Global Witness claims that 600 people were bussed in from the neighbouring country of El Salvador to sign consent forms with the promise of employment and were then promptly bussed home again. Worse still, three indigenous activists have been killed and others have been victims of threats, intimidation and smear campaigns.
María’s home was raided by police and army claiming to search for weapons and drugs. Her husband fled to El Salvador after she says he was wrongly accused of murder.

Please support D&P/ Caritas Canada!

Christ is risen! Peace, all good & joy!

For Divine Mercy Sunday:
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness (mercy), and to walk humbly with your God?

Rest in Peace: Swiss Catholic theologian who dared to ask difficult questions: Hans Küng (1928-2021)

“There was a bottom-up movement in Latin America to transform people’s lives,” says journalist Christopher Lamb [Rome correspondent of The Tablet], “and Pope Francis comes from that tradition. He’s not a liberal. He’s not a conservative.
He’s a radical.” [PBS, 2020, Inside the Vatican]

Radical just means going to the root of the problem.
Radical comes from Latin radix meaning root.
I too have been accused of being a radical, as if so being were bad,
and am guilty as charged!
I am happy to be in such good company!

Pax et bonum!
Peace & joy!

0 Comments

Advocates + Responsibility: Leaders or Followers: all good!

3/6/2021

2 Comments

I acknowledge and thank the Lkwungen People, (of the place to smoke herring) also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, for allowing me to live, pray, work, and play on their lands [on the southern coast of Vancouver Island, BC].

FROM GOSPEL TO LIFE:
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places”
[Ephesians 6:12]

Here’s an example: (John Ivison, Two plus two adds up to five, National Post, 4 March 2021): “It is a bitter sign of the times that China has co-opted countries round the world to support its malignant policies. Two years ago, 22 countries, including Canada, issued a joint letter at the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning China’s policy in Xinjiang. Four days later, 37 countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Russia, issued a second letter, backing China’s behaviour and expressing their opposition to the politicization of human rights issues. Similarly, when the Human Rights Council took a vote on China’s crackdown in Hong Kong last July, 53 countries supported Beijing and only 27 criticized the new national security law. Again, support came from autocracies that are deeply indebted to China, as part of its Belt and Road infrastructure plan.”

ECCLESIA SEMPER REFORMANDA
[A CHURCH ALWAYS BEING REFORMED]
(St Augustine of Hippo)
Example of two strugglers “against spiritual wickedness in high places”

Photo credits: Left: Ismael Moreno Coto, SJ and Berta Cáceres, 2013 by Fr Melo Coto and ISN. Right: See below Jesuit article on Padre Melo

The following is a message from Fr Ismael Moreno Coto SJ (shown in photos above) regarding the brutal murder on 3 March 2016 of Berta Cáceres, an internationally renowned Honduran indigenous and environmental leader. Popularly known as Padre Melo, Fr. Moreno Coto is a Jesuit priest and human rights activist in his native Honduras. He directs Radio Progreso and ERIC (Equipo de Reflexion, Investigacion y Comunicacion).

I love how they work SJ into the logos!

From Global Catholic Climate Movement: Today [3 March] we remember Berta Cáceres, a Honduran eco-martyr who was killed by gunmen in 2016 after uniting the Indigenous Lenca people and
successfully pressuring the world’s largest dam builder to withdraw from the Agua Zarca Dam project in Honduras. Berta was a Lenca woman who co-founded the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and dedicated her life to protecting her community and community members.

A Honduran court ruled in 2018 that executives of the Honduran energy company involved in the dam project ordered her killing.

Here is an account of her murder: (Guardian)
Five years after the Honduran indigenous leader Berta Cáceres was shot dead by hired hitmen, the trial of the US-trained former military officer accused of masterminding the assassination has been scheduled for next month [April 2021]. …
“Our struggle for justice was never about the hitmen. It’s always been about wanting to prosecute and jail the decision-makers – those who ordered and paid for her murder. After five years, things have not advanced substantially due to a lack of political will,” said Bertita Zúñiga, one of Cáceres’s daughters.
“Having to confront this unwillingness in the justice system has been as painful for us as losing our mother.” Read more

Reflect: How can we speak up
for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers?

After an enormous outcry inside and outside Honduras,
7 men were finally brought to trial and jailed for their involvement
in the contract killing of Berta.
It was an important half-step forward in a country
of massive corruption and injustice.
Yet five years later, the people who masterminded the killing have yet to face justice, despite evidence and the findings of respected independent experts.
Berta’s family and her organization COPINH have appealed for us to raise our voices with them to demand justice for everyone behind the killing.
Messages from Canada carry weight in Honduras.
Here’s one way we can exercise parrhesia
(bold speech - which we have been told many times to do).
Send a message to Sofia Cerrato Rodriguez,
(Ambassador of Honduras to Canada). Here is the link

Radio Progreso & ERIC
are D&P (Caritas Canada’s) Partners and featured in this
ShareLent 2021 presentation which starts with a great song.
(Video also mentions Berta Cáceres) (1 hr total)

TWO THOUGHTS ON
THE CHURCH’S FUTURE;
FROM HONDURAS & QUÉBEC

From Honduras, Padre Melo:
“We are part of a church, of an institution, which is often more sinner than saint. But we ourselves are also sinners. What right do I have to so directly disavow a church with vertical institutionality that is so often incapable of listening to the cry of the poor, to adhere to such active norms and sexual morality, if we ourselves often fail to lead an austere life, dignified and devoted to others? That’s for starters.”

My team and I are convinced that if the church doesn’t change, it’s only going to become increasingly more isolated. Indeed, we need an ecclesiastical overhaul. Why? Because the church we have now hails from a time that no longer exists. And there is resistance to change. By seeking to stay in that time, the church is moving away from our reality and ultimately losing credibility, while also losing the capacity to provide a service to all of society. Thus, the church’s salvation—and to make the Gospels credible—lies in opening itself to a changing world. I don’t mean to say they have to accept everything we’re seeing now in society, but they do have to enter the dialogue. The Church has to open up and converse, debate about different things, because we live in an ever more pluralistic world, an increasingly diverse world. Religion is increasingly becoming just one sphere of this world, and not an entirety. Only by entering the debate can openness be achieved, listening to diverse ideas (the ‘other’) is how we will be able to modernise our mission of evangelisation. The biggest mistake the church is making is shutting itself off, sticking to concepts that completely come up against everyone else’s thinking.

Thus, the church has to enter the debate and listen to the many minority groups, such as for example those representing sexual diversity, women, Indigenous Peoples, and youth in its diverse forms. Because when you listen, you are then open to receiving the good news that is within these various groups, and not just attack them or say “this is bad”. No, I believe that to be a grave error. Only by listening, opening oneself to others, heeding the call, the cry of these various groups, is how the church can prepare itself to give answers in a creative and novel evangelising mission.”
[Sounds like the bishop I love: the Bishop of Rome! And my OFS Fraternity’s Spiritual Assistant! Some clerics get it and some not yet. Cardinal Lacroix seems to get it.]

Catholics in Quebec are leaving the church in droves.
Can reinventing parish life save it?
Excerpts from: Dean Dettloff , February 25, 2021 America Magazine

Cardinal Lacroix called on the church in Quebec not to struggle to hold on to what it has left but to see itself as a mission church moving outward:
“We must reorient our pastoral teams toward a more intensely missionary activity, turned toward the people and groups that we join too little.”

“Cardinal Lacroix’s decision is fully in tune with what the Quebec bishops have called the missionary turnabout, following Francis’s ‘Joy of the Gospel’.”
[We need to:] “ … kickstart the real church, the one that is not made of concrete, brick and mortar, but of flesh, blood and faith.” Still, 64 percent of people in Quebec identify as Catholic, according to the polling firm Angus Reid, even if weekly Mass attendance is no longer the norm.

Out of such challenges may emerge new expressions of authentic Catholicism in the province. “It means less parochial churches, priests and Sunday Masses, and more smaller meeting rooms where laypersons would animate the liturgy of the Word and be a sign of God’s love for humanity by their personal and collective [action] for the common good.”

It is an opportunity “to become the ‘field hospital church’ that Francis so often speaks about.” … “rediscovering the prophetic heritage of Catholic social activists involved in labor, feminist, ecological and decolonial struggles. The church would be wise to tap into that vein, with the hopes and dreams of Quebec’s youth.”
Mr. Barriault agrees. “A prophetic church like [the one sought by Pope Francis], highlighting social justice and solidarity with the destitute and the persecuted, has the potential of closing the chasm between the church and the modern, secular culture of Quebec.”

Black Lives Matter
When we consider BLM in Canada we should bear in mind the history of slavery in Canada and the connection between it and modern-day racism. Note that in New France religious orders were the biggest slave holders and two-thirds were Indigenous and mostly young girls rather than Africans; is there slavery in Canada today? Figures range from 800 to as much as 15,000. See Jean Bellefeuille, RIP 8 Dec 2017 and these two links Slavery of Indigenous People and Black Enslavement.

See past postings on the Trafficking & Slavery page on this website.
Note the link to the CFR Info Guide on the state of slavery in the world. It is a very pictorial document including video clips. It is touching to watch; we have much to learn, judge and act upon.

Happy St Joseph’s Day 19 March in this year of St Joseph; Patron of workers and Canada.

Peace & joy,
Andrew Conradi, ofs ,
JPIC & Laudato si’ Animator

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Laudato Si’ and Lent 2021

2/23/2021

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Papal Encyclical Laudato si’ (2015) on cry of the earth and cry of the poor:
An updated Canadian video

Kevin Moynihan produced an excellent video overview that I promoted in 2015 as an introduction to Laudato si’. “Laudato Si' - A Canadian Response” (35 minutes)

He has now produced an excellent update (Feb 2021 – 40 mins) in response to the Vatican’s Journeying Towards Care for Our Common Home: five years after Laudato Si (2020).

It features David Suzuki and the Rev. Dr. Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, SDB, coordinator of the “Ecology and Creation” sector at the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; whose most recent book is The Ten Green Commandments of Laudato Si’ (Liturgical Press, 2018). Also Leonardo Boff, Professor Emeritus of the Franciscan Theological Institute in Brasil; Maude Barlow & Greta Thunberg to name just a few of the well known JPIC advocates/presenters.

Suzuki mentions that Pope Francis has broadened the view of human and environmental ecology by stressing that everything is connected. Kureethendam reminds us that “humans” are derived from “humus” (soil) and that should reminds us to be humble and care for the earth. He also reminds us that it was a Franciscan (Leonardo Boff) whose book Ecologia: grita da terra, grita dos pobres (1995, Ed. Ática, São Paulo; and in English 1997, Ecology: cry of the earth, cry of the poor, Orbis, Maryknoll, NY.) tied the two cries together regarding Amazonia. N.B. This phrase was adopted by the Québec Bishops in 2001 and repeated by the Social Affairs Commission, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops: “The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are one” in 2003.

The Laudato Si' + 5 video also reminds us of the Catholic See, Judge, Act method. Maude Barlow is featured on water; Catherine Abreu said that in 2016, the oil and gas extraction sector accounted for $29.5 billion or 10 percent of Alberta’s nominal GDP so, it should not be too difficult to transition to sustainable energy.
See more here:
- https://www.canadianenergycentre.ca/fueling-canadas-economy-how-canadas-oil-and-gas-industry-compares-to-other-major-sectors/
- https://www.canadianenergycentre.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/CEC-FS-18-Jobs-and-GDP-FINAL.pdf

Sister Margo Ritchie, CSJ tells us how on the 2019 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, leaders of Canada’s 64 Congregations of Catholic Sisters called on the country’s politicians to respond to the climate emergency declared by Parliament by taking concrete steps to avert it and described what they themselves were doing. Learn more.
One of the things they have done is join the Blue Communities which recognise water as a common good and oppose privatisation of this vital resource. See more. Other interesting things were Halifax’s plan. Another thing mentioned was a Just Recovery. See more about that here.

Good Ideas to observe Lent 2021:
From Caritas Canada (D&P)
Here is Share Lent 2021 - Webinar 1 - Development and Peace's mission and Catholic Social Teaching (1 hr 10 mins) [I found it excellent!]:

The first SHARE LOVE, SHARE LENT campaign webinar featured the Most Rev. Pierre Goudreault, Bishop of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière; Fr. John Patrick Ngoyi, director of the Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) of Ijebu-Ode, one of our long-time partners in Nigeria; and Gabrielle Dupuis, a youth member of Development and Peace and anglophone diocesan council chair for Ottawa-Cornwall. Through the sharing of personal insights and experiences, they explored the deep links between Development and Peace's mission and work; Catholic Social Teaching principles; and the ideas and ideals of Pope Francis, as expressed in his recent encyclicals. The webinar was moderated by Janelle Delorme, our animator for Manitoba and Thunder Bay. For more SHARE LOVE, SHARE LENT events and activities, visit D&P Lent Calendar.

And from GCCM:
Would you like to know how the Pope Francis’ Encyclicals, #LaudatoSi and #FratelliTutti, are connected? See this video (56 mins) with Fr. Augusto Zampini, Adjunct Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Lorna Gold, Vice-Chair GCCM Board, or for a summary go to Franciscan Voice Canada/Andrew's Blog.

Ways of the Cross
Excellent to combine prayer with See, Judge, Act: GCCM links to two:
1. Ecological Stations of the Cross 19 Feb 2021 by GCCM Africa: [I loved it!]
This is quite long (1 hr 10 mins) and has a few technical problems occasionally with sound and smooth flow but bear with them it is worth it. Br Ben Ayodi, OFM Cap and GCCM Africa are the leaders. The pictures make it worthwhile and the background reflections to each station link cries of the earth and cries of the poor with Laudato Si’.

They are going to do one each Friday of Lent. The next one will be on Fri 26 Feb at 12PM EST (9 AM PST). See here. It will be produced by GCCM’s LaudatoSi’ Animators from Latin America. If the time is not good for you it will be recorded and you can see it on youtube at your own convenience.

2. And under GCCM’S Laudato Si' Lent you will find they link to Caritas Canada (D&P)’s 2016 Solidarity Way of the Cross: Create a Climate of Change (no pictures, text only; so about 25 mins?) which you can also access directly here.

3. A virtual Way of the Cross from the Holy Land. The virtual Via Crucis will come to an end on Holy Tuesday to make way for the celebrations of the Easter Triduum and Easter from the Places of the Redemption. The appointment is therefore from the start of Lent, every Tuesday and Friday on the social media of the Custody of the Holy Land (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). Also available here.

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Government and the Common Good

2/6/2021

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February Blog

I acknowledge and thank the Lkwungen People, (of the place to smoke herring)
also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, for allowing me to live, pray, work, and play on their lands
[on the southern coast of Vancouver Island].

Daniel P. Horan, OFM, Duns Scotus Chair of Spirituality,
Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Il, USA:
The church teaches that purpose of government is the common good. Period.
[The COMMON GOOD is a principle of Catholic Social Doctrine.
See: https://www.devp.org/en/cst
This explains why Franciscan Voice Canada as a voice for Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation is so concerned with politics. Structural injustice is sin because injustice is sin.
That is why we must be involved in politics and raise our voice.]

Do Our Governments work for the Common Good?
[i.e. the Catholic Social Teaching Principle!]
Some do; some not so much. Two examples follow

Here’s one who actually talks about it, Ursula von der Leyen, President, European Commission: excerpts from her message to Davos World Economic Forum 2021: “And to those who prefer the business case. Here it is: More than half of global GDP is dependent on high-functioning biodiversity and ecosystems – and it is from food to tourism, you just name it. And in the latest World Economic Forum Global Risk Report - the top five global risks are all related to the environment. …
The European Union and others helped with money – large sums were invested – to build research capacities and production facilities early. Europe invested billions to help develop the world‘s first COVID-19 vaccines. To create a truly global common good. And now, the companies must deliver. They must honour their obligations. This is why we will set up a vaccine export transparency mechanism. Europe is determined to contribute to this global common good. But it also means business.”

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/01/ursula-von-der-leyen-european-commission-davos-agenda/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unl2SBxH9oo (video of her speech 33 mins)

Then there’s this closer to home: Can we Trust Alberta’s Energy Regulator to Safeguard Coal Mines? The Kenney government says yes, but the agency has a messy track record. “A series of Alberta court rulings on the Ernst lawsuit said the regulator was legally immune from lawsuits and that the agency had “no duty of care” to Albertans or the environment.” Remind me who makes the law and for whom and how do we change it? Read more...

The 2021 Share Lent campaign will feature seven weekly webinars drawing on themes from Fratelli Tutti and D&P’s Mission & Values; Humanitarian Aid; Community Development; Youth Engagement; Fundraising; Advocacy and Holy Week. Info is not yet posted on the website but soon will be, so CHECK HERE

Another great website for Lent
Check out the Global Catholic Climate Movement’s Laudato si’ Lent website

The resources and events are recommended.They include an on line retreat, events and resources (including Caritas Canada/ D&P’s 2016
Solidarity Way of the Cross: Create a Climate of Change)

Lent 2021: A Journey of Hope
Reflect, Repent & Renew.| Together

Laudato Si’ :
“As a spiritual work of mercy, care for our common home calls for a “grateful contemplation of God’s world”(Laudato Si’, 214) which “allows us to discover in each thing a teaching which God wishes to hand on to us” (ibid., 85).”
“85. The Canadian bishops rightly pointed out [*] that no creature is excluded from this manifestation of God: “From panoramic vistas to the tiniest living form, nature is a constant source of wonder and awe. It is also a continuing revelation of the divine”.[55]
[*] [55] Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Social Affairs Commission, Pastoral Letter You Love All that Exists… All Things are Yours, God, Lover of Life (4 October 2003), 1.”
------------
“42. … In order to achieve their task directed to the Christian animation of the temporal order, in the sense of serving persons and society, the lay faithful are never to relinquish their participation in "public life", that is, in the many different economic, social, legislative, administrative and cultural areas, which are intended to promote organically and institutionally the common good.”
- Christ's Faithful People (Christifideles Laici)

Did you know?
Four Pipeline Realities for Alberta’s Rumpelstiltskin. Jason Kenney rants and raves over Keystone XL’s cancellation. But let’s look at the facts.
by Andrew Nikiforuk 24 Jan 2021 | TheTyee.ca

“Rystad Energy also talks about the industry’s dirty laundry: carbon dioxide emissions.
It calculates that the carbon intensity of the U.S. shale industry’s CO2 emissions is about around 12 kilograms per barrel of oil equivalent. In contrast, the oilsands is calculated “at a staggering 73 kilograms” per barrel of oil equivalent. Conventional onshore producers such as Saudi Arabia have a footprint of 19 kilograms per barrel of oil equivalent.” - the tyee
Makes you think? So what? Here’s what:
Trudeau promised a Just Transition Act.
We’re pushing him to deliver. No more empty promises!
It was disappointing to see Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet mourning the cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline. Instead of wasting their breath on a doomed pipeline, they should take action to support workers and communities. That’s why we’re taking action to call on Prime Minister Trudeau to deliver the Just Transition Act he promised in 2019.

and Sign the petition today.

Thank you, President Biden for cancelling KXL, a step in the right direction!

Even necessary within the Catholic church! Three examples:
1. “Like many pioneering black sisters in white orders, Ebo endured unconscionable discrimination from her white counterparts and superiors.” Read more
2. Priests who are biological fathers of children: Read more
3. “ …be aware that sexual abuse of nuns exists, and that when — as long as victims don't speak out, perpetrators will just go on.” Read more

“It’s shocking how many women are beaten, insulted, and raped,” - says the Holy Father in The Pope Video for February

Climate change disasters in B.C. likely to increase if industrial logging continues unchecked: report - Learn more at CBC News

Beginning 2 March 2021, the Office for Evangelization and Catechesis (English Sector) of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) will offer a four-part webinar series entitled,
Nurturing Friendship, the Directory for Catechesis in Dialogue with the Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti,
and invites individuals who are responsible for evangelization and catechesis including, clergy, consecrated persons, laity involved in ministry, directors and coordinators of evangelization and catechesis, and Catholic educators to participate.

Webinars will take place on Tuesday afternoons on 2, 9, 16 and 23 March and are 90 minutes in length. Registration is free of charge, however interested participants are invited to sign up before Monday, 22 February 2021. When registering directly within the Zoom meeting platform, participants can indicate their preference for one, two, three or all four of the sessions. For more information about the series, contact Margaret Shea-Lawrence by email at m.shea-lawrence@cccb.ca.

LET’S END ON A HOPEFUL NOTE!
Against Climate Gloom and Doom
When given a chance, life finds a way.
Here are some reasons to keep hoping - and fighting.

As the environmental problems facing our world compound, despair may feel like a rational response. In her new book ‘Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think Is Critical to Solving the Environmental Crisis,’ environmental scholar Elin Kelsey makes an evidence-based argument for choosing hope over despair. Kelsey holds up examples of how ecosystems — including along our coasts and in our ocean — have managed to rebound from damage when given the chance, illustrating nature’s impressive resilience. By sharing these case studies, Kelsey offers reasons to reject apathy and to mobilize. Only if we believe there’s an opportunity to make a real positive impact will we find the motivation to fight for the protection and restoration of ecosystems we depend on. In this condensed excerpt, Kelsey shares a few hope-filled success stories specific to coastal ecosystems.
Read more: The Tyee and Royal Roads

Peace & joy, Andrew, ofs

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Hope is Bold: A Culture of Care

1/9/2021

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January Blog

POPE FRANCIS: Angelus, Sunday 3 Jan 2021:
“We do not know what 2021 will bring, but what each of us and all of us together can do, is to commit to taking care of each other and of creation, our common home.”

JUST A THOUGHT: RIGHTEOUS ANGER
“according to St. Thomas Aquinas, [anger] is passion that moves the will to justice. All too often, injustice flourishes in our society precisely because we’re not angry enough.”
(Fr Bryan Massingale, professor of theological ethics at Fordham University, NY City) Read More...

Bishop Mark J. Seitz kneels at Memorial Park in El Paso, Tex.
CNS photo/Fernie Ceniceros, courtesy Diocese of El Paso
Read More....

"Hope is Bold" Pope Francis

Fratelli tutti: “55. I invite everyone to renewed hope, for hope “speaks to us of something deeply rooted in every human heart, … of a thirst, an aspiration, a longing for a life of fulfillment, a desire to achieve great things, things that fill our heart and lift our spirit to lofty realities like truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love… Hope is bold; it can look beyond personal convenience, the petty securities and compensations which limit our horizon, and it can open us up to grand ideals that make life more beautiful and worthwhile”.[52] Let us continue, then, to advance along the paths of hope.”

From Cries to Dreams
Whenever I feel sad and hopeless and sense that JPIC is not taken seriously enough by my fellow humans including some Franciscans, I end up sooner or later with these thoughts from Understanding JPIC:
“Perseverance
7.6.a. Sometimes working for JPIC can be difficult and seemingly hopeless because of indifference or even hostility. We must never lose heart or hope: "I would like to make an appeal to those in possession of greater resources, to public authorities and to all people of good will who are working for social justice: never tire of working for a more just world, marked by greater solidarity!” (Pope Francis, 25 July 2013)

9.6. Though JPIC is sometimes difficult we must always remember to persevere: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Gal 6:9).

9.7. A last word from Francis: “Let us begin, brothers, to serve the Lord God, for up until now we have done little or nothing!” (1 Cel 103).”

Culture of Care
Pope’s World Day of Peace message: no peace without a "culture of care" - Vatican News

In his message for the 54th World Day of Peace marked on 1 January, Pope Francis offers the Church’s social doctrine as a "compass" to foster a culture of care for peace in the world. Pope Francis appeals to the international community and every individual to foster a “culture of care” by advancing on the “path of fraternity, justice and peace between individuals, communities, peoples and nations.”

“There can be no peace without a culture of care,” the Pope stresses in his message for the 54th World Day of Peace, held on 1 January 2021. The Holy Father traces the evolution of the Church’s Culture of Care from the first book of the Bible to Jesus, through the early Church down to our times.

After the creation of the world, God entrusts it to Adam to “till it and keep it”. Cain’s response to God – “Am I my brother’s keeper?” – after killing his brother, Abel, is a reminder that all of us are keepers of one another. God’s protection of Cain, despite his crime, confirms the inviolable dignity of the person created in God’s image and likeness.

The “beating heart of the Church’s social doctrine [Pope Francis says,] can serve as a “grammar’ of care: commitment to promoting the dignity of each human person, solidarity with the poor and vulnerable, the pursuit of the common good and concern for the protection of creation.”

How Can We Play Our Part?
We need leadership!
We can do individual acts of kindness and care for creation but we are called to go out into “the city.” As entities in the OFS and Franciscan Family how can we expand our role to be in the forefront as our Rule calls us?
If that means to lead, how do we do it? Has our National Fraternity taken a lead?
Given that OFS Rule invites us to be in the forefront [i.e. to lead] in promoting justice [15]; cultivate peace [17] and move to the Franciscan concept of universal kinship [18]; and given that many, especially youth world wide, recognise that we face climate change as an urgent and possibly greatest threat to human existence, I ask: does the National Council accept the desirability of the formation of a bilingual Canadian Franciscan Family JPIC organisation to promote Evangelii Gaudium (2013), Laudato si’ (2015), Fratelli tutti (2020) and Catholic Social Doctrine as it evolves.

How do we implement Journeying Towards Care for Our Common Home (2020)? in which the Dicastery for Promotion of Integral Human Development called us all, families, dioceses, schools and religious orders, to participate in a new program and a public commitment for various institutions to begin a 7-year journey to total sustainability in the spirit of Laudato Si’. Surely that calls for a response from National?

To cheer from the sidelines and drag our feet is not an option and risks irrelevancy while we are concerned only with internal matters, important though they be. From the time of the Second Vatican Council especially, and under the guidance of subsequent popes, the Catholic Church has been reflecting on the meaning of the work of justice, peace and care of creation as it relates to evangelization. Under Pope Francis, this New Evangelization calls for a new impetus from Journeying Towards Care for Our Common Home. It's time to become informed and involved in this work, which seeks the happiness and freedom of every individual.

From Gospel to life: “Make justice your sacrifice, and trust in the Lord.” Ps 4:6

Learn more about Laudato Si' from Development and Peace.

Inspiring stories of hope
First, the Bosnian Muslim who saved the Sarajevo Jewish Hagaddah from the Nazis in 1942:
...Learn more

Another beacon of hope: Bishop “Tatic” Don Samuel Ruiz Garcia (1924-2011)
24 January 2021 is the 10th anniversary of his death.

Don Samuel built the church in Southern Mexico long before Pope Francis spoke of the peripheries. I met Tatic and he was, and still is, an inspiration to me in promoting Fair Trade coffee and in the struggle for justice and human rights.

During his 40 years as bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, he transformed the diocese into Latin America’s first real “autochthonous church,” true to the principles of the Second Vatican Council and the Second General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops at Medellín, Colombia, in 1968, two events in contemporary church history that influenced him deeply. He preached “evangelization by the poor,” instructed his priests to study local indigenous languages and trained hundreds of catechists and deacons.

In his practice, being an autochthonous church meant incorporating indigenous traditions in the church and welcoming the participation of indigenous people in a region whose inhabitants had never been treated as equals by European colonizers and their descendants. Bishop Ruiz ordained hundreds of indigenous deacons and translated the Bible into Tzeltal, one of the many local Mayan dialects.

Beyond church reform, Bishop Ruiz became one of Chiapas’s and Mexico’s principal advocates of social justice and equality, championing indigenous rights and the struggle against poverty and racism. He founded the Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Centre), known as Frayba in 1989. Frayba has had a lasting influence on me because they asked me to visit Acteal 18 months after the massacre of Las Abejas, a pacificist group by paramilitaries. That visit was life changing for me.
Read more: 23 Years of Impunity for Perpetrators of Acteal Massacre

Landowners and the rich elites of Chiapas accused Tatic of Communist sympathies and confronted him, sometimes violently but he was only implementing the preferential option for the poor, a Catholic Social Doctrine principle at the heart of liberation theology.

He was also often at odds with members of the Mexican church hierarchy, who acted as defenders of the political and cultural status quo, and with the Vatican, which did not approve of his ordinations of indigenous deacons. In 1993, he was asked to step down. After he wrote a pastoral letter defending his reforms and his pastoral approach, Mexican bishops rallied behind him, and he stayed on for another six years. The Vatican banned the ordination of indigenous deacons soon after his resignation. But in death, Bishop Ruiz found a powerful ally in Pope Francis, who not only overturned the ban, but in 2016 prayed at Bishop Ruiz’s tomb and celebrated Mass in San Cristóbal with thousands.

When Tatic went to the highlands to visit indigenous communities who grew coffee on small plots he did not stay with the non-indigenous big estate (finca) landowners as his predecessors had, but with the local indigenous peoples. When he did visit the finca owners and was offered coffee he would tell them that their “coffee was paid for with blood” because of the injustice in landownership and treatment of indigenous peoples.

Download this chart here.

Peace & joy, Andrew, ofs

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Saint Francis Continues to Inspire Pope Francis

12/5/2020

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December's Blog

Fratelli tutti – Saint Francis and Pope Francis
From Gospel to life: A way of life – not “away” from life
See, Judge, Act and Advocate i.e. talk, write or phone!

The titles of Pope Francis’ exhortation and encyclicals Evangelli gaudium, Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti are all based on the words and inspiration of St Francis of Assisi.

Here is a new Vatican website: www.fratellitutti.va
A short extract from the website: “To create an open world with an open heart, it is necessary to engage in politics, and a better kind of politics (Ch. 5) is essential. Politics for the common and universal good. Politics that is “popular” because it is for and with the people. It is politics with social charity that seeks human dignity. The politics of men and women who practice political love by integrating the economy with the social and cultural fabric into a consistent and life-giving human project.” (emphasis added)

Following are some thoughts from Pope Francis who meets author Austen Ivereigh with whom he collaborated in the book, "Let Us Dream: The Path to A Better Future" published 1 Dec 2020 by Simon & Schuster, NY:

“Solidarity is not the sharing of crumbs from the table, but to make space at the table for everyone”
He takes the “see-judge-act” method of social action — what he calls “contemplate-discern-propose” — and uses it to describe the current state of affairs, to look at attitudes behind many issues and to call for a new way of doing things.

“We need economies that give to all access to the fruits of creation, to the basic needs of life: to land, lodging, and labour.” And, he said, “we need a politics that can integrate and dialogue with the poor, the excluded and the vulnerable, that gives people a say in the decisions that impact their lives.”
Abortion, anti-immigrant sentiments, racism, lack of care of the elderly and the embracing of an economic system that focuses on profit at all costs are all signs of the “erosion of the value of life,” he said.

“Without a vision for society rooted in the dignity of all people,” he said, “the logic of the unfettered market ends up turning life from a gift into a product.”

Pope Francis said in the book that he believes “it is time to explore concepts like the universal basic income (UBI)”.

“Food and Farming - Agricultural Sustainability”
In the Holy Father’s second TED talk (see the TED Talk in the November issue of the Common Good), he focused on three courses of action to address the world’s growing environmental problems and economic inequalities, illustrating how all people of goodwill, of any faith or no faith but good intention, can work together, to protect the Earth and promote the dignity of everyone.

The three courses: (1). education in the care of our common home; (2). focus on water and nutrition (including farming) & (3). transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.

Franciscan Voice Canada sees itself as part of (1) the educational process and has frequently featured the various organisations which promote (3) an end to fossil fuel use especially through Fridays for Future. In terms of (2) it has promoted Development and Peace (Caritas Canada’s) articles on water, food sovereignty, small farmers and sustainable agriculture.

FVC wishes to bring to your attention renowned Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, and anti-globalization author Vandana Shiva’s interview for the Economy of Francesco.

Here are some excerpts which remind us why we must collaborate with people of good intentions as Pope Francis reminded us in Fratelli tutti:

“When I read Laudato si’ I felt I was reading our ancient Vedic texts, especially the Atharvaveda on our duty to have reverence for the Earth and all her beings. … The Economy of Francesco has become an ethical and ecological imperative for the survival and well being of the planet and people. … At their core, all faiths teach us to take care of creation, of each other. No faith says destroy the earth, let your neighbour starve. The stories of creation might be different, but the duty to creation is common. Faiths focus on duties and unite us in our common humanity. …Today, the biotech companies working with the tech billionaires want to create digital agriculture and farming without farmers. They want to replace real food and the bread of life with patented lab food. Poverty, hunger and chronic diseases are a consequence of the greed of corporations who push poisons and chemicals to grow food and process it. … I wrote a book on the Green Revolution, which created new markets for the fertilizer industry, destroyed the soil, the water, and contributed to climate change. It left the farmers trapped in debt. Then GMOs were introduced with the same argument. They left a trail of debt and suicides, and even though they were sold as a miracle pest control technology, they failed to control pests. Hundreds of farmers died because of pesticide poisoning… Technology means tools. Tools need to be assessed and chosen with responsibility. Tools are a means to improve human wellbeing while working according to the laws of ecology. The big technology barons are trying to elevate the tools through which they make super profits by mining our data and patenting everything - our seeds, our food, our data -as a new religion. Tools and technologies are being made the higher ends, and humanity and the earth are being reduced to means. ”

2014 D&P campaign

Report:
Only small farmers and agroecology can feed the world
Industrial agricultural methods can no longer feed the world, due to the impacts of overlapping environmental and ecological crises linked to land, water and resource availability. A new report by an international panel of agriculture experts echoes the conclusion of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2014. The future of food is “agroecology”, the traditional way of farming using methods that are less resource oriented, and which work in harmony with society. Small farmers feed 70 percent of the world population. That percentage should go up in the interest of long-term sustainability. - Optimistdaily.com

Ending long-term drinking water advisories

As of February 2020, 61 Indigenous reserves were under long-term drinking water advisories, half of which remain unresolved after more than a decade. These water advisories warn people to either boil water before use, not to consume it, or avoid it altogether because of toxicity levels.
'This is not the country you believe it is,' Neskantaga First Nation chief says amid water crisis

These will make you think:
Canadian billionaires add $53 billion to their wealth pile during the pandemic - Financial Post

And this from:

Email 29 Nov 2020 from Tzeporah Berman, International Programs Director, Stand.earth.

But over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian government has also given over $14 billion of your tax dollars to the fossil fuel industry – that’s 10 times the average of other G20 countries.

See Canada Energy Policy Tracker

In spite of this:
Amazon deforestation surges to 12-year high under Bolsonaro - The Guardian

We have these!
Dutch government ordered to cut carbon emissions in landmark ruling
- The Guardian

Climate change:
Temperature analysis shows UN goals 'within reach' - BBC.com

European states ordered to respond to youth activists' climate lawsuit. - The Guardian
Climate case clears major hurdle as European court recognises “importance & urgency” - Global Legal Action Network
Six young people from Portugal are taking 33 countries to the European Court of Human Rights for failing to act to avert climate catastrophe - youth4climatejustice.org/

We wish you a Merry Christmas
& A Happy New Year!
Peace, all good & joy!

Thanks to St Lawrence Capuchin Seminary

And this English Canadian would sing, or better, say:
“God rest you merry Franciscans:
We want a figgy pudding:
we won’t go until we get one,
so bring it out now!”

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SEE, JUDGE, ACT (SEE, LEARN, PRAY, ACT): DISCERN THE TRUTH

11/9/2020

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Are we in danger of becoming blasé? In his recent TED Countdown talk (13 mins), Pope Francis asked all of us to take "concrete and pressing actions" to stop the climate crisis.

Did you Sign the Catholic Petition for just action on COVID and the Climate Emergency? Please do and show the Pope and the world that you care! Sign the petition is here

Fratelli Tutti - Pope Francis
Let us also consider the Pope’s latest encyclical Fratelli Tutti. Here is a very informative discussion:

You can watch/listen to it here

However, you may not have the time (56 mins) to listen to the discussion or read Fratelli tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship which is 276 pages long.

So permit your JPIC and Laudato Si’ Animator to do his job and give you a 3 page summary including a few points that caught his attention!

Fratelli tutti was published 4 Oct 2020, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Both Laudato si’ (LS) and Fratelli tutti (FT) start with words of St Francis.
Chapter 1 describes the sad state of the world. Although depressing, there is hope. "Difficulties that seem overwhelming," the Pope writes, "are opportunities for growth, not excuses for a glum resignation that can lead only to acquiescence." (78) Difficulties cited: the manipulation and deformation of concepts such as democracy, freedom, justice; the loss of the meaning of the social community and history; selfishness and indifference toward the common good; the prevalence of a market logic based on profit and the culture of waste; unemployment, racism, poverty; the disparity of rights and its aberrations such as slavery, trafficking, women subjugated and then forced to abort, organ trafficking (10-24). Global problems call for global actions, emphasizes the Pope, also sounding the alarm against a “culture of walls” that favours the proliferation of organized crime, fuelled by fear and loneliness (27-28).
Chapter 2, a meditation on the parable of the good Samaritan, could make good material for fraternity and parish discussion groups. We all, in fact, are co-responsible in creating a society that is able to include, integrate and lift up those who have fallen or are suffering (77). Love builds bridges and “we were made for love” (88). We must recognize Christ in the face of every excluded person (85).
Chapters 3 and 4 present the Pope's fundamental vision. “The spiritual stature of a person’s life is measured by love, which always “takes first place” and leads us to seek better for the life of the other, far from all selfishness (92-93). The sense of solidarity and of fraternity begin within the family, which are to be safeguarded and respected in their “primary and vital mission of education” (114).
This love must extend beyond family, tribe and nation to strangers, migrants and all people into a social friendship where the worth of every person is acknowledged. Chapter 3&4 are foundational to the Pope’s approach to humanity and its problems.
Chapter 5 presents the Pope's political philosophy, Chapter 6 is on the importance of social and cultural values, and Chapter 7 deals with reconciliation and peace building. If only politicians and world leaders would read these chapters, which stress that we should see everyone as our brother and sister and treat them with kindness and respect.
Finally, Chapter 8 speaks of the role of religion in building fraternity. This chapter will be especially useful for ecumenical and inter-religious dialogues.

So now to some points.

The phrase fratelli tutti is taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s “sixth admonition” to the friars, all of whom were men. In Italian, fratelli means brothers or brothers and sisters since, in many Romance languages, including Spanish spoken in the Pope’s native Argentina, the masculine form of nouns is traditionally used when referring to males and females collectively. The Pope acknowledges this: “1. “FRATELLI TUTTI”.[1] With these words, Saint Francis of Assisi addressed his brothers and sisters and proposed to them a way of life marked by the flavour of the Gospel.”
Dan Horan, OFM says: The reason that St. Francis preferred the title "brother" was simple: He truly meant that he saw himself as inherently related to all women, men, and even nonhuman creatures as part of God's one family of creation. To talk about fraternity as a disposition or value is to talk about how you view and relate to other people, including strangers and those who may be very different from you. It is about recognizing intrinsic familial ties with all people and creatures.” [i.e. universal kinship with creation as OFS Rule 18 puts it].
Dan Horan goes on to say that these three themes are the bases of FT: Fraternity; Crossing borders, building bridges; & Peacemaking and reconciliation.
FT is a sibling of LS and continues the thread of Common Home, Common Family, and integral human development encapsulated in the phrase: “cry of the earth, cry of the poor.” Not much is actually new; rather it is a restating of accepted Catholic Social Teaching and Pope Francis’ thought in some detail and sharply focused. It is more an assertion of values, not a prescription of solutions.
It also continues the idea of reaching out, going outside to the streets to evangelise as espoused in Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel, 2013). It draws on the parable of the Good Samaritan and its solidarity with neighbours without borders (3-8 & ) and universal (catholic!) friendship.
It calls for a new politics; from fragmentation to unity; from nationalism to international and multi-nationalism i.e. unity in diversity globally and locally.
It talks about the causes of migration being examples of unfairness in the present world system and again reminds us that politics can be one of the highest forms of charity; but nationalistic populism is not a good example. With their lives “at stake” (37), fleeing from war, persecution, natural catastrophes, unscrupulous trafficking, ripped from their communities of origin, migrants are to be welcomed, protected, supported and integrated. Unnecessary migration needs to be avoided, Pope Francis affirms, by creating concrete opportunities to live with dignity in the countries of origin.
The theme of the fifth chapter is A better kind of politics, which represents one of the most valuable forms of charity because it is placed at the service of the common good (180) and recognizes the importance of people, understood as an open category, available for discussion and dialogue (160). This is the populism indicated by Francis, which counters that populism which ignores the legitimacy of the notion of people, by attracting consensuses in order to exploit them for its own service and fomenting selfishness in order to increase its own popularity (159). But a better politics is also one that protects work, an “essential dimension of social life”.
FT does not decry capitalism or business, as such, merely the excess of these when ruled only by the market and greed as opposed to sharing. The undue influence of finance and the free market needs to be curbed. The Pope writes that the free market cannot resolve every problem, and specifically condemns trickle-down economics as “this dogma of neo-liberal faith.” A politics centred on human dignity and not subjected to finance because “the marketplace, by itself, cannot resolve every problem” is needed.
The Pope also calls us to consider “an ethics of international relations” (126), because every country also belongs to foreigners and the goods of the territory cannot be denied to those who are in need and come from another place. Thus, the natural right to private property will be secondary to the principal of the universal destination of created goods (120).
The Pope has decried plundering rather than sharing. In Catholic Social Teaching sharing follows the principle of: the universal destination of goods (120) and profit and private property are subject to a social mortgage.
We must move from destruction to caring for our common home and family. Specifically it is almost impossible to wage a “just war” because of the excessively destructive nature of modern weapons. We must divest from fossil fuels and military weapons and re-invest in sustainable economic activity especially production of food. The total elimination of nuclear arms is “a moral and humanitarian imperative”. With the money invested in weapons, the Pope suggests instead the establishment of a global fund for the elimination of hunger (255-262).
The death penalty: it is inadmissible and must be abolished worldwide. (263-269)
The Pope warns of the dangers of a social media that has, “now given free rein to ideologies. Things that until a few years ago could not be said by anyone without risking the loss of universal respect can now be said with impunity, and in the crudest of terms, even by some political figures.”
Pope Francis was inspired by Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew’s passionate pleas to care for creation in writing LS and for FT the Pope recalls St. Francis' famous encounter with Sultan Malek al-Kamil at Damietta, Egypt, in 1219 and cites Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb and their joint declaration in Abu Dhabi, Feb 2019. That first-of-a-kind document embraced ‘brotherhood’ among different religions, but called especially for religious freedom, condemning religious persecution and radicalized religion.
South African Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu, was also an inspiration for his encyclical (286). Tutu is the main proponent of Ubuntu, an African humanist philosophy based on a culture of sharing, openness, mutual dependence, dialogue and interpersonal encounter. In Ubuntu, human existence reaches fulfilment as part of whole, society thrives on a common humanity, and forgiveness and reconciliation are prerequisites for preserving social harmony.
Because kindness "entails esteem and respect for others, once kindness becomes a culture within society it transforms lifestyles, relationships and the ways ideas are discussed and compared," he writes. "Kindness facilitates the quest for consensus; it opens new paths where hostility and conflict would burn all bridges."
This should lead to a "culture of encounter," he says, where people "should be passionate about meeting others, seeking points of contact, building bridges, planning a project that includes everyone."
The Pope underlines that peace is connected to truth, justice and mercy; it is “proactive” and aims at forming a society based on service to others and on the pursuit of reconciliation and mutual development (227-229).
Pope Francis concludes his Encyclical, remembering Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Gandhi and above all Blessed Charles de Foucauld, a model for everyone of what it means to identify with the least in order to become “the universal brother” (286-287). The final words of the Encyclical come from two prayers, namely one “to the Creator” and the “Ecumenical Christian Prayer,” praying that the heart of mankind may harbour “a spirit of fraternity.”

Peace & joy, Andrew, ofs

On-Going Formation:
  See the November Living Fraternity on-going formation issue which focuses on Fratelli Tutti

  Further reading:
  https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/fratelli-tutti-pope-fraternity-social-friendship-short-summary.html
Dan Horan, OFM: https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/faith-seeking-understanding/relationship-leads-us-peace-three- key-franciscan-themes

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We have a vaccine! - October's Blog

9/5/2020

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The Three “S” Vaccine: Solidarity, Sharing & Service.

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, SDB, Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar
on the Feast of St Francis of Assisi 2020 said:
“Let the Christian Community, spurred by its faith, go out with the
three S vaccine: Solidarity, Sharing & Service.
Together we can work miracles, walk on the water of human fellowship.
Let not our hearts be disturbed. God is in charge.”
We must do better

The Season of Creation Matters!
What can we do? Two examples:

We can See, Learn, Pray, Act!
Here is something that the friars at Mt St Francis in Cochrane, Alberta have done: Biofuel Eco-Boiler technology utilizes the biofuel created by their waste stream and Eco-Growth Organic Reactor (EGORTM) to produce hot water or steam for building or processes. Biofuel has a high combustion and BTU value that safely and efficiently heats water replacing fossil fuel requirements.

Another example: The Butterflyway Project

A citizen-led movement growing highways of habitat for bees and butterflies across Canada.
Butterflyway Rangers in Victoria, B.C., planted more than 10 pollinator gardens in the city, at private residences, public parks, schools and hospitals.

The Victoria Rangers built a bicycle-propelled flower buggy as a mobile pollinator classroom. This garnered much interest from young and old alike, inspiring many to plant their own pollinator gardens!
The Victoria Rangers also employed art and creativity, building giant butterfly puppets and a butterflyway float to help teach people what they can do to support pollinators. They joined the Oak Bay Tea Party Parade and won second prize!

Pollinator education and habitat restoration continues in Victoria, as one of our Rangers was awarded a municipal grant to build pollinator gardens throughout the Fernwood area and to run pollinator education programs for local elementary students.

We can emulate St Francis of Assisi in his -
Canticle of the Creatures by taking action by raising our voices

We can realise that every day for Secular Franciscans should be a Season of Creation! Our OFS Rule 18 tells us to “strive to move from the temptation of exploiting creation to the Franciscan concept of universal kinship.” And as Dawn Nothwehr, OSF reminded us: St Bonaventure told us we should be “advocates for other creatures, giving them a voice before God and the world.”

Pope Francis’ leadership on the climate emergency and on the coronavirus has been unmatched.  But he can’t do it alone. It’s time for the global Catholic community to rally behind his message.
Sign the Catholic Petition for just action on COVID and the Climate Emergency.  Show the Pope and the world that you care!    Sign the Catholic Petition


Why does this matter?
In the coronavirus response, governments have invested twice as much money in fossil fuels as they have in renewables. That means the public are propping up record-breaking payments to fossil fuel CEOs and stockholders while they continue to drive dangerous climate change, rather than their tax money being invested in a just and clean energy economy that will support everyday workers and our children for the long term.

As governments make investments in a coronavirus recovery, we earnestly pray that they will stand with David, and not with Goliath. As the Pope said in his message on the eve of the Season of Creation: “No to plundering, yes to sharing.” As Canadian Cardinal Czerny, SJ wrote: “… why not switch to something better? Why reinvest in fossil fuels, monoculture farming and rainforest destruction when we know they worsen our environmental crisis?”

Feedback:

1 October 2020 webinar:
The three presenters had 20-25 mins each.

Angélica Gonzalez-Apple, Program Manager North America,
Global Catholic Climate Movement Los Angeles, California:
“I have had nothing but tremendous feedback from our viewers how much they loved each one of your individual presentations. Here is the link to the recording of Just Transition North America webinar.”

From Agnes Richard, Coordinator of GCCM-Canada:
“You did a fantastic job on the GCCM Season of Creation webinar. The chat box was full of kudos for your presentation!” Andrew’s presentation in 1 Oct webinar was the same as in GCCM-Canada’s 16 Sept webinar but that included Sr. María de los Ángeles Marco Teja, UJ as the other speaker (on mining). Here is the link to the webinar recording.

All Living Things Matter!
This honours the Cree holistic value that everything in life is sacred.

Orange Shirt Day, 30 Sept, grew from Phyllis Webstad sharing her story in 2013 of having her shiny orange shirt taken from her at the age of six when she arrived at St. Joseph Mission Residential School, William’s Lake, BC.

Victoria, BC Orange Shirt Day T-shirt designed by
Coast Salish Tsawout artist Bear Horne, 2016.
Xe xe Smun eem (shat shat smun am)
"Sacred Children" in the Cowichan or Quw utsun language.
The official language of the Quw utsun peoples is Hul Qumi unum.
Horne’s design features a bear to help us follow the right path, an eagle to help us have a vision of a bright future, a hummingbird to keep our mind, body and spirit healthy, and a flower to feed the connection of all these elements.
Huy ch qu (hi’ch ka –“Thank you”), Bear!

Recovering Together national collection, Oct. 11
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of churches to the general public, the Share Lent national collection was postponed earlier this year. It has now been replaced by the Recovering Together national collection.

Donate to Development and Peace today by making a DIRECT donation.
Thank you for your generosity.

Download this newest encyclical here
More on this next month! So rich!

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Pope Francis on Season of Creation 2020: Respect for the Planet’s Resources

9/5/2020

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Andrew’s new logo designed by Nina Hirlaender

In the context of the Season of Creation, which is celebrated from September 1
[World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation] to October 4 [Feast of St Francis of Assisi] (in which people can participate by using the hashtag #SeasonOfCreation), and in the 5th anniversary year of Laudato si’, the Holy Father expresses his concern for the “ecological debt” that is created when natural resources are exploited. He calls for them to be “shared in a just and respectful manner.”

We frequently hear about
integral human development.
What does this mean?
As Catholics we need to know!
How is it linked to the
Season of Creation?

“Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society.” (LS, 91)

‘The values of Season of Creation go back to the roots of the Christian faith’

Season of Creation 2020 – ‘Jubilee for the Earth’

See a joint statement by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco and Rev. Christian Krieger

“We invite you to celebrate the Season of Creation this year under the heading of Jubilee for the Earth. The concept of Jubilee is rooted in the Bible and underlines that there must exist a just and sustainable balance between social, economic and ecological realities. The lesson from the biblical concept of jubilee points us towards the need to restore balance in the very systems of life, affirming the need for equality, justice and sustainability and confirming the need for a prophetic voice in defence of our common home.”

“A prophetic voice” i.e.: speak boldly for integral human development:

“Development cannot be limited to mere economic growth alone. In order to be authentic, it must be complete: integral, that is, it has to promote the good of every person and of the whole person.” - Pope St Paul VI, 1967, Populorum Progressio, n 14

“Integral Human Development is the holistic development of the human person, covering all aspects of life: social, economic, political, cultural, personal and spiritual.”
See the Caritas development approach.

What does it look like?

A life with dignity – where people are able to access basic services, are included in social, political and economic life. This empowers people with confidence to make changes in their own lives
Just and peaceful relationships – by addressing power, equity and conflict issues, people can feel safe within their family and community, and actively engage in community activities
Sustained economic wellbeing and resilience – where people have access to resources necessary for life for themselves and their family
Influence and independence – by improving the ability to access information and resources, people should be able to influence attitudes and decisions that affect their lives

calls for renewed action in a new document introduced 16 May 2020:

Journeying Towards Care for Our Common Home

on how to implement the action required by Laudato Si'. Although not completely translated into English yet, we have enough of an overview to start thinking and planning action. Catholic communities around the world are invited to join A GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT to gradually work toward “total sustainability” in the coming decade; including carbon neutrality, simpler lifestyles and divestment from fossil fuels.

We think it is time for our bishops to step up and vigorously lead in this renewed action and FVC sent the CCCB a letter to this effect (and so did GCCM-Canada). We think we need to nudge our bishops to nudge our pastors and we have prepared a suggested letter for fraternities or individuals to send to their bishop and pastor. Here it is (feel free to amend it as you see fit):

To: local Archbishop, Bishop ……. Date: …
Cc: local Pastor
Your Excellency/ Father,

Journeying Towards Care for Our Common Home
I/We would like to quote the Alberta Bishops who in 1998 wrote in Celebrate Life: Care for Creation: “As Church leaders and members: How is the call to biblical stewardship communicated in the preaching, sacramental celebration, educational programs and management decisions of our parishes and church organizations?”

Today many people feel and some have said that the Church, with some notable exceptions, has not adequately promoted Laudato si’. That is obviously what is behind the recent publication 16 May 2020 of Journeying Towards Care for Our Common Home by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, calling for renewed action. Catholic communities around the world are invited to join a grassroots movement to gradually work toward “total sustainability” in the coming decade; including carbon neutrality, simpler lifestyles and divestment from fossil fuels. The document asks dioceses, parishes, families and schools to get involved. At present it is in the planning stage but why wait? Please start planning now and invite all to offer to participate in a grassroots movement.

Some of us ask why do we so infrequently hear of the Church’s Social Doctrine and Laudato si’ in homilies? Greta Thunberg, who has been encouraged by Pope Francis in starting the school climate strikes (Fridays for Future), said to US Democratic Senators 17 Sep 2019: "I know you are trying, but just not hard enough. Sorry.” Does that apply to you and our diocesan pastors? Did you promote the Season of Creation 2020 in diocesan social media? Do you ask our pastors to be aware and promote social justice and climate issues? After all, they are part of integral human development.

We ask and expect you to lead vigorously. Have any bishops actually walked the walk with Fridays for Future school strikes for climate? Pretty easy in a virtual world affected by covid! Think how that would be seen as a real leadership example by youth! Has your diocese divested from fossil fuels? If not, why not? What are you waiting for?

Why is Integrity of Creation not named as part of the Justice and Peace Commission of the CCCB? Why has the CCCB been so slow and weak in promoting The Season of Creation and Laudato si’ Week ? Both are now annual events supported by the Pope. A pastoral letter would be a good start. Here is an example.

I/we write to ask you to strongly promote these matters so essential to our faith with more vigour and to publically invite all to get involved in building a grass roots movement.
We ask for strong endorsement of the Laudato si’ Revolution and Global Catholic Climate Movement. Please make sure all your pastors are on board and advise them of these websites: Laudato Si' Revolution, Laudato Si.org and Global Catholic Climate Movement Canada.

With great respect and gratitude for your ministry, I/We close with this from Laudato Si’:
“Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.” (LS, 207).

Wishing you peace & joy,

Signatures ….

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Homeless Jesus - Jesuits.ca

Andrew Conradi, ofs

What makes me tick is Catholic Social Teaching, now encapsulated in Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti. My view is that while the OFS Rule & Constitutions call us to courageous action in JPIC it seems to me our infrastructure, while saying the right things, is not always acting with the required urgency and forcefulness. It seems at times to be more self-sustaining and self-perpetuating and about the status quo. This risks being seen as irrelevant in the eyes of some, especially youth.

In encouraging us to be aware and act with urgency and forcefulness I can be seen to be a bit of a joyful nuisance. Forgive me for not apologising. “Jesus himself warns us that the path he proposes goes against the flow, even making us challenge society by the way we live and, as a result, becoming a nuisance.”
(Pope Francis, 2018, Gaudete et exultate – Rejoice & be glad, n 90)
After all, Our Seraphic Father Francis was a rebel (check out the 2018 book Francesco il ribelle by Enzo Fortunato, OFM Conv)

(Poster from Canadian Jesuits)

BTW I am a Brit immigrant, ex Canadian high school geography and history teacher and Cold War armoured reconnaissance soldier. Other accomplishments include OFM JPIC Animators course 2014, Pontifical University Antonianum, Rome; JPIC Animator; Provocateur (Challenger); Enfant Terrible and sometimes definitely a deliberate NUISANCE! I am open to correction, chastisement, and/or teaching by email!
apconradi@telus.net

Andrew Conradi, ofs

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