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.

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!

1. Fratelli tutti was published 4 Oct 2020, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.
2. Both Laudato si’ (LS) and Fratelli tutti (FT) start with words of St Francis.
3. 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).
4. 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).
5. 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).
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.

1. 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.”
2. 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].
3. Dan Horan goes on to say that these three themes are the bases of FT: Fraternity; Crossing borders, building bridges; & Peacemaking and reconciliation.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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”. 
9. 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.
10. 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).
11.  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.
12. 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).
13. The death penalty: it is inadmissible and must be abolished worldwide. (263-269)
14. 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.”
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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."
18. 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."
19. 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).
20. 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

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

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?” 
​

​“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

                                                                                                                        by Andrew Conradi, ofs (from various sources)

                NOTE:  This is an extra blog about the "Homeless Jesus". See my August blog below this one.
 
Vatican City, 23 March 2016 – A natural-size bronze sculpture of Jesus, represented as a homeless person resting on a bench, entirely wrapped in a lightweight cover with only his feet uncovered and bearing the signs of the nails of crucifixion, was located for the duration of Holy Week in the Sant'Egidio Courtyard in the Vatican, at the entrance to the offices of the Apostolic Almoner.
The work inspired by Mathew 25:34-46 was by the Canadian artist Timothy P. Schmalz, who had the idea of representing Christ in this original way after seeing a homeless man sleeping on a bench in the open air during the Christmas period. From Gospel to life in art!
 
A smaller copy was presented to Pope Francis during a general audience in St. Peter's Square in November 2013. The artist recounts that the Holy Father, upon seeing the work, touched its knees and feet and prayed.
The statue, donated to the Apostolic Almoner by the sculptor, is cast in bronze from the original. The first cast was located in Regis College, in the Jesuit Faculty of Toronto, Ontario, Canada after two other churches decline to accept it.
 
Its popularity is growing and there are about 100 other copies of "Homeless Jesus," with several now in Canada. One is outside Holy Rosary Cathedral, Vancouver, BC, and others abroad in Australia, Cuba, India, Ireland, Spain, the USA, and UK while another statue by Schmalz, "Whatsoever you do", is located at the main entrance of the "Santo Spirito" Hospital, Rome.
 
The castes are all the same. The only difference is in the photography i.e. the angle, distance and lighting which affect the clarity and some do not show the feet nail holes very well because they are in shade.
 
Schmalz intended for the bronze sculpture to be provocative, admitting, "That's essentially what the sculpture is there to do. It's meant to challenge people.”
The sculpture suggests that Christ is with the most marginalized in our society. The Christ figure is shrouded in a blanket with His face covered with the only indication that the figure is Jesus being the visible wounds on the feet. The life-size version of the work provides enough room for someone to sit on the bench. Pope Francis: “We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.”  (3 June 2020, General Audience)

The one now at the top of my blog shown below is outside the Papal Charities Building, Vatican City.

The one below that was previously at the top of my blog is by Kelly Wilkinson (The Indianapolis Star, 2015) is in Indianapolis, 

IN, Roberts Park United Methodist Church as part of the church’s efforts to raise awareness about homelessness in that city. The church staff, which provides free meals to the homeless every Sunday afternoon, defend the work as a provocative and public way to ignite a much-needed debate; but some find it insulting, demeaning, creepy even sacrilegious. One even called the police thinking it was a real person. It reminds us that anybody, at any given time, given certain circumstances, can experience homelessness. “Ninety per cent of the people, whether they be agnostic, atheist, or Christian, love the sculpture. However, residents are often seen sitting on the bench alongside the statue, resting their hands on Jesus and praying.
​
They love the message. It points to the idea that all of human life is sacred and this is ... one of the great gifts that Christianity brought Western civilization and the world,” Schmalz has said.

The morning of 17 August 2017, Holy Rosary Cathedral's Rev. Stanley Galvon found a homeless man sleeping beneath a statue of Jesus doing the same. STANLEY GALVON            ....Learn more

​                                                                                          by Andrew Conradi, ofs, JPIC & Laudato Si’ Animator

​Eco-Parish Guide for Catholic Parishes
This free Eco-Parish Guide is a great resource for your parish to bring Laudato Si’ to life.
Developed in cooperation with GCCM’s partners around the globe, the guide is directed at Catholic parishes globally to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by addressing actions in relation to parish operations, the congregation, and the broader community. Inspired by Catholic Social Teaching, the Eco-Parish guide offers an active response to Pope Francis’ call for climate change action in his encyclical, Laudato Si’.
This free comprehensive guide explains how parishes can make a difference by:

• forming green teams
• reducing parish emissions
• engaging parishioners on low carbon lifestyle choices
• advocating for climate justice
• caring for those harmed by climate change

 
                  If you want an example from Canada click here for one from Ottawa-Cornwall:
                                     Care for God’s Creation – A Guide for Parishes

​                      From the OFM JPIC Office - a reminder of what Franciscan JPIC is about:
                                    Get Ready for Laudato Si’ Revolution

Pope Francis, building upon the teachings of St. John Paul II and his call to ecological conversion, calls us to respond to “the urgent need for a bold cultural revolution.” (Contact, January-March 2020) [quoting Laudato Si’, n 114]

“OUR FOUR PILLARS

• To promote the JPIC values intrinsic to the Franciscan charism among our Franciscan brothers and sisters throughout the world
• To foster the lived spirituality of St. Francis through solidarity with the marginalized, and with all of Creation
• To live out and intensify the ecological conversion expressed in Laudato Si’
• To assist and cooperate with local and national JPIC coordinators, and with different social movements.”

 
We OFS JPIC and Global Catholic Climate Movement Laudato Si’ animators try to do this and hope you will read what we pass on to you, our secular sisters and brothers! We are all called in our local fraternities to be collaborative, creative, and courageous in Living out Laudato Si’ in most impactful actions. If we are not part of the solution are we part of the problem?                           

​German botanist Ernst Haeckel first used the term ecology in 1866. The first wave of environmentalism grew out of moves to conserve and protect nature especially birds and the formation of natural history societies (and promotion of public health) from the 1880s until 1914 in Europe. The second wave began in the 1950s and picked up in the 1960s & 70s. However, the stage was set for change by the World Wildlife Fund (now The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which was founded in 1961 with an initial focus on the protection of endangered species. As more resources became available, its operations expanded into other areas such as the preservation of ​biological diversity, sustainable use of natural resources, the reduction of pollution, and ​climate change.  Jumping ahead but while on terminology: 'Biological Diversity', a term introduced by Lovejoy (1980) to express the number of species present in the community has an offshoot: 'Biodiversity', coined by Walter G. Rosen in the year 1985 (Wilson, 1988). 

It was Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 which had a huge and widespread impact. The book represented a watershed moment, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries as it raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the inextricable links between pollution and public health. Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in US pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides.

Other events having great impact were other oil tanker spills e.g. Torrey Canyon (1967). The Flemish Catholic movement (Anders Gaan Leven Live Differently) was an example of Catholic youth involvement.

The Trimates- (English, American and Canadian)  Jane Goodall, ​Dian Fossey,[4] and Birutė Galdikas — chosen by anthropologist Louis Leakey also helped raise awareness as did the National Geographic and David Attenborough’s natural history unit of the BBC. I remember the existence of The Society Promoting Environmental Conservation in Burnaby/ Vancouver, BC and Greenpeace in Vancouver, BC both founded in 1969. As the name suggests, Greenpeace was closely associated/grew out of the anti-war and anti-nuclear movement. As someone said “Peace” as a greeting/goodbye Bill Darnell said: “Better make it a green peace”.

Peace activist John McConnell first proposed the idea of Earth Day in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. US Senator Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day one month later on 22 April 1970, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill from an offshore oil platform 10 km off Santa Barbara, California. By the end of 1970, the first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of other first of their kind environmental laws. Realizing that solutions would only be effective through common effort, countries convened the ​first global conference on the environment in Stockholm from 5-16 June 1972.  
                    
Largely because of U.S. leadership, industrialized nations agreed to establish and provide initial funding for what is arguably the world’s premier global environmental institution: the United Nations Environment Programme. UNEP catalyzed negotiation of the 1985 Vienna Convention and its follow-on, the 1987 Montreal Protocol, a treaty to restrict production and use of substances that deplete Earth’s protective ozone layer. Today the agency continues to drive international efforts on issues including pollution control, biodiversity conservation and climate change.

In 1990 Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries. Today, Earth Day is widely recognized as the largest secular observance in the world, marked by more than a billion people every year as a day of action to change human behaviour and create global, national and local policy changes.

Unfortunately under the current President, US leadership in the environmental movement has wilted and reversed!

What did Pope Francis say about Earth Day 2020?
In his weekly address, Pope Francis honoured the Earth Day movement. He said, “As the tragic coronavirus pandemic has taught us, we can overcome global challenges only by showing solidarity with one another and embracing the most vulnerable in our midst."

More from the Holy Father, who in an Easter Sunday letter to popular movements wrote, “In these days of great anxiety and hardship, many have used war-like metaphors to refer to the pandemic we are experiencing. If the struggle against COVID-19 is a war, then you are truly an invisible army, an army whose only weapons are solidarity, hope, and community spirit, all revitalizing at a time when no one can save themselves alone.” 

There is hope and here is an example: Renewable energy and 50 million jobs! Read on...                                                  
The big question is: Will the world’s governments be willing to put their money where their mouths are? Beware the “widening gap between rhetoric and action” by governments regarding climate change. The unfortunate fact is that whereas governments everywhere have been paying lip service to climate change and clean energy, in reality, they are wont to go to much greater lengths to try and save the fossil fuel sector from collapse than invest in clean energy projects with much longer and unproven paybacks.
 
Laudato Si’ teaches us that “everything is connected.” From a recent report:  The scientists said the multi trillion-dollar economic recovery packages being rolled out by governments must be used to strengthen and enforce environmental protection: “It may be politically expedient to relax environmental standards and to prop up industries such as intensive agriculture, airlines, and fossil-fuel-dependent energy sectors, but doing so without requiring urgent and fundamental change essentially subsidises the emergence of future pandemics.” Read more... 
 
How do we make the governments listen? In our National JPIC Action Plan (2012) at n. 2.3 we call it parrhesia (to speak boldly)! Or as Acts 4:29 puts it: “thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word”; Laudato Si’ (38 & 179) also told us. 

...​to raise awareness to control powerful global warming chemicals - hydrofluorocarbons - HFCs. Reducing HFCs under the Montreal Protocol to avoid 0.5°C of global warming by 2000, while continuing to protect the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol to protect the Earth’s ozone layer is to date the only United Nations environmental agreement to be ratified by every country in the world. It is also one of the most successful. With the parties to the Protocol having phased out 98 per cent of their ozone-depleting substances, they saved an estimated two million people from skin cancer every year. So we can work together!

And got another minute? One is enough! Time to watch:

Our house is on fire: ignore it at our peril or react now. Good to pass on to young people? They will get the message!

TIME FOR A SONG! A new favourite:
...a song created by an affiliate of the Global Catholic Climate Movement, brought to us by JPIC Franciscans Africa and written by Steven Kezamutima, ofs, the founder and leader of Waka Waka Band that is behind the “Anti COVID-19” song. Founded in August 2016, the band is made up of ten Secular Franciscan youths studying at Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Kenya and drawn from various African countries, among them Kenya, Malawi, Burundi and DR Congo. Steven is a university student from Burundi pursuing a Masters degree in Justice, Peace and Social Cohesion at CUEA and referred to in the song as Baba Miti (Father of Trees in Swahili), a nickname his peers gave him due to the Birthday Tree Planting Campaign he runs across East Africa. Together with Lusungu Kumwenda from Malawi and the Waka Waka Band they sing it: African reggae!

The song called AntiCovid-19 is here to give hope to People and Planet that God is taking control. A call for a united sustainable global response: human need before corporate greed.   Read more about it here .

And more about JPIC FA here.
While Africa is in our thoughts perhaps we can reflect on this: As if covid19 is not enough, for more than two years the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have warned that sub-Saharan Africa stands on the verge of a debt crisis.                     
Does this call for charity or justice?
Inequality/injustice: Rethinking executive compensation in times of crisis?!
“As Tom Powdrill at the U.K. pension consultancy PIRC wrote recently, “Watching medical staff worldwide throw themselves into the battle against COVID-19, without any expectation that they will be paid a single penny extra as a ‘bonus’ for their efforts, but with the expectation that some of them will die, requires us to rethink things fundamentally.”  Read more... 

Another beautiful song in this time of trial: The Prayer (4.28 mins)