Blog Posts

April 2022 Blog

4/9/2022

I acknowledge and thank the Lkwungen People for allowing me to live, pray, work, and play on their lands. I am deeply sorry for the injustices inflicted upon the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Turtle Island by the complicity of settlers and the Catholic Church in the colonialism inherent in the Indian Act and Residential Schools including racism, neglect, many forms of abuse & cultural genocide.

WAR – JUSTICE – CLIMATE - INEQUALITY
LAUDATO SI’ 16: “EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED.”

As a Canadian I’ll start with Justice.
1. JUSTICE - POPE’S APOLOGY TO
CANADA’S FIRST NATIONS, INUIT & MÉTIS
Ephesians 5:8-9: “Live as children of light. Light produces goodness, justice & truth.”
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Photo: Vatican Media /The Canadian Press, Globe & Mail

Pope Francis met with all three indigenous delegations 1 April 2022. He told those present that he had listened to their stories. By doing this, the Pope said, he was able to enter into and be deeply grieved by the stories of the suffering, hardship, discrimination and various forms of abuse that some of them experienced, particularly in the residential schools. Excerpts from his apology follow: “For the deplorable conduct of those members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God's forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon.”

“It is chilling to think of determined efforts to instill a sense of inferiority, to rob people of their cultural identity, to sever their roots, and to consider all the personal and social effects that this continues to entail: unresolved traumas that have become intergenerational traumas,” “Without real indignation, without historical memory and without a commitment to learning from past mistakes, problems remain unresolved and keep coming back. We can see this these days in the case of war. The memory of the past must never be sacrificed at the altar of alleged progress."

The Pope added that he felt shame “for the role that a number of Catholics, particularly those with educational responsibilities, have had in all these things that wounded you, in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values.” He said he hoped to visit Canada in July for the pilgrimage to Lac Ste Anne in Alberta 25-28 July 2022. Lac Ste. Anne was first called Wakamne (God's Lake) by the Nakota Sioux and Manitou Sakhahigan (Lake of the Spirit) by the Cree before the arrival of the settlers. A priest named Lestanc organized the first pilgrimage to Lac Ste. Anne in 1889 in honour of Saint Anne, whose feast day is on July 26. Thirty to forty thousand people now attend the annual pilgrimage.

Archbishop of Regina, Saskatchewan, Donald Bolen with Kevin Haywahe of the Nakoda Nation of Saskatchewan in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Friday, April 1, 2022. Photo: Fabrizio Troccoli/The Globe and Mail

Amber Bracken's photo 19 June 2021 named World Press Photo of the Year titled Kamloops Residential School
(Amber Bracken for The New York Times/World Press Photo via AP)

 2. WAR UKRAINE

Ps 130: “Out of the depths I cry unto thee, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice! Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!”

Creator: Andrej Ivanov | Credit: AFP

Protester pictured in Montreal, February, 2022.
UNITED NATIONS, April 7 (Reuters) - The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday suspended Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council over reports of "gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" in Ukraine, prompting Moscow to announce it was quitting the body.
The U.S.-led push garnered 93 votes in favor, while 24 countries voted no and 58 countries abstained.
That’s a lot of complicity (82)! Silence is complicity!

For the Roman Catholic Bishop of Odessa, Stanislav Schyrokoradiuk, one of the main reasons for the invasion of Ukraine is the way the Russian population has been misinformed: “We Ukrainians are the victims of war, the Russian people are the victims of propaganda.” According to Bishop Schyrokoradiuk, the war is “not a conflict between our two peoples.” [But for some it now is after atrocities perpetrated by Russian soldiers came to light]. However, people living in Russia have no access to complete information, “therefore many of them would support the Russian government.” This adds more fuel to the aggression. “I hope that their eyes will be opened, so that peace can come,” says Schyrokoradiuk. But: Poll 24-30 March in face-to-face interviews with 1,632 Russians across the country showed 83 percent of Russians backing Putin, up from 71 percent in early February. [Poll released 30 March] They obviously believe Putin’s lies.

The atrocities revealed in Mariupol and after Russian withdrawal from Bucha and Borodyanka, to name just one town and a village, and also the ‘monstrous’ war crime of the Kramatorsk railway station missile attack have been denied by Russia which says they were committed by Ukrainians against their own people! Not that informed people would believe that stupidity and the satellite evidence and evidence from a rocket shot down contradicts such Russian claims.

W.D. Auden wrote this after the Soviet Union’s takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1968:
“The ogre does what ogres can, Deeds quite impossible for man, But one prize is beyond his reach: The ogre cannot master speech. Across a subjugated plain, Among its desperate and slain, The ogre strolls with hands on hips, While drivel gushes from his lips.”
Reminds me of … I’m sure you know who! Talking about drivel, sad to say in the USA the Republican G.O.P.'s Putin Wing includes supporters of Putin. Just click on this link. Unbelievable! (There may also be Canadian supporters). And in Europe there is Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s Prime Minister and in France Marine Le Pen.

Brave protests in Russia have taken place.
As of 22 March The Economist reported
“More than 15,000 Russians have been arrested in anti-war protests”

Protester Marina Ovsyannikova

with 'NO WAR' sign disrupts Russian state TV news broadcast 14 March 2022.

The sign, in English and Russian, read: "NO WAR. Stop the war. Don't believe propaganda. They are lying to you here." Another phrase, which looked like "Russians against war," was partly obscured.
- wikipedia

State TV is the main source of news for millions of Russians, and closely follows the Kremlin line that Russia was forced to act in Ukraine to demilitarize and "de-Nazify" the country, and to defend Russian-speakers there against "genocide." Ukraine and most of the world have condemned that as a false pretext for an invasion of a democratic country. The woman was identified by OVD-Info, an independent protest-monitoring group, and by the head of the Agora human rights group, as Marina Ovsyannikova, an employee of the channel. Reports say this brave woman as been arrested and fined.

Russian businessman Alex Konanykhin. On March 1, 2022 during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Konanykhin announced on social media that he was offering a $1 million bounty for the arrest of Vladimir Putin as a war criminal under international laws, with the text "Wanted: Dead or Alive. Vladimir Putin for mass murder". Despite the wording of his online poster, Konanykhin subsequently re-iterated that he was not advocating assassination, but admitted that he would celebrate Putin's death. Konanykhin claimed that Putin was not the President of Russia because he ‘murdered his opponents’.

Killing a tyrant, i.e. Tyrannicide, has had support from various philosophers and theologians through the centuries, including the ancient Greeks and Romans, most notably Cicero; Catholics, most notably John of Salisbury (d. 1180) Jean Petit (d. 1411), and Suarez (d. 1617); and Protestants, most notably, Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, and Calvin. The Catholic St. Thomas Aquinas gave the most substantial argument for tyrannicide. He based his position on his arguments for just war and capital punishment. St. Thomas concluded, "He who kills a tyrant (i.e. an usurper) to free his country is praised and rewarded" (In 2 Sentences, 44.2.2). It has long been known that Pope Pius XII was complicit in a variety of plots, initiated by patriotic, anti-Nazi Germans, to assassinate Hitler and replace the Nazi regime with a government that would make peace with the Allies. Food for thought given the war crimes in Ukraine?

Sasha Filipenko: ‘No one wants to be a little brother’: Belarus, Russia and Ukraine – a dysfunctional family affair.
Putin loves to evoke the family to describe the relationship. This closeness has been greatly exaggerated by Moscow, and in fact they are all quite different. … the Russian language is not Russia’s property; it’s merely a means of communication. Speaking French in Geneva doesn’t make you French, speaking German in Zurich doesn’t make you German – you remain Swiss. [Welsh, Scottish and Irish speak English but that does not make them English!] As an example, according to the 2001 census, Russian is the main language of 74.9% of residents in Donetsk Oblast [Region] and 68.8% in Luhansk Oblast even though ethnic Ukrainians form 58% of the population of Luhansk Oblast and 56.9% of Donetsk Oblast.

In 2022, paying his debts to Putin, Lukashenko turned Belarus into an aggressor, leaving his own people completely bewildered. ‘Ukraine did its best to escape the Soviet Union, Lukashenko deliberately returned to it.’

We see today: Zelenskiy proposes a dialogue, but Putin can’t listen to anyone else’s point of view. This is the difference between the countries: Russia likes monologue, Ukraine likes [dialogue] argument and Belarus likes silence.

Putin relies on Ukraine, Belarus and Russia all having their origins in a great ancient state, Kievan Rus, but that’s precisely where the schism begins: the Ukrainians see those times in a radically different way, rightly pointing out that it is their country that can claim its descent from Kievan Rus, since its capital was in what is now Ukraine. Putin calls everyone around him little brothers, not really understanding that no one wants to be a little brother. Putin insists on the fact that in the Russian empire, [and USSR] the Ukrainians and the Belarusians were not seen as separate peoples, and that’s where he makes a basic mistake, neglecting to ask whether they themselves saw themselves as such. Ukraine declared independence in 1917, but Putin isn’t bothered about that: his memory is selective, allowing him to remember just one thing: that Stalin got rid of Ukrainian national leaders. Moscow didn’t want to let its “children” go, perhaps unable to fully understand that those it had adopted many years ago weren’t even teenagers – they were grownups. But now, the Kremlin will never again be able to claim it is the head of the family.

Some historical background. Crimea became part of Ukraine in 1954 when the Soviet government transferred Crimea from the Russian Soviet Federation of Socialist Republics (RSFSR) to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukr SSR). This in spite of the fact that the population of Crimea — approximately 1.1 million — was then roughly 75 percent ethnic Russian and 25 percent Ukrainian. Communist Party of the Soviet Union First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev [a Ukrainian] saw the transfer as a way of fortifying and perpetuating Soviet control over Ukraine after the post WWII the civil war in Ukraine had finally been won. Some 860,000 ethnic Russians would be joining the already large Russian minority in Ukraine.

The legal system in the Soviet Union was mostly a fiction, but the transfer did occur in accordance with the rules in effect at the time. Moreover, regardless of how the transfer was carried out, the Russian Federation expressly accepted Ukraine’s 1991 borders both in the December 1991 Belovezhskaya Pushcha accords (the agreements that precipitated and codified the dissolution of the Soviet Union) and in the December 1994 Budapest Memorandum that finalized Ukraine’s status as a non-nuclear weapons state.

In early 1991, after a referendum was held in the Ukrainian SSR and a resolution was adopted a month later by the Ukrainian SSR parliament, the status of Crimea was upgraded to that of an “autonomous republic.” Crimea retained that designation within Ukraine after the Soviet Union broke apart.

Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 even though Russia had no legal right to own Crimea and actually signed an international treaty, after the fall of Communism but before Vladimir Putin came to power, accepting that Crimea was part of Ukraine. Under the USSR the Donbas and Luhansk were part of Ukraine; but they declared independence as separate Peoples Republics in 2014. As mentioned previously, according to the 2001 census, ethnic Ukrainians form 58% of the population of Luhansk Oblast and 56.9% of Donetsk Oblast. Ethnic Russians form the largest minority, accounting for 39% and 38.2% of the two oblasts respectively.[87] Modern Donbas is a predominately Russophone region. As mentioned previously, according to the 2001 census, Russian is the main language of 74.9% of residents in Donetsk Oblast and 68.8% in Luhansk Oblast.[88] The proportion of native Russian-speakers is higher than ethnic Russians because some ethnic Ukrainians and other nationalities also indicate Russian as their mother tongue. But that does not necessarily mean they want to live under Russian rule. To what extent the separation is a result of Russian mercenaries and forced persuasion is a matter of debate.

So now let me, as a Franciscan, return to the language of the Gospel. “While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” (Luke 17:11-19) “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27). Let us pray for miracles in Ukraine because that is what we need (and elsewhere also).

Pope Francis holds a video call with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill to discuss the war in Ukraine, and calls on Church leaders to use the language of Jesus, not that of politics.

If only Kirill and Putin would not just use the words of Jesus but act on them!
But let me as a Secular Franciscan with an interest in Christianity, geography, history and geo-politics, speak in political & historical terms. I wonder how two ex-KGB men talk about Jesus?
Pius XII issued his Encyclical Orientales omnes: of December 23, 1945. In it the Pope not only condemned Communism; he openly and specifically attacked Moscow Patriarch Alexis II. "The situation got worse March 8-10, 1946, when Soviet authorities forcibly convened an assembly of 216 priests and the so-called Synod of Lvov was held, at which the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was forcibly ‘reunited’ to the Russian Orthodox Church and forced to revoke its union with Rome. The UGCC first became a ‘Church of Silence,’ then a ‘Church of Martyrs,’ as many Ukrainian Catholics who were imprisoned by the communists were tortured and/or murdered.” (Ibid., English ed., p. 91)

Pacepa confirms that “patriarch” Alexis was also a KGB agent: “On December 5, 2008, Alexis II, the 15th Patriarch of Moscow of All Russia and the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, died. He had worked for the KGB under the code-name of Drozdov and was awarded the KGB Certificate of Honor, as was revealed in a KGB archive accidentally left behind in Estonia when the Russians pulled out of it. For the first time in history, Russia had the opportunity to conduct the democratic election of a new patriarch, but that was not to be.

"In 1971, the KGB had sent Kirill [code name “Mikhailov”] to Geneva as the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to that Soviet propaganda machine that was the World Council of Churches. In 1975, the KGB infiltrated Kirill into the Central Committee of the WCC, which had become a Kremlin pawn. In 1989, the KGB appointed him chairman of the Russian patriarchate’s foreign relations as well. He still held those positions when he was elected patriarch.” This Kirill is now the Patriarch of Moscow of All Russia and the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

So if Kirill and Putin talk religion it is not in any way we would understand it to lead to concrete action for peace. After all they do not even call it a war and deny evidence of war crimes that came to light after Russian withdrawal north west of Kyiv. Prussian Major-General Von Clauswitz (who served in the Russian–German Legion during the Napoleonic War) famously said: "War is the continuation of [diplomatic] policy with other means."

Problem with Kirill and Putin is that their word is not trustworthy nor do they accept that Ukraine is an independent nation and is no longer part of a Russian Empire or USSR regardless of close historical and many family links and Russian speakers in Ukraine (including Ukrainian President Zelensky whose first language was Russian).
Putin pretends Ukraine is threat to Russia which is part of his disinformation and twisted interpretation of history. After independence upon breakup of the USSR, Ukraine voluntarily gave up nuclear weapons.

So why would Ukraine want to join NATO? Ukraine saw what happened to Chechnya, Georgia, and Syria from Russian military action. Destruction, obliteration and death to civilians as part of deliberate policy. Do you think Putin would have dared to invade Ukraine if it had become a member of NATO?
The Pope was silent at first: reluctant to name Putin and “war” in Ukraine. He now clearly alludes to Putin and does call the invasion a war.

VALLETTA, April 2 (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Saturday he was considering a trip to Kyiv and implicitly criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine, saying a "potentate" was fomenting conflict for nationalist interests. Francis made the comments, first to reporters on the plane taking him to Malta for a two-day visit, and then in a hard-hitting speech in the island's presidential palace that left little doubt who he was referring to.

"From the east of Europe, from the land of the sunrise, the dark shadows of war have now spread. We had thought that invasions of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past," the pope said.
Moscow denies targeting civilians in the action it launched on Feb. 24, which it dubs a "special military operation" designed not to occupy territory but to demilitarise and "denazify" its neighbour. Francis has already rejected that terminology, calling it a war.

The Pope’s reticence was not shared by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who has been emphatic in his daily denunciations of the Russian invasion. Nor has it been shared by Polish bishops, who are now helping to mobilize the reception of tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees who have crossed the border. “I ask you, Brother, to appeal to Vladimir Putin to stop the senseless warfare against the Ukrainian people,” Polish Bishop Gadecki said in his letter to Kirill. “I ask you in the most humble way to call for the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the sovereign state that is Ukraine.”
“I also ask you to appeal to Russian soldiers not to take part in this unjust war, to refuse to carry out orders which, as we have already seen, lead to many war crimes,” he added. “Refusing to follow orders in such a situation is a moral obligation.”

[St Oscar Romero said the same thing for which he paid with his life. 23 March 1980, in his homily Romero ordered the army to stop killing people: "Brothers," he said, "you are all killing your fellow countrymen. No soldier has to obey an immoral order. It is time to regain your conscience. In the name of God and in the name of the suffering people I implore you, I beg you, I order you, stop the repression." The next day, a shot killed Romero, aged 62, as he said Mass.]

Realpolitik. We live in the world and as Franciscans,
IN THE WORDS OF THE PRAYER OF ST FRANCIS (SO CALLED EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOT WRITE IT), “WE SEEK TO UNDERSTAND.”

So let’s try!
A look further back into Russian history is required to appreciate the sense of destiny that drives Vladimir Putin, with his purposefulness rooted in ages-old Ukrainian-Russian dynamics. …At the beginning of the war Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, gave a sermon in which he emphasized the God-given unity of Ukraine and Russia; he also denounced the “evil forces” in Ukraine that are out to destroy this unity. Last Sunday (March 6) he sounded even less conciliatory. Invoking the intercession of two of medieval Russia’s most important saints, “Holy Prince Vladimir” and Sergei of Radonezh, he called on God to “prohibit and overturn the designs of the foreign pagans [sic] who want war and are gathering troops against Holy Russia.” …

But much more is at stake than the liberation of the oppressed Russians, [in the Donbas] he said: the salvation of mankind ⁠— people are weak and no longer following God’s Law, they are no longer hearing His Word and His Gospel, they are blind to the Light of Christ. The future of human civilization itself is at stake; then the patriarch went into an angry tirade against gay parades … which he characterized as a great sin against God. In fact, he said, participation in such parades demonstrates a clear denial of God and His Truth. This is how Kirill speaks; he appears to believe that Orthodox Russia, or Holy Russia as he calls it, is engaged in an apocalyptical struggle with the Godless West about the future of mankind. In fact, in last Sunday’s sermon he invoked the Last Judgement and the Day of Reckoning. …It is stunning to see that the patriarch has remained completely passive although representatives of western churches have repeatedly called on him to speak to Putin (most recently the papal nuncio). A petition by more than 150 Russian Orthodox priests and monks calling on Kirill to denounce the war has also remained unanswered. …

The Russian Orthodox Church is providing much of the symbolism and ideology that Putin has used to cement his popularity. …Putin has been flaunting his religious faith; he is often seen on television praying, crossing himself, kissing icons, and lighting candles. Priests have held ceremonies to bless Putin, and Patriarch Kirill has called Putin “a miracle of God.” Putin’s Orthodoxy is less about spirituality and faith than about religious performance. It derives from the Kremlin’s mythologization of Russia’s historical past. One of Putin’s first acts was to convince the church to canonize the last Romanov tsar and his family; and clearly the empire created by Peter the Great is very much on Putin’s mind. …

Putin is, of course, not the first 20th century Russian ruler for whom medieval Russia was important. Stalin initiated two of the Soviet Union’s largest film projects about medieval figures. The great filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein was commissioned to make films about Prince Alexander Nevsky and Tsar Ivan the Terrible; these are clearly propaganda films but nevertheless masterpieces of world cinema …
Both Nevsky and Ivan are portrayed as heroic military figures who destroyed foreign invaders and occupiers of the Russian lands. Nevsky supposedly defeated the Teutonic knights who are said to have invaded Russia in the 13th century. A famous line from the film reads something like “who comes to Russia with the sword will perish by the sword.” And when Alexander leads his troops into battle against the Germans the battle cry was “Za Rus’” (“For Russia”). [This is why “Z” has become a symbol for the Russian forces and their supporters although the letter “Z” does not exist in the Cyrillic alphabet]. The film was completed before the Hitler-Stalin pact of August 1939 and it was immediately shelved. However, when the Germans invaded in June 1941, the film became a blockbuster watched by millions of Russians, …Alexander Nevsky is not only one of Russia’s greatest national heroes but also among its most important saints. Why did Alexander become a saint? For two reasons: first, for defending Russia against the perceived onslaught of the Catholic church; the Teutonic knights were after all a crusading order. Second and perhaps more importantly, for giving Metropolitan Kirill of Kiev, the head of the Orthodox Church, a new home after he had been expelled from Kiev by the Mongols. He thus facilitated — so goes the common nationalist narrative — the migration of Holy Russia from Kiev to Moscow. …

A close look at Patriarch Kirill’s choice of words during his Sunday sermon reveals that he equates “Holy Russia” with “Holy Rus’’ (Sviataia Rus’). The medieval state of Rus’ was founded in the 9th century by Vikings to control trade routes connecting Scandinavia with the Byzantine Empire (Constantinople) and the Abbasid Empire in the Middle East (Baghdad). The capital of this Viking state was Kiev; in the year 988 the ruler of Kievan Rus’, the Viking Prince Woldemar, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy on Crimea and adopted the Christian name Vladimir. He later was made a saint for this act. According to the now-dominant Russian nationalist view, Vladimir was the founding father of the first Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church. State and church formed a productive symbiosis and Kiev became the cradle of Russian civilization. The destruction of Rus’ by the Mongols in the 13th century was a world historical tragedy, but the legacy survived in Moscow where the descendants of Vladimir established a second Russian state—the core of the future Russian Empire. This is how the nationalist narrative presents the Kievan past and its legacy; there is no room for Ukrainians in this narrative. …

Putin considers Vladimir “the savior of Russia” and has promoted the cult of Vladimir. To him Kiev and Crimea, where Vladimir was baptized, are “sacred Russian lands.” …

The glorification of Russia’s holiness is not new; in fact, the ideology of Russia’s sacred mission in the world was developed in the 19th century. Dostoevsky was only one of many so-called Slavophile thinkers who developed concepts like Russian spirit, Russian soul, and Russian God to differentiate the Russian Orthodox nation from the liberal and secular nations that “were rearing their ugly heads” in France, Germany, Hungary, Spain, and Poland in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. …

I am surprised that the Western press has not covered Putin's rapture with the Russian Orthodox Church and religion, especially the myths of Holy Russia and St. Vladimir. In my opinion, these and similar historical myths are crucial underpinnings of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine. They provide the basic elements for what the American historian Richard Hofstadter has called “a paranoid style.”

Russian leaders are convinced that the West has long been conspiring against Russia by coopting Ukraine. And not surprisingly, the war in Ukraine is assuming the proportions of an apocalyptic battle between absolute good and absolute evil; it is in-line with Putin’s reading of Russian history, a reading that emphasizes the perpetual fight against foreign intruders (Mongols, Lithuanians, Poles, Swedes, French, and Germans). The Russian Orthodox Church is seen as absolutely crucial in the defense of the threatened and victimized Russian nation. The collective memory of these century-old struggles emphasized in Russian school curricula provides an explosive legacy. …

Ukraine is different from the other territories lost in what Putin describes as the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century, that is, the collapse of the Soviet Union. The unravelling of the USSR began with Ukraine’s declaration of independence on Dec. 1, 1991. There is also a long history of independence in Ukraine that started with the Cossack revolts of the 17th century and culminated in the establishment of an independent Ukrainian nation state in January 1918. Russian tsars and church leaders have therefore fought the idea of a Ukrainian nation for centuries and Orthodox Russian nationalism was one of the principal instruments to keep Ukrainians in check.

The annexation of Ukraine from Poland began with the elimination of the independent Metropolitan, See of Kyiv, in 1686 and the takeover of Kyivan Rus’ principal monasteries and holy sites by the Moscow patriarchate. During the next 200 years, the Russian church acted in unison with the imperial government to secure Ukraine (which was incidentally renamed “Little Russia”). This was considered vital for the survival of the Russian empire because many Ukrainians lived just across the borders in Catholic Poland and later in the Habsburg Empire. …

In general, there is very little indication that Patriarch Kirill has ever seriously disagreed with Putin; in fact, the two seem to get along very well. Putin attends Mass with the patriarch in Kremlin churches, visits monasteries with him, and takes his blessing. Almost 30 years ago, the well-known dissident priest Gleb Yakunin found evidence in the Secret Police archives that Kirill, like so many other Russian church hierarchs, rose to prominence because of his close affiliation with the KGB (now FSB). Thus, the patriarch likely shares a very similar career trajectory with Putin, who also rose to power through the KGB.

I don’t know how Putin reacted to the break-up of the Moscow patriarchate in Ukraine. I am not aware of any public statements by the Kremlin on this matter. But for Patriarch Kirill this is a matter of life and death. There have been until recently three different Orthodox churches in Ukraine, the Kyivan Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (note, I am leaving out the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which follows the Orthodox rite but joined the Catholic Church in late 16th century). In 2018, the Autocephalous Church and the Kyivan Patriarchate were united and officially recognized as the only Ukrainian Orthodox Church by the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. In other words, almost 350 years of history were reversed; the Moscow Patriarchate’s claim to ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Ukrainian lands was no longer recognized by the nominal head of the Eastern Orthodox churches. It seems that now the last vestiges of Moscow’s control over Ukrainian Orthodox clergy, parishes, and monasteries are disappearing. On the first day of the Russian invasion, Metropolitan Onufrii, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church, declared his support for the Ukrainian army and Ukrainian sovereignty. He appealed to Patriarch Kirill and Putin to stop this fratricidal war: “War between Russia and Ukraine is like Cain killing Abel…it has no justification either with God or man.”

Evaluation of Russia by Finnish Intelligence Colonel (subtitles) | December 3, 2018 (60 mins)
Martti J. Kari (former intelligence colonel in the Finnish Defence Forces): Russian strategic culture - Why Russia does things the way it does?

Think about it! Similarities & differences?

Something else to think about: Ukraine needs charity & weapons
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a Nato meeting Ukraine needs
“weapons, weapons, weapons”
The EU is paying 35 times as much for Russian fuel as it has given Ukraine for defense,
chief diplomat says
Josep Borrell told the European Parliament 6 April that since the invasion, the bloc had paid Russia 35 billion euros ($38 billion) for fuel and sent Ukraine 1 billion euros ($1.09 billion) to bolster its defense against Russia, the BBC reported.

How Saint Javelin raised over $1m for Ukraine
Bernd Debusmann Jr BBC News, Washington
Christian Borys helped develop the unlikeliest of images - a rocket-armed saint.
The image - known as "Saint Javelin" - depicts the Virgin Mary cradling a US-made FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank weapon The Toronto-based Mr Borys, 35, is no stranger to Ukraine and its people, and is of Ukrainian heritage. He does not take credit for the original concept behind Saint Javelin.

Mr Borys was inspired by the work of US artist Chris Shaw, who in 2012 painted a Madonna holding a gold-plated AK-47 - which was later, in online memes, replaced with a rocket launcher - when he commissioned a colleague to draw the image and began printing stickers. His initial goal was to raise C$500 for the Help Us Help Charity, a long-standing, Canadian-based organisation operating in Ukraine that helps the families of killed soldiers, as well as veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress.

TWO CARITAS ORGANISATIONS HELP UKRAINE

Caritas Ukraine’s work first began in 1992, after Ukraine declared independence. It was set up by local Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church communities to distribute humanitarian assistance to poor families. Today, it works to coordinate the efforts of charitable organisations run by local Ukrainian Greek Catholic churches and to build cooperation with foreign Caritas chapters.

Caritas-Spes which means “Love-Hope” in Latin, is a charitable mission of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Bishops of Ukraine in May 1995 and was later registered by the State Committee on Religious Issues in September 1996. Caritas was the first organisation to offer humanitarian assistance after Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The two Caritas organisations are providing internally-displaced people on the move with essential information, food, drinking water and personal hygiene kits, as well as a safe and secure place to sleep, eat and wash themselves. Caritas staff and volunteers also provide safe transport for displaced families to reach their loved ones.

Another Catholic organisation helping in Ukraine is the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. As of 18 March, CNEWA Canada has raised over $1.16 million for Ukraine. Also, a generous family from Alberta matched donations up to $500,000.

3. CLIMATE

Ps 19a (Grail): “The heavens proclaim the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands. Day unto day takes up the story and night unto night makes known the message.”

IPCC's latest report on Mitigation of Climate Change was published on 4 April.
Emissions must peak by 2025 to limit global warming and reduce by 43% by 2030.
We need to cut fossil fuel use, transition to renewable energy at scale and invest in carbon dioxide removal.

And yet: Canada in deepwater: behind the Trudeau government’s approval of the Bay du Nord offshore oil development

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault greenlit Newfoundland’s first deepwater oil and gas development project. Questions remain about how that decision was made. The Bay du Nord project proposes to extract up to one billion barrels of crude oil from the seabed about 500 kilometres northeast of St. John’s. There, in depths ranging from 300 metres to 1,200 metres, owners Equinor, of Norway, and Husky Energy (now owned by Cenovus), of Canada, hope to operate for up to 30 years. [N.B. Cenovus has substantial Chinese ownership]. In a decision released Wednesday, April 6, Guilbeault concluded Bay du Nord is “not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects,” and will, therefore, move ahead. [Forgive me for sounding sceptical and suspecting gobbledygook.]

Six key lifestyle changes
can help avert the climate crisis

Research shows that governments and individuals making small changes can have a huge impact in reducing emissions. Last week (4 April) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its “bleakest warning yet”, saying the climate crisis was accelerating rapidly with only a narrow chance left of avoiding its worst ravages.
Bailey said as the world reaches the edge of ecological collapse, it needed a workable alternative to this ‘universal consumer society’ in the next decade.

Eat a largely plant-based diet, with healthy portions and no waste
Buy no more than three new items of clothing per year
Keep electrical products for at least seven years
Take no more than one short haul flight every three years and one long haul flight every eight years
Get rid of personal motor vehicles if you can – and if not keep hold of your existing vehicle for longer

Make at least one life shift to nudge the system, like moving to a green energy, insulating your home or changing pension supplier.

Left: 1millionwomen.com.au Right: 23 June 2020. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

Climate-Fossil Fuels-War
How sad; they were warned but did not pay attention:

European oil receipts boosting Putin’s war chest by $285m a day, study finds (The Guardian)
How Europe is funding Putin’s war (Politico)

WAR - INEQUALITY : RUSSIA CAN ONLY AFFORD ITS WAR IN
UKRAINE BECAUSE BRITAIN HELPED RAISE THE CASH
by Oliver Bullough author of Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals

SHARE LENT - WAY OF THE CROSS

In this Way of the Cross, Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada invites us to understand the experiences of communities in the Global South that are affected by climate change and by the misbehaviour of socially irresponsible companies that do not respect human rights and the environment. Download Here

Powerpoint for the Way of the Cross can be found here to be Downloaded Here

And a final thought:

Peace & joy, Andrew Conradi, ofs. JPIC & Mouvement Laudato Si’ Movement Animator

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March 2022 Blog

3/5/2022

0 Comments

I acknowledge and thank the Lkwungen People
for allowing me to live, pray, work, and play on their lands. I am deeply sorry for the injustices inflicted upon the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Turtle Island by the complicity of settlers in the colonialism inherent in the Indian Act and Residential Schools including racism, many forms of abuse & cultural genocide.

UKRAINE

1. CCCB STATEMENT ON RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE
Statement
In solidarity with the Head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, in unison with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with the people of Ukraine as well as with Canadians of Ukrainian origin and descent, we encourage the faithful and all people of good will to pray for the imminent restoration of peace, dialogue, and human fraternity.
An excerpt from a message from His Beatitude Sviatoslav:

We pray especially for those who defend Ukraine, who in these days are for us an example of loving sacrifice and dedicated service to their people.
May the merciful Lord protect them from every danger and crown their efforts with the victory of truth and good.
We call for the gracious blessing of a loving God and Creator upon Ukraine and its people!
The blessing of the Lord be upon you.

† SVIATOSLAV

Ukrainian Christian Background Simplified.
In Ukraine Christianity has a fractured history. It is practically an Orthodox country, and most Catholics are Ukrainian Greek Catholics (Byzantine Rite) with about 7 million believers or about 9.4% of the population and Roman (Latin Rite) Catholics at only 0.8%. A few Roman Catholics priests are bi-ritual (Roman and Byzantine).

About 67.3% of the population declared adherence to one or another strand of Orthodox Christianity which is split into at least two strands in spite of the recent unification of four strands.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine
The church was united at the unification council in Kyiv on 15 December 2018 as a condition for recognition of it by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and was granted the tomos of autocephaly (decree of ecclesial independence) by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Istanbul on 5 January 2019. The unification council voted to unite all the existing Ukrainian Orthodox major jurisdictions: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) as well as a part [only part] of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (a branch of the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church, which claims jurisdiction over Ukraine). The Unification Council elected Epiphanius Dumenko – previously the Metropolitan of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi and Bila Tserkva (UOC-KP) – as its primate, the Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine.
Formation of the new On 5 January 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew and Metropolitan Epiphanius celebrated a Divine Liturgy in St. George's Cathedral in Istanbul. The Tomos was signed thereafter, also in St. George's Cathedral. The Tomos "had come into force from the moment of its signing."[46][47] The signing of the tomos officially established the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine.[48]
Protestants are 2.2%.

Read more on the complicated history.

N.B. In solidarity please remember to use the Ukrainian spelling and pronunciation, rather than the Russian, for the Ukrainian capital city. Ukrainian is KYIV (pronounce the ending like “Steve”). Please do not use the Russian KIEV (pronounced like Key ev - ending like the "ev" in “ever”). Ukrainians appreciate this.

2. FRANCISCANS OFM

Help to Ukraine Through Our Friars
Emergency Ukraine: Help to Ukraine through our Friars

Friar Danyil Botvina, OFM, the Provincial of the Franciscan Province of St. Michael the Archangel in Ukraine has sent an urgent request for funds to help provide food, medicine, and shelter to the refugees living through this tragedy.

The province has 16 friaries with 65 friars serving 54 parishes in Ukraine. As you read this, women and children are seeking food and protection at the friaries as the country undergoes siege by the Russians.
Friar Botvina described to Friar Massimo Fusarelli, OFM Minister General, the situation of serious difficulty experienced by the friars who live in the city of Konotop, (about 250 km east of Kyiv) occupied by the Russians last Thursday, February 24. “The friars are well and have remained there with the people, not to abandon them”.

The words of Fr Romualdo, parish priest of the Konotop friary, describe in detail a scenario that no one thought possible until a few days ago. The streets have become a theatre of war, armoured vehicles have been knocked down, cars have been set on fire and, above all, military and civilian victims are scattered throughout the city. The picture is compounded by the despair into which the population has fallen on hearing the news that the city has been lost to the Ukrainian army.

The parish immediately opened its doors to everyone. The friars offered answers to basic needs such as a place to spend the night or to get a meal, but also to the need for a word of comfort. They are mostly elderly people, women and children who have found themselves helpless in the face of the outbreak of war on their doorstep. In spite of these efforts, it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide food, medicine and other essentials for those who have all left their homes. The number of people being cared for is increasing and the friars need help.

I ask you to donate to support our brothers and sisters who are suffering in Ukraine. In the letter of the Minister Provincial of Ukraine, (in Italian) Br Danyil Botvina, you can find a further witness of the urgency with which we launch this appeal. Thank you.

3. OFM (Conv) Office of Communications
Minister General: The Situation in the Ukraine
and
Provincial Custody of the Holy Cross in the Ukraine

28 February 2022: The OFM (Conv) Minister General, Friar Carlos A. TROVARELLI, has been receiving many questions about the situation with our friars in the Ukraine, since the Russian aggression began on February 24, 2022.

The Minister General would like to assure you that he is in contact with our friars working in the Ukraine along with our Bishop Friar Edward KAWA and our friars in neighbouring countries. The Custos of the Provincial Custody of the Holy Cross in the Ukraine, Friar Stanisław KAWA, reports: “All the friars remain in their friaries and are working, making themselves available to the people in every possible way. The bombing has forced everyone, when necessary, to go down into bomb shelters. The most difficult situation is now in BORYSPIL (БОРИСПІЛЬ), where there is an important airport. The other friaries (LVIV [ЛЬВІВ], MACKIVCI (МАЦЬКІВЦІ), KREMENCHUK [КРЕМЕНЧУК], BILSHIVTSI [БІЛЬШІВЦ]) are already taking in and assisting refugees.”

Friar Marian GOŁĄB, reports that the friars, especially those in Poland, are preparing their friaries to take in refugees. The friary in Kalwaria Pacławska, Poland, is closest to the border and is already assisting the needy. The Minister Provincial of the Province of St. Joseph, Spouse of the B.V.M. in Romania, Friar Damian-Gheorghe PĂTRAȘCU, is in contact with the friars in the Ukraine and is ready to provide any needed help. The Province of Romania has a friary near the border with the Ukraine, in Cacica, Romania.

The Minister General reminds us of Pope Francis’s invitation to pray and fast, and our friars in the Ukraine are also asking for prayer. Friar Carlos assures us that we will do everything possible to help those in need and to support those who are working with the needy.

In summary, we are there, standing with and for the people. Let us pray and work. Amen.

4. OFM (Cap)
Capuchins in Ukraine
Capuchins have been working for over three centuries in Ukraine
In the Soviet Ukraine, only one Franciscan remained: Servant of God Serafin Kaszuba. After his death in 1977, the Capuchins remained outside the country until 1988, when Ukrainian Franciscan Father Stanislao Padewski, today Bishop of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia, was invited by the parish priest of Bar, to return to the Ukraine.

The Capuchins of the Custody of Ukraine dedicated to Saint Pio, responding to the invitation of Bishop Milan Shashik of the Greek-Catholic Diocese of Mukachevo (siu iuris) arrived in Uzhhorod Ukraine (right on the Slovak border) on August 15, 2012.

On November 23, 2020, the bishop of the Greek-Catholic diocese of Mukachevo (close to the Slovak and Hungarian border) gave his written consent for the erection of a Capuchin house in his diocese. This first attempt at the presence of the Capuchins in the Byzantine Catholic rite gives hope for the possibility of extending this ministry.

Here is a video (1 min 10 sec) showing Polish Capuchins in Ukraine in their monastery’s cellar praying with people to whom they have given refuge. The friars are dressed in bulletproof vests, boots, and combat helmets, suggesting they’ve spent quite a bit of time outside and in danger. The people who they pray with look haggard and scared, but they lift their voices in song to praise the Lord and ask for intercession.

This is their prayer which we can pray in solidarity:
Holy God, holy Mighty, Holy and Immortal, Have mercy on us …
From air, hunger, fire and war, Save us, Lord!
From sudden and unexpected death, Save us, Lord!
We sinners are asking you, God, Hear us, Lord!

5. OFS (Ukraine)
In Roman Catholics in Ukraine see Movements & Communities

In Ukraine the Secular Franciscan Community first appeared in the XIV century. It now has about 1100 members in about 50 communities in Roman Catholic parishes. Among them are people of different social backgrounds, & different professions. Responding to the needs of modern society, the Order established a Franciscan School of Evangelization, which helps in the renovation of parishes and local OFS communities. The spiritual assistant community OFS in Kyiv and Ukraine is Rev.Yuriy Zelinsky, OFM (Cap). Tertiaries involved in the work of evangelization in Ukraine, help to organize retreats, parish groups, & ecumenical meetings. Members of the Order serve orphans, retired, blind, & homeless people. Admiring nature, they collaborate with the ecological movement.

A Ukrainian, Dina Franczeska Shabalina, ofs, is a link for Wells4Africa. The Canadian OFS National Minister wrote to her about Canadian support for Ukraine. We can contact her (email: franczeska@ukr.net) to let her know she and all Ukrainians are in our prayers. We support their efforts to maintain their independence and pray for a ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian forces. Dina wrote that they are praying twice a day by zoom. Let us also not forget brave Russians and Belorussians who suffer under Putin and Lukashenko and oppose the war. At time of my writing advancing Russian forces were only approx 80 km away from Dina, unless she has moved and become a refugee.

Now I must disclose my personal opinion. First, I am a human being; second, a Christian; third, a Roman Catholic Franciscan and fourth, a retired British and Canadian Army officer. I have attended Ukrainian Greek Catholic church services and worked on a project with an Eparch (Bishop), now retired. I am reminded that Pope Paul VI said: “If you want peace work/struggle/fight for justice.” (different translations use different words but Spanish uses lucha which definitely means fight). Then I am reminded of this saying attributed to Pope Francis: “You pray for the hungry, then you feed them. That is how prayer works.” Authentic prayer always includes action. So we must support the Ukrainian people in the defence of their independence.

For me, but I know not for all Franciscans, that includes their right to, and our support of, their armed defence. That is the Teaching of the Catholic Church (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2265) and is supported by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishops of Canada. The New Westminster (Diocese) Eparchy writes: You can send financial support to the Ukrainian army and volunteers, protecting their country against the aggression. Here are the contacts of trusted organizations: Help the people of Ukraine to survive the war. Donate.

Possibly many Franciscans will want to restrict their financial support to non lethal relief and humanitarian support. Others who served in the Canadian or other NATO Armed Forces, [like me] and some as UN Peacekeepers, may want to support the Ukrainian army. Many will realise that Putin would not have invaded if Ukraine were a member of NATO. Without a no-fly zone the Ukrainians have little chance but for NATO to enforce one would risk a larger confrontation for which NATO is unwilling. So Ukraine is fighting with one hand tied. May God bring peace!

6. CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE WAR IN UKRAINE

The perspectives of the Laudato Si’ Movement
on the war in Ukraine

Laudato Si’ Movement joins Pope Francis and the global Catholic Church in praying for a peaceful and swift resolution to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This movement is active in Ukraine, with passionate staff and volunteers there working every day to inspire Catholics and care for our common home. We unite in solidarity with them, and with all of the people of Ukraine.

As a Catholic organization, we are people of faith and people of peace, and we urge the international community to unite in the face of Russian aggression and achieve lasting peace in Ukraine. We call on world leaders to find creative solutions that end the invasion without escalating the violence.

Finally, we ask you to join us in prayer, using this adaptation from Pope John Paul II’s “Hear My Voice, Lord for Justice and Peace.”

To you, Creator of nature and humanity, of truth and beauty, I pray:
Hear our voice, for it is the voice of the victims of the war and violence currently happening in Ukraine.
Hear our voice, for it is the voice of all children who suffer and who will suffer
when people put their faith in weapons and war.
Hear our voice when I beg you to instill into the hearts of all human beings
the vision of peace, the strength of justice and the joy of fellowship.
Hear our voice, for we speak for the multitudes
in every country and in every period of history who do not want war
and are ready to walk the road of peace.
Hear our voice and grant insight and strength so that we may always respond
to hatred with love, to injustice with total dedication to justice,
to need with the sharing of self, to war with peace.
O God, hear our voice. Amen

The foregoing material is from the Statement 24 Feb 2022 found here.
The following comes from the Statement on Fossil Fuels and war in Ukraine, 28 Feb 2022

Excerpts follow:
“It’s an unprecedented war aggression by Russia, the largest country in the world with 60% of their economy based on fossil fuels exploration and trade. …Currently we observe the big shift happening in these few days against Russian fossil fuels hegemony that fueled and weaponised a war against Ukraine. There is hope for the European Union (EU) and countries outside of the EU to end both war and fossil fuel expansion the soonest. In Berlin there were 500,000 protesters in the streets expressing solidarity against the war in Ukraine and demanding Germanian [sic] government to embargo Russian oil and gas.”

Canada has done that but Canadian banks and insurance companies are pouring millions into Russian oil and gas. See Canada's National Observer: News & Analysis. If you are a customer with one of those banks let them know you are not happy!

7. POPE FRANCIS MESSAGE FOR LENT 2022

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Lent is a favourable time for personal and community renewal, as it leads us to the paschal mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For our Lenten journey in 2022, we will do well to reflect on Saint Paul’s exhortation to the Galatians: “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up. So then, while we have the opportunity (kairós), let us do good to all” (Gal 6:9-10). It has three subheadings:

Sowing and reaping
“Let us not grow tired of doing good”
“If we do not give up, we shall reap our harvest in due time”

Full message here

8. Laudato Si’ Lent 2022 Themes

There are inspiring prayers for each week of Lent from the Laudato Si’ Movement.
They can be found here: https://laudatosilent.org

Here is the one from week 3:

“Prayer for fundamental human rights.”
“God of Justice, we pray for the courage and determination to defend
fundamental human rights. We ask for the courage to actively combat poverty,
inequality, lack of work, land and housing, and the denial of social and labour rights.
We pray for equality, that there would not be first, second or third class people;
much less the so-called “disposable”.
We also pray for those who defend human rights.
For those who risk their lives while fighting for fundamental rights
under dictatorships, authoritarian regimes and even in democracies in crisis,
that they may see their sacrifice and their work bear abundant fruit.
Amen.”

Prayer based on Pope Francis’ prayer intention for fundamental Human Rights,
by Ana Carolina Gutierrez, LSM Spiritual consultant, Italy.

9. Share Lent is an annual highlight for D&P/Caritas Canada.

Development and Peace
It is when the bishops of Canada encourage the faithful to give to Development and Peace, especially through the collection on Solidarity Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Lent.
This Lent, let us walk in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Global South who put people and planet first. Join us and bring Share Lent to life in your community!
Bring the campaign to life in your community.

We have many resources to help you run the Share Lent campaign in your parish or school. Visit our Resources section to discover our Mini-magazine Solidarity Calendar, Way of the Cross. See the resources

WAY OF THE CROSS
In this Way of the Cross, Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada invites us to understand the experiences of communities in the Global South that are affected by climate change and by the misbehaviour of socially irresponsible companies that do not respect human rights and the environment. Let us be inspired by the resilience that these communities show in confronting unjust situations while respecting nature. May this act of solidarity allow us to commemorate the Passion of Christ and to enter into the mystery of God’s love, manifested in his Son Jesus.

For an example here is the 1st STATION.

Jesus is condemned to death
Celebrant: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.
Scripture: “[Pilate] took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’” ― Matthew 27:24
Meditation: Under pressure from the crowd, manipulated by an elite anxious to maintain their domination and privileges, Pilate unjustly allows Jesus to be condemned to death as if he were a criminal, and washes his hands of the deed. In the name of economic interests, companies that operate with no social and environmental responsibility are complicit in criminalizing human rights and environmental defenders.
Quote: “Now more than ever, we need mandatory supply chain due diligence to stop corporate abuse and guarantee global solidarity. Through their operations, irresponsible companies are complicit in acts of violence and suffering. We, Catholic leaders throughout the world, call on states to put an end to this.” ― Worldwide bishops’ statement in support of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation.
PRAYER
Celebrant: Let us pray in silence for a moment.
Let us pray together: Lord Jesus, teach us to denounce human injustices so that we do not become accomplices. Give us the courage to not remain silent before powers and legislations that do not respect human rights and the environment.

You can print the whole Way of the Cross here

BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENTS
Another thing you can do is check the resources for Bulletin announcements and ask your pastor to insert them. Here is an example:

Week 3: March 20

The power of mobilized citizens
One of Development and Peace’s strengths is our ability to mobilize thousands of Canadians like you to amplify marginalized voices from the Global South. Our partners want businesses to not be able to perpetrate abuses in their countries with impunity. That is why our People and Planet First campaign is asking you to help ensure that Canada adopts strong due diligence laws to prevent Canadian corporations from abusing human and environmental rights across their global operations.

Sign our petition for this at devp.org/act and spread the word.
Thank you for supporting our campaign!

SHORT TALK
If you are brave enough you can ask your pastor to let you give the Short Talk.
Here is the one page text.

VIDEO
The Development Council of Andohatapenaka (CDA), a Development and Peace partner, has implemented 51 climate change adaptation microprojects in the capital of Madagascar. CDA is also helping residents transform one of the most vulnerable neighborhoods into an ecological village. This project was realized with financing from the Government of Quebec and meets the objectives of its 2030 Plan for a Green Economy.

Our programs and our partners in the Global South promote alternatives to unjust social, political, economic and environmental structures. To learn more or make a donation: https://www.devp.org
Rarivoarinoro Hanta Manana, project manager, CDA says:
“What makes the collaboration between Development and Peace and CDA special is that the beneficiaries of the project participate. They don’t wait for us to give them something. They are both beneficiaries and actors in the realization of their initiatives.”

Here is a video about this ecological conversion in Madagascar (4 mins 51 sec)

Pope Francis Speaks about Ukraine
Pope Francis spoke at length about the war in Ukraine after the Angelus prayer on March 6, 2022. He expressed his closeness to “this troubled country” where “rivers of blood and tears flow” inviting once again to resume the path of negotiation. He also expressed a heartfelt tribute to the journalists working in this extremely dangerous area.

Two cardinals sent to Ukraine
He said that “the Holy See is willing to do everything to put itself at the service of this peace,” explaining that Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, Apostolic Chaplain, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, acting Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, have been in Ukraine in recent days to assist the population. [because of his work with refuges]
“This presence of the two Cardinals is the presence not only of the Pope, but of all the Christian people who want to come closer and say: ‘War is madness! Stop, please! Look at this cruelty!” implored the Bishop of Rome.

“Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up. So then, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all” (Galatians 6:9-10)

“The developed countries ought to help pay … by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programmes of sustainable development.” (Pope Francis. Laudato Si’, 52)

Peace & joy, Andrew Conradi, ofs. JPIC & Mouvement Laudato Si’ Movement Animator

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SPECIAL BLOG FOR UKRAINE

2/27/2022

1 Comment

UKRAINE: CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING:
THE RIGHT TO SELF–DEFENCE
by Andrew Conradi, ofs (Laudato si’ Animator)

Catechism of the Catholic Church: “2265 Legitimate defence can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defence of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.”

Ukraine’s self-defence is a “Just War “. Read more

Ukraine has a “Responsibility to Protect” which is a recognised United Nations and Canadian policy. Andrew Conradi, ofs, 2013, Understanding JPIC : “3.2.50.g. The Responsibility to Protect principle, sometimes referred to as R2P, was adopted unanimously by the UN in 2005. It holds that sovereign states have a responsibility to protect their own citizens from avoidable catastrophe, but that when they are unwilling or unable to do so, that responsibility must be borne by the broader community of states.” (emphasis added)

From Gospel to life: Ecclesiastes 8:3: 3,7,8
“a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.”

The gravity of the present moment cannot be understated. Pope Francis has called for a World Day of Fasting and Peace for Ukraine on Ash Wednesday, 2 March.

Please go to the New Westminster Eparchy (Diocese) of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Canada to read their short overview of the situation:
http://nweparchy.ca/help-the-people-of-ukraine-to-survive-the-war-donate-here/

The Eparchy writes: You can send financial support to the Ukrainian army and volunteers, protecting their country against the aggression. Here are the contacts of two trusted organizations:

CNEWA Canada
Development and Peace / Caritas Canada

Development & Peace/Caritas Canada sent an immediate allocation of $75,000 to help with the provision of food, shelter, medical care and transport to safe locations. In addition, we ask for your solidarity and support to help us respond to the needs on the ground. Both D&P/Caritas Canada and CNEWA Canada are partners of Caritas Internationalis which is supporting Caritas Ukraine.

We have known about Putin for years but many did not want to believe. He is a product of the KGB practice of "Disinformation" which continues as Putin's governmental policy. Now he has revealed his true colours for all to see: CBC Fifth Estate 9 Jan 2015 (44 mins). Good news is that the threat of nuclear war is actually not great except by mistake. Bad news is that Putin seems to have become unbalanced and no one in his entourage is brave enough to remove him which is what it will take for a real peace. See the TYEE article "Use of Nukes ‘Extremely Unlikely".

RUSSIAN OPPOSITION TO PUTIN’S WAR:
Russian rights activist launches anti-war movement, petition collects more than 810,000 signatures.

Russian tech workers sign petition opposing invasion of Ukraine - The Washington Post

Francis, (2015), Laudato Si', 79: “The work of the Church seeks not only to remind everyone of the duty to care for nature, but at the same time ‘she must above all protect mankind from self-destruction’ ”. [emphasis added. quoting Benedict XVI, (2009), Caritas in Veritate ,51.]

“Virgin of Perpetual Help pray for Ukraine”
Source: http://www.ukrainianchurchesofcanada.ca/iconography/uf_theotokos.html

May the Lord give us peace!

1 Comment

February 2022 Blog

2/5/2022

1 Comment

by Andrew Conradi, ofs; JPIC & Laudato si' Animator
who acknowledges and thanks the Lkwungen People for allowing me to live, pray, work, and play on their lands. I am deeply sorry for the injustices inflicted upon the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Turtle Island by the complicity of settlers in the colonialism inherent in the Indian Act and Residential Schools including racism and cultural genocide.
I commit to work for truth, healing and reconciliation

1. Pro-life is pro-social justice!

MARCH FOR LIFE
INTEGRAL PRO-LIFE IS PRO-SOCIAL JUSTICE
I previously showed this 2004 quotation in several of my JPIC powerpoint presentations:

Which brings me to this reminder from James Martin, SJ (thanks to Diane LeBrun):

2. BILLIONAIRES

Ten richest men double their fortunes in pandemic while incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall. (17th January 2022)
New billionaire minted every 26 hours, as inequality contributes to the death of one person every four seconds [Pro- lifers take note]
The world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion —at a rate of $15,000 per second or $1.3 billion a day— during the first two years of a pandemic that has seen the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall and over 160 million more people forced into poverty. [This is trickle down!!! Anna Cooban, CNN Business 16 Jan 2022 : The pandemic has not been the "great equalizer" some predicted. The World Bank estimates that 97 million people worldwide fell into extreme poverty in 2020 and are now living on less than $2 a day. The number of the world's poorest also rose for the first time in over 20 years.]

“If these ten men were to lose 99.999 percent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 percent of all the people on this planet,” said Oxfam International’s Executive Director Gabriela Bucher. “They now have six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people.”

In a new briefing “Inequality Kills,” [click on it for full report; what follows here are excerpts] published today ahead of the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda, Oxfam says that inequality is contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day, or one person every four seconds. This is a conservative finding based on deaths globally from lack of access to healthcare, gender-based violence, hunger, and climate breakdown.

“It has never been so important to start righting the violent wrongs of this obscene inequality by clawing back elites’ power and extreme wealth including through taxation —getting that money back into the real economy and to save lives," she said.
Billionaires’ wealth has risen more since COVID-19 began than it has in the last 14 years. At $5 trillion dollars, this is the biggest surge in billionaire wealth since records began. A one-off 99 percent tax on the ten richest men’s pandemic windfalls, for example, could pay:

to make enough vaccines for the world;
to provide universal healthcare and social protection, fund climate adaptation and reduce gender-based violence in over 80 countries;
All this, while still leaving these men $8 billion better off than they were before the pandemic.

“Billionaires have had a terrific pandemic. Central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom. Vaccines were meant to end this pandemic, yet rich governments allowed pharma billionaires and monopolies to cut off the supply to billions of people.

The pandemic has set gender parity back from 99 years to now 135 years.
The pandemic has hit racialized groups hardest. colonialism.
Inequality between countries is expected to rise for the first time in a generation. forced to slash social spending as their debt levels spiral and now face the prospect of austerity measures. The proportion of people with COVID-19 who die from the virus in developing countries is roughly double that in rich countries.

Inequality goes to the heart of the climate crisis, as the richest 1 percent emit more than twice as much CO2 as the bottom 50 percent of the world, driving climate change throughout 2020 and 2021 that has contributed to wildfires, floods, tornadoes, crop failures and hunger. “Inequality at such pace and scale is happening by choice, not chance,” Bucher said.
Oxfam recommends that governments urgently:

Claw back the gains made by billionaires by taxing this huge new wealth made since the start of the pandemic through permanent wealth and capital taxes.
Invest the trillions that could be raised by these taxes toward progressive spending on universal healthcare and social protection, climate change adaptation, and gender-based violence prevention and programming.
Tackle sexist and racist laws that discriminate against women and racialized people and create new gender-equal laws to uproot violence and discrimination. All sectors of society must urgently define policies that will ensure women, racialized and other oppressed groups are represented in all decision-making spaces.
End laws that undermine the rights of workers to unionize and strike, and set up stronger legal standards to protect them.
Rich governments must immediately waive intellectual property rules over COVID-19 vaccine technologies to allow more countries to produce safe and effective vaccines to usher in the end of the pandemic.

Bucher said: "There is no shortage of money. That lie died when governments released $16 trillion to respond to the pandemic. There is only a shortage of courage and imagination needed to break free from the failed, deadly straitjacket of extreme neoliberalism. Governments would be wise to listen to the movements —the young climate strikers, Black Lives Matter activists, #NiUnaMenos feminists, Indian farmers and others – who are demanding justice and equality”.

One way we can act in Canada:

It’s a slap in the face. A new report reveals that Canada’s richest billionaires have pocketed $111 billion since March 2020. That’s more than the $109 billion the Canadian government spent on income support for workers — and the kind of money the rest of us can’t even imagine. [1,2]

It’s become the new norm — the richer get richer, while everyone else struggles. But at Leadnow, we know it doesn’t have to be that way. And here’s what we’re going to do about it.

Right now, Liberal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is putting together the federal budget, where the government sets out its funding priorities. Together we can ramp up the pressure to force the Liberals to make good on their promise to ensure everyone pays their fair share, by taxing extreme wealth — and convince them there’s no time like the present.

Imagine you’re Finance Minister Freeland. You’re walking to a budget meeting and spot a van parked up with a powerful ad showing how Canadians are forced to choose between food and paying their bills — because you’re letting the rich get richer while the rest of us struggle. Then you log onto your phone, and on social media you see ad after ad calling on you to tax the rich in Budget 2022.

So, if you can, will you chip in now to launch a powerful ad campaign calling on Finance Minister Freeland to make the rich pay their fair share?

The NDP has consistently pushed for a wealth tax, closing corporate tax loopholes, and providing a guaranteed livable basic income. In the 2021 election, a one per cent tax on wealth over $10 million was a key plank of the NDP platform.

N.B.: The only reason I mention this is because Catholic Social Teaching tells us we should all be aware of the issues and platforms!

3. MORE ON RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

We have known about the abuse for many years at the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School (Williams Lake, BC) which operated from 1891 until 1981. Three clergy who worked at the mission were convicted of sexual crimes against children.

In 1989, Rev. Harold McIntee pleaded guilty to sexually abusing 17 children over several decades, the first 13 at St. Joseph’s in the 1960s and 1970s. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Former principal Bishop Hubert O’Connor was also convicted in 1996 of sexually assaulting two children at the facility in the 1960s.

In 2000, the Globe and Mail called the facility “among the most notorious residential schools in British Columbia”. In 2002, oblate Glen Doughty was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to 12 of the charges (he was accused of 3 dozen at two different schools). He had previously been convicted of four separate counts of gross indecency against four children at St. Joseph’s.

While the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s records name 16 children who died at St. Joseph’s, a preliminary investigation by the nation released [25 Jan 2022] indicates those numbers are likely much higher.

The facility’s grounds and an associated ranch were searched by ground-penetrating radar, which revealed 93 likely human burials or “reflections,” 50 of which are believed to not be associated with an adjacent cemetery.

Evading Church role harms reconciliation by Michael Swan
or as Thomas Reese, SJ has put it regarding abuse: Apologize, apologize, apologize

31 January 2022: The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami say the Holy Father is scheduled to meet with individual Indigenous delegations the week of 28 March 2022. The Pope will have a final audience with all participants on Friday, 1 April. The CCCB is expected to shoulder the costs of the trip.

These meetings with Pope Francis are intended as a first step, leading to a papal visit to Canada. The visit from Pope Francis has been announced but not scheduled and it is unknown when it might take place. It is widely expected that in Canada Pope Francis will issue an apology in the name of the Church for the residential schools, fulfilling the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Call to Action #58. Read more

CCCB ANNOUNCE NEW FUND
January 28, 2022 – Canada’s Catholic Bishops have agreed to establish a new registered charity to support and advance healing and reconciliation initiatives. The charity is expected to manage the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund, which will accept contributions from 73 dioceses across Canada in order to fulfill the $30 million financial commitment made by Canada’s Bishops in September 2021. Any administrative costs will be on top of the $30 million being raised and will not be deducted from this principal amount. Regional and/or Diocesan Granting Committees will be established to identify projects that further the fund’s priorities, review applications and request funds to support such projects. These committees will include Indigenous and Catholic membership and it is our recommendation that they be chaired by local Indigenous partners.

4. WEDZIN KWA (MORICE RIVER, BC)

Canada chooses oil companies over Indigenous Peoples
by Zoe Craig-Sparrow, Shelagh Day, and Margot Young 15 Jan 2022

The contradictions couldn’t be more glaring.
While recent laws passed by the federal and the British Columbia governments pledge to transform relationships with Indigenous peoples, their actions indicate otherwise. For example, in northern B.C., the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs of all five clans oppose incursion into their traditional, unceded lands by the Coastal Gaslink pipeline.

While some elected band councils in Wet’suwet’en territory support the project, both Indigenous law and the Supreme Court of Canada recognize the hereditary chiefs as stewards of the 22,000 kilometres of central B.C. that is Wet’suwet’en yintah (territory). Conflict with the RCMP in B.C. has shone a bright light on this issue. The RCMP has invaded the camps of the hereditary chiefs three times in three years, the most recent in November 2021. Twenty-nine people, including two accredited journalists, were arrested in a multiday invasion last month. When the arrest footage was eventually released, it showed RCMP officers pointing assault rifles at unarmed Indigenous people.

At the heart of the matter is a contradiction about the rule of law.
The narrative offered by the federal and provincial governments is that since the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission granted a permit, and a court granted Coastal GasLink’s request for an injunction against blockades, the police are simply upholding the rule of law. They portray the hereditary chiefs as a small band of dissident troublemakers defying a court order.

But hereditary chiefs are not protesters—they are land defenders.

And they are acting in accordance with Wet’suwet’en law, which predates colonization, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has also weighed in, issuing a decision in 2019 calling for Canada to withdraw police forces and stop pipeline construction.

It is clear that governments are choosing which law to uphold, prioritizing the law that protects oil and gas corporations rather than the law that protects the rights of Indigenous peoples. There is also more than a little irony seeing Indigenous people arrested for protecting the land against fossil-fuel expansion and increased carbon emissions while B.C. is experiencing yet another climate change-fueled catastrophe.

Indigenous land defenders are actually helping Canada meet its climate obligations. A 2021 report estimated that over the past 10 years, Indigenous resistance to fossil fuel expansion in Canada and the United States has either stopped or delayed greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to at least one-quarter of the annual emissions of both these countries.

Make no mistake, our governments are choosing oil companies over Indigenous peoples—and that’s not a promising path to reconciliation.

Zoe Craig-Sparrow is the director of Indigenous rights and environmental justice at Justice for Girls and a member of the Musqueam Indian Band. Shelagh Day is the chair of the human rights committee of the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action. Margot Young is with the Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia.

5. 'ADA'ITSX (FAIRY CREEK, BC)

N.B. 26 Jan 2022: A court injunction against old-growth logging protests on Vancouver Island has been extended until next fall in a British Columbia Court of Appeal decision that overturns a lower-court ruling.* More than 1,100 people have been arrested while protesting old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek area near Port Renfrew, about 110 kilometres west of Victoria. Police enforcement at Fairy Creek Watershed cost Canadians more than $10 million to date. “The public interest in upholding the rule of law continues to be the dominant public interest in cases involving civil disobedience against a private entity,” says the written decision from the panel. [Again this begs the question: whose rule of law? And whose dominant public interest?]

* In September 2021, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson refused to extend the injunction, saying police enforcement at the Fairy Creek site led to serious infringements of civil liberties including freedom of the press.

It is about land & who controls it; not just in Turtle Island (North America) but also in Australia and everywhere indigenous people were colonised.

read/ listen more

6. PLASTIC

Plastic crisis needs binding treaty, report says
Pollution from plastics is a global emergency in need of a robust UN treaty, according to a report. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) says there's a cascade of evidence of harm from plastics. It argues that the plastic pollution threat is almost equivalent to climate change.

The air we breathe now contains plastic micro particles, there’s plastic in Arctic snow, plastic in soils and plastic in our food. It's reported, for instance, that about 20 elephants in Thailand have died after eating plastic waste from a rubbish dump. The authors urge nations to agree a UN treaty with binding targets for reducing both plastic production and waste.

"There is a deadly ticking clock counting swiftly down," said the EIA’s Tom Gammage.
The United Nations has identified three existential environmental threats - climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution - and concluded that they must be addressed together. Why hasn't Canada backed a UN treaty to tackle the rise of plastic pollution on a global level? 17 May 2021

An open letter urging action to Jonathan Wilkinson, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, has been signed by 42 of Canada’s leading scientists representing a diverse array of specialist research areas, from climate change and microplastics to fisheries and indigenous environmental health.

On 12 May, the Canadian Government announced the listing of “plastic manufactured items” under Schedule 1 Toxic Substances List of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).
This is an important step in addressing the plastic pollution crisis, but EIA remains baffled as to why a country clearly committed to action on plastics through this legislative amendment remain tight-lipped over whether or not it supports a global plastics agreement which already has the backing of more than 70 per cent of the world’s countries.

Canadians discard three million tonnes of plastic waste per year, only nine per cent of which is recycled. The vast majority of plastics end up in landfill or are incinerated and about 29,000 tonnes finds its way into the natural environment.

After decades of failed voluntary efforts and a patchwork of incongruent laws and policies around the world, the issue of plastic pollution has only worsened. It has become increasingly clear that preventing plastic pollution requires something missing at the global level and all countries are needed to make it happen. With two-thirds of countries including Vietnam, the EU, the 54 countries of the Africa Group, the Pacific Islands and the UK already expressing support for a global plastics agreement, question marks hang heavy over the Canadian Government.

On October 7, 2020, we announced proposed new steps to achieve the goal of zero plastic waste by 2030. One element of the approach is the proposal to ban or restrict the use of certain single-use plastics where there is evidence that they are found in the environment, are often not recycled, and have readily available and viable alternatives. This includes single-use plastic check-out bags, cutlery, food service ware made from or containing problematic plastics, ringed carriers, stir sticks, and straws. The approach also proposes improvements to recover and recycle plastic, so it stays in our economy and out of the environment. The announcement included the release of a discussion paper that outlines the proposed approach for public comment.

Greening our government
Canada is driving action within the federal government and taking practical steps to manage the use and disposal of plastics within our own operations. In 2018, we set goals to:

divert at least 75% of plastic waste from federal operations by 2030
eliminate the unnecessary use of single-use plastics in government operations, meetings and events
purchase more sustainable plastic products that can be reused, recycled, repaired or repurposed.

7. Development and Peace

Carl Hétu: “I am very excited to join Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada as the new executive director, starting February 14, 2022. … My dear friends, our roadmap has been laid out by Pope Francis, who invites us to journey with him in implementing Laudato Si’ and in participating in the ongoing synod on Synodality. This is a crucial time for us Catholics to be part of the solution.” Two ways to help us participate:

First: THE LAUDATO SI’ ACTION PLATFORM
was launched internationally from Rome on the Feast of St. Francis, Oct. 4, 2021.
Laudato Si’ was groundbreaking in 2015, but now the Canadian Church on 12 Feb will break ground on a new effort to take up Pope Francis’ challenge to care for the planet we all share.

Hosted by the Archdiocese of Regina, the national online event will begin with prayers offered by Mackenzie-Fort Smith Bishop Jon Hansen. The Canadian launch will promote the now fully multilingual international platform and offer help from the Green Churches Network to parishes, Catholic universities, schools, hospitals, dioceses and families who volunteer to take on the seven-year process of decarbonizing, simplifying and transforming their relationship with the environment.

Join us for the Canadian Launch of the Laudato Si` Action Platform in Canada. On Saturday, February 12th at 10:00 am Saskatchewan Time, (8:00 am BC, 11:00 ONT) etc. Norman Lévesque (Green Churches Network director), Bishop Jon Hansen, C.Ss.R. and the rest of our Catholic family from across Canada to learn more about how your community can engage in the works of Laudato Si`. There will be some time for discussion and sharing, so bring a friend and join us.

To Register (free): https://lsap.eventbrite.ca Questions? Email: ttoupin@archregina.sk.ca

Second: THE SYNOD
Have you heard anything in your diocese or parish? In BC, The Diocese of Victoria, has just posted the Bishop’s Pastoral Letter and a video (2 min 30 secs) and a questionnaire.

“A synodal Church, in announcing the Gospel, "journeys together" with these questions:
1) How is this "journeying together" happening today in your church or community?
2) What steps does the Spirit invite us to take to grow in our "journeying together"?
3) As you were answering questions 1 and 2, what thoughts and emotions stirred in you? These insights might relate to how you envision being part of "journeying together" in new or expanded ways.”

Victoria will invite people to join Listening Circles and: “ If you have not been able to participate in a Listening Circle, or would like to offer your own personal reflections, you are invited to complete our Listening Church response form.” Included is an excellent short video (2:57) by Dominican Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, former Master of the Order of Preachers, who reflects on the importance of confidence to speak and humility to listen: 'daring to listen' is part of the Church's path toward the 2023 Synod of Bishops.

The Archdiocese of Vancouver has posted this:

The Archdiocese has a questionnaire that individuals can submit with the 5 questions listed above in the picture and repeated here below:

1: What helps or prevents you from being active in the Church’s mission?
2: What areas of the Church’s mission are we missing or neglecting?
3: What particular issues in the Church do we need to pay more attention to?
4: What particular issues in society do we need to pay more attention to?
5: How can we, the local Church, journey with our Indigenous sisters and brothers in a process of healing and reconciliation?

(I suggest all OFS Fraternities discuss and submit their own diocese’s questionnaire or one of the above. Also we are not bound by their questions and can pose/answer our own!).

And in the Vancouver Archdiocese, Fr Pierre Ducharme, OFM has made presentations at St Joseph the Worker in Richmond, BC. (1 hr 47 mins long but it has lots of down time. It actually only starts at about 13 mins in (!) and you can scroll forward to miss bits e.g. when the different table groups are eating and discussing among themselves.) I watched/ listened virtually to a recording of the December 2021 one.
Preview Youtube video: An Introduction to the Synod on Synodality

St Joseph the Worker’s second one was February’s “Faith and Food Supper”, Sunday, February 6@7 p.m., on Zoom. Hopefully clicking on the Register now will get us the recording!
Here is another webinar:

Join authors Moira McQueen and Massimo Faggioli for a robust conversation on the topic of Synodality and how the faithful at all levels can participate in Pope Francis’ call to solidarity and contribute to a rich reflection on a vibrant future for the Catholic Church. Click here: Information and Free Registration

CUMULATIVE FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES SINCE 2010 EXCEED $5 TRILLION. ENOUGH ALREADY!
See infographic here

RIP:

Most Rev Remi De Roo, Bishop Emeritus
of Victoria, BC

Far ahead of his time,
a “radical” in tune with Vatican II;

died 1 Feb 2022 aged 97

Your prayers are requested for the repose of the soul of Most Rev. Remi De Roo, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Victoria, who passed away peacefully in Victoria on 1 February 2021 at the age of 97 years. Bishop De Roo served as Bishop of the Diocese of Victoria from 1962-1999. The prayers for Remi De Roo, will be held at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Victoria on Friday, 11 February at 5:00 pm. Funeral on Saturday, 12 February at 11:00 am, at the Cathedral. Those who wish to attend the funeral are asked to RSVP before 1:30 pm on Friday, 11 February by calling St. Andrew’s Parish Office at 250-388-5571. The funeral will be livestreamed on the Diocese’s livestream page.

He was far ahead of his time and a “radical” very much in tune with Vatican II;
he promoted marriage for priests and enhancing the role of women, even ordination, and criticized unfettered capitalism including the Prime Minister’s policy in 1984.

Read more: Retired bishop was a social justice advocate and more

Peace & joy, Andrew, ofs

1 Comment

January 2022 Blog

1/8/2022

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1.	THE MYSTERY OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

One thing I rediscovered from Advent was from Henri Nouwen’s Advent Devotions, Monday of the Third Week of Advent: “We can probe the heights and the depths of the material universe and contemplate the deepest complexities of metaphysics and still not come close to understanding God in his divinity.” But that does not stop us trying! I remember a cherished pastor telling me: “Never let go of the mystery of our faith.” At this moment I summarise it thus: We believe in the Holy Trinity, the Immaculate Conception and the Holy Family and that we are made in the image of God. We are like Him yet so unlike Him but strive to imitate Him. And, as I quoted last month, Julian of Norwich said: “As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother.” Stephen Hawking wrote in a Short history of Time: “If we knew the reason for the existence of the universe we would know the mind of God.” That will be my first question to God!

2.

THE HOLY FAMILY

Source: google icons of St Joseph

"Dorothy Day and The Holy Family of the Streets" from James Martin, SJ
by Kelly Latimore. See: https://kellylatimoreicons.com

3.	NOVENA TO ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI

gives us a novena based on the Canticle

Use the novena’s video prayers (54 secs each one) over nine days or at nine moments of personal prayer. Each has four phases: Canticle; Amazon voice; penitential prayer; plea for intercession.
The pandemic shows us that “we have not heard the cry of the poor and our seriously ill planet” warns Pope Francis, describing this as "a time to choose what matters and what passes away". (Urbi et Orbi, 2020)

Tweet from Laudato Si' Movement (@LaudatoSiMvmt):
"What are we destined for, since our #creation? God created us to “cultivate” a garden, which we have made an arid desert, because we do not accept our limitations and consider ourselves rulers of creation."

Francis wrote the Canticle of the Creatures (Canticle of Brother Sun)
Here read by Friar Murray Bodo, OFM
in the original Umbrian dialect (with English text on screen).

4.

CALLING ON WORLD LEADERS!

Laudato si’, 179: “Society, through non-governmental organizations and intermediate groups, must put pressure on governments to develop more rigorous regulations, procedures and controls. Unless citizens control political power – national, regional and municipal – it will not be possible to control damage to the environment. Local legislation can be more effective, too, if agreements exist between neighbouring communities to support the same environmental policies.”

So let’s put on some pressure!

Ecocide defined : “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or longterm damage to the environment.”

Making ecocide a crime
Will ecocide become an international crime?

For more Francis cartoons, click here.

A Plea to Make Widespread Environmental Damage an International Crime
Takes Centre Stage at The Hague
The idea to add ecocide as the court’s fifth crime gained traction in 2019. Since then, Pope Francis, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres and more than a dozen countries, including Mexico, France, Sweden and Canada, have expressed varying degrees of support for the international initiative. Earlier [December 2021], Belgium’s parliament passed a resolution expressing support for both domestic ecocide legislation and the international effort.

3 Dec 2021 Brussels, Belgium. In a landmark event the Belgian parliament voted by a huge majority (96 to 39) to recognise Ecocide as an international crime. The resolution - proposed by a Green member of parliament calls on the Belgian government to initiate a treaty of countries willing to prosecute ecocide and to propose an amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of The Hague to include the new crime. The United States has not ratified the Rome Statute and is not a member of the court. International criminal law is seen as a tool, alongside political processes like global climate negotiations, to fight widespread environmental harm. In particular, advocates say that making ecocide a crime would change the calculus of multinational corporations when making decisions about potentially environmentally harmful projects.

  Take action: please sign this Petition
  Organisations and associations can sign this to the Canadian Government

Therefore, all signatory organizations and associations below ASK THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT to:
Publicly declare its support for an international crime of Ecocide, joining those countries ready to amend the Rome Statute to include it as the fifth Crime Against Peace, alongside Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes and the Crime of Aggression, providing a simple, effective deterrent for those in positions of responsibility, enforceable within existing criminal justice systems.

    Individuals can sign the International Petition
Support making ECOCIDE an international crime
We call on all governments to declare support for making ecocide an international crime, in the knowledge that many countries must stand together to put this law in place for the long-term protection of all life on Earth.

Remember this quote from Understanding JPIC:
“1.0.14.a. “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 exsultate, n.90)”

So become a nuisance! Here below are two posters you can print if you can advocate publicly
(first enlarge both of them to fit a sheet of 8½ x 11 paper):

The co-founder of the Canadian chapter of Stop Ecocide, Jamie Hunter (front right), with other protesters at the Fairy Creek blockade summer 2021. Photo: Jamie Hunter

"A forest is much more than what you see," says ecologist Suzanne Simard. Her 30 years of research in Canadian forests have led to an astounding discovery -- trees talk, often and over vast distances. Learn more about the harmonious yet complicated social lives of trees and prepare to see the natural world with new eyes.

Fungi and trees form a symbiotic relationship. [i.e. everything is connected!] Symbiosis is a close, long-term relationship between two organisms. Trees produce food, in the form of glucose sugars, through photosynthesis. The plants share this glucose with the fungus. Humans use the internet to communicate. Similarly, trees use a complex underground network of fungi. These relationships are examples of symbiosis. Read more or See and listen to her fascinating TED talk (18 mins). She says we must save old growth forests (at 16.42).

5.

ROUNDUP- GLYPHOSATE

Kelly Latimore: Francis shown listening to a chaffinch

Now please:
Sign to stop glyphosate in Europe

In June 2021, the EU voted for a renewal of Glyphosate. We were able to stop the Commission's plans for a renewal of 15 years. The licence got renewed for only 18 months. It is currently approved for use in the EU until 15 December 2022.

But big producers of weed killer like Monsanto are still lobbying to protect their profits. Their deep pockets have been paying for “studies” and “expert” opinions to show that their product is safe. Bayer bought Monsanto in 2018. When Bayer, the giant German chemical and pharmaceutical maker, acquired Monsanto, the company knew it was also buying the world’s best-known weedkiller. What it didn’t anticipate was a legal firestorm over claims that the herbicide, Roundup, caused cancer. Bayer has funded and published reports saying glyphosate is safe! Surprise, surprise!

Now Bayer is moving to put those troubles behind it, agreeing to pay more than $10 billion to settle tens of thousands of US claims while continuing to sell the product without adding warning labels about its safety.

6.

JPIC IN THE OFS International (CIOFS)

The General Chapter of the Secular Franciscan Order concluded its work on Sunday, 21 Nov 2021 with delegates approving priority actions for the next six years as well as giving a mandate to their international leaders to complete the work of establishing permanent offices for formation, finance, communications and JPIC (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation). The priorities are: Formation, Franciscan Youth, Finances, & Communications. [Not stated was where or how JPIC fits into these priorities. We’ll have to continue waiting, (it has been awhile already!) and see. Meanwhile the urgency continues. As I, a Brit, would say: ‘Mind the gap’ between urgency and delay. But I changed that to: ‘Close the gap.’ Please CIOFS, close the gap!].

7.

TRUTH, JUSTICE, EQUITY & RECONCILIATION

"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission tells us that Canadian law has suppressed truth and deterred reconciliation," B.C. Chief Justice Robert Bauman said to the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice earlier … [17 November 2021]. "It is this history, and current reality, that gives urgency to our duty to act."

The Power and Peril of Injunctions

The foregoing link to The Tyee article is very informative. Are injunctions good or bad? What are court-ordered injunctions? And why is one now on trial? Injunctions are legal orders restraining a person, company or group from an action that threatens the legal rights of another party. The onus is on the courts to decide whether they should be granted or not. In past decades, First Nations have sought such rulings to stop industrial projects while asserting their rights over land but so have extractive companies. A report from the Yellowhead Institute found that over the last two decades, 81 per cent of injunctions filed by corporations against First Nations were granted, while only 19 per cent of those filed by First Nations were approved.

More recently, injunctions have become a go-to for corporations seeking to clear out protesters blocking their activities.

We protest rightly when journalists in Russia and Hong Kong etc. are jailed, but as Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun, 3 Jan 2022 wrote: “The other thing that’s worth pointing out is that few Canadian politicians or citizens angrily denounced the November arrest and jailing of photojournalist Amber Bracken and freelance reporter Michael Toledano at the Wet’suwe’ten blockades in northern British Columbia. They were charged with breaching a civil injunction rather than a criminal law, which meant they weren’t entitled to go before a judge within 24 hours of their arrest and, as a result, spent the weekend in jail. The charges have since been dropped.”

Actually some politicians did protest! As Vaughan Palmer wrote in the Vancouver Sun, 13 Dec 2021: “The B.C. NDP [New Democratic Party] convention on Sunday called for an independent investigation into allegations the RCMP used excessive force against protesters at the standoff over the Coastal GasLink pipeline.” …

[This] motion passed with 89 per cent support at the first B.C. NDP [virtual Convention November 2021] since the sweeping victory in the 2020 provincial election: “Significant concerns have been raised about the conduct of the RCMP during enforcement of a court injunction in Wet’suwet’en territory on November 18th and 19th [2021], including the arrest of journalists and allegations of the use of excessive force,” the motion read, in part.

From Kai Nagata, Dogwood, 5 Jan 2022 email – subject: private police & prosecutors:
“Corporate lawyers, backed by American billionaires, are trying to jail Indigenous people in Northern B.C. for peacefully standing on their own land. Crown prosecutors argued there was no public interest in pursuing criminal contempt charges against Gitxsan hereditary chiefs and family members who allegedly blocked CN Rail traffic in the town of New Hazelton two years ago.

But a judge has ruled the trial will go ahead anyway, with CN’s lawyers serving as the prosecutors.[1] CN Rail is a private multinational that ships oil and other raw resources all over the continent. Its biggest shareholder is Bill Gates, the fourth-richest person in the world.

Why did Gitxsan chiefs step onto train tracks on their territory in February 2020? Because their Wet’suwet’en neighbours had just been invaded by militarized RCMP forces trying to push through the Coastal GasLink pipeline. They demanded the police leave Wet’suwet’en territory. Instead, CN Rail had them arrested.

… B.C. adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in law in 2019. British Columbians need to put some serious questions to our lawmakers.

Why are corporations being allowed to apply for injunctions on land that belongs to Indigenous nations?
Why does the B.C. government keep authorizing militarized raids, instead of negotiating with Indigenous title holders?
Why are private security guards and private prosecutions being used to put Indigenous people in jail?

Judges say if they don’t punish people for defying their orders, the reputation of the courts will suffer. But serving as the jailers for Big Oil billionaires hardly inspires confidence in the administration of justice, either.

The Gitxsan land defenders are due back in court next month. I’ll keep you posted.”

8.	PILLAR OF SHAME

Pillar of Shame is a series of sculptures by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt memorialising the loss of life during specific events or caused by specific circumstances in history. Each sculpture is an eight-metre tall statue of bronze, copper or concrete. They are in Rome (Italy), Hong Kong 1997 (China), Acteal 1999 (Mexico) and Brasil (2000) moved to Belém, the capital of Pará, the federal state where the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre which occurred in 1996.

Left: Hong Kong Pillar of Shame at the University of Hong Kong, a memorial to the 1997 Tiananmen Square (Beijing) Massacre. It was removed (and destroyed?) on 22 Dec 2021. The Chinese Government wants to erase all memory of that massacre and forbids memorials or mention of it.
Right: Acteal 1999. After being asked if I was willing to visit Las Abejas, a Tzotzil Indigenous pacifist group who had lost 45 in a massacre 18 months earlier I was present on 30 July 1999 when they formed their own coop to sell Fair Trade coffee and I promised to promote/publicise the new coop’s coffee called Maya Vinic. Read more about Acteal and the Pillar and the coffee: Maya Vinic's Fair Trade Coffee.

9.a

POPE'S CHRISTMAS HOMILY

In his Christmas mass homily the Holy Father reminds us that Jesus shows the way from littleness to greatness. An angel tells the shepherds how to find the God who has come down to earth: “This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in swaddling cloths, and lying in a manger” (v. 12). That is the sign: a child, a baby lying in the dire poverty of a manger. …

In his littleness, God is completely present. Let us acknowledge this: “Baby Jesus, you are God, the God who becomes a child”. Let us be amazed by this scandalous truth. The One who embraces the universe needs to be held in another’s arms. The One who created the sun needs to be warmed. Tenderness incarnate needs to be coddled. Infinite love has a miniscule heart that beats softly. The eternal Word is an “infant”, a speechless child. The Bread of life needs to be nourished. The Creator of the world has no home. Today, all is turned upside down: God comes into the world in littleness. His grandeur appears in littleness.

This is what we should ask Jesus for at Christmas: the grace of littleness. “Lord, teach us to love littleness. Help us to understand that littleness is the way to authentic greatness”. What does it mean, concretely, to accept littleness? In the first place, it is to believe that God desires to come into the little things of our life; he wants to inhabit our daily lives, the things we do each day at home, in our families, at school and in the workplace. Amid our ordinary lived experience, he wants to do extraordinary things. His is a message of immense hope. Jesus asks us to rediscover and value the little things in life. If he is present there, what else do we need? Let us stop pining for a grandeur that is not ours to have. Let us put aside our complaints and our gloomy faces, and the greed that never satisfies! Littleness and the amazement of that little child: this is the message.

We gaze once again at the crib, and we see that at his birth Jesus is surrounded precisely by those little ones, by the poor. The shepherds. They were the most simple people, and closest to the Lord. They found him because they lived in the fields, “keeping watch over their flocks by night” (Lk 2:8). They were there to work, because they were poor. They had no timetables in life; everything depended on the flock. They could not live where and how they wanted, but on the basis of the needs of the sheep they tended. That is where Jesus is born: close to them, close to the forgotten ones of the peripheries. He comes where human dignity is put to the test. He comes to ennoble the excluded and he first reveals himself to them: not to educated and important people, but to poor working people. God tonight comes to fill with dignity the austerity of labour. He reminds us of the importance of granting dignity to men and women through labour, but also of granting dignity to human labour itself, since man is its master and not its slave. On the day of Life, let us repeat: no more deaths in the workplace! And let us commit ourselves to ensuring this.”

[One way is to be aware and know where your purchases were made and how the workers were treated. Buy fair trade!]

From Bishop of Victoria, BC Gary Gordon’s Christmas 2021 letter: “First, the truth that the earth itself needs freedom from the captivity of insatiable consumption of the beauty and gifts of creation, which creates an ever-increasing expansion of the desertification of what should be a garden of delight and health for all. In the light of this truth, we pray for freedom from the captivity of “having”, so we may enjoy the liberty of being children of God and co-heirs with Christ.

And second, in the truth of our frailty and weakness, may this Christmas be a time for a deep renewal of our awareness of our vulnerability and smallness, in imitation of the smallness of our Saviour Jesus, born in a humble stable.”

9.b.

POPE 55th WORLD DAY OF PEACE 1 January 2022

Dialogue Between Generations, Education and Work: Tools for Building Lasting Peace
“Today the path of peace, which Saint Paul VI called by the new name of integral development, [1] remains sadly distant from the real lives of many men and women and thus from our human family, which is now entirely interconnected. … As in the days of the prophets of old, so in our own day the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth [2] constantly make themselves heard, pleading for justice and peace. … Here I wish to propose three paths for building a lasting peace. First, dialogue between generations as the basis for the realization of shared projects. Second, education as a factor of freedom, responsibility and development. Finally, labour as a means for the full realization of human dignity. These are three indispensable elements for “making possible the creation of a social covenant”, [4] without which every project of peace turns out to be insubstantial.”

[1] Cf. Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio (26 March 1967), 76ff.
[2] Cf. Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ (24 May 2015), 49.
[4] Cf. Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti (3 October 2020), 218.

9.c.

VIOLENCE TO WOMEN IS AN INSULT TO GOD

POPE FRANCIS In his homily for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God - also marked as the World Day of Peace, Pope Francis ushered in 2022 by praising the skills women bring to promoting peace in the world, and he equated violence against women to an offense against God. Francis urged everyone to step up efforts to promote mothers and to protect women. “How much violence is directed against women! Enough! To hurt a woman is to insult God, who from a woman took on our humanity,” the Pope said.

9.d Pope on Epiphany :
The Pope noted how the Magi, in defying Herod by not returning to him to tell him where they found the Christ child, demonstrated great courage and prophetic faith, unafraid to challenge worldly power and evil. “Like the Magi, let us lift up our eyes, listen to the desire lodged in our hearts, and follow the star that God makes shine above us. As restless seekers, let us remain open to God’s surprises. Let us dream, let us seek and let us adore.”

9.e. Cardinal Turkson's resignation accepted

Pope Francis named Cardinal Czerny interim head of the
Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Cardinal Turkson, a Ghanaian, was appointed head of the former department for Justice and Peace in 2009, meaning he has been leading a Vatican department for nearly 13 years. The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development began operations 1 Jan 2017, under statutes approved for a five-year experimental period. Francis created the Dicastery for Integral Human Development in 2016 by merging four existing Vatican offices that handled migration issues, the Vatican’s charity work and its justice and peace initiatives. That cannot have been an easy task especially when the Pope decided in 2019 to make a cardinal out of one of Turkson’s deputies, Michael Czerny, a Canadian. Two Cardinals in the one dicastery with the Pope keeping a close eye and having a close relationship with Czerny, a fellow Jesuit, in charge of migrants which is an issue very close to the Pope’s heart with him talking directly to Czerny. Potentially a recipe for difficult and tangled lines of command and control i.e. who was the Dicastery’s boss?

A formal evaluation of the dicastery was carried out during the summer of 2021, requested by Pope Francis and conducted by Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago.

Following that inquiry, two high-profile personalities in the department made their exits: French Father Bruno-Marie Duffé, formerly the department’s secretary, or number two official, and Father Augusto Zampini, an Argentine who’d been named Adjunct Secretary in 2020.

Pope Francis has now decided to accept Cardinal Turkson’s resignation and name new leadership for the office. The Pope thanked Cardinal Peter Turkson for his five years of service as prefect of the Dicastery.

Beginning 1 Jan 2022 and for a limited time, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ will serve as prefect and Salesian Sister Alessandra Smerilli will continue to serve as interim secretary, Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, said in a statement 23 Dec 2021. [Friar Nicola Riccardi, OFM, Professor at the Pontifical University Antonianum, Rome, and Chair in Justice and Peace at the PUA Faculty of Theology is an Under-Secretary in the Dicastery. Whether he resigned because his five year term will terminate in July 2022 has not been indicated].

9.f. SYNODALITY

Fr Louis J. Cameli: “Pope Francis has begun a multi-year process for the entire church, what he has called “a synod on synodality.” In his talks and in the preparatory documents, he has explained the unusual term “synodality” very simply by retrieving its Greek roots. “Synodality,” as he describes it, is being syn-hodos, on the road together. The Holy Father wants this vision of the church being on the road or journey together to come alive. The concept of synodality held a strong appeal for me. I [i.e. Fr Louis J. Cameli] saw it moving the church beyond the usual and tired constructs of institution, organization and bureaucracy.” [Sounds good to me.]

Here are two other comments: (1) “The unique synodal process taking place in Germany has surfaced demands for profound changes in the Catholic Church, causing great angst among some Vatican officials.” They were unable to “frame” it, i.e. limit or control it to a certain extent. Read more
(2) Reminds me, an ex Cold War Warrior, of the classic secret services strategy brilliantly satirised in the 1987 Soviet film A Forgotten Tune for the Flute, where a KGB character says: “The best way of stopping a spontaneous movement is to organise and lead it” as Vladimir Putin well understands!

10.	Two famous Africans died recently; One, a black South African Archbishop, the other, a white Kenyan atheist

DESMOND MPILO TUTU [1931-2021]
From Vatican News: Pope laments death of 'servant of the Gospel' Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town Desmond Tutu. Pope Francis sent a telegram of condolence on the death South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu who died at the age of 90. The Anglican Archbishop was born near Johannesburg but spent most of his later life in Cape Town and led numerous marches and campaigns to oppose the policy of apartheid (racial segregation) and discrimination.

When apartheid came to an end in the early 1990’s and Nelson Mandela became president of the country, Archbishop Tutu was named chair of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
As well as winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, the Archbishop was awarded the Templeton Prize for his "life-long work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness which has helped to liberate people around the world".

Pope Francis: Tutu was an inspiration
Pope Francis in the Encyclical Fratelli Tutti credits Archbishop Desmond Tutu, among others, as an inspiration for his encyclical: “286. In these pages of reflection on universal fraternity, I felt inspired particularly by Saint Francis of Assisi, but also by others of our brothers and sisters who are not Catholics: Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Gandhi and many more.”

Tutu was always a firm believer in the African philosophy of Ubuntu based on a culture of sharing, openness, mutual dependence, dialogue, and interpersonal encounter.

RICHARD LEAKEY (1944-2022)
Fossil hunter Richard Leakey, was the son of the famous Louis and Mary Leakey. He showed humans evolved in Africa. He has said we are all part of the African diaspora. [Makes racism seem foolish!] He found the oldest near-complete human skeleton in 1984, dating from 1.5m years ago. In 1984, he would enjoy his most famous fossil find: the uncovering of a near-complete Homo erectus skeleton. Nicknamed Turkana Boy, it dated from approximately 1.5m years ago and is the most complete fossil skeleton of a human ancestor ever found.

During this decade Leakey became one of the world’s leading voices against the then legal global ivory trade. In 1989 the Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi appointed him to lead the national wildlife agency, which became the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). He armed wardens and enabled them to fight back against elephant poachers reducing elephant kills. Then in 1993 his small Cessna plane crashed in the Rift Valley. He survived but lost both legs. Sabotage was suspected but never proved.

He told the Financial Times that he endured “regular threats” and lived with armed guards, adding: “But I made the decision not to be a dramatist and say: ‘They tried to kill me.’ I chose to get on with life.”

Two heroes: may they rest in peace.

11. A FINAL THOUGHT: for reflection from Fr Dan Horan, OFM:
Systems that allow income and wealth disparity are a form of violence
“Put bluntly, Žižek writes: "Charity is the humanitarian mask hiding the face of economic exploitation."
[I, Andrew, would agree that applies to charity from the super rich but not to most of us especially the widow’s mite!]

In case you were wondering about the size of the world's economies
I think Canada is small fry but still quite big compared to most, except, of course, the USA and China. See image below. Click on link.

Are you interested in the composition of the earth’s crust? If so check this out

Peace & joy, Andrew, ofs

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December 2021 Blog

12/4/2021

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1.	ADVENT IS A TIME OF HOPE

Journey through Advent 2021: Towards Healing & Reconciliation
The Journey series started on the Solemnity of Christ the King and will continue through each of the four Sundays of Advent. Every week, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops [CCCB] will be releasing a reflection on the Gospel Reading for that Sunday. Each reflection is based one of the five essential stages of reconciliation: examen, confession, repentance, making amends, and reconciliation [between individuals and God and between settlers and First Nations, Inuit & Métis].
The reflections, given by [one of my favourite bishops] the Most Reverend Donald Bolen, Archbishop of Regina, will be available both as videos and in text form on the CCCB website. [At time of writing] So far, the first four have been released: Early Missionaries and the Encounter of Worldviews; The Spirit of the Treaties; and Residential Schools. [I highly recommend this series. I read the first four and was moved. Please listen to or read them!]
The CCCB hopes that Journey through Advent 2021 will inform Catholics and encourage discussion and prayerful accompaniment in preparation for the Indigenous Delegation, which will be travelling to Rome to meet with Pope Francis from December 17 to 20, 2021. The CCCB also hopes these reflections will assist the faithful in preparing for Pope Francis’ apostolic journey to Canada.

2.	HOPE: An example: Julian of Norwich

Source: Holy Spirit Art at Etsy Source: Brother Robert Lentz, OFM

N.B. She has not been beatified or canonized, however, she is popularly venerated by Catholics as a holy woman of God, and is therefore at times referred to as "Saint", "Blessed", or "Mother" Julian. Julian's feast day in the Roman Catholic tradition (by popular celebration) is on 13 May.
“He said not 'Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed,
thou shalt not be dis-eased'; but he said, 'Thou shalt not be overcome.”
― Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
“And all shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be exceeding well.”
“As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother.”
(If you are wondering about the cat, it was her faithful companion in her cell
and kept mice & rats away!)

Julian (1343-1417?): was an English anchoress, a type of hermit and form of consecrated life. She wrote the best-known surviving book in the English language written by a mystic, Revelations of Divine Love, which is also the earliest surviving book in English known to be written by a woman. She lived during the Black Death, which killed up to half of Norwich’s population, and then the Peasants’ Revolt.

3.	HOPE: Another example:

Plastic Pollution: New meat tray 'could save tonnes of waste'
Invented by a Syrian refugee engineering doctoral student in Wales

In partnership with packaging manufacturers Klöckner Pentaplast, the design is already being used by leading UK food suppliers and retailers, including Sainsbury's and Asda. Mr Alaizoki's meat tray is 100% recyclable and allows consumers to look at meat from all angles through clear plastic. Could we ask our supermarkets and stores to follow suit?

The technology has only been patented for use in food packaging, but Mr Alaizoki said it could have many more uses. "Physics is physics, it doesn't matter if it's food packaging or any other product," he said. "This has the potential to be used in nappies and sanitary products, which also currently go straight into landfill, and take thousands of years to break down with the current gel technology."

4.	TRUTH, GOODNESS & BEAUTY Truth: What are we coming to? Overkill!

Nadia Murad, is a former Islamic State sex slave, Yazidi human rights activist and 2018 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Toronto District School Board cancelled a book event with Murad on the grounds that her book The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State could promote Islamophobia! However, the TDSB is reconsidering.
We say: Let her tell her true story!

Goodness:
St Joseph leading the Holy Family into Egypt
to escape Herod the Great’s Massacre of the Innocents
to kill the new born King of the Jews

Source: Egypt United

6.	Beauty: Dancing Twigs

Since March 2017, British artist Chris Kenny has been making a daily sculpture of a saint cut from a twig and posting it on Instagram as @twigsaints . These frail little figures writhe in agony or ecstasy and come together as a portrait of humanity with all our energy and sensuality, our hubris and delusion. [I love his imagination! Below is an example. Enjoy! Thanks to my step-daughter Lila for bringing them to my attention]

Snowflakes are unique as are humans c/f Bl Duns Scotus haecceitas

Photo: Don Komarechka / Maclean

7.	COP26 Climate March

Dr Lorna Gold (pictured left) Board chair, Laudato Si' Movement (Alphonce Muia/CYNESA)
To learn more go to Earthbeat or click on the link above

Members of the Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa (CYNESA)"CYNESA joined the global environmental movement [at both the youth climate strike on Nov.5 and Global Day for Climate Justice on Nov. 6] to march and send a strong message of acting for [the] climate crisis with the urgency it deserves in the streets of Glasgow.

Franciscans actively participated in COP26
The local Franciscans supported them in Glasgow as did the friars of the Blessed John Duns Scotus Community headed by Br. George Smulski, OFM (guardian).

We, as Franciscans who actively participated in CP26, dreaming, hoping, and calling that COP26 will involve faith groups in climate negotiations and encourage our church leaders to walk the talk and promote ecological lifestyles that have environmental impacts, such as divestment from fossil fuels; and to create programs that can equip and assist people psychologically, physically, and materially to meet the current climate urgency. … the delegation took part in various activities at COP26. … participated in two major solidarity protests as Global days of action with Young People and faith-based organizations such as Laudato Si Movement, Living Laudato Si, and all other sectors calling for Climate Justice.

AND SO DID SOME COURAGEOUS BISHOP SERVANT LEADERS WHO SET AN EXAMPLE AT COP26 FOR ALL OUR BISHOPS!
CATHOLIC BISHOPS MARCH IN CLIMATE MARCH

Huge Glasgow Climate March for the Global Day of Climate Action. It is estimated that at least 120,000 people marched in Glasgow including some Catholic Bishops and priests with laity.
One of them, Bishop Hayes, the Irish coordinating bishop for 'Laudato Si', said in a podcast describing the march, his first march: “I was very tired and very worn out but the people around me, they kept me going. And in a way it was a metaphor for the whole enterprise of trying to restore our environment and God’s creation. That all of us have a contribution to make, no matter how small our contribution, be it using less power, planting a tree, stop using plastics, whatever. All of us have and can contribute to restoring God’s creation to what it was.” Click here to Listen to the podcast

The March for many Catholics started with a Mass at 9am at St Aloysius to conclude the 24-Hour Climate Vigil for COP26. It was celebrated by Bishop William Nolan of Galloway, the environmental lead in Scotland, with the homily given by Bishop John Arnold of Salford, the lead in England and Wales. Irish Bishop Martin Hayes of Kilmore and the Irish coordinating bishop for 'Laudato Si', was also there … .

Bishops of England & Wales, Scotland and Ireland - with climate
campaigners at the end of Mass prior to the march

Many of the young people who participated in and led the vigil were in the congregation wearing tee-shirts of CAFOD, Trocaire and Pax Christi. Dr Lorna Gold, president of the Laudato Si' Movement Board of Directors, sat near the front.

Bishop Arnold said he was optimistic about what COP26 could achieve and was impressed that young people and faith campaigners, "all have a sense of urgency of caring for Mother Earth - our common home." He told the congregation never to underestimate, "that by your personal example you can make a difference." Groups began setting out towards Kelvingrove Park to join the 'Faith Bloc' of the Climate March. “We sang 'Here I am Lord' as we entered the park and walked to the gathering area where other groups included … the Laudato Si Movement with a large inflatable globe.” The words of Pope Francis appeared everywhere - 'Hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor'.

Members of the Catholic Church along with hundreds of people from other denominations and faiths have continued lobbying and praying for a positive outcome at COP26, the UN climate summit in Glasgow, as it drew to a close.

Much Catholic activity centred around St Aloysius Jesuit parish, which hosted a COP26 delegates’ Mass. Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen was the main celebrant, alongside six out of the eight Scottish Catholic bishops, the England and Wales and Ireland leads on the environment, Bishop John Arnold of Salford and Bishop Martin Hayes of Kilmore, the Irish coordinating bishop for 'Laudato Si' and around 20 priests.

In his homily Bishop William Nolan of Galloway, president of Scotland Justice and Peace, said: “We need to hold our heads in shame at creation being destroyed by human activity, with polluted air, plastics in our rivers and oceans, and large-scale mining without a care about biodiversity or indigenous peoples.” But these Bishops, God bless them, were not the first to march for climate. I am not aware of who was actually the first.

But below see an Archbishop, from the Philippines in 2016, not too shy to walk the walk rather than just talk the talk (recognising of course that there are other ways to concretely walk the walk):

A true leader, Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa leads a 'prayer march'
against the building of coal plants in Batangas, Philippines, 17 March 2016.

So my question to Catholic bishops everywhere but especially in Canada and the USA is when are you going to set an example to your faithful and join a march? Surely it is time for you to walk the walk instead of just talk the talk! We concerned lay Catholics would be so encouraged and are hoping and waiting to see that!

Excerpt from: Another world is needed. Together it is possible!
Laudato Si’ (LS) – A call to action: final in a series on the 2016 World Social Forum (WSF) held in Montreal by Andrew Conradi, ofs

Benedict XVI (2012), in a Message to the International Catholic Action Forum, clearly stated that the responsibility of the laity in the New Evangelization is one of co-responsibility with the clergy: “At this stage in history, work in the light of the Church’s social teaching to become a laboratory of “globalization of solidarity and charity”, in order to grow with the entire Church in the co-responsibility of offering a future of hope to humanity, by having the courage to make even demanding proposals.”

“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.” (LS, 217)

What can we do, as D&P – Caritas Canada puts it, to create a climate of change? We must continue to raise our awareness but ultimately it comes down to this: will the many voices of people calling for lasting change be stronger than the powerful interests working behind the scenes to defend the power of the few? As the Pope asked in LS : “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” (160)

9.	WHERE DOES THIS LEAD ME? TO THE SYNOD & LAUDATO SI’ ACTION PLATFORM

In the spirit of co-responsibility with the clergy: “At this stage in history, work in the light of the Church’s social teaching to become a laboratory of “globalization of solidarity and charity”, in order to grow with the entire Church in the co-responsibility of offering a future of hope to humanity, by having the courage to make even demanding proposals.” There is a Canadian group that is, among other things, promoting and monitoring the synod listening phase that should be taking place in every diocese - Concerned Lay Catholics - which informs us that the synod listening period has been extended; the CCCB has until 15 August 2022.

It was to begin this October, when the Vatican department responsible for the Synod, called for a “two year journey of reflection and sharing of the whole Church.” It will be marked by gatherings within dioceses and parishes and other Church communities, “that will promote and develop the practice and experience” of being the People of God journeying together and moving toward the future.

I suggest that Catholics raise, in their parish and diocesan synods, the matter of priests and Bishops setting an example of marching with Fridays for Future for climate to set Catholics, especially youth, afire with enthusiasm for responding to the cry of the earth and cry of the poor in their diocesan synod consultations!

This is not the first time I have suggested that Canadian Bishops and priests march for climate but so far it seems to have fallen on deaf ears (forgive me if some have marched but if they have please publicise it so we, and especially the youth, can be encouraged). Now that the precedents have been set, Bishops, priests and youth marching for climate could be seen to be a part of the Laudato si’ Action Platform. As previously mentioned, Bishop Arnold said never underestimate, "that by your personal example you can make a difference." Surely that example now includes bishops & priests marching!

Laudato si' icon of Saints Francis & Clare
by Fr. Juan Rendon, OFM

10.

Catholics at COP26

If you [like me!] are a real fanatic about this and have 2 hours [I am retired!] you might like to watch “#Live: Catholics at COP26” which has some really good points.

In the video below Dr Carmody Grey, (Catholic Theologian, Durham University (at the 25 min 45 sec mark to 26:34): “Narratives of hopelessness don’t inspire action. Narratives of hopelessness instill fatigue and cynicism. Hope is a spring of action. The Church is a sort of specialist in hope. ... Our faith is founded on such a moment … the life and death and ultimately the resurrection of Jesus.”

11.

Well, we tried but COP26 Final Climate Pact
made some progress but really was a cop-out!

Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights) on conclusion of COP26 wrote :

“COP26 has made some progress, but nowhere near enough to avoid climate disaster. While millions around the world are already in crisis, not enough leaders were in crisis mode. People will see this as a historically shameful dereliction of duty.” Some countries that failed in their duty to the future generations are Brasil, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, India, China, Canada and the USA. Shame on them/us for lacking courage and foresight!

Vatican News: COP26: Final Climate Pact falls short of hopes and expectations
In spite of some progress, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was less upbeat. He issued a statement saying our fragile planet is “hanging by a thread” and we are “still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe.” A number of climate activists, whilst acknowledging some progress had been made, said the final deal was too weak. They warned that the key goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees was only just alive.

12.

COP26 failures no obstacle to real climate action
BY MICHAEL SWAN, THE CATHOLIC REGISTER

Disappointment and even anger at the end of the Glasgow climate summit is not the end of hope for Catholic climate action, said Laudato Si’ Movement - Canada co-ordinator Agnes Richard.
“Hearing the news of missed opportunities for solid targets to phase out not only coal, but also oil and gas, is hugely disappointing,” said Richard.

At the end of two weeks of declarations, negotiations and protests, the COP26 United Nations climate summit in Glasgow produced a set of vaguely worded commitments that would allow the globe to heat up 2.4 degrees. An effort to “consign coal to history” led by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to sign on Australia, China, India and the United States, who together represent 70 per cent of the world’s coal consumption. On the last day, India, with support from the United States and China, managed to wheedle down the final communique from an aspiration to “phase out coal” to a hoped-for “phase down” of coal.

Richard and the Laudato Si’ Movement around the world are going to be urging Catholic institutions and dioceses to sign onto the Laudato Si’ Action Platform — a Vatican-sponsored effort to get everything from parishes to Catholic hospitals to line up their investments, buildings, employment practices and purchasing policies with the values and objectives of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical. In December, Laudato Si’ Movement - Canada will launch the Catholic Eco-Investment Accelerator Toolkit to help Catholic individuals and institutions divest from fossil fuels.

University of Toronto School of the Environment professor Simon Appolloni is not impressed. “I would expect Christians to be enraged,” he said. “COP26 means that we are now moving even more precipitously toward more frequent, more severe, and longer lasting, dangerous weather events.” [Atmospheric river and BC floods; ring a bell? I am affected indirectly living in southern Vancouver Island. Places and people I know have been severely affected].

13.

What can we do?
Official launch of Laudato Si' Action Platform offers
Catholics concrete steps toward sustainable lifestyles

“I encourage those with political and economic responsibilities to act now with courage and foresight,” the Pope said, after the Angelus, 14 November 2021, and he highlighted the fact that today, on the World Day of the Poor, registrations open for the Laudato sì Action Platform that promotes integral ecology. Has your diocese, parish, lay organisation or religious order registered? If not please ask it to do so! Again I re-iterate that we, as individuals or religious or lay groups, could get involved at the diocesan and parish synod level to promote getting involved in the Laudato sì Action Platform.

Laudato si' Action Platform
Have you registered?

More than 4,200 entities have already pre-registered Worldwide, 159 dioceses — 17 of them in the U.S. — registered before the enrollment period opened. Cardinal Blase Cupich described the platform as a means to "vivify Laudato Si'." He invited Chicago-area parishes and their pastoral councils to discern creating their own Laudato Si' plans through the platform. The inclusion of the California Catholic bishops is notable after a study indicated that the vast majority of the U.S. episcopacy have not responded to or promoted Laudato Si' in the six years since its release.

I do not know which Canadian dioceses have registered and have recently asked the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops for this info with no response to date. There is nothing I could find on the Victoria Diocesan website or the CCCB website about the Laudato Si’ Action Platform which I find frustrating.

But I do know, from Tashia Toupin, Social Justice Coordinator, Archdiocese of Regina, that an interactive webinar is planned for January 2022 (more info to come). We will be asked to join a Canadian Launch of the Laudato Si` Action Platform, which will be hosted by Norman Lévesque. Norman is the Diocesan Officer for Creation Care Ministry for the diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil; Instructor at the Creation Care School; Founder of the Green Churches Network; and Author of "Greening Your Church", or the e-book version. Norman is the Canadian rep for the Laudato Si` Action Platform (LSAP) working group out of Rome. He will be leading Catholics from across Canada to learn more about how your community can engage in the works of Laudato Si'. There will be some time for discussion and sharing.

Hopefully I will be able to include the link to the Canadian launch in the January 2022 the Common Good to be published 12 January 2022. The Archdiocese of Regina has a very useful social justice/ care of creation website including a 6 part video presentation on Laudato Si’.

Endorsing the “Laudato Sì' Action Platform,” an online hub that collects, directs, and coordinates global and local initiatives inspired by the encyclical on care for creation, the Pope officially declared registration of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform open and encouraged people to sign-up. Father Joshtrom Kureethadam, the coordinator of the Ecology and Creation sector of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said the Pope’s endorsement of the initiative is enormously invigorating.

The Platform is open to everyone, we are all invited to become ecological citizens of this common home. We thought of seven sectors, we were inspired, as a Dicastery, [i.e. a Vatican Department] to choose this number – seven - because it is a biblical number that represents wholeness...

Thanks to our partners, especially the “Laudato Sì' Movement,” we were able to create a website in nine languages. In the meantime, we have been collaborating with working groups to make these seven goals concrete. People could pre-register right away. We already have thousands of subscribers and it will be possible to register until 22 April 2022, Earth Day. Our hope is to double inscriptions every year. Time is short, our most vulnerable brothers and sisters cannot wait any longer but the thing that gives us hope is that we can act and act together, responding to Pope Francis' invitation to join the Laudato si' Platform. Pope Francis says: "We must all take responsibility; everyone can make their contribution."

14.

NUTSHELLS

Pope Francis to Secular Franciscans:
Pope Francis addresses the Secular Franciscan Order in Rome for their General Chapter, expressing his hope that they might fight for justice, work for an integral ecology, collaborate in missionary projects, and become artisans of peace and witnesses of the Beatitudes.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ : “Faith without the struggle for justice risks abstraction from reality, insignificance, limitation to mere cult and ritual,” he said and warned against an inward looking, obsessive parsing of old formulas that do not address the world in which people live their lives.
He told the theology faculty and students at Toronto’s Regis College they must take up the neglected renewal of theology, called for by the Second Vatican Council, St. Pope Paul VI and St. Pope John Paul II [incorporating a more robust face of Catholic theology].

15.

Peace & joy: Happy Christmas & New Year to all!

Left: A Russian icon: Divine Love, photo by L. de Guise; courtesy of the Duke of Norfolk
Right: Andre Prevost’s icon: Coast Salish Madonna & Christ Child,
St. Thomas Aquinas Regional High School Chapel, North Vancouver, BC

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November 2021 Blog

11/6/2021

0 Comments

by Andrew Conradi, ofs; JPIC & Laudato si' Animator
who acknowledges and thanks the Lkwungen People
for allowing me to live, pray, work, and play on their lands.
I am deeply sorry for the injustices inflicted upon the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Turtle Island by the complicity of settlers in the colonialism inherent in the Indian Act and Residential Schools including racism and cultural genocide.

I commit to work for truth, healing and reconciliation

Lest we forget & St Pope Paul VI, 1972

www.archtoronto.org

Hurrah – Finally - Thank God!

OTTAWA, October 27, 2021 –The Catholic Bishops of Canada are grateful that Pope Francis has accepted their invitation to visit Canada on a pilgrimage of healing and reconciliation. The Holy Father’s full statement on the matter can be found here.

In anticipation of this visit, the planned delegation of Indigenous survivors, Elders, knowledge keepers and youth will travel to the Holy See, where they will have the opportunity to speak to Pope Francis about the timing, focus, and themes in preparation for his future pilgrimage to Canada. “The Bishops of Canada have been engaged in meaningful discussions with Indigenous Peoples, especially those affected by Residential Schools who have shared stories about the suffering and challenges that they continue to experience,” said CCCB President, the Most Rev. Raymond Poisson. “We pray that Pope Francis’ visit to Canada will be a significant milestone in the journey toward reconciliation and healing.”

Truth, goodness and beauty

George Pennier, a Coast Salish artist, shared a dream about healing with Bishop Gary Gordon of Victoria, BC in 1998. Bishop Gary was so moved by the dream, he commissioned the above carving which depicts Chiwatenhwa (Joseph), a Huron Chief, and Echon (St. Jean de Brébeuf), circled by an eagle spindle whorl drum, representing the Spirit and the Creator; the two leaders working together in hope for a good path forward for future generations.

One of the most telling details of St. Jean de Brébeuf’s life of a Jesuit missioner in Canada in the early decades of the 1600s, is found in the name the Huron people gave him — Echon. One translation means “healing tree,” a reference to Brébeuf’s height and gentle nature. The alternative translation, however, “one who carries a heavy burden,” speaks to the spiritual life of the most famous of the men known collectively as the Canadian Martyrs.

The Jesuits were assisted in Huronia by a number of new believers, amongst whom were Joseph Chiwatenhwa and his wife Marie Aonetta, and other members of his family, all of whom "lived and witnessed to their faith in a heroic manner."[1] Chiwatenhwa was deeply moved by the Christian teachings of the Jesuit missioners in 1636 when he first encountered them, despite the fact that others of his Huron tribe blamed these missionaries for the epidemics that had broken out in Huron lands.

Chiwatenhwa himself fell sick; after his recovery, however, he was baptized, on August 16, 1637, by St. Jean de Brébeuf, and given the Christian name Joseph. His wife, Aonetta, was baptized on March 19, 1638; her Christian name was Marie. Their marriage was blessed on the same day; this was the first Catholic wedding in Huronia. Joseph became the first lay administrator in the Catholic Church in Canada, in 1639.

He helped the Jesuits translate hymns and prayers from French into Huron. [Listen and watch the famous Jesous ahatonhia Huron Carol by Heather Dale in Huron, French, English and American sign language although St Jean de Brébeuf himself is credited with the lyrics]. Chiwatenhwa was impressed with the Jesuit teachings. During his eight-day silent retreat, he composed a prayer that reveals his profound experience with Jesus: "You love us so deeply that all I can do in return is to offer myself to you. I chose you as my elder and chief. There is no one else." In adopting his new faith, Chiwatenhwa /Joseph drew on many of the spiritual and cultural teachings of his people; he entered the Catholic Church as a Huron. This helped him spread the Gospel (Good News) to many members of his family and tribe.

Joseph Chiwatenhwa sensed that he might eventually be killed for his faith and love for Jesus Christ. He was martyred on 2 August 1640, aged 38. Jesuit martyr of New France Gabriel Lalemant considered Chiwatenhwa a great catechist amongst his own people, "their apostle." Pope John Paul II honoured the spirituality of Chiwatenhwa and his family when Native Canadians gathered in Huronia to meet him in September 1984. The Pope said that Joseph Chiwatenhwa and his wife, Marie Aonetta, with his brother and other relatives, "lived and witnessed to their faith in a heroic manner.

"These men and women," he continued, "not only professed their faith and embraced Christ's love, but they in turn became evangelizers and provide even today eloquent models for lay ministry." The Pope acknowledged the Native tradition and expressed his joy in the Native Canadian church. "These new Christians," he said, "knew by instinct that the gospel, far from destroying their authentic values

and customs, had the power to purify and uplift the cultural heritage which they had received." "Christ," said the Pope at Huronia, "in the members of his body, is himself Indian.”

KONDIARONK, an architect of The Great Peace of Montreal was another Jesuit convert who was widely and greatly respected by Indigenous and French alike.

Silent no more

Left: Photo of Delacina Chief Eagle by Deborah Anderson I can imagine the Maple Leaf instead
of the Stars and Stripes over her mouth! Apparently the Vogue cover is a fake. Too bad!

Photographer and film-director, Deborah Anderson’s “Women of the White Buffalo”, chronicles a movement of healing and hope through the voices of Native American Lakota women living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA.
[There are Lakota in Manitoba and Saskatchewan also]. Their powerfully rich stories inspire strength while providing insight that speaks to current environmental and cultural crises withstanding the test of time. Deeply-rooted with history and culture, learn about Anderson’s visual journey with the Lakota tribe that brought her award-winning documentary and photographic series to life. See trailer (1:58)

The picture above left speaks volumes as to the suppression, oppression, and silencing of the Indigenous people. Tribal elders said: “We murder and rape our indigenous women, we murder and rape the Earth. Meth addiction breeds sex trafficking by creating debt, it’s rampant and goes unreported on the reservation.” What caused this? Not restricted to First Nations, but for them made worse by: “hundreds of years of genocide?”

Interesting map of world's indigenous peoples
(Thank you Hermy Villasenor ofs)

FOLLOWING ARE SEVERAL NUTSHELLS

“Long before Columbus, indigenous peoples practiced slavery, human sacrifice, torture, racism, sexism, imperialism, colonialism, and much more that we would object to today alongside their great achievements. And those who believe that the indigenous had escaped Original Sin and were innocents living in perfect harmony with God, nature, and one another, have set themselves up for deep disillusion when they actually look into the record.” (Father Seán Connolly ...Read more)

[True, but slavery etc was not restricted to First Nations and absolutely no excuse for Christian complicity in what the Indian Act and residential schools inflicted on First Nations!]

As Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell said about the partition of Ireland in 1921:
“Too often we allowed the attitudes around us to shape our faith, rather than the other way around.” Strikes me the same could be said about the Indian Act and Canadian Indian Residential Schools!

Capitalism and the Environment
Forests, peatlands, deserts and tundra can all absorb and hold stocks of carbon-dioxide (CO2). Of all the carbon held in land-based ecosystems, around 34% can be found in grasslands, data from the World Resources Institute show. That's not much less than the 39% held in forests. [So look after all of Mother Earth and especially regenerate the soil].

Photo by Milo Weiler on Unsplash

Pope Francis: “An unfettered pursuit of money rules. That is the dung of the devil." “Trashing the planet and hiding the money isn’t a perversion of capitalism. It is capitalism.” George Monbiot [Time to uproot the system! Change the system, not the climate!]

Capitalism is killing the planet – it’s time to stop buying into our own destruction. “Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves.” Antonio Guterres (UN Secretary-General António Guterres)

The increasing and extreme economic inequality in the world is rooted in an ideology of individualism in which investments and prosperity are aimed only at driving profit not helping the common good, said Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister. … "A new ethics of the common good" is needed to guide policy making so measures will be "capable of both tackling the structural inequalities behind our deeply divided and increasingly fragile world and unleashing the spirit of human ingenuity and creativity, which is urgently needed to build back better from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

"From a Catholic point of view, I think if we care about God's Earth, if we care about creation, if we care about the poor, if we care about our children, and if we care about the unborn children of today, we need to be engaged with this," [COP 26 ] said Lorna Gold, board chair of the Laudato Si' Movement, who has attended previous climate summits.

The climate crisis explained in 10 charts here

‘Faith is not neutral’ in caring for creation writes Michael Swan. Pope Francis isn’t going to let the next global summit on climate change slip by on the same old excuses and empty promises — and Development and Peace - Caritas Canada aims to see Canadian Catholics play their part. Development and Peace - Caritas Canada has dedicated this year to a campaign headlined “People and Planet First.
“But our faith is not neutral when it comes to the dignity of all persons, to care for creation and to the political and economic structures that affect people and the planet.” said Development and Peace campaign officer Kathleen Cross. So please Take action

Popular movements key to social change, pope says.
Pope Francis said: he realises some people, including within the Church, consider him to be "a pest" for defending the poor and most vulnerable, but that it won't stop him as it is part of Christianity. [Me too!]
Pope Francis Laudato Si' 179: “Society, … must put pressure on governments … . Unless citizens control political power … it will not be possible to control damage to the environment.” As another pest said to the BBC, Greta Thunberg: 'We need public pressure, not just summits' We need action not pretence (7 min speech to Austrian Climate Meeting) She is so articulate; right to the point!

The difficulties the Church faces are many — its relationship with women, the majority of Catholics who reject the Church’s teaching on sexual morality, the negative and defensive posture of the Church in the culture, its embrace of colonialism at the expense of Indigenous people, divisions over liturgy, doctrine and culture and the haemorrhaging of young people. But it’s clericalism and the exercise of authority at the centre of all of it, according to the Sister of Charity of Halifax Nula Kenny In her new book for Novalis, A Post-Pandemic Church, Prophetic Possibilities, Kenny lays out an agenda for a Canadian synod. It’s an agenda for a Church in crisis and a resurrection moment, Sr Nuala Kenny said.

"The opposite of clericalism is co-responsibility — lay, religious, and ordained leaders working together to advance the mission of the church," said Robinson, speaking about the Synod.

A group has formed to track Synod progress across the country, and are inviting participation from concerned Catholic laity. See Concerned Lay Catholics. And please send any local information about the synodal process in your diocese or parish to concernedlaycatholics@gmail.com using Synodality in the subject box.

Study: Most US Catholic bishops kept silent on Francis' climate change push. Almost as soon as the document was published, however, the U.S. bishops showed signs that they would largely ignore the pope's exhortation in their teachings and action.
In more than 12,000 columns by U.S. bishops between 2014 and 2019 — the period directly before and after the publication of Francis' social encyclical on the environment — only 93 mentioned climate change, global warming or their equivalent at all. Our research shows clearly that U.S. Catholic bishops' communications collectively diminished the impact of the encyclical on climate change. Overall, American Catholic bishops have been overwhelmingly silent about climate change. Our findings raise questions about whether U.S. Catholic bishops will embrace the Vatican's new Laudato Si' Action Platform. Our findings also suggest the U.S. bishops are squandering opportunities to connect with youth and young adults who as a demographic prioritize climate change. The U.S. Catholic Church has unprecedented capacity to help avoid climate catastrophe. It also has a responsibility to address the climate emergency as an essential part of its mission.

In Canada, in 2015 the CCCB did sign on to an interfaith declaration on climate change & poverty reduction. They did put out Living Out Laudato Si: A Commentary and Practical Resource for Canadian Catholics in 2017. Also available is the video, Laudato Si’, A Canadian Response found here. with a follow-up video to that 2015 video,: found here.
But is it enough? I, for one, do not think so. In June 2019 the Ontario bishops’ justice and peace commission asked the CCCB to lobby governments to declare a climate emergency. The request was passed up the ladder to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, but Redemptorist Fr. Paul Hansen, former chair of Kairos and member of the Ontario assembly of bishops’ justice and peace commission, doubted the CCCB would act and I can find nothing on the CCCB website that says it did. Sadly my own diocese is not in the forefront in promoting Laudato si’ or Season of Creation. The Laudato Si’ Action Platform is not on my (Victoria, BC) diocesan website and it was a bit slow to post about the Synod which it did at last on 3 Nov. Alleluia! That is another reason we must get involved in the Synod process and tell them to get behind Pope Francis!

To the bishops, Canadian and US: Hear our voices and join us, lead us.

BEAUTY

Donna Schweider @caterinachinsky

Lawren Harris, founder of the Group of Seven: The spirituality of his art: the metaphysics of this Canadian’s abstract landscapes where the universe sings especially in what we do call Sister Mother Earth, and could call Brother Mountain and Sister Iceberg.

“The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God.” (Pope Francis, 2015, Laudato Si’, 84)

Lawren S. Harris (1885-1970), McMichael Canadian Art Collection

Mt. Lefroy, 1930 [Brother Mountain?] & Icebergs, Davis Strait, 1930 [Sister Iceberg?]

Algoma Country, 1948 [Our Sister Mother Earth]

“I arise today, through The strength of heaven, The light of the sun, The radiance of the moon, The splendour of fire, The speed of lightning, The swiftness of wind, The depth of the sea, The stability of the earth, The firmness of rock.” This excerpt from the Lorica (or Breastplate) of St Patrick reveals Celtic Christianity’s love of creation and is only one part of our tradition in this regard. Joanne M Pierce wrote more about the origins of the Christian tradition of connection to nature. St Francis of Assisi is well known for this and was preceded by St. Hildegard of Bingen, (died A.D. 1179) a visionary and mystic, who became especially connected with environmental concerns. A German Benedictine abbess, she was one of the most accomplished women of the Middle Ages. She insisted that God loved the Earth as a husband loves a wife, and espoused a kind of "green" theology, called viriditas, condemning the harm that human activity could do to nature. She wrote: “The earth sustains humanity. It must not be injured; it must not be destroyed.” Hildegard has been acclaimed as an unofficial patron saint of environmentalists. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI declared her a doctor of the church.

Water Warrior & Climate Warrior

I have written previously about Autumn. Above pic is from Meanwhile in Canada.

AUTUMN PELTIER and GRETA THUNBERG | Special Event | TIFF 2020 (video 32.09 mins)

HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU LOOK AT THIS:
CIOFS Franciscan JPIC website

Here is one part:
Intro to Laudato Si Action Platform (by Sr Nancy Kinsey, FCJM)
(it might take a minute or so to open the above Intro link!)

Help to cultivate Eco-conversion and develop a vibrant Laudato si’ culture,
following the “See-Judge-Act methodology.

Something else to consider: Inter-Franciscan Commission for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation (informally known as Romans VI) has turned a webinar on “Laudato Si” into an online self-study course. The “Laudato Si” Action Platform course incorporates video, PowerPoints and text from the webinar’s morning and afternoon presentations. The morning presentations are posted, with the afternoon session expected to be available soon, on the Franciscan JPIC website.

All part of see, judge, act but Friar Blay concentrates on see and judge in this diagram.
FVC/ TCG strongly believes that unless spirituality leads to action it is incomplete!

When asked what are the most important commandments, Jesus, according to Mk 12:28b-34, replied: (quoting Deuteronomy 6:4): "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Jesus continues with a second commandment from Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” He adds: “There is no commandment greater than these.”

Fratelli tutti: “122. Development must not aim at the amassing of wealth by a few, but must ensure “human rights – personal and social, economic and political, including the rights of nations and of peoples”.[99] The right of some to free enterprise or market freedom cannot supersede the rights of peoples and the dignity of the poor, or, for that matter, respect for the natural environment, for “if we make something our own, it is only to administer it for the good of all”.[100]” ([99] Saint John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (30 December 1987), 33: AAS 80 (1988), 557.[100] Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ (24 May 2015), 95: AAS 107 (2015), 885.)

Canada spent at least $18 billion dollars in 2020 propping up the very companies most responsible for the climate crisis. This must not continue. Why do we subsidize them? When Oil and gas companies expected to generate $21 billion in cash flow in excess of expenses over the course of next year according to The Financial Post Geoffrey Morgan.

The Wedzin Kwa (Morrice River, BC)

Photos: left: The Georgia Straight, centre: The Narwhal, right: Sleydo' a.k.a Molly Wickham

The Wedzin Kwa (Morrice River) is one of the few remaining pristine waterways where water is drinkable without treatment and home to multiple species of salmon.

@Gidimten land defenders connect the genocide of stolen Indigenous children in this country with the ongoing land defence struggle to protect the sacred Wedzin Kwa headwaters from the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline. #WetsuwetenStrong
Gidimt'en spokesperson Sleydo', a.k.a. Molly Wickham, describes the RCMP as acting as mercenaries for industry. Sleydo' was among 14 people arrested at the Gidimt'en Checkpoint on 7 January 2019 when heavily armed Mounties arrived to enforce a B.C. Supreme Court injunction obtained by Coastal Gaslink Pipeline Ltd.

The RCMP were also implicated in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG)’s final report, which states that the “historic role of the RCMP has not changed significantly. The RCMP must still enforce present-day discriminatory and oppressive legislation and policies in areas such as child welfare and land and resource disputes.” The institution has a history of militarized enforcement when Indigenous communities organize to stand for Indigenous sovereignty.
Wet’suwet’en land defenders and supporters are occupying a Coastal GasLink pipeline worksite on Gidimt’en clan territory in northwest B.C. in an effort to prevent drilling under the Wedzin Kwa (Morice River, BC), raising fears about escalating police actions.

The location, just upriver from the Unist’ot’en healing centre, is where TC Energy plans to lay pipe to connect fracking facilities in the northeast to the LNG Canada processing plant, currently under construction in Kitimat, B.C.

In 1997, the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs (and the Gitxsan Nation) fought and won the most important case on aboriginal title in Canada in the Delgamuukw decision, wherein the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recognized that, where treaties have not been signed, underlying title continues to rest with the Indigenous nation. Stemming from a 1984 case launched by Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan leadership to establish jurisdiction over 58,000 square kilometres of land and water in northwest British Columbia, this SCC Delgamuukw decision recognizes our authority to govern unceded territory and establishes that our title has never been extinguished. Thus, 'Anic 'niwh'it'én, Canadian, and international law all dictate that all levels of government have the obligation to seek the consent of leaders with governing authority over the territory in question, and that failure to do so is in direct violation of Indigenous peoples' rights. In summary, the Coastal GasLink pipeline contravenes Wet'suwet'en, federal, and international laws. It is an illegal project. [Yes, but unfortunately there are contradictory laws and the RCMP have to obey injunctions. Or could they refuse? Could they cite Delgamuukw or the 2014 Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, or the Blueberry River decision, in which a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled in June 2021 that the provincial government had breached the nation's rights under Treaty 8, signed more than 120 years ago, because it allowed development such as forestry and natural gas extraction without the nation's approval?]

Members of the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group, a tactical unit familiar to old-growth protesters at Fairy Creek, where more than 1,000 arrests were made and the conduct of officers was called into question by a B.C. Supreme Court judge, have been coming into the camp daily. In the first days of the Wet’suwet’en blockade at Wedzin Kwa, two people were arrested — one shocked with a Taser and the other subjected to physical force. [And I thought the RCMP, was meant to Uphold the law! After all that’s what their motto “Maintiens le droit,” usually translated as Uphold the right, also means! Instead they are arresting people. Oh silly me! At one point in my life I thought about joining the RCMP and actually, I feel sorry for them since they are caught in the middle because they have to enforce other contradictory laws, which of course, they did not make. Once again we see clearly that law and justice are not the same thing.] Read more: Read The Narwal's explainer

Finally (!) check this out: Recycling was a lie to sell more plastics by guess who?
And this: The deliberate (criminal?) climate denial campaign (47 mins video)

Peace & joy, Andrew, ofs

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October 2021 Blog

10/8/2021

0 Comments

by Andrew Conradi, ofs; JPIC & Laudato si' Animator

who acknowledges and thanks the Lkwungen People
for allowing me to live, pray, work, and play on their lands.
I am deeply sorry for the injustices inflicted upon the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Turtle Island by the complicity of settlers in the colonialism inherent in the Indian Act and Residential Schools including racism and cultural genocide.

I commit to work for truth, healing and reconciliation.

George Pennier, a Coast Salish artist, shared a dream about healing with Bishop Gary Gordon of Victoria, BC in 1998. Bishop Gary was so moved by the dream, he commissioned this carving which depicts Chiwatenwa (Joseph), a Huron Chief, and Echon (St. Jean de Brébeuf), circled by an eagle spindle whorl drum, representing the Spirit and the Creator; the two leaders working together in hope for a good path forward for future generations.

ELECTIONS ANYONE?
Hope you voted and kept a sense of humour!
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!

(Source: Blue Guerilla 4 Sept 2021 via Lila Simpson-Lund. Thank you, Dear Lila)

 The Feast of St Francis and Thanksgiving

Hope you had a spirit filled celebration of the Feast of St Francis of Assisi and had opportunity give thanks for Creation. I thank Fr. Manoj Xalxo, OFM for his reflection. So inspiring!

Video: A World of Gratitude | Season of Creation 2021 (6:29)

Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet - This reflection is based on #Mercy2Earth developed by the Laudato Si' Movement

LAUDATO SI' ACTION PLATFORM
Launch pushed back to mid-November

Vatican plans 40 days of prayer (share with your parish and community), promotion ahead of sustainability initiative rollout. Originally set for Oct. 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the Laudato Si' Action Platform is now scheduled to begin its enrollment period on Nov. 14. By that time, planning guides and related materials for the program — a type of sustainability road map guided by church teaching — are expected to all be completed and made available on the initiative's website.

Meanwhile, the Vatican Dicastery [Department] for Promoting Integral Human Development, which is leading the project, has planned a 40-day prayer and promotion campaign to increase awareness and build greater momentum around the action platform. It also plans to release some initial resources on the website Oct. 4, along with a list of events to take place before the new launch date.

In a letter announcing the new campaign, Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the dicastery, formally invited Catholic organizations to join the Laudato Si' initiative during what he called "this crucial decade" for "radical societal transformation" as increasing climate change and environmental degradation threaten both the planet's ecosystems and people.

The new target date, Nov. 14, is the World Day of the Poor, which Francis established in November 2016. The launch will also follow a major U.N. climate conference, COP26, to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 1-12. That could be symbolic, Kureethadam told working group members, because once the conference is over, "we get to do action."

In anticipation of COP26, Francis hosted a gathering of faith leaders and scientists at the Vatican Oct. 4, which also concluded the ecumenical Season of Creation. They produced a statement to world leaders stressing the moral urgency of substantial action at the Glasgow summit. Along with the Pope, were Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb and representatives of Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism and Jainism. They were also joined by scientists who had helped draft the declaration. “We have inherited a garden; we must not leave a desert to our children” said an appeal signed by those who gathered. Christine Allen, director of CAFOD, the Catholic development agency for England and Wales, told Vatican News on Monday that "it's really quite unprecedented, isn't it, for so many faith leaders to come together in this way.”

Paz Artaza-Regan, told EarthBeat in an email that the delay is to ensure that a large and complicated project is fully vetted before its release. "In the spirit of synodality, the Vatican wishes to ensure that the Platform fully reflects the needs and concerns of every region of the world, that it provides all the regionally relevant resources, and that it works well before launching," she said.

Invoking the spirit of St Francis at the very beginning of the Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, social solidarity is explained as a blessedness of loving those who are near to us and those who are far away (no. 1). The universal message of St Francis with which Fratelli Tutti starts is one of sowing the seeds of peace and walking alongside those who are poor, abandoned, infirm and outcast, the least of all brothers and sisters (no. 2).

As identified in Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti, it is clear that some of the most immediate political challenges of the early 21st century require co-ordination and international agreement, including climate change, supporting biodiversity and environmental sustainability, reigning in destructive economic libertarianism and corporate greed, and recognising the rights of refugees and migrants and the dignity of the poorest people on our planet. Fratelli Tutti elevates politics to a “lofty vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good” (FT. 180).

One way Pope Francis hopes to achieve this is synodality.

SYNODALITY

Did you hear about this?
The Diocesan Phase of the Synodal Process 2021-2023 is an opportunity to listen more deeply to the voice of the Spirit, enhance participation and outreach, improve the quality of dialogue, discern about further issues, strengthen conversion in attitudes and skills, and animate people's sense of connection between the local, regional, and global church.

Worldwide synod begins at local level. There has never been a synod like the one that will begin Oct. 17 in cathedrals across Canada. It’s not that lay people have never before been asked their opinion, but this Synod on Synodality begins with their opinions and from that moment on it will be about their hopes, dreams, disappointments and opinions — including the opinions of Catholics who have walked away from Church.

Pope Francis invites the whole Church to question itself on synodality: a decisive theme for the life and mission of the Church. This site will accompany the two-year journey (2021-2023) of reflection and sharing of the whole Church. [That includes you and me!]

As stated in the Preparatory Document, the Synod considers a main question: How is our “walking together” in synodality realized today in the Church? What steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our “walking together”? The sensus fidei of the whole People of God is sought on this question. Since each diocese has a unique context, its path for seeking, promoting, and reaping the fruits of this sensus fidei will be unique.

Overall, the Synod guidelines remind us that:

The goal is to ensure the participation of the greatest number possible, in order to listen to the living voice of the entire People of God.
This is not possible unless we make special efforts to actively reach out to people where they’re at, especially those who are often excluded or who are not involved in the life of the Church.
There must be a clear focus on the participation of the poor, marginalized, vulnerable, and excluded, in order to listen to their voices and experiences.
The Synodal Process must be simple, accessible, and welcoming for all.

Planning for such a process is already the beginning of synodal conversion! The Diocesan Contact Person(s) and Synodal Team together with the Bishop could discuss them together. We are encouraged to take a look at the Preparatory Document and Vademecum in a prayerful and reflective way.

From Hamilton (Ontario) Diocese: POPE FRANCIS HAS ANNOUNCED that the next Synod of Bishops will take place in October 2023. The theme for the Synod is: For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission. It will be the culmination of a “three-year path” involving the People of God at every level of the Church. Pope Francis will officially inaugurate the event on the weekend of October 9-10. The first phase of the synodal path will take place in each Diocese beginning on the weekend of October 17th, under the leadership of the Bishop. This will be marked in the Sunday liturgies in all our parishes, and most particularly at the 4 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Christ the King. A Synod Committee has been established … They will facilitate the synodal process so that as many parishioners as are interested in participating can be engaged. More information will be provided as the process gets underway.

[Question: Have you heard about this Diocesan Phase or a Synodal Team in your Diocese (or parish)? My pastor had heard just a couple of days ago and will take action. If yours has not, ask your Bishop and pastor about it!]

Good news:
$30M NATIONAL PLEDGE TO SUPPORT HEALING & RECONCILIATION
Monday, 27 September 2021

The Bishops of Canada, as a tangible expression of their commitment to walk with the Indigenous Peoples of this land along the pathway of hope, are making a nation-wide collective financial commitment to support healing and reconciliation initiatives for residential school survivors, their families, and their communities.

With a target of $30 million over up to five years, this will include initiatives in every region of the country. The commitment will be achieved at the local level, with parishes across Canada being encouraged to participate and amplify the effort.

Bishop Raymond Poisson, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), expressed hope that these efforts will support meaningful projects across Canada and make a significant difference in addressing the historical and ongoing trauma caused by the residential school system.

Funding for projects will be determined locally, in consultation with First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples in each region. The Bishops of Canada have committed and tasked themselves to develop national principles and strategy, timelines, and the public communication of these collective initiatives this November.

Bad news:
Colonialism, Catholicism and role of a Bishop of St Albert, Alberta (from various sources)
Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin (1829-1902) was a key architect of the Canadian Indian residential school system, which has been labeled an instrument of cultural genocide. In June 2021, this led to governments and private businesses to begin removing his name from institutions and infrastructure previously named for him.

It was his belief that maintaining Indigenous cultural practices would lead to the self-extinction of Indigenous people. Modeled in part on reformatory prisons in France, the residential schools intended to alienate Indigenous children from their language, traditions and families, and ultimately to make them ashamed of their heritage. The schools’ aim was to replace Indigenous cultures and languages with Canada’s English and French cultures, supplemented with industrial and agricultural training. “[Bishop Grandin] boasted that the orphans educated at mission schools hated to be reminded of their Aboriginal ancestry,” according to the T.R.C. report.

Bishop Grandin’s views deeply influenced the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who operated the majority of the Catholic residential schools in Canada. Ken Thorson, O.M.I., the provincial superior of O.M.I. Lacombe Canada, said in an email to America that while the Oblates were not founded to be educators, “our charism called us to respond to the needs of the day, and so education was a hallmark of Oblate ministry in Canada, with schools, colleges and universities being established.”

“When the Canadian government began to establish Indian Residential Schools, they enlisted the assistance of the various churches primarily because they were already involved in education,” said Father Thorson. “The Oblates of the time responded, seeing the opportunity for evangelization and education.”

The Oblates of today now understand this part of their history as complicity in Canadian colonialism. “We experience deep regret about Oblate involvement in residential schools, about implementing government policy to restrict or forbid Indigenous languages and culture,” said Father Thorson.

Catholics in Canada have struggled to come to terms with such a violent history, and many are publicly leaving the church because of its participation in the residential schools and an unwillingness on the part of the hierarchy to apologize as a body. In a statement on its website, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said that “each diocese and religious community is corporately and legally responsible for its own actions. The Catholic Church as a whole in Canada was not associated with the Residential Schools, nor was the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.” [True but irrelevant because they finally did respond as an entity called -not surprisingly- the CCCB.]

More news:
Claims of $28M of 'in-kind' help for residential school survivors includes bible study, parish staffing as part of compensation. Questionable?

Read more "It's distressing to see this. This is ordinary church religious work repackaged as in-kind services and reconciliation. This is not legitimate," said Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, a former judge and director of the University of British Columbia's Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.
The Church has repeatedly declined to provide details of the $25-million promise of in-kind services, other than to state publicly that the amount was exceeded.

The corporation formed by the churches to oversee the 2005 deal has since been dissolved. … the Catholic Church's claims were evaluated by a committee that included members from Catholic entities, the federal government and the Assembly of First Nations. It's unclear whether that committee approved the items in the document obtained by CBC News.

[LET’S HOPE THEY DID. IF LOCAL INDIGENOUS CATHOLICS ASKED FOR IT, THAT MAKES IT RIGHT AND NOT A REASON FOR CRITICISM.]

GLOBAL CLIMATE STRIKE
24 Sept 2021, Victoria, BC

Victoria, BC, 24 Sept 2021, Global Climate Strike. Read more OFS Canada’s Little Portion Fraternity was there! Two of us marched behind Extinction Rebellion’s green canoe TELL THE TRUTH and REBEL FOR LIFE banner. Another member was nearby. Andrew was interviewed by a couple of Victoria High School students who were making a video for a class project. They photo’d his signs and he spoke about the Pope, Laudato Si’, Greta Thunberg and how everything is connected: fossil fuels, old growth forests and water, indigenous rights etc. But I have not seen their final work yet.

Andrew Conradi, ofs and Dawn d’Cruz, ofs attend Global Climate Strike, Victoria, BC, 24 Sept 2021
Photo by Julie Johnston, GreenHeartEducation

PEOPLE AND PLANET FIRST

Scenes from the police action against the Caycuse blockade Fairy Creek, BC, 18 May 2021 Photograph by Dawna Mueller (focusonvictoria.ca)

B.C. Supreme Court ends Fairy Creek injunction
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson, in a judgment on Tuesday [28 Sept], ruled that the court injunction granted to Teal Cedar will not be extended, saying that the RCMP’s enforcement tactics “have led to serious and substantial infringement of civil liberties.”
The RCMP has arrested more than 1,100 protesters since the injunction took effect.

Next for Fairy Creek : Science Must Trump Politics Read more
The case for saving some of the most precious ecosystems on Earth. The direct link between logging old-growth forests and climate change has been well established.

In British Columbia, CO2 emissions from clear cutting, including the loss of standing carbon stocks as well as foregone photosynthetic uptake, exceeds the amount emitted from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas.

CARITAS CANADA
D&P Fall Action Campaign

TAKE ACTION: See the Video (1 min 34 secs) and sign the petition to the House of Commons

While global leaders are in the COP26 meetings talking about how to tackle climate change, more and more activists are being threatened and killed for protecting the forests, waters, and biodiversity that our people and our planet are most in need of. The most vulnerable members of our human family are bearing the largest burden, dealing with the worst impacts of climate change and facing negative effects of ill-planned, top-down climate “solutions”.

We know the choices we are making today will shape our communities, our economy, our health and the health of our planet for years to come, so let’s make sure our transition is towards a just economy that addresses integral human development. How can we make sure human rights are respected and environmental harm avoided as we improve our global and national climate policies? We must make sure that people and the planet are at the centre of our just recovery.

Voluntary measures are not enough
It is time to catch up! Are we ready for Canada to be a real leader in international human rights and responsible business conduct? For over a decade, Canadian companies have been expected to care for the environment and respect human rights. And yet, the lived experiences of Development and Peace partner organizations demonstrates that existing measures are not effective in preventing human and environmental abuses around the world.

We want the obligation to prevent human rights violations to be legally binding. Canadian companies will have to develop and implement human rights and environmental due diligence procedures for their entire supply and value chains, and report on it. With due diligence legislation, if a company fails to undertake reasonable steps, the victims of any harm will have access to remedy and meaningful consequences through the Canadian courts.

As Pope Francis wrote in his letter on a conference held in Assisi in 2020 entitled “Economy of Francis”:
PEOPLE AND PLANET FIRST MEANS “a different kind of economy: one that brings life not death, one that is inclusive and not exclusive, humane and not dehumanising, one that cares for the environment and does not despoil it.”

SOUNDS A BIT LIKE:

Still breathing? Lucky you!
More than 10 million people die every year from air pollution, a problem that doesn’t receive enough attention. Bloomberg article But the WHO has a plan

Nobel Peace Prize winners 2021:
Maria Ressa (Philippines) & Dimitri Muratov (Russia)
Pray for fearless journalists! We need them!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! PEACE & JOY, ANDREW, OFS

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September 2021 Blog

9/5/2021

0 Comments

September 2021 Franciscan Voice Canada
Blog by Andrew Conradi, ofs; JPIC & Laudato si’ Animator
who 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.

Part 1: Season of Creation & Laudato si’ Action Platform
A timely reminder of why we work for justice, peace and integrity of creation

Michael Cusato, OFM, one of the foremost historians of medieval Franciscan history working in the field today was quoted in the Franciscans International website: “Together, Francis and Clare founded and inspired a movement of men and women who called for the transformation of society through a life of voluntary poverty, fraternity, and solidarity with the most marginalized—the three pillars of the Franciscan concept of minoritas. The Franciscan and Clarian insistence on minoritas (the “universal fraternity of all creation”) … is joyfully and dynamically lived out in active engagement with the world in order to affect mutual transformation. To be Franciscan … is to be in relationship with, rather than to stand apart from, those who are experiencing oppression, marginalization, and all forms of injustice.” (emphasis added). [N.B. OFS Rule 18 refers to “universal kinship” which includes our Sister Mother Earth.]

The 2021 Season of Creation 1 Sept-4 Oct is a very good way to actively engage with the world

Learn more about the Season of Creation

In a letter, (earlier this year, 24 May 2021) Monsignor Bruno-Marie Duffé, Secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, warmly invited the global Catholic family to “join the ecumenical family in celebrating the Season of Creation,” the annual celebration of prayer and action for our common home. “I humbly request your assistance in promoting this important moment in your local parishes and communities,” Msgr. Duffé wrote.

“We also encourage bishops and ecclesial bodies to make statements to raise awareness about the Season of Creation, helping the faithful to realize that ‘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’” (LS 217). [We might need to gently push our Bishops as well as our parish pastors! The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) did finally link to Msgr Duffé’s 24 May 2021 letter on the Season of Creation but not until 27 Aug 2021- too late to plan ahead! It does have the wholehearted support of Canada’s bishops, said CCCB spokesperson Lisa Gall: “Canada’s bishops remain steadfastly committed to encouraging the care of creation and our common home.” But the CCCB’s link is without any real additional Canadian promotional support. Makes one wonder why? Dublin Archbishop Dermot Farrell provides an Irish example of what could be done to make a statement as suggested by Msgr Duffé. Archbishop Farrell issued his own 64-page pastoral letter 30 Aug 2021 on "the climate catastrophe," and said that "the havoc of the [coronavirus] pandemic will pale compared to that of climate change."]

Join the Season of Creation by registering today and receive the free Season of Creation Celebration Guide, which is packed with ideas about how you can lead your community in caring for creation.

Duffé pointed out how next month’s ecumenical season will be a “critical moment for Catholics to lift up the voices of the most vulnerable and advocate on their behalf ahead of two important summits.” [N.B. Global Climate Strike 24 Sept - see last page.] After the Season of Creation, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and the UN Biodiversity Convention (COP15) will take place.
Duffé wrote: “I invite you to join advocacy initiatives such as the Healthy Planet, Healthy People Petition urging for bold action to protect creation in addition to other initiatives calling for new paths forward together.” [You may have already signed this petition, because Franciscan Voice Canada promoted and linked to it under Action-Take Action earlier in July. It will be presented to world leaders at the COP 26 United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, 1-12 Nov 2021— a meeting Pope Francis plans to attend.]

Early Catholic support came in 2003 from the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines. Pope Francis and the Vatican have shown prophetic leadership around the ecumenical celebration of prayer, action, and advocacy for our common home since 2015. In 2019 and 2020 Pope Francis started the Season with a powerful papal message, encouraging Catholics to host events and protect God’s creation. He also concluded the Season the past two years by thanking Christians around the world for their efforts.

Pope Francis invites you to celebrate the 2021 Season of Creation

Sunday 29 August Pope Francis called on all people (video 38 sec) to take “decisive, urgent action” during the upcoming Season of Creation in order to “transform this crisis into an opportunity.” Speaking during his Sunday Angelus, His Holiness said the “cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor are becoming increasingly serious and alarming.” Now is the time for all people, especially Christians, to increase their commitment to our common home by doing more than ever to protect God’s creation.

Again he called for participation - General Audience Wednesday 1 Sept (video 1.07):
World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation and Season of Creation 2021

As you’ve no doubt heard, the recent United Nations climate report was extremely worrying. Our world is changing at an unprecedented rate. We still have time to create a better future, but we need to act now and scale up our efforts as much as we can!

We ask for your support once more in promoting the Healthy Planet, Healthy People petition during the upcoming ecumenical Season of Creation 2021.

The Season of Creation is the moment for a push on this campaign. It is fortuitous that this important moment in our Christian calendar – when we pray, take action, and advocate for our common home – is just before these two major UN summits [and coincides with the Canadian election.] There is no reason why we can't mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, but we need to act together during the Season of Creation to realize this potential!

Catholics’ efforts will be aided by the new Laudato Si’ Action Platform.

The Vatican-led effort will empower Catholic families; parishes and dioceses; schools and universities; hospitals; workers, businesses and farms; organizations, groups and movements; & religious orders to implement Laudato Si’. A new website LaudatoSi.va has been created to support the initiative.

The Laudato Si’ Action Platform is another way
to advocate; raise our voice; transform society;
and actively engage with the world in order to affect mutual transformation:

Bolder responses to Laudato Si' & climate change
BEGIN OR CONTINUE THE JOURNEY

On 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development will begin offering Laudato Si’ Plans. Laudato Si’ Plans help you discern and implement your response to Laudato Si’. Your institution, community, or family is invited to make an early commitment to the planning process. By completing the registration form, you pledge to pursue your Laudato Si’ Plan when the plans are formally launched.

You are warmly invited to use the resources at https://laudatosiactionplatform.org as you discern the next steps in the journey ahead.

So what exactly are Canadian Franciscans and others doing to bolster a bolder response to the Ecological Education called for in the Laudato si’ Goals shown below?

Are we remembering and acting on these words from Laudato si' ?
“84… The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God.” and: “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]”

Part 2: Canadian Federal Election

As I wrote in Understanding JPIC (2018 revision. 2021 revision pending!):
“3.2.83. As the Bishops of Ontario (1998) stated:

“Our first concern is to remind all Roman Catholics of their duty to become informed, to vote and to be involved politically, at the very least in the sense of knowing the issues and the policies of the parties with regard to them. … Pope Pius XI spoke of "political charity" as one of the highest forms of the virtue of charity. In more recent times, the Church has told us that "a merely individualistic morality" will not suffice, and that Christians must "give an example by their sense of responsibility and their service of the common good." "Christians who take an active part in present day socio-economic development and fight for justice and charity should be convinced that they can make a great contribution to the prosperity of mankind and to the peace of the world". (The Church in the Modern World, No. 30, 75 and 72).” (emphasis added)”

Politics and Faith in a Polarized World
A Challange for Catholics

By John Milloy
Published by Novalis,
1 Sept 2021, 114-pages.

Michael Swann wrote that John Milloy pleads “with Catholics to take politics seriously and regrets that Canadian Catholics who want to contribute to national debates aren’t getting a lot of help from their leaders right now. Canada’s bishops seem unable to publicly explain what they’re doing or why they’re doing it when it comes to the legacy of Indian residential schools, among other things, he said.” [I see some evidence that it might have started to change for the better since Milloy drafted his text.]
“There are some wonderful bishops out there and some incredible priests. But as a whole, I think they have to get their act together,” Milloy said. “Obviously in terms of reconciliation, but on a host of other issues.
He compares what comes out of the contemporary bishops’ conference with the bold statements of Pope Francis. “You read Fratelli Tutti. You read some of what Pope Francis is saying. Good grief, he knows his stuff. The world needs change. He’s addressing the big picture and we’re not doing that in Canada,” he said.

[I find Season of Creation and Laudato Si’ Action Platform are examples of the Canadian Bishops needing to step up their act to be more bold in the forefront to encourage the laity to take bold action especially in terms of political advocacy c/f Laudato si' n. 179. On the occasion of the third World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation in 2017, the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) published a resource entitled Living Out Laudato Si': A Commentary and Practical Resource for Canadian Catholics but it did not mention the Season of Creation although it was first endorsed by Pope Francis in 2015 and fully supported by him ever since. But now what is called for is a more vigorous promotion of Season of Creation as called for in Msgr Duffé’s letter quoted previously].

On 1 Sept, finally thank God, my Diocesan blog (Victoria, BC) mentioned the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and the Season of Creation 2021. Better late than never! But more lead time is required for parishes to gear up! Dioceses that failed to even mention it at all, fall under what Laudato Si’, Part VI called “Weak Responses”! Unfortunately the Canadian Bishops are not alone in not doing enough to vigorously promote this issue. Here are two American voices with the same concern: “Philip, the former NASA official who now heads the University of Notre Dame's academic excellence program, said the science and increasing signs of climate change impacts make it clear that aggressive actions are needed now — "not in 10, 20, 30 years, now" — and that the Laudato Si' Action Platform can play an important role.

"Quite honestly, we do not see the church collectively acting nearly quickly nor strategically enough on this issue, as she does with other issues, and we just don't get it," said Anna Johnson, a unit director for U.S. mission formation and young adult empowerment for the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.
And as another American, Thomas Reese, SJ wrote: “My only consolation is that Catholicism, through the pope, is on the right side of history for once. Sadly, too few of our bishops are following him and doing anything about the crisis. When was the last time you heard your bishop [and I would add: or your pastor] speak out on climate change? [There are some who have: "When it comes to the environment, climate change is one of the most serious moral challenges we face," Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City and Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, Illinois, chairs of the U.S. bishops' conference domestic and international justice committees, wrote in a statement for the day of prayer for creation. I mentioned the CCCB’s efforts earlier.]

As Pope Francis said [LS 217] concern for the environment can no longer be an optional or secondary aspect of Christianity. It must be central to who we are as Christians. We must care for God's creation; we must protect the Earth and all that lives on it. Otherwise, our children and grandchildren will experience the apocalypse.” (emphasis added)]

Back to Milloy. In his view, there’s nothing more Catholic than politics. “When you start to worry about the environment, when you start to worry about poverty, when you start to worry about women in crisis who are pregnant, when you start to worry about not just being pro-birth but being clearly pro-life, you start to create the type of society that we’re called to build. Then we’re answering that pro-life call,” he said. [Amen to that!]

The CCCB did publish a 2019 Federal Election Guide (but as of time of writing, 3 Sept, I have not seen one for 2021). But in 2019 it was so general; ultimately it is up to us as individuals to make our own decisions based on our understanding and priorities. Since no one party will meet all our requirements we have to “hold our nose” while voting!

I would like to remind us that, as Josianne Gauthier, CIDSE Secretary General (and a Canadian formerly with D&P/Caritas Canada) wrote , on politics as an act of love and courage: “Fratelli Tutti urges us all to make decisions for the “universal common good” by bringing us ever closer to our own responsibility in how we treat our “neighbour”. A healthy politics would transform our economy into one that “is an integral part of a political, social, cultural and popular programme”.”

Part 3: Bold action by young people raising their voices

Severn Cullis Suzuki was just 12 years old when she made an impassioned plea to avert ecological disaster at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992. The B.C. girl silenced the world. For a short while the world listened, but then little changed. Twenty-five years before Greta, we ignored Severn. Laudato si’ mi signore now we have Greta! Let’s hope she is right when she says: “We are unstoppable” because time is running out to make transition to a low-carbon future safe, just and inclusive.

In the face of social and environmental crises, the world would do well to follow the lead of its young people Pope Francis said in a video message to mark the start of the Season of Creation 2021. Here are three young women:

Left: Severn Cullis-Suzuki (12, Canadian) 1992 UN Rio de Janeiro
Middle: Autumn Peltier (13, Canadian) 2018 UN NYC
Right: Greta Thunberg (16, Swedish) 2019 UN NYC

Greta Thunberg marches alongside
Severn Cullis-Suzuki —
daughter to Canadian environmentalist icon
David Suzuki --
25 Oct 2019 in Vancouver, BC. Photo Kevin Hill
[Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier]

“Severn told the world everything the world needed to know 27 years ago, and the science told our world leaders everything they needed to know 27 years ago,” said Thunberg, who spoke recently [2019] to large crowds in Montreal and Edmonton, after travelling to North America in a sailboat and being transported from city to city in an electric car.

“If people would have listened back then, the world would be a completely different place than it is today. But the world ignored her, and world leaders continue to choose to look away from this crisis – even today.” Read more about Severn.

On 24 September 2021, Fridays For Future Canada will join thousands around the world for another Global Climate Strike. With a federal election underway and as extreme weather events abound, this is an historic opportunity to usher in the change that youth and marginalized communities have been calling for. We hope you’ll join us.

“Let us pray we all will make courageous choices, the choices necessary for a simple and environmentally sustainable lifestyle, taking inspiration from our young people who are resolutely committed to this.”
- Pope Francis

17 April 2017 The Pope encouraged Greta

Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Stephen Lewis and David Suzuki call for Emergency Leaders Debate [9 Sept?] on Climate because of urgent existential “Canadians need a chance to assess whether those who seek national leadership understand the severity of the crisis, and what their plan is to combat it.” A letter was signed 16 August by the four distinguished members of the Order of Canada.

N.B: When you vote remember:
Canada Bankrolling Oil and Gas by $13 Billion a year.
Now is the time for the Government of Canada to begin to shift that into sustainable energy!

I just learned this (!) and must share: Did you know that geothermal deep well water can provide heat for electricity and it contains lithium which is something we also need for batteries and is a greener way to access it than traditional mining it in rock. Alberta’s oil and gas well drillers could use their skills to drill for this water and keep jobs!

Before closing click on 2021 Season of Creation Prayer then sing along to the Love Song to the Earth

Peace & joy,
Andrew Conradi, ofs
3 Sept 2021

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August 2021 Blog

8/7/2021

5 Comments

August 2021 Franciscan Voice Canada
Blog by Andrew Conradi, ofs; JPIC & Laudato si’ Animator
who 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.

Part 1: LAUDATO SI’ MOVEMENT

Launched: 29 July 2021: Learn More

Pope Francis:
“God will give us a new name, which contains the meaning of our entire life.”
Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny:
"This name is a prayer. When we name the movement now, every time we name it, we're saying a prayer."

The movement is now called the Laudato Si’ Movement. A change that has the support of Pope Francis.
As part of a two-year synodal process, the mission, values, and structures have also been changed and improved.

The Laudato Si’ Movement celebrates and embraces all initiatives born from the encyclical and all organizations working for ecological and climate justice.

Watch the new name announcement video

Cardinal Czerny in front of Timothy Schmalz’s Angels Unawares

Some takeaways: Laudato Si’ ultimately is much more than an encyclical; it represents the Franciscan worldview of praise to the Creator in “sublime communion” with all Creation (LS 89). That Franciscan attitude is the climax of what an ecological conversion looks like and serves as the guiding star of all our efforts. [As OFS Rule 18 puts it: “Moreover they should respect all creatures, animate and inanimate, which bear the imprint of the Most High, and they should strive to move from the temptation of exploiting creation to the Franciscan concept of universal kinship.”]

New mission statement: “To inspire and mobilize the Catholic community to care for our common home and achieve climate and ecological justice.” Grounded in our Catholic identity, we are committed to “a new and universal solidarity” (LS 14), cultivating “fraternity and social friendship” with all humanity (FT 2).

The movement brings together a wide range of Catholic (1) organizations and (2) grassroots members from around the world. These members walk together in synodality and communion with the universal Church on a journey of ecological conversion. Seeking unity in diversity, organizational and grassroots members come together to pray, collaborate and mobilize in response to the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

Guided by a spirit of subsidiarity, when the time and context are right, they co-create or engage … on a wide range of initiatives to bring Laudato Si’ to life.” [i.e. “animate”] We are called to be “Contempl-activists”, cultivating a contemplative “ecological spirituality” (LS 216) and engaging in prophetic activism.

In faith and confidence, we walk forward in communion with our wider Catholic family, all people of goodwill, and every creature on our planet singing as we go, praising our beloved Creator, so that “our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope” (LS 244).

PART 2: INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS
SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
(IRSSA, 2005/6)
What price reconciliation?
How to overcome the legacy of grief that comes from injustice?
Warning: Part 2 may cause discomfort even shame!

I consulted many sources. The more I looked into this issue the more complicated and - at times - confusing, it became. Much has been written and some is unclear, incomplete, unbalanced, inaccurate, confusing and misleading. I have tried to be the opposite! Generally two useful sources are Toronto's website and Calgary’s website.

First: have remains of bodies been found? Let me quote Dr Sarah Beaulieu (anthropologist, University of the Fraser Valley) who did the research in Kamloops, BC. She said: “We can never say definitively that they are human remains until you excavate, which is why we need to pull back a little bit and say that they are probable burials.” She reduced the number from 215 to 200.

This is because the radar only reveals the location and shape of ground disturbance consistent with a child sized grave. I would add, strongly probable given the survivors oral evidence; and there are surely more nearby. To complicate things, in some places e.g Marieval, Sask, non-indigenous adults and children were buried in the same or contiguous cemeteries that have been barely maintained, if at all, and whose wooden crosses have disappeared or surface stone markers overgrown.

Second: the children at these schools mostly died from the same causes as non-Indigenous children at the time though at a much higher rate. Their deaths were not just a Catholic but a national crime and not murder, but rather exacerbated by neglect and the horrific conditions revealed by Dr Bryce.

Source: Sandra D Moore, Former Chief, Hiawatha First Nation (Ojibway), Ontario
via Marzio Apolloni (with thanks)

I have tried to summarise and simplify but I am neither an expert nor lawyer. Much as I love the goodness and good people of the Catholic Church I am ashamed of some aspects of the Canadian Church’s response to its 2005/6 agreements to compensate survivors of Indian Residential Schools established under the 1876 Indian Act. Separated from their families, sometimes forcefully, students suffered emotional, physical and sexual abuse, malnutrition, and systemic violations of basic human rights and cultural shaming amounting to cultural genocide in residential schools operated by Catholics, and other Christians. Nor did many get a proper education but were used to work on the land or in housekeeping.

However, let us remember, as Archbishop Bolen of Regina said: “There are many important questions about who was fundamentally responsible for residential schools and why were they allowed to function for so long. Stories have surfaced about efforts from 100 years ago to name and put a stop to the disastrous consequences of the residential school policy, drawing attention to voices that should have been heeded. In the society at large and in the Church there were voices that said this was wrong, this should stop or at the very least, we should stop being complicit in what is happening here. Those voices haunt us now." [Indeed! That last sentence is an understatement!]

Archbishop Bolen noted: "Chief Cadmus Delorme [a Cree and Saulteaux, currently Chief of the Cowessess First Nation on whose reserve the Marieval Indian Residential School operated from 1898 to 1997 in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan] has commented how Indigenous and Church people of today have inherited the present situation. I quote, 'Nobody today created residential schools. Nobody today created the Indian Act. Nobody today created the ’60's scoop. We all inherited this.' It’s helpful for us to hear that. But it is for us to rise to the occasion to be instruments of healing and reconciliation."

Archbishop Bolen added: "It doesn’t help when either the Church or the government deflects their proper responsibilities. With this in mind, we are working earnestly to support healing and reconciliation through this province-wide appeal." The appeal to which he referred is mentioned below.

In a tweet of 16 June, Bishop Scott McCaig, CC, Ordinary of the Canadian Armed Forces, succinctly summed up exactly where the Church went wrong, very wrong: “The Church should not have participated in government policy of residential schools. It contradicted our teaching on inculturation and supporting what is good, true and beautiful in a culture. It opposed subsidiarity and centrality of family. May we never sacrifice Gospel principles again.”

How much did Canadian Catholic parishioners who were asked to raise $25 M actually care about reconciliation and right relations with
First Nations, Inuit and Métis?
If money talks then sadly not much. But this is now changing.
[And the same can be said of the Government of Canada].

The bottom line for the Canadian Catholic Church: it must to do the right thing and pay the full amounts promised to residential school survivors in 2005 as part of a settlement. At one time, the Catholic Church was the only church refusing to pay its 30 per cent share of survivors' claims. It finally agreed but insisted on including an escape clause for the final $25M. The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA, 2005) was long and complex, so two words inserted into a Catholic side deal got little attention back in 2006. But those two words - "best efforts" - are at the heart of what amounts to a multimillion-dollar renege or betrayal. The IRSSA stated that the Catholic groups that ran the residential schools − the "Catholic entities" − were required to pay a total of $79 million for abuses suffered by survivors.

Renowned Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz’s newest creation is called Residential School and crafts a classroom with a lone Indigenous girl sitting at one of 14 desks — representing Canada, each province and territory — resting her head with a feather in her hand.

Photo: Timothy Schmalz (Schmalz builds as others tear down, Quinton Amundson, Catholic Register, 15 July 2021)

With the bishops and many dioceses insisting on the independence of each diocese and order, 16 dioceses and 32 orders were left to fulfill three legal requirements of the 2006 settlement: (1) $29 million in cash payments primarily owed to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation; (2) $25 million in in-kind services over 10 years the Catholic groups would deliver themselves to Indigenous communities; and (3) $25 million to be raised in a major, national fundraising campaign.

Have these commitments been met?
In 2015, the Catholic Entities and the federal government disagreed on whether the first commitment of $29 million had been met. Arbitration in a Saskatchewan court ruled that final payment of $1.2 million was owed, so the Catholic Entities paid that money and the judge ruled that all their financial obligations had been met. N.B.: it was the Government of Canada, not the First Nations, Inuit or Métis which released the Catholic Church! Now that is colonialism! It was legal but was it just?

The second commitment required the Catholic Entities to provide $25 million of in-kind health, well-being and community services between 2007 and 2017. By 2014, the Catholic Entities had delivered nearly $30 million to community-based projects. Those services continued after 2014, even though the legal commitment had already been met. But as of 26 July 2021, a Church documentation claiming this is sitting inside a Regina courthouse, but officials are refusing to release it.

Mayo Moran, a former dean at the University of Toronto's law faculty, who served as independent compensation committee chair for the landmark Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement of 2005, says all parties involved in the 2005 residential school settlement, including the courts, should do everything possible to be open and accountable to survivors. "We need to do everything possible to give survivors the information they deserve.... Do it. Do it quickly. Don't make it more painful for individuals that have already suffered so much."

It is the third legal requirement that was not met, falling $21M short.

With a board of Church and Indigenous leaders including Mary Simon, the recently appointed Governor General, and former Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine, the “best efforts” campaign was launched into the teeth of the 2008 stock market crash and the Great Recession.
While KCI [the corporation hired to fundraise] tried to sign on corporate Canada and large donors, most Canadians, including Catholics, did not know the campaign was going on and at that time were unaware of the history of the schools. When the campaign, in desperation, turned to a pew collection in 2013, only 14 dioceses (out of over 70) participated.

After seven years, and having spent $2 million (which would be standard if the campaign had indeed raised $25 million) with little to show in return, Moving Forward dismissed KCI and decided to hold a special national collection across the country. It was taken up in parishes on 8 Dec 2013, including in dioceses which never operated residential schools.

Again the timing was unfortunate: the envelopes hit the pews just a week after Typhoon Haiyan swept through the Philippines. The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace raised over $13 million for rebuilding projects in the Philippines. This was before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report was published online 24 Sept 2015.

Let me cite an example of fundraising and ask if it shows a lack of awareness, indifference or imbalance amounting to (forgive my bluntness) an appalling selfishness? While the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon (which itself never operated an Indian Residential School but signed on voluntarily) and its 80,000 members spent $28.5 million on a new second cathedral (they already had one), they raised just $34,650 for Indian Residential School survivors. The story was similar in other cities. Canada's 12 million Catholics donated less than $4 million of the promised $25 million — roughly 30 cents per person.

After several years, the Government of Canada told the Catholic Church to pay up. Instead, church officials hired one of Canada's top lawyers, Gordon J. Kuski, QC who charged his normal rates, and in a private court hearing, successfully argued that the country's Catholic churches had tried their best and had no more to give and instead offered $1.2M to settle. On 16 July 2015, after a secret hearing the previous month, Justice Neil Gabrielson sided with the Catholic Church, saying the federal lawyer wasn't clear enough in his opposition to the Church’s proposal and a "reasonable person" would conclude a deal had been struck.

Retired Saskatoon Catholic priest and Member of the Order of Canada, André Poilièvre, 85, spoke out against the church to the CBC, saying he's ashamed it used a legal "loophole" to escape its $25-million promise to residential school survivors. "We were complicit with the government in the design, the implementation and the management of these schools … As a Catholic church, we were responsible. We need a collective, corporate response. …It's scandalous, really shameful. It was a loophole. It might be legal, but it's not ethical."

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond is a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation north of Saskatoon, a former Saskatchewan provincial court judge and current Director of the University of British Columbia's Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre. She studied the case closely once the results were made public. She said the church betrayed survivors by using high-priced lawyers. She said: "They manipulated the legal system to their advantage. They found a legal back door. I know how that works out when it comes to issues for Indigenous people in Saskatchewan, and in Canada. …They [the church] should go back. They should raise the money, and then some. There is a spiritual and moral deficit here."

University of Calgary law professor Kathleen Mahoney, who helped craft the IRSSA while working for the Assembly of First Nations, also said she was disgusted. "They relied on these highly technical arguments. It may have worked, but it's not very honourable. It's not moral. It's not ethical," Mahoney said. She also said it's ludicrous for the Catholic churches to claim they couldn't find the money.

That is why I say shame on the Church.
But there is hope...

That is why I say shame on the Church. But there is hope: clerical, religious and lay awareness has grown due to the rediscovery and publicity over the unmarked gravesites and change is coming.

St Francis of Assisi eventually realised that the command “Go rebuild my house” did not refer to physical buildings but the spiritual building of the people of God. So what? Surely so that they would act justly and keep promises and not renege.

This is a story about the failure of Catholics and their leaders to respond to their role in the federal government’s scheme to erase Indigenous culture and assimilate Indigenous children into white society, said Grouard-McLennan Archbishop Gerard Pettipas. “This was not seen as an issue that was felt equally among the bishops,” he said. “There were those of us who were signatories to IRSSA and those who were not.”

Archbishop Pettipas wants to look ahead now that Catholics are fully aware of what was learned from the hearings and 2015 report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “Over the last month, I would say there has been a much stronger engagement, even of faithful Catholics, faithful Catholics who are upset, very upset. … They expect us to do more.” Pettipas believes a more national and unified Catholic response is now necessary. “The reality is that we are independent corporations. That’s true,” he said. “Does that mean that it’s impossible for us to work together as a bishops’ conference?”

“Love thy neighbour” is a key Christian ethic. However, in view of the failure to pay what was originally promised by our senior Canadian Catholic officials, because of the “best efforts” escape clause many grassroots laity are saying we, i.e. dioceses and parishes supported by laity that had no part in operation of the schools, must step up and pay what the Catholic entities originally promised. Some said individuals could divert parish donations in all or in part to organisations that help indigenous people (or to the renewed diocesan appeals). I support that and am going to do just that.

A national lay effort to raise funds and awareness for reconciliation is rising up out of the grassroots of the Catholic Church in Canada. Catholics for Truth and Reconciliation is a group that began as a Facebook discussion forum following the recent publicity of unmarked graves, and quickly grew to over 2,000 subscribers. It launched an appeal to all Canadians to raise funds and embrace the Calls the Action set out in the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission report. “It’s very important to do this now,” Jody Garneau , one of the group’s founders, told The Catholic Register. “There’s an immediacy.”

As to the Government of Canada, Tasha Kheiriddin in the National Post, 7 July 2021, wrote: “Federal Government spent nearly $100 million over the last three years fighting indigenous communities in court - more than Stephen Harper’s Conservative government over the same time span – despite the promise to reject this “adversarial and “profoundly damaging” approach.” On the other hand, in January 2020 the federal government announced $200 million in funding for “Legacy Projects” related to residential schools, and in June 2021 announced $50 million to fund the new Day Scholar Revitalization Society. As of December 31, 2020, more than $1.82 billion of targeted funds has been allocated to support 694 water and wastewater projects in 581 First Nations communities of which 393 are complete. In December 2020, the Government of Canada announced an additional $1.5 billion to help accelerate the work being done to end all long-term drinking water advisories.

The Catholic groundswell got the bishops’ attention. The Saskatchewan and British Columbia Bishops and Archdiocese of Toronto have announced that they will renew fundraising. These renewed efforts to do the right thing give me hope. Here are four with links to online donation info: Saskatchewan dscf.ca/catholic-trc-healing-response. Vancouver will hold an Archdiocesan-wide Second Collection on the weekend of September 11/12. Donations can be made online here: https://support.rcav.org/archdiocese/archbishops-priorities/donate-to-bc-bishops- appeal/.
Toronto online through community.archtoronto.org, by phoning 416-934-3411, or through any church in the archdiocese. Surely more dioceses will participate e.g. Calgary. You can check your own diocesan website as more come on board.

Laudato si, mi signore!
Peace & joy, Andrew Conradi, ofs

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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

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