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What lessons can we learn from the pandemic?

4/5/2020

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​As we face the Covid-19 pandemic, I pray for health and resilience (love, courage & hope) for our entire human family in this time of great uncertainty. My thoughts are with all but especially the newly unemployed in Canada, especially Alberta the hardest hit, & also communities in the Global South whose prior hardships are worsened by this crisis in contrast to which ours pale in comparison.

Let us reflect during Holy Week.  Happy Easter!
What lessons can we learn from the pandemic?
 “A time of choosing” as Pope Francis says?
An opportunity to transform the way we live?
A reminder that Solidarity is key to addressing both the climate crisis and the pandemic?
​


What does the Holy Father (27 March) say about the lessons to be learned?
​“We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other. On this boat… are all of us. Just like those disciples, who spoke anxiously with one voice, saying “We are perishing” (v. 38), so we too have realized that we cannot go on thinking of ourselves, but only together can we do this.”
 
"Greedy for profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things and be lured away by haste. We did not stop at your reproach to us, we were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet."
 
“You are calling on us to seize this time of trial as a time of choosing. It is not the time of your judgement, but of our judgement: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others.”
 
“Let us not quench the wavering flame (cf. Is 42:3) that never falters, and let us allow hope to be rekindled.”                  ....READ MORE
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“From de facto interconnection to chosen solidarity …
Gospel faith put to the test … Everyone depends on everyone else”

                                                             ​So says the Pontifical Academy for Life: Global Pandemic And Universal Brotherhood

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From the OFM General Office for JPIC website:
“We are now facing unprecedented challenges with the spread of COVID19. The argument has been made that climate change has had a significant impact on the development of infectious viruses such as Coronavirus.”            .....Read more
 
This excerpt from Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ written in 2015 applies just as much to the pandemic today and in future as it does to the climate emergency:
“14. … Regrettably, many efforts to seek concrete solutions to the environmental crisis have proved ineffective, not only because of powerful opposition but also because of a more general lack of interest. Obstructionist attitudes, even on the part of believers, can range from denial of the problem to indifference, nonchalant resignation or blind confidence in technical solutions. We require a new and universal solidarity.”
​

 
Solidarity
Sunday
Let us remember in our prayers and donations, the people of the Global South in this time of COVID 19, realizing that however difficult our situation is, it pales in comparison with that of the more vulnerable people of the world. The Solidarity Sunday (including Share Lent) collections, typically held on the 5th Sunday of Lent, was missed in some Canadian parishes this year. Thus, Development & Peace /Caritas Canada’s overseas partners may be adversely affected if collections are low – even as the needs will escalate, e.g. in Amazonia 30 March it was 537 cases and 10 deaths i.e. still low but growing exponentially.
             Once again (!)  a reminder to donate directly here: Development and Peace
 


World Water Day 2020 , 22 March in case you missed it, was about water and climate. 
Again this is interconnected with the pandemic. Do refugees in camps have the ability to frequently wash their hands and keep their distance? If not, can you imagine the consequences? Horrendous and overwhelming!  Does the world think and act like we are one human family?

 
UN Secretary General António Guterres “said he wanted to mobilise a double digit percentage of the global economy to "break not bend" the growth curve of coronavirus. And it is not only breaking the curve of the virus that should be at the forefront of global efforts, he said, but to also seize the dramatic situation "as an opportunity" to create an economy that is more inclusive and sustainable going forward.

"Many things will change, I would say irreversibly in our lives," he told Euronews.” ”  ...Read more
​ Let us hope he is right and that irreversible change will be for the common good and not corrupt elites.

 
The pandemic is playing havoc with the economy 
As David Suzuki puts it: “Can we relearn what humanity has known since our very beginnings, that we live in a complex web of relationships in which our very survival and well-being depend upon clean air, water and soil, sunlight (photosynthesis) and the diversity of species of plants and animals that we share this planet with? In this disaster lies an opportunity to reflect and change direction in the hope that if we do, nature will be far more generous than we deserve. We should be asking what an economy is for [and for whom?], whether there are limits, how much is enough …”  and does stuff actually make us happy?              .....Read more

 

Who benefits and who pays?
In both the two following cases (Canada Oil & gas  and Branson) we are talking about taxpayers paying. Certainly jobs can be created by government subsidies to companies that create jobs but when things go bad we need to ensure that the bailouts help the workers and not just the top executives and shareholders. Ottawa’s role should be focused on helping unemployed oil and gas workers and retraining.
 
The International Monetary Fund periodically assesses global subsidies for fossil fuels as part of its work on climate, and it found in a recent working paper that the fossil fuel industry got a whopping $5.2 trillion in subsidies in 2017.   ...Read more

Canada’s subsidies to oil and gas companies reached $3.3 Billion in 2015 alone, contravening our commitments to climate change mitigation. Surely most of that could be re-invested in sustainable energy thereby also creating jobs?
 
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced 31 March 2020 a $1.5 billion government investment in the Keystone pipeline (KXL) to move oilsands heavy oil that will accelerate construction, ensuring the pipeline will be operational by 2023. The province says the project will create over 1,400 direct and 5,400 indirect jobs in Alberta during construction and will generate an estimated $30 billion in tax and royalty revenues for future generations of Albertans and Canadians. How will that help our commitments to climate change mitigation? OK, so he heard the cry of the poor unemployed but, as mentioned, there are other ways to address that and he turned a deaf ear to the cry of the earth!
 
The Globe and Mail reported on March 19 that the Government of Canada is preparing a $15-billion “bailout package” for oil and gas companies similar to what Canada did for the auto industry in 2008. This is why according to the Canadian Energy Research Institute: “The oil and gas sector plays a key role in the Canadian economy. In 2013, the energy industry in Canada directly and indirectly accounted for 13.4 percent of Canada’s GDP, with the direct effects of the oil and gas sector contributing $133 billion, or 7.5 percent of GDP.1 The oil and gas sector employed 190,170 people in 2013, accounting for 1.1 percent of Canada’s workforce. … [Oil sands can be strip mined at the surface or by in situ extraction: see 1 min 50 secs video].  In situ bitumen extraction, on the other hand, involves oil sands too deep to be mined, and represents 80 percent of the 2013 remaining oil sands reserves. To mobilize the bitumen in situ (Latin for “in position”), the bitumen is heated by injecting steam into the reservoir by either cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) or steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). The more proximate reason is the current price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and that prices for Western Canadian Select bitumen-blend crude are around $5.00. The oil sands need “an unenviable US$45/bbl Brent, on average, to cover the cost of production before capex. If Brent averages US$35/bbl for 2020 we expect corporate cash flow from the sector to be US$17 billion in the red.”   [The Royal Bank of Canada energy research team suggest the ‘break-even’ price for a typical SAGD project is probably around $52/bbl]
 
“We would like to raise concerns that the federal government is preparing a $15 billion “bailout package” for oil and gas companies. 
As [265] Canadian researchers in multiple fields related to the climate crisis and the economy, we urge the government to channel public revenues both to the immediate health crisis, and toward economic planning that will provide long-term benefits for Canadian workers and families, our ecosystems and the climate. We also urge governments at all levels to avoid sacrificing democratic principles in the name of expediency, by including a broad range of civil society representatives in decision-making about how these large investments in our future will be made. It is not acceptable to give privileged access to big business associations while excluding representatives from trade unions, universities, municipalities, Indigenous communities and non-profit organizations that work on behalf of the public interest.”
Read more at National Observer.com.
 
The 265 Canadian researchers are not alone.
The International Energy Agency urged governments to include investment in renewal energy projects in the stimulus initiatives launched to address the coronavirus crisis.       ....Read more
A large collection of health, faith, environmental, labour and social justice groups, representing one million three hundred thousand Canadians, have sent a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet asking that in the federal bailout to the oil and gas industry, expected later this week, no more money be given to companies, only to workers. A Just Transition is needed. Also see Your guide to bailout people not corporations.               Sign the petition here: BAIL-OUT WORKERS NOT BIG OIL
 
Will the coronavirus kill the oil industry and help save the climate?
“Analysts say the coronavirus and a savage price war means the oil and gas sector will never be the same again. The boldest say peak fossil fuel demand may have been dragged into the here and now, and that 2019 will go down in history as the peak year for carbon emissions. But some take an opposing view: the fossil fuel industry will bounce back as it always has, and bargain basement oil prices will slow the much-needed transition to green energy. … Most strikingly, the fat rates of return projected for the oil and gas projects have slumped from about 20% down to 6%, she said. “They’re very much in line now with what you can get from solar and wind projects.

Governments are deploying stupendous sums to stimulate the coronavirus-wracked global economy - $5 trillion from the G20 nations alone - but how it is disbursed remains uncertain. European Union leaders have promised to make their emergency measures align with their Green Deal programme and Fatih Birol, executive director at the International Energy Agency, has said there is a “historic opportunity" to pour investment into energy technologies that cut greenhouse gas emissions.
But the $2tn US coronavirus relief package is doling out $60bn to struggling airlines and offering low-interest loans that are available to fossil fuel companies, without requiring any action to stem the climate emergency. [In fact quite the reverse see last item in this blog]”       ....Read more
 
What has happened in response to the pandemic revealed a new way of operating for governments. Sir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, and chair of the commission of the social determinants of health at the World Health Organisation said: “With Covid-19, everything [on austerity] went out of the window. It turns out austerity was a choice. The government can spend anything [in the context of the coronavirus crisis], and they have socialised the economy.” “They” in the quotation refers to the Conservative UK Government. N.B. the US Government, not normally in favour of socialism, except if it will get them elected, passed a $2.2 trillion economic rescue package steering aid to businesses, workers and health care systems!
 
A group of leading economists and global health experts including four Nobel prize-winners has urged the leaders of the G20 countries to devote trillions to helping poor countries out of the coronavirus crisis, or face a continuing crisis of migration, recurring global Covid-19 outbreaks, and social breakdown in the developing world. The experts said: “Developing countries are facing an unprecedented collective threat to human life, social cohesion and economic devastation. Massive economic losses will be incurred as countries desperately try to cope; people will migrate out of fear as the epidemic takes hold, leading to social disruption, violence and security issues.”     ....Read more 
 
Good Friday Collection for The Holy Land
Pope St Paul VI in 1974 established a special collection on Good Friday to support the Mother Church of Jerusalem and the various charities for the Christians of the Middle East and to continue to keep the Holy Places alive. Due to Covid-19 Pope Francis has postponed this Good Friday Collection to 13 September 2020. However, supporting the works of the Holy Land through donations to the Commissariat of the Holy Land in Canada is possible at any time, by cheque, postal order or online by credit card. Each donation must mention if it is for the general intent of the Custody of the Holy Land or for specific projects.  At the closing of the year, donors may obtain a receipt for income tax filing purposes.  For more info: https://commissariat.ca/supporting-us

 
No Comment:
Sir Richard Branson, who has a net worth estimated at USD 4 Bn, owns 51% of an airline (among about 400 other companies). The aviation industry along with many others is facing its worst crisis in decades. It was reported by The Financial Times that the airline Virgin Atlantic will ask the UK Government for a package of commercial loans and guarantees worth hundreds of millions of pounds.


 
Were you wondering what happened to the Wet’suet’en Governance and the Coastal Gas Pipeline? 
The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs issued an open letter urging federal and provincial governments to hit pause on the construction of the northern B.C. pipeline during the continuing health crisis. (Vancouver Sun, 31 March 2020)  The Wet'suwet'en have cancelled all community and clan meetings due to covid-19.

On 1 March, hereditary leaders announced a proposed deal with the B.C. and federal governments to expedite negotiations to implement rights and title over the Wet’suwet’en people’s traditional territory. A resolution to the B.C. pipeline dispute, however, was not reached. [The company and provincial and federal governments still plan to go ahead.] A meeting of the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s five clans, to discuss the prospect of securing rights and title, had been expected by the end of March. Each of the clans held small gatherings during the first two weeks of March, but no date has been scheduled yet for the larger, all-clans meeting. [The conflict within the Nation i.e. among the hereditary chiefs and difference of opinion between the Band Councils and most Hereditary Chiefs is still unresolved.]

 
Fridays for Future
Canada became the 4th country in the world to join the Fridays For Future movement on 2 November 2018 (founded by Greta Thunberg in Sweden in August 2018). FFF Canada has had six national strikes: 7 December 2018; 15 March 2019; 3 May 2019; 24 May 2019; 20-27 September 2019 and 29 November 2019. Due to the #COVID19 pandemic, FFF Canada strongly suggests digital striking on Friday, April 3, 2020 which was supposed to be a national strike. Always follow the advice of your local health unit.
 
Greta Thunberg calls for digital climate strikes amid coronavirus. Greta herself has mild symptoms of covid-19.

 
To our American readers:
You may know this from the Franciscan Action Network: “This week, the EPA issued significant rollbacks to rules about auto emissions, opening the door for more pollutants directly related to respiratory health. This is the latest in a series of environmental de-regulations including last week’s announcement that the EPA suspended the enforcement of environmental laws while the COVID-19 pandemic is present. The midst of a worldwide public health crisis is not the time to reverse vital environmental and public health protections that benefit everyone, in fact we should be putting more regulations in place to protect public health.”  (Dated 1 April!! )  
                                   
Send an Email to Your Congress Member
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Solidarity - climate crisis and the pandemic

3/24/2020

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Maybe you prayed the rosary on the Feast of St Joseph as we were asked and now Pope Francis invites all Christians to unite on March 25 (The Annunciation) at noon to pray the Our Father together — so that as the entire world is suffering from the pandemic, the Lord might hear all of Christendom united in prayer.
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As church closures will affect parish collections, we ask you to support Development and Peace’s work by donating by mail, over the phone or online:

Send a cheque to Development and Peace,
1425 René-Lévesque Blvd. West, 3rd Floor, Montreal (Quebec) H3G 1T7
Phone 1-888-664-3387 to donate.  

                          Donate online at  Development and Peace.
   
In this time of Covid 19 we would do well to remember that Solidarity is key to addressing both the climate crisis and the pandemic. "We require a new and universal solidarity," Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Si’ (n 14), noting that "obstructionist attitudes, even on the part of believers, can range from denial of the problem to indifference, nonchalant resignation or blind confidence in technical solutions."

Much of the world has overcome scepticism when it comes to the covid 19 pandemic emergency. But what will it take to accomplish for the climate emergency – and to instil the urgency required to cmbat both?

In Lent and especially in D&P/Caritas Canada’s Share Lent we would do well to reflect on what Pope Francis wrote in Querida Amazonia (2 Feb 2020):
  “14. The businesses, national or international, which harm the Amazon and fail to respect the right of       the original peoples to the land and its boundaries, and to self-determination and prior consent,               should be called for what they are: injustice and crime. 

To feel outrage and to beg forgiveness

   15. We need to feel outrage,[10] as Moses did (cf. Ex 11:8), as Jesus did (cf. Mk 3:5), as God does in     the face of injustice (cf. Am 2:4-8; 5:7-12; Ps 106:40). It is not good for us to become inured to evil; it     is not good when our social consciousness is dulled before “an exploitation that is leaving destruction     and even death throughout our region… jeopardizing the lives of millions of people and especially the     habitat of peasants and indigenous peoples”.[11]”

This fits in with our March the Common Good title Lent - Time for Reconciliation for Land and People and which leads from Laudato Si’ n 49 &146 quoted elsewhere to Aboriginal Land Title, the Rule of Law and the Wet’suet’en issue in BC. Most of us are probably unaware of the background to this issue and it is hoped this newsletter can help our understanding. It has many facets and can get complicated but like all things can also be simplified. If Teck Resources can withdraw a multi-billion-dollar oilsands project in northern Alberta it must be because they can see the majority of the people are ahead of the Governments in seeing we must transition to sustainable energy.

In a world moving away from fossil fuels, this project was only ever offering false promises to the workers of Alberta, and Canada, who are naturally concerned about their futures. Canada has a wealth of opportunities awaiting in wind, solar, geothermal and energy efficiency. Now is the time to invest in the clean energy sector and a real just transition for communities.

Surely all the fossil fuel subsidies would provide jobs in cleaner energy?
Simple but not easy!

Trust in God!


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Confrontations over Wet’suet’en and Coastal GasLink pipeline

3/8/2020

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The confusion:
Confrontations over Wet’suet’en and Coastal GasLink pipeline

                                                                   by Andrew Conradi, ofs (OFS JPIC and GCCM Laudato Si’Animator)
 
Are you confused? Not sure what’s going on? Fed up with blockades? Want to know a bit of background to better understand it all? Wonder what questions are raised by this conflict? Is this related to climate change and hearing the cry of the earth and cry of the poor? If there is a Canadian Catholic position on this, what is it?
 
 
          Franciscan Voice Canada & the Common Good will try to help clarify these issues!
 N.B. We are not experts but have done our best and do hope that in the words of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ: “Research is the highest form of Adoration” !
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At first sight, actions by and in support of the Wet'suwet'en land defenders are about a pipeline and natural gas. However the problems are much broader and deeper than that. They are as much about Canada and BC governments’ long-term failure to resolve issues around Aboriginal rights, title & reconciliation and also the Wet'suwet'en’s own internal governance problem in not resolving who speaks for them when the Nation’s hereditary chiefs and elected Band Councils disagree. 
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< Photo ​https://twitter.com/jwints
The Coastal GasLink pipeline, a TC Energy natural gas pipeline under construction in British Columbia, Canada costing $6.2 bn, is part of a heavily subsidized, $40-billion LNG Canada project owned by Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Malaysian state-owned Petronas, PetroChina and Korea Gas Corporation.
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CBC News                                                                                                           Office of the Wet'suwet'en
Note: this does not completely agree with http://www.wetsuweten.com/office/board-of-directors/ or http://www.wetsuweten.com/culture/chiefs/
Starting in Dawson Creek, the pipeline's route crosses through the Canadian Rockies and other mountain ranges to Kitimat, where the fracked gas will be liquefied at a planned $18-bn gas liquefaction and storage plant to be exported to Asian customers. We know fracking is not environmentally sound although LNG is less environmentally damaging in carbon emissions than coal which it may replace. The pipelines’ route passes through several First Nations peoples' traditional lands, including some that are unceded. Although approved by 20 First Nations' elected Band councils, including five of the six Wet’suet’en elected Band Councils, approval has been withheld by the hereditary chiefs of the Wetʼsuwetʼen Nation on ecological grounds leading to a blockade of construction within the Wetʼsuwetʼen peoples' traditional lands. The hereditary chiefs had suggested an alternative route, passing over less ecologically and culturally sensitive lands, but the company found these proposals, among other difficulties, too expensive.
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The company and government point to support from elected chiefs and Band councils along the pipeline route, many of which have signed benefit-sharing agreements as a way to gain much-needed money for their communities through jobs.  The only elected Band council not to sign an agreement with Coastal GasLink is the Hagwilget which is 40% Wet’suwet’en and 60 % Gitxsan and a community within Gitxsan territory.
 
The elected Band councils, imposed under the Indian Act, have a limited role in governing six reserves totalling 35 square kilometres (click on link to see map). The Wet’suwet’en say their traditional territory is 22,000 square kilometres and the hereditary chiefs, who also have a limited role, are responsible for those territories. Coastal GasLink began negotiations with the hereditary chiefs but when the company did not get agreement switched to the Band councils; but the pipeline does not pass through any reserves. This relates to the question of who has jurisdiction and should be consulted and give consent to the pipeline. This can only be settled by the Wet’suwet’en themselves.
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There exist 13 hereditary chief positions but four are vacant so only six are named and they only represent three clans. They don't represent all the clans according to elected Chief Dan George of the Ts'il Kaz Koh First Nation.​
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The Office of the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs released a statement saying, “the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs — as they have done since the historic case at Delgumuukw/Gisday’wa — extends its full support to its neighbour nation.”
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Protests, occupations and road & rail blockades later spread beyond Wet’suwet’en land e.g. to the BC Legislature in Victoria and to other First Nations e.g. Mohawk lands in Ontario and Québec. Old & young and Indigenous & settlers took part in sympathy protest demonstrations and blockades. A Franciscan friar told me he wondered if the Holy Spirit was at work bringing diverse people together because of this aboriginal and fossil fuel issue.
 
Three major questions come to mind:
    1. Sovereignty. Since these lands are unconquered and unceded by treaty who has sovereignty and whose law prevails?
   2. Delay in resolution of aboriginal title and rights. Why have these questions not been answered before? (N.B. The answers are complicated but have been simplified in the answers here)
    3. The church’s position - What is it?

 
1.  Sovereignty. A partial answer to the question on sovereignty was answered by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 1997 Delgamuukw decision and the 2014 Tsilhqot'in decision, both of which recognized Aboriginal title over unceded territories. Aboriginal title is a sui generis, or inherent unique collective right to the use of and jurisdiction over a group’s ancestral territories. [Sui generis is a Latin phrase that here means "of its own kind, in a class by itself", therefore "unique".]
The two cases were partial answers because they failed to resolve details leaving them to negotiations between the parties. Incidentally it was the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, not the elected Bands, who brought the Delgamuukw action (Delgamuukw being a Gitxsan hereditary chief’s name).  Although First Nations aboriginal title bestows the right to prior consultation and consent over development on their land this does not grant a veto. Negotiations have sometimes been fast if it was in the interests of the Crown or settlers e.g. The Douglas Treaties (1849/50) or the Numbered Treaties (1871-1920). Or slow e.g. the Nisga’a Treaty (2000). Now with the civil disobedience and blockades the Wet’suet’en have upped the ante.
 
2. Delay in resolution of aboriginal title & rights. The answer to the length of time taken to answer the question leads to examination of the legal concepts going back to Roman times: terra nullius, doctrine of discovery, and history of British and Canadian treaty making with First Nations, cultural genocide and reconciliation, etc, etc.
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See more: https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1380223988016/1544125243779
The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1866. It was founded by the British Crown, who appointed James Douglas, then Governor of the neighbouring colony of Vancouver's Island (established in 1849) as the Colony's first Governor. It was united with the Colony of Vancouver Island  in 1866 and the united colony joined Canada in 1871; Vancouver Island Colony had quickly signed the Douglas Treaties (which do only cover a small area of the Island). Actually they were made by the Hudson’s Bay Company because the British Government had no civil service on the Island! [I love history!]
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Another part of the answer is that governments have failed to resolve issues around Aboriginal rights and title, unless forced to after lengthy and expensive court battles or negotiations over treaties like the Nisga’a treaty (2000) marking the end of a 113-year journey — and the first steps in a new direction because on that date, the Indian Act ceased to apply to Nisga’a people northern coastal mainland BC (not shown on map above). The Nisga’a Treaty, reached outside the treaty commission process, showed the way. The Nisga’a created a constitution, ratified by the nation’s members.
 
The Wet’suwet’en remain one of 65 First Nations currently ensnared in the B.C. Treaty Process, negotiating a self-government agreement with the BC Treaty Commission established in 1993.  But after 27 years and around $1 billion there are just three treaties. Another 26 First Nations are still negotiating. And 31 nations that originally signed up — including the Wet’suwet’en, represented by the hereditary chiefs — are “not currently negotiating.” For the Wet’suwet’en that seems to be changing as I write (7 March) depending on acceptance by the Wet’suwet’en of an agreement announced 1 March 2020 after a meeting of the (Canada) Minister for Crown-Indigenous relations, Carolyn Bennett and (BC) Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Scott Fraser and Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs. In the words of Carolyn Bennett, “we have agreed as ministers that we will come back to sign [it] if it is agreed upon by the Nation." Details will not be revealed until then but it appears to be about Indigenous rights and land titles. Disagreement remains over the natural gas pipeline going through traditional territory which the hereditary chiefs continued to oppose. However presently as I write, protest rail blockades have been removed across Canada. Mohawks removed the Tyendinaga & Kahnawake rail blockades saying: 'It's a gesture of good faith.'
 
For the Wet’suet’en Nation the hereditary chiefs have forced the issue of their title and rights over the pipeline. Why did they have to wait 22 years after Delgamuukw? As one commentator, John Ivison, wrote in the National Post: “It looks very much like Ottawa has been shaken from its lassitude by the protests, which is poor reflection on this government and its immediate predecessors. It suggests that Indigenous Canadians only get noticed by their federal government when they take to the barricades.” (2 March 2020)
 
But we do not yet know if the 1 March 2020 agreement resolves the question of who speaks for the Wet’suet’en Nation when there are differences between the elected band councils and the hereditary chiefs and how these differences should be resolved.
Recognition of three of the hereditary chiefs is in dispute. Gloria George, Darlene Glaim and Theresa Tait-Day were stripped of their hereditary titles in recent years after creating the Wet'suwet'en Matrilineal Coalition. Those opposed to the stripping allege that customary law was not followed and the replacements are accused of “masquerading” as hereditary chiefs that have no right to speak as such. One of the hereditary chiefs works for Coastal GasLink and so can be presumed to be in favour of the pipeline.
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Photo by Salt + Light Media                              
3. What is the church’s position?
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (19 March 2016) released a statement that repudiates discovery. (The “Doctrine of Discovery” and Terra Nullius: A Catholic Response [which] considers and repudiates illegitimate concepts and principles used by Europeans to justify the seizure of land previously held by Indigenous Peoples and often identified by the terms Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius [nobody’s land]. An appendix provides an historical overview of the development of these concepts vis-a-vis Catholic teaching and of their repudiation. The presuppositions behind these concepts also undergirded the deeply regrettable policy of the removal of Indigenous children from their families and cultures in order to place them in residential schools.) Here is an excerpt:
“… left a legacy of suffering.
In addressing this legacy, we echo the words of Pope Francis, pronounced in Bolivia on July 9, 2015: “I say this to you with regret: many grave sins were committed against the native peoples of America in the name of God. . . . Like St. John Paul II, I ask that the Church ‘kneel before God and implore forgiveness for the past and present sins of her sons and daughters’.”
We are well aware that the flawed policy of assimilation has deeply scarred many Indigenous people and has wounded the original relationship of welcome offered by so many of the first peoples of this land to newcomers. As the Canadian Catholic Bishops wrote: “The reality is that in many cases, European nations and colonists simply took what they could and attempted to justify it afterwards. The concepts of the “Doctrine of Discovery” and terra nullius are among these justifications.” and “The Native Americans were considered to hold a right of occupancy, but were not considered to have complete sovereignty over their land.”
 
Incidentally the Supreme Court of Canada ruled: “The doctrine of terra nullius (that no one owned the land prior to European assertion of sovereignty) never applied in Canada, as confirmed by the Royal Proclamation (1763)”. (Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, 2014 SCC 44, para. 69)
 
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Pope Francis: Laudato Si’, 2015:                                                                                     Photo by L’Osservatore Romano - SFV​
“165. We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay.”
 
Pope Francis: “I believe that the central issue is how to reconcile the right to development, both social and cultural, with the protection of the particular characteristics of indigenous peoples and their territories.
This is especially clear when planning economic activities which may interfere with indigenous cultures and their ancestral relationship to the earth. In this regard, the right to prior and informed consent should always prevail, as foreseen in Article 32 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Only then is it possible to guarantee peaceful cooperation between governing authorities and indigenous peoples, overcoming confrontation and conflict.” (Third Forum, International Fund for Agricultural Development, 15 Feb 2017)
  
As part of his 1 Sept 2019 message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which opens the annual Season of Creation,   Pope Francis stated that humans' continued use of fossil fuels has contributed to creating a "climate emergency" that threatens all life on the planet, adding that "Now is the time to abandon our dependence on fossil fuels and move, quickly and decisively, towards forms of clean energy and a sustainable and circular economy."
"We're divesting because it's the right thing to do," Tomás Insua, director of the Global Catholic Climate Movement, said in a video announcing the $11 trillion threshold. "We're divesting because fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas are toxic to our planet and everyone who shares this common home."
 
The Jesuits, the Oblates in Canada and the Canadian Religious Conference are among faith-based organizations that have expressed concerns over the ongoing dispute in the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en.
https://www.catholicregister.org/item/31189-fundamental-change-needed?mc_cid=ec4aea6f75&mc_eid=7155276415
 
SJ: (18 Feb 2020). 
“The conflict on Wet’suwet’en territory highlights the need for a fundamental change in relations between the Government of Canada and Indigenous peoples, as well as for an ethical and legal framework to integrate the short-term good of economic development into the long-term good of ecological sustainability and integrity, which should include Indigenous wisdom and free participation, … An end to violent removal of unarmed Indigenous people who seek to defend their land and rights would be a good step toward a decolonized shared future,” says the letter signed by Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, Provincial of the Jesuits of Canada, and sent to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett
 
CRC: (14 Feb 2020)
“This conflict shines a light on the need for a fundamental change in relations between the government of Canada and Indigenous communities. The current negotiation and consultation structures in which governments and industries work only through the Indian Act Band Councils are highly problematic. This pattern results in confusion and conflict, particularly in unceded territories such as Wet’suwet’en. It also raises serious questions about whether UNDRIP is being respected.
Reconciliation requires a transition from the old structures of a colonial system to new models of Indigenous governance. Reconciliation also requires an end to the violent removal of unarmed Indigenous peoples who defend their land when old structures are found wanting.”
https://www.crc-canada.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2020-02-14-CRC-Letter-Protests-by-Wetsuweten-Hereditary-Chiefs-Web.pdf
 
Find more on google under: Catholic support for Wet'suwet'en
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HOPEFUL SOLUTIONS TO CLIMATE EMERGENCY & SOCIAL INJUSTICE

2/11/2020

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Young Canadian continues to raise her voice
The 15 year old Autumn Peltier from the Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario has spent her last eight years putting pressure on politicians to take climate change more seriously, while advocating for clean drinking water in Indigenous communities and serving as the chief water commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation. In September 2019 she told the UN: "I've said it once, and I'll say it again, we can't eat money, or drink oil." She has urged the United Nations General Assembly to "warrior up" and take a stand for our planet and confronted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about his "broken promises" at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations. She is pictured below with other youthful activists where they addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, 21 Jan 2020.
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Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, second right; Canadian Autumn Peltier, Chief Water Commissioner of the Anishinabek Nation, right; Salvador Gomez-Colon, founder of Light & Hope for Puerto Rico, second left; and Zambian Natasha Mwansa of the Natasha Mwansa Foundation, left. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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You don’t need a university degree to grasp the climate emergency!
“ … it doesn't take a college degree in economics to realise that our remaining 1,5° carbon budget and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and investments don't add up." So said Greta Thunberg 23 January 2020 in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. She is seen below with Prince Charles who has long espoused environmental protection and sustainability. During his address, Prince Charles, 71, introduced a Sustainable Markets Initiative, which will congregate charity chairpersons, private and public sector leaders and investors to collaborate “in accelerating the transition to sustainable markets and rapid decarbonization.”
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Bertrand Piccard, the Initiator & Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation, who accomplished an historic flight around the world aboard a solar-powered airplane in 2016 to demonstrate the existence and the potential of clean alternatives, was also in Davos. In this Episode 1 of the short film series “Climate . Change”, he shares his insights on today’s environmental trends and the risk that businesses incur if they do not adapt to the new climate crisis situation. The solutions exist. Tremendous opportunity or certain doom…? Such seems to be the binary choice we face. ...Read More
“There are solutions that can protect the environment in an economically profitable way.  It is not enough to say nature is beautiful and we must protect it.  We must change or disappear.”
"You know, it's not very useful to talk about environmental protection to people who are already convinced, to environmentalists who act. Me, what I want to do is talk about environmental protection to the world of business, to the world of politics, but from the perspective of profitability, show everything that is economically and financially profitable and which even creates jobs and which improves growth in the field of environmental protection and the fight against climate change. And here in Davos, well this is the right place to do it."
​

Franciscans and most Christians might add that profitablity and jobs are fine as long as human dignity as well as Our Sister Mother Earth are put in their proper place
​ i.e. together and first.

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OTHER HOPEFUL EXAMPLES
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Calendars for Lent: I invite you to consider & use these two for reflection and action: 
  • Development & Peace Calendar (as above)
  • GCCM Lenten Reflection 2020​​
Become a Laudato Si’ Animator
Laudato Si’ Animators are champions of change in communities all around the world. Animators have changed policies, cleaned up lands and waters, and organized prayer services. 

                                             Become a Laudato Si’ Animator 

Receive in-depth online training and inspire your neighbours to care for creation. The need to solve the climate crisis grows more urgent by the day. As fires rage and cities flood, Laudato Si’ Animators are making a concrete difference in their communities.  Apply now to be part of the online training program 23 March through 13 April by clicking on this link.
FOSSIL FUEL DIVESTMENT:  
Laudato Si’ stated clearly in 2015 that “fossil fuel technology needs to be replaced progressively without delay (165).”

The Catholic movement for divestment is growing by the month, with nearly 200 institutions having made the commitment to divest. Around the world, Catholics recognize that fossil fuels must stay in the ground, and that we are called to forge the path to a fossil-free future. (GCCM, 22 Jan 2020)

What is the situation among Franciscans in Canada?
I know the Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis and Ursulines of the Chatman Union in Canada have divested. But has the OFS; OFM; OFM (Cap) & OFM (Conv) and other Franciscans? Have we as individuals?
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UBC Student Hunger Strike
Students end a hunger strike after UBC clarifies position on divestment from fossil fuels. A group of students ended a 100-hour hunger strike Friday after the University of British Columbia assured them it will fully divest its $1.7 billion endowment fund of fossil fuel investments. In a statement Friday, UBC president Santa Ono acknowledged the pressing urgency to address climate change, saying the continued operation of the fossil fuel industry is "discordant" with a future safe from climate change. The eight students, all members of climate advocacy group Extinction Rebellion UBC, began the strike on Monday. (CBC, 11 Jan 2020)
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A group of University of B.C. students launched a hunger strike to demand concrete action from the school on fossil-fuel divestment. ARLEN REDEKOP / PNG
 
What about our Dioceses? Maybe WE need to go on a hunger strike? Of course we won’t! We’ll leave it up to the Youth! What about Franciscan Youth? Will their Franciscan leaders encourage Franciscan youth to take action? Should we write a letter to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops about divestment and asking them to raise their voice on this and plan ahead for the Season of Creation in time for the laity to actually get involved?
OZONE LAYER:
We did save the ozone layer which saved us from even worse climate change. One of the great environmental success stories of the last century was the 1987 Montreal Protocol. And according to new research from Australia, we now know it not only saved the ozone layer, but it also saved us from significant climate change.

Chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, are man-made chemicals that were widely used in refrigeration and air conditioners before they were banned by the protocol. They're also potent greenhouse gases, thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and can remain in the atmosphere for up to 100 years. 

The protocol's ban on CFCs was in response to research showing that they were destroying the ozone in the upper atmosphere. That ozone filters out dangerous ultraviolet radiation from the sun. 
"Without [the Montreal Protocol], we would have had at least a quarter more global warming than we have today," climate change researcher Matthew England, told Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald.
             Read more....


DARFUR, SUDAN:
The Darfur conflict was labelled “the first climate change war” by some observers, with the then-UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon saying in 2007: “Amid the diverse social and political causes, it began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change.” Research has shown that climate impacts such as drought and increasing temperatures increase the risk of armed struggles, particularly in regions where populations are already divided.

The climate crisis is making marginal existences even more fragile. It is no future threat here, with the Sahara marching southwards, temperatures rising and precious annual rains becoming ever more erratic.

But a new approach is bearing fruit. The seasonal river that runs by El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, has been transformed by community-built weirs. These slow the flow of the rainy season downpours, spreading water and allowing it to seep into the land.
Before, just 150 farmers could make a living here: now, 4,000 work the land by the Sail Gedaim weir.
Millet and sorghum were the staples, but Ali Mohammed has been able to expand into cucumbers and okra, lemons and grapefruit, and is trying sunflowers for the first time, all of which are valuable cash crops. “You give me the seed, and I will test it,” he says.
           ....Read more 
SIX REASONS CLIMATE SCIENTISTS ARE HOPEFUL, AND YOU SHOULD BE, TOO
Here are the six reasons from British university profs:
  • Costa Rica offers us a viable climate future
  • Financial investors are cooling on fossil fuels
  • We are getting much better at forecasting disaster
  • Local authorities across the world are declaring a 'climate emergency'
  • Radical climate policy goes mainstream
  • Young people are on the march!
        .....Read more
FLASH FOREST PLANS TO PLANT OVER A BILLION TREES USING DRONE SWARMS
  • A new Canadian plan will use drones to plant trees to fight climate change
  • The group's drones can plant up to one seed a second for one-fifth the cost 
  • The team hopes to plant a billion new trees by 2028
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‘Every year the planet loses 13 billion trees and regains less than half of that,’ the team’s Bryce Jones said in a fundraising video announcing the project. The drones don’t just carry seeds themselves, but pods of nutrient rich soil packed around three pre-germinated seeds like a casing, according to New Atlas. The nutrient-rich padding can keep the germinated seeds alive for up to nine months, giving them plenty of time to take root in the local environment. Each drone will be capable of shooting around one pod per second into the ground and the system will allow one human pilot to operate as many as ten drones simultaneously.
          Flash Forest video (1 min 50 secs)
And for more action…..
March for LIFE: AN AMERICAN FRANCISCAN PERSPECTIVE                                    
In what has become an annual tradition, the (American) Franciscan Action Network joined the annual March for Life rally in Washington, D.C. on Friday, January 24th. 

From the National Catholic Reporter, 24 Jan 2020: “Not all participants in the rally agreed with the single-issue stance of Trump and Pence. A group of Franciscan friars and their supporters held signs aloft outside of the security barrier with messages reading  "I am 100% Pro-Life." "Care for the Unborn." "Protect the Earth" and "Seek Justice for the Poor."

Franciscan Father Jud Weiksnar, pastor of Sts. Columba Brigid Parish in Buffalo, New York, said he attended the March for Life
             to encourage people to embrace a wider call in support of life,
                        including care for the environment and peace.

"I'm very deeply convinced that my religious calling calls me to something like the March for Life," he told Catholic News Service in a phone call from a point just off the Mall. His group included about 20 people, among them priests, men in formation and laypeople. His friend, Franciscan Father Jacek Orzechowski of Maryland, said he joined the march and rally "to remind others about what it means to be authentically pro-life."

"It's not enough to say that a person is against abortion, but especially about other concerns at this time when we as humanity are standing on the verge of ecological catastrophe," he explained. "I'm not willing to fall into a false choice in caring for our common home or caring for the unborn." ”

And from Crux: “Father Jacek Orzechowski, who attended the March for Life with several of his fellow Franciscan Friars, said that he found Trump’s participation in March for Life hypocritical. “To choose life,” said Orzechowski, “means not only to care for the unborn but also to protect our common home and seek justice for the poor. As followers of Jesus, we cannot sacrifice the integrity of the Gospel for political expediency.”

And from the Religion News Service: “Not everyone in the crowd was wholly supportive of the president, however. A group of Franciscan friars dressed in brown robes was vocally critical of Trump’s policies unrelated to abortion, arguing that his administration’s approach to climate change, immigration and war is “anti-life.” The group handed out signs to marchers as they passed and brandished a banner that read "Choose Life - Not War."

“The president said today ‘every child is a precious and sacred gift of God.’ I emphatically agree. But I want a country that is 100% pro-life,” said Fr. Jacek Orzechowski, one of the Franciscans. “Aren't children in the path of hurricanes and wildfires and climate disruption sacred gifts of God? Pope Francis and Greta Thunberg are holding the moral position, the pro-life position, and the president has a deeply anti-life position on climate change. Aren’t children at the border sacred gifts from God? The president is acting against life in so many ways, acting against the moral teachings of the Catholic Church on climate change, immigration, health care and war. As a pro-life follower of Jesus, I find it morally offensive to have President Trump as the main speaker at the March for Life."
​

And as evangelical Mark Galli editor in chief of (the American) Christianity Today wrote previously: “Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?”.
Speaking of life….
HOW CAN WE FORGET? REMEMBERING THE HOLOCAUST.
Some people are unaware or in denial and intolerance raises its ugly head.

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Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz I (the main camp), German occupied Poland. Inscription translation: “Work makes you free”. Soviet troops entered the camp on 27 January 1945, a day commemorated since 2005 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Of the 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz, 1.1 million died. The death toll includes 960,000 Jews (865,000 of whom were gassed on arrival), 74,000 non-Jewish Poles, 21,000 Roma, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, and up to 15,000 other Europeans.[5] Those not gassed died of starvation, exhaustion, disease, individual executions, or beatings. Others were killed during medical experiments.
And of course in Auschwitz Concentration Camp we had St Maximilian Kolbe  OFM (Conv) whose father was an ethnic German and mother Polish. While his self-sacrifice at Auschwitz was considered saintly and heroic, he was not killed out of odium fidei (hatred of the faith), but as the result of his act of Christian charity toward another man. At the end of July 1941, one prisoner escaped from the camp, prompting  the deputy camp commander, to pick ten men to be starved to death in an underground bunker to deter further escape attempts. When one 
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of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, "My wife! My children!", Kolbe volunteered to take his place.[8] After they had been starved and deprived of water for two weeks, only Kolbe remained alive. The guards wanted the bunker emptied, so they gave Kolbe a lethal injection of carbolic acid.

​

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Memorial in Germany: Inscription reads                            “HIER RUHEN 5000 TOTE APRIL 1945”   (“HERE REST 5000 DEAD”)
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There are several similar memorials with different numbers of dead.
​The only one with names is for Anne Frank (author of a famous diary) and her sister .
As Franciscans we like to remember a number of our heroes, but we must not forget our share of shame. Perhaps the worst example of shame was a Franciscan priest who became a military chaplain & Major in the Croatian Fascist Ustaše. Miroslav Filipovic-Majstorovic was a Franciscan war criminal hanged in 1946. He killed countless prisoners with his bare hands in WW II. For a while he was the chief guard and administrator of the Jasenovac “Auschwitz of the Balkans” concentration camp in Croatia, where an estimated 100,000 Serbs, Roma, and Jews were exterminated during WW II. See 6 min video on Jasenovac    

​Franz Jägerstätter
, a husband and father of four, refused to bear arms for the Nazi regime or swear allegiance to Hitler but was willing to serve in the army medical corps. In spite of this he was executed in 1943. He was encouraged to learn that a Pallottine priest, Fr. Franz Reinisch, had been executed the previous year for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to Hitler. A 1993 Austrian postage stamp commemorates him.
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We can be proud of our heroes, both known and unknown. We mentioned one last month, the subject of The Hidden Life film (released in 2019 at the Cannes Film Festival): Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, OFS who was one of the very few Austrian Catholics to disobey the Austrian bishops when they called on Catholics to vote for the annexation of Austria (Anschluß 1938) by Nazi Germany. (We know because the ballot was an open and not a secret one). The Bishops signed their declaration with “Heil Hitler.” The Vatican was not happy and ordered a retraction!

Most of those bishops supported Hitler despite Mit brennende sorge (With burning concern, On the Church and the German Reich an encyclical of Pope Pius XI, 10 March 1937 but bearing a date 14 March).[1] Written in German, not the usual Latin, it was smuggled into Germany for fear of censorship and was read from the pulpits of all German Catholic churches on one of the Church's busiest Sundays, Palm Sunday (21 March that year).[2][3] Austrian Bishop Gfoellner of Linz had the encyclical read from the pulpits of his diocese. And wrote: "What I wrote in my pastoral of January 21, 1933. It is impossible to be at once a good Catholic and a good National-Socialist,' is confirmed today." The release of Mit brennender Sorge precipitated an intensification of the Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Germany.[63]Hitler was infuriated.[2] Twelve printing presses were seized, and hundreds of people sent either to prison or the concentration camps.[2] 
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​Alfred Stanke
, the Franciscan of Bourges, a city in central France. A friar, and German medical orderly, he helped and saved hundreds who were tortured during World War II in France. Born, to a Polish Catholic father, on 25 October 1904 in Ohra, near Danzig, then part of Germany (now Gdańsk, Poland).  
Under the policy of Germanisation the name Joseph Staniszewski was Germanised to Stanke because Poles were obliged to conceal their nationality so as not to forfeit the means of earning their livelihood & Joseph’s father worked on the railway.

He was arrested by the Nazis with other friars in Koblenz in 1936, and impressed into the German army after Germany invaded Poland. He was sent to France in 1940, and served at the Bourges jail. There he did everything to help the prisoners tortured by the Gestapo. He healed them the best he could, comforted them so they did not lose hope. He managed to prevent the internment of many resistance fighters & helped prisoners communicate with the outside world and get freed.

Arrested a few months later by the French Resistance Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur in the later stages of the war and later arrested by the Americans, he was freed thanks to the French people he helped. After the war, he worked for reconciliation between France and Germany. He is the subject of a book, a 1967 film (only in French) and a French stamp.
.....and what about the Church:
Pope Pius XII’s actions to help persecuted Jews 
Pope Pius XII’s actions to help persecuted Jews speak far louder than his alleged “silence,” experts say.
“Never again!” has become an everlasting cry in response to the mass killing of Jews in Europe during the Second World War, and remembrance has become a perennial action to honor the victims of the Holocaust.

But whether the Catholic Church did enough to fight this injustice, and whether Pope Pius XII remained silent in the face of the Nazi atrocities, have also become perennial questions.    ...Read more 

More about the background on the Church and the Holocaust: You might like to read more and become aware of what was nearly published.  Humani generis unitas (On the Unity of the Human Race) was a draft for an encyclical planned by Pope Pius XI before his death on February 10, 1939. The draft text condemned antisemitism, racism and the persecution of Jews. For much more background on this fascinating topic check here. Also see 
Summi_Pontificatus
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Summi Pontificatus is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII published on 20 October 1939. The encyclical is subtitled "on the unity of human society".[1] It was the first encyclical of Pius XII and was seen as setting "a tone" for his papacy. It critiques major errors at the time, such as ideologies of racism, cultural superiority and the totalitarian state. Some of it is apparently based on Humani generis unitas.

 
                    Peace & joy, Andrew Conradi, ofs

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Cultivate peace, protect creation!

1/3/2020

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World Day of Peace
The 53rd World Day of Peace was observed on 1 January 2020. Pope Francis’ Message, published on 12 December 2019, is entitled "Peace as a journey of hope: dialogue, reconciliation and ecological conversion".
 
On Ecological Conversion he said: “Faced with the consequences of our hostility towards others, our lack of respect for our common home or our abusive exploitation of natural resources – seen only as a source of immediate profit, regardless of local communities, the common good and nature itself – we are in need of an ecological conversion.”
 
                        “If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation.”   Pope Benedict XVI, 2010
Because Christ was part of it as Dan Horan, OFM reminds us that St John Paul II wrote in Dominum et vivificantem:
 
“The "first-born of all creation," becoming incarnate in the individual humanity of Christ, unites himself in some way with the entire reality of man, which is also "flesh" and in this reality with all "flesh," with the whole of creation.” - Christmas is for all God's creatures.
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UN Secretary General António Guterres, 2 December 2019 at COP25 in Madrid stated:
 
“We stand at a critical juncture in our collective efforts to limit dangerous global heating.
By the end of the coming decade we will be on one of two paths. One is the path of surrender, where we have sleepwalked past the point of no return, jeopardizing the health and safety of everyone on this planet. Do we really want to be remembered as the generation that buried its head in the sand, that fiddled while the planet burned?

The other option is the path of hope. 
A path of resolve, of sustainable solutions. 
A path where more fossil fuels remain where they should be – in the ground – and where we are on the way to carbon neutrality by 2050.


That is the only way to limit global temperature rise to the necessary 1.5 degrees by the end of this century. The best available science, through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us today that going beyond that would lead us to catastrophic disaster. 

Millions throughout the world – especially young people – are calling on leaders from all sectors to do more, much more, to address the climate emergency we face.
 
They know we need to get on the right path today, not tomorrow.
That means important decisions must be made now.”

Pope to COP 25: Do not close the window of opportunity
In his message, Pope Francis says we are facing a “challenge of civilization” in favour of “the common good and of a change of perspective that places this same dignity at the centre of our action, which is clearly expressed in the “human face” of climate emergencies.” The Pope confirms that there remains a “window of opportunity, but we must not allow it to close”.
 
Pope Francis speaks of how young people today “show a heightened sensitivity to the complex problems that arise from this emergency.” We must not place the burden on the next generations to take on the problems caused by the previous ones, he writes.
 
The Pope concludes wishing we may offer the next generation “concrete reasons to hope and work for a good and dignified future!” [Otherwise we are irrelevant in the face of potential catastrophic or cataclysmic biosphere collapse. Sorry, but it must be said.]
 
“Sadly, after four years, we must admit that this awareness is still rather weak, unable to respond adequately to that strong sense of urgency for rapid action called for by the scientific data at our disposal, such as those described by the recent Special Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).[4] These studies show that the current commitments made by States to mitigate and adapt to climate change are far from those actually needed to achieve the goals set by the Paris Agreement.
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They demonstrate how far words are from concrete actions! …
Numerous studies tell us that it is still possible to limit global warming. To do this we need a clear, far-sighted and strong political will, set on pursuing a new course that aims at refocusing financial and economic investments toward those areas that truly safeguard the conditions of a life worthy of humanity on a “healthy” planet for today and tomorrow.
 
Pope Francis calls us “to reflect conscientiously on the significance of our consumption and production models and on the processes of education and awareness to make them consistent with human dignity.” 
 
Global Catholic Climate Movement and its partners lifted up a united voice to make sure negotiators heard that Catholics are paying attention, and we want action that matters.
 
From a Mass in Madrid’s cathedral to a conference that brought political and Church leaders together to a march through the streets of the city, Catholic groups lifted up a united voice for climate action.
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Parrhesia i.e. Speaking Boldly 
(excerpt from Understanding JPIC, 3.2.86.b. follows)
 
“The case for political advocacy and parrhesía was re-stated by Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ (2015, n.179): “Because the enforcement of laws is at times inadequate due to corruption, public pressure has to be exerted in order to bring about decisive political action. 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.” Or we can add, bring about social & economic justice.”
 
As Pope Francis in his letter to COP25 put it: “We must seriously ask ourselves if there is the political will to allocate with honesty, responsibility and courage, more human, financial and technological resources to mitigate the negative effects of climate change”.
 
And as Greta Thunberg said 3 Dec 2019: “If they want us to stop being angry, maybe they should stop making us angry” and three days later: “The hope is not within the walls of the COP25. The hope is out here with you” Shown below is to whom she was talking: see video
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Organisers estimate that half a million people demonstrated in Madrid.  See more photos of the march
 
6 Dec 2019: The big Greenpeace banner translated reads: “If the planet dies we also”
echoing what Pope Francis has said: “If we destroy nature, 
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Léa Ilardo, 20 from the Université de Montréal is attending the COP25 conference as an observer in Madrid. (Submitted by Lea Ilardo)
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Léa Ilardo, second from right, speaks alongside youth activists from Switzerland, South Korea and Australia at COP25, demanding world leaders take action to fight climate change. (Submitted by Lea Ilardo)
​

Young climate strikers are sending a clear message to Canadian leaders who are attending the COP25 climate conference in Madrid, Spain, this week: Act now.
In an open letter from various branches of Climate Strike Canada, youth are urging leaders to commit to reducing emissions by 60 per cent (instead of 30 per cent) below 2005 levels by 2030.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you are the last people in a position of power to have the possibility to allow us to avoid an unprecedented global catastrophe,” the letter reads. “Please be bold.” (cbc.ca/kidsnews)
 
Unfortunately COP25 did not rise to the challenge. This does not bode well for future generations. What must we do to bring about change?
“I am disappointed with the results of #COP25. The international community lost an important opportunity to show increased ambition on mitigation, adaptation & finance to tackle the climate crisis. But we must not give up, and I will not give up.” So wrote UN Secretary General António Guterres, 15 Dec 2019
 
Not that this was unexpected: It was set up to fail according to Dr Peter Carter, now from Pender Island, BC. He is Director, Climate Emergency Institute, IPCC expert reviewer, Co-author 2018 Unprecedented Crime: Climate Science Denial and Game Changers for Survival Watch him interviewed by Nick Breeze at COP25 in Madrid, December 2019 (23 minutes): Summarising the lack of "climate emergency" at #COP25
 
If you only have one minute to spare, watch from the 17min 30 sec mark for one minute as he refers to Pope Francis on climate crime and evil and at the 19:45 mark on the massive Arctic methane emissions.
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Hugo Chavez, above, (then President of Venezuela; and most definitively not everyone’s favourite!) at COP15, 2009, Copenhagen, repeated two key slogans raised by the protesters outside, saying: “I have been reading some of the slogans painted on the streets, those slogans of these youngsters, … . You can hear, among others, two powerful slogans. … “Don’t change the climate, change the system”. ... “If the climate were a bank it would have been saved already”.  Food for thought? Read the full report
 
TEN YEARS LATER, GRETA THUNBERG SAID: “IF WE CAN SAVE THE BANKS, THEN WE CAN SAVE THE WORLD” on Naomi Klein , 13 September  2019
 
The Intercept is an online news publication dedicated to what it describes as "adversarial journalism," with the central aim of holding "the most powerful governmental and corporate factions accountable." (See video)
 
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, addressed the U.N.'s Climate Action Summit in New York City on 23 Sept 2019 and said:
           “The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.”
Some still do not realise this; I wonder if anyone understands the full implications.
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Greta left/Naomi right. 9 Sep 2019

https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg
Greta Thunberg✔@GretaThunberg

So glad to finally meet!
@NaomiAKlein ‪#ourclimatefuture
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Greta posted on Twitter 11 Dec 2019 on being named Time’s Person of the Year:
“Wow, this is unbelievable! I share this great honour with everyone in the ‪#FridaysForFuture movement and climate activists everywhere.”
 
Does this honour include you? Did you raise your voice &/or demonstrate?
Pope Francis certainly did raise his voice! We should follow his example!

You may remember the Pope and Greta’s meeting 16 April 2019, shown above, when, after being introduced by Tomás Insua, (Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Global Catholic Climate Movement), she said to Pope Francis: “Thank you for standing up for the climate, for speaking the truth. Really it means a lot. Thanks” to which he replied: “God bless you. Continue to work. Continue. Go on, go ahead.” Also see the whole interaction is from 55 secs to 1:44.
 
As Pope Francis said in Laudato Si': "Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain." (161) That did not stop Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro calling Greta Thunberg, a 'brat'. [No surprise coming from him] Thunburg, known for her climate change activism, was named 2019 person of the year by Time Magazine shortly after Bolsonaro questioned why the media pays attention to her. [I think we know why!] After Bolsonaro’s comment, Thunberg briefly changed her Twitter profile to read “pirralha,” the Portuguese word for brat.
 
Bolsonaro’s friend US President Donald Trump also attacked Greta Thunberg after she was named Time's Person of the Year, saying in a tweet that the award was "ridiculous." [Again, no surprise there]
 
Gabriela Baesse, a Brazilian activist attending the United Nations' COP25 climate conference in Madrid, told the Associated Press that her president's insulting comment about Thunberg shows he "doesn't understand the youth. ["That's not all he doesn't understand"].
 
Marina Silva, Brazil's former environment minister: "He should not worry about fighting Greta because she showed solidarity with the indigenous that were murdered," Silva said. "He should fight the criminals that murdered the indigenous instead of fighting Greta."
 
This Canadian climate activist demonstrated and paid the price Terry Christenson is 72 years old, a climate change activist, and in jail. He received his last sentence on Nov. 20. But it wasn’t his first. And that’s because he says he would rather face jail time than allow the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. 

Christenson’s tactic is to take a “last stand” approach to climate action. And for that he is currently serving the longest sentence given to any activist protesting the pipeline expansion in British Columbia, and one of the longest given to any activist ever in British Columbia. Could we pray for him and ask for courage like his?  ... Read more
 
Two American Celebrities and climate activism
Robert Redford met briefly with Pope Francis at General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, reported L’Osservatore Romano on December 5, 2019. They share in common warnings about the dangers our “Common Home” is facing. Both have raised their voices.
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Jane Fonda, the 82 year old American actor and political activist is regarded as a pioneer denouncer in the field of the planet’s conservation.  Fonda has been protesting about inaction over the climate crisis at the US Capitol every Friday – and has been arrested four times and kept overnight once. She's vowed to protest outside the Capitol every Friday, rain or shine, and says she's been inspired by Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg and her weekly climate strikes across the globe.
 [If we raise our voice but our governments do not listen & take action then does civil disobedience become the only way to pressure them? Does Jane inspire you?]

 
Mother Earth’s Legal Rights
The University of British Columbia Alumni Magazine Trek entitled its Fall 2019 issue Nature in Freefall. It starts out by reminding us about the Passenger pigeon which once numbered in the low billions in North America and was hunted to extinction by settlers for food, feathers, fertilizer, live trap shooting targets; and their nesting habitat was destroyed by human activity. Laws were passed to protect it, but it was too late; long after the last wild one died, the last captive one died in 1914. Will we be able to save elephants, orang-utans or most other species from extinction? What can we do to save them?
 
Today we are changing the natural world in a cumulative and potentially disastrous way by cutting down forests, destroying topsoil, overfishing, overheating the atmosphere and polluting air, water and land. We need to act quickly and decisively. There is no simple technological fix for biodiversity loss. We need a cultural solution; reduce our impacts and live within our means.
 
Trek outlined how some countries have already passed laws giving nature Pachamama rights (remember Pachamama from a previous blog?). In 2008 Ecuador’s Constitution included the rights of Pachamama, or Mother Earth and has since amended 70 laws and policies to incorporate nature’s rights. In 2010 Bolivia passed a Law on the Rights of Mother Earth and sparked a global movement to establish a Universal Declaration for the Rights of Mother Earth. New Zealand is a world leader in recognizing the rights of nature, inspired by the efforts of the Maori. In 2017 a park and a river were given the status of a legal person with a variety of rights. Why not? If corporations can have the rights of a legal person surely Mother Earth should? Surely this fits with the Franciscan concept of the Universal Kinship of Creation! Many Indigenous in Canada share a similar worldview.
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A Book
Let me repeat Pope Francis in  Laudato Si': "Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain." (161) and remind us of a book now ten years old: Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming (Greystone, 2009) that predated Laudato Si’.

Canadian environmental activists James Hoggan (co-founder of DeSmog) and Richard Littlemore (an author of one of the Trek articles) have documented how starting in the early 1990s, three large American industry groups set to work on strategies to cast doubt on the science of climate change.​
Even though the oil industry’s own scientists had declared, as early as 1995, that human-induced climate change was undeniable, the American Petroleum Institute, the Western Fuels Association (a coal-fired electrical industry consortium) and a Philip Morris-sponsored anti-science group called TASSC all drafted and promoted campaigns of climate change disinformation. [They are not ignorant; they are evil and criminal.]
 
“Climate Cover-Up documents one of the most disgusting stories ever hidden about corporate disinformation. What you’ll discover in this book amounts to proof of an intergenerational crime.” (David Suzuki)
​

"Fossil-fuel companies have spent millions funding anti-global-warming think tanks, purposely creating a climate of doubt around the science. DeSmogBlog is the antidote to that obfuscation." ~ Bryan Walsh, Time Magazine
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DESMOG
CLEARING THE PR POLLUTION THAT CLOUDS
CLIMATE SCIENCE
You may be interested in these: Global Carbon Atlas & The State of Our Climate System, The site for vital climate data in monthly images (infograms & graphs like the one below):
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A film
I hope you will be able to see the film A Hidden Life about an Austrian Third Order Franciscan (now OFS) who opposed Hitler and was executed for not swearing an oath (remind you of St Thomas More?).
Here is the trailer.  More on this separately
 
As Franciscans let’s end on a hopeful note & sing -
with iconic Canadian children's singer Raffi, who has released a new song about climate-change activism, titled “Young People Marching.” He wrote the song as a tribute to Sweden's Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate activist who speaks powerfully to world leaders at United Nations Climate Action Summits and elsewhere and who has inspired so many millions to march for climate action. Hear Young People Marching here. And Cool it, cool it, cool this planet down.
 
As the Decades Ends
Let’s hear from Michael Enright in a portion of his morning essay:
“The decade also triggered the greatest inequality of income in living memory. It was a decade whose signature literature was about dystopia ... from The Hunger Games to Margaret Atwood's The Testaments. And whose signature movies were about superheroes… were these escapist fantasies answering our collective anxieties?

In large measure it was a decade when the young came into their own, showing their entrenched seniors new ways of doing things.

We might even bookend  the 10 years with the memory of two young girls who have become symbols of the times — Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head in 2012 for wanting to go to school in Pakistan. And in 2019, young Greta Thunberg who gave her "How dare you?" speech to a United Nations conference on climate and graced the cover of TIME Magazine as "Person of the Year." ”
 
My next blog will focus on the hopeful signs in rising climate awareness and action!
          Happy New Year!  Hopefully may we all consume less and share more!
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Against Black Friday

12/4/2019

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​
​by Andrew Conradi, ofs
   Laudato Si’ Animator

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        against BLACK FRIDAY

 “In Assisi, Catholics will lead a climate strike around the green hills that St. Francis walked,” says a statement on their website. “And around the world, we’ll walk with them in spirit,” referring to the global School Strike for Climate movement.
​
According to Tomás Insua, executive director of the Global Catholic Climate Movement, an international network of over 800 Catholic organizations, the event - which began with a prayer led by Franciscan friars - is to denounce Black Friday.

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To read more and hear the friars singing go to ‪@CathClimateMvmt.
Tomás Insua @tomasinsua
Pre-‪#ClimateStrike prayer in Assisi!
Denouncing ‪#BlackFriday & celebrating 40th anniversary of ‪#StFrancis declared patron saint of Ecology. By Franciscans & ‪@CathClimateMvmt.
1:36 AM - Nov 29, 2019

For the poor, every day is Black Friday
  because they seek deals just to survive – 
  for them it is about their needs not wants

Read more: Spanish cardinal denounces spread of Black Friday sales to Europe
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IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE TO CONSIDER WHAT FOLLOWS AS APPROPRIATE FOR
REFLECTION NOT JUST ABOUT CHRISTMAS
BUT THE EVERYDAY INTERCONNECTION OF
MATERIAL & SPIRITUAL LIFE &
INTEGRAL ECOLOGY
From Gospel to life
Thanks to Sherrill Guimond, ofs for bringing this to my attention
I Timothy 6:6-10
6.  But godliness with contentment is great gain,
7.  for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
8.  But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
9.  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful      desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
10.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
How does the following reflect 
our approach to 
Christmas consumerism?

Black Friday began in the USA in the 1960s and spread to many other countries around the world, pushed by retailers keen to encourage consumers to start their Christmas shopping early, the day after American Thanksgiving. This is, of course, at least a month later than Canadian Thanksgiving and ours has nothing to do with Pilgrims or Puritans.

Consumerism’s focus is on having the latest, buying the best, and discarding last year’s model in favor of the newest, fanciest, and shiniest. A consumerist mentality thrives on chronic dissatisfaction with what is presently possessed regardless of the fact that human (and other species) extinction is bad for the economy (as one protester’s sign puts it)!
 
Pope Francis warned against this consumerist greedy selfishness in Laudato Si’, n 50: “ … extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues. It is an attempt to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized …” and he points to a contributing factor: “The myopia of power politics delays the inclusion of a far-sighted environmental agenda within the overall agenda of governments.” (n 178).
 
But “Luckily, the exodus from a consumer, globalized culture into a neighborly, localized communal and cooperative culture has begun.” (Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation: Departing the Consumer Culture, 26 November 2019)
 
Opponents came up with International Buy Nothing Day, or Buy Nowt,  a protest against consumerism that spread under the banner “Escape the shopocalypse.” (Read more at the Guardian)  
It encouraged consumers to resist the “absurd dystopian phenomenon” and the “rabid free-for-all” that had created shoppers who will trample and fight each other to get their hands on stuff.
 
Black Friday sucks the life out of small businesses, who cannot compete against this ruthless price cutting. If you really need to shop on Buy Nothing Day, ignore the big retailers with their aisles of organised landfill and make a commitment to support local independent shops and businesses.
 
For the fourth time since the first Global Climate Strike in March 2019, youth and adult allies gathered in the millions in cities and towns around the world 29 November 2019 sounding the alarm on rising greenhouse gas emissions and calling for immediate and rapid action to end fossil-fuel extraction and eliminate carbon emissions.
 
The Climate Strikers and others have raised their voices against Black Friday and in fact all consumerism and waste etc. because of the effect on the environment. Thousands of young people across Canada skipped school 29 November to take part in climate strikes , part of a world wide Fridays for Future school climate strike joined by Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace and others prior to the UN’s COP25 climate meeting in Madrid in early December but they did so in front of a slightly different backdrop. 29 November’s strike fell on the same day that thousands of shoppers were cashing in on big savings through Black Friday events.
​
“So many people go shopping,” said Kaya Mckergow, 13, from Halifax, NS (in photo below left) “It takes a lot of fuel to import the clothing and everybody in their car. It’s just really [harming] the environment.”
Kendra Ridgely, 18, (photo below right) said she participated in the climate strike because “we need to take action before it’s too late.” (Sabrina Fabian/CBC)

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CBC Kids News
And in Vancouver, BC police arrested six climate change protesters holding a “funeral procession” in downtown Vancouver on Black Friday 29 Nov 2019 global climate strike.
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Photo Dan Toulgoet, Vancouver Courier
XR’s funeral CHANGE OR DIE casket 29 Nov 2019, Vancouver, BC
​Extinction Rebellion Vancouver says it has three demands of government: “telling the truth” about the urgency of climate change, cutting greenhouse gases to net-zero by 2025, and creating a citizens’ assembly to lead climate action.
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You may be interested to know that in England, Catholics (and Anglican Franciscans like Br Finnian shown above) have been active in Christian Climate Action, the Christian arm of Extinction Rebellion.
Read more at the Tablet. 

About 1,000 climate strikers gathered in Victoria, BC stopping at BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources – blocking traffic for half an hour. Block Friday indeed!
 
Black Friday is bad for the planet say French politicians
“Black Friday is bad for the planet and should be banned, say French MPs” “France's parliament is to debate banning Black Friday on the grounds that it is bad for the planet, promotes "overconsumption" and flouts strict French rules on sales periods.”
 
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Climate Strike Canada says
DON’T BUY INTO BLACK FRIDAY.
Black Friday is a day of consumerism that reflects the larger culture of disposability, capitalism, and consumption. The transactions between corporations, our government, industries, and political parties put our futures and the planet's health at risk.
OUR FUTURES ARE NOT FOR SALE.
Each city in Canada will be organizing actions, strikes, and protests to draw the attention of the masses. We demand that our futures  — and the climate crisis — be taken seriously. Check in with your ​​local group ​to get the details of your city’s events.
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Go to this site https://climatestrikecanada.org/english
to see how you can cut down on waste
in electronics, food, clothing etc.
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Pope Francis issued a letter the first Sunday of Advent 2019, entitled ‘Admirabile Signum’, on the meaning and importance of the Nativity Scene where St. Francis of Assisi had the first ever Nativity Scene made in Greccio.
Some excerpts from the Pope’s letter follow: “As we contemplate the Christmas story, we are invited to set out on a spiritual journey, drawn by the humility of the God who became man in order to encounter every man and woman.”(1)  “Why does the Christmas crèche arouse such wonder and move us so deeply? First, because it shows God’s tender love: the Creator of the universe lowered himself to take up our littleness.”(3) “Jesus, “gentle and humble in heart” (Mt 11:29), was born in poverty and led a simple life in order to teach us to recognize what is essential and to act accordingly. The nativity scene clearly teaches that we cannot let ourselves be fooled by wealth and fleeting promises of happiness. … From the manger, Jesus proclaims, in a meek yet powerful way, the need for sharing with the poor as the path to a more human and fraternal world in which no one is excluded or marginalized.”(6)
     ....Read more 
 
Christmas is a time to remember the humility of God through the humble birth of Jesus and the fact that the Holy Family led by St Joseph, Patron of Canada, were refugees who had to flee to save their lives; like so many today. This is a time to relish the mysterious and seeming inconsistencies in Christ’s example e.g. the humility of the manger can be seen in contrast to the Feast of Christ the King but only if Christ the King is mistaken for an Earthly rather than a Spiritual King; and Servant King who washed his disciples’ feet. But we Franciscans celebrate the close link between the material and the spiritual; after all “This world is pregnant with God” as St Angela of Foligno, TOSF famously said and she was echoed by Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”
I pray a grace before meals (whose opening sentence comes from the Talmud) that goes: “Blessed are you Lord our God, King of the Universe by whose word all exists.” Followed by the second sentence inspired by the Canticle of the Creatures: “All praise be yours my Lord through our Sister Mother Earth by whom you care for all our needs.”
 
                             Some words on humility from Ilia Delio, OSF
                                             from The Humility of God: A Franciscan Perspective, 2005:
“The humility of God is really about God’s relationship to the world and God’s fidelity to the world, even when everything in the world seems to fail.”(p 1) “What we see through the lens of Francis is that Christian life requires active engagement; to be attentive to the humility of God who hides in ordinary fragile human flesh, tiny creatures and the natural elements of creation.” (p 9) “It is up to us as Christians to live in the freedom of God’s humble love. Only by living in the freedom of love can we help transform the world into the fullness of Christ. It is possible. Francis did it in his own way and in his own time. Now we, too, must do the same.” (p 12) 
​
And I would add, as Albert Einstein said: “You never fail until you give up trying.”
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to the world!
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
filled with peace, love, joy and hope!
And energy for those actively engaged!
(Thanks to Fr. Manoj Xalxo, OFM; OLOTA (Western Canada) Regional Spiritual Assistant for the joy image)
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Synodality

11/27/2019

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Continuing the theme of Praise & Criticism of the Pope and the Amazon Synod
Let me repeat again: Tom Kington (7 Sept 2019): wrote in The Times on the Amazon Synod: “A synod planned by Pope Francis … has provoked the fiercest clash yet between the pontiff and his conservative critics.” (emphasis added).
 
As Franciscans let us remember that the theme of the Amazon Synod was: “Amazon: New Paths for the Church and Integral Ecology” and one of its movers was Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, OFM, Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo, Brazil and President of the Pan-Amazon Ecclesial Network (REPAM).
 
After reading an editorial in The Tablet, a prestigious British Catholic weekly supportive of synodality; and articles by two Americans: Dan Horan, OFM, supporter: “Synodality isn't just an option, it's the only way to be church” and George Weigel, critic: “The “synodality” masquerade”  I sought more information. This leads me to say this: some of the critics are definitely not in the Franciscan camp! As Franciscans we have to remember who we are and where Franciscan Tradition leads us. We should recognise and beware of the implied anti-Franciscan criticism such as that from Dr. Farrow, a Canadian.
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Emilie Callan, a synod delegate from Canada, second from right, attends a session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct. 11
What is Synodality?  If you do not know you are not alone! I only had the vaguest idea until after the Amazon Synod and apparently we are not alone. “It is absolutely surprising how very little so many bishops know about synodality, a method Pope Francis has sought to develop throughout his pontificate and a concept Catholic theologians have been discussing for at least a couple of decades… In order to understand how the pope's ecclesiology is currently being received, we should look back at the concept of episcopal collegiality as it was introduced at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). … episcopal collegiality was not, in fact, some novelty, but part of the Church's deeper tradition.” [This concept is now under expansion to include ecclesial synodality i.e. collegiality not restricted just to bishops but including all the faithful, i.e. all the People of God]. See Massimo Faggioli’s: Pope Francis' struggle to bring forth a synodal Church: Synodality for Francis is not just a form of Church government but a way of being Church.
 
In fact synods predate the Constantinian shift to a monarchical church in the fourth century. The International Theological Commission’s March 2018 study “Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church” acknowledged: “Although synodality is not explicitly found as a term or as a concept in the teaching of Vatican II, it is fair to say that synodality is at the heart of the work of renewal the Council was encouraging” (n 6).

The concept of a synodal church was outlined by Pope Francis on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Synod of Bishops, 17 Oct 2015.

     "synodality" means "walking together"
        with every member of the church,..."
 


From The Catholic Register, a definition of synodality: “In simple terms, "synodality" means "walking together" with every member of the church, recognizing that the grace of baptism makes one part of the body of the church and, therefore, responsible for its life and mission.”
 
But this needs elaboration. So let me draw on The Tablet (2 Nov 2018): (emphasis added)
“the emerging theory of synodality – a favourite theme of Pope Francis – is about participation by the whole People of God and the sharing of responsibility at all levels. [My comment: does this sound a bit like the People of God’s “co-responsibility” that Benedict XVI mentioned. Also see CCCB
 
The days of confining church government only to bishops have to be over. Confidence in bishops acting alone has been severely undermined by their role in the scandal of child abuse by clergy, particularly by covering it up rather than straining every episcopal muscle to stamp it out. … [The Pope] can be expected to appeal to the world’s young Catholics to rediscover the excitement of the Gospel and fulfil their vocation to spread the Word, whatever their ecclesiastical status.
 
The Church is being reminded by Pope Francis of the insight of the Second Vatican Council, that the fundamental Christian sacrament is not ordination as priest or bishop, but baptism. All the baptised are responsible for the welfare of the household of the faith. So the Church’s missionary and pastoral priorities can no longer be imposed from above, but discerned by consultation with the faithful down to parish level. Nor can there be discrimination in those processes on the basis of gender, race, age, sexual orientation or any other grounds, for there is no discrimination in baptism itself.
Synodality, the word that describes all this, now has to be taken into the Church’s structures at national, diocesan and parish level. That is an immense challenge.”
 
Others have written that synodality incorporates: subsidiarity; decentralization; solidarity; and unity in diversity. Cardinal Marx has said. "The universal church can only exist in cooperation with the local churches – sub Petro et cum Petro –[under Peter and with Peter] as Pope Francis strongly worded it."
 
Why is synodality controversial?
Perhaps because as Dan Horan, OFM wrote, some are calling for “a broader embrace of … "the type of synodal pathway that the church in the Amazon has been undergoing.” ” 
 
Yes, indeed, but the controversy is not just restricted to the synodal way of governance (less clericalism; greater pastoral concern; consultation, listening, debate, discerning and final decision making by pastors & bishops (with the final say by the Bishop of Rome) but it is the results i.e. implementation of Laudato Si’s integral ecology; the possibility of a greater role for women & a married clergy & a new Amazonian liturgical rite that really excites the ire of the critics. They do not want all this i.e. what some call the “progressive agenda” to be an example and copied by the rest of the Catholic world.
 
But let us hear from Dan Horan, OFM: “A broader sense of synodality beyond that consultative body of bishops in Rome is about proper recognition of the place of all the baptized faithful in the prudential discernment about church decision-making and governance. It is not a call to do away with hierarchical leadership. No, the church is not a democracy. But neither is the church a monarchy wherein local bishops, bishops' conferences, or even the pope rules by fiat. The church is a "hierarchical communion," as Lumen Gentium explains, but one whose ministers arise from and are oriented to the service of all the baptized.” As the International Theological Commission in Synodality In The Life And Mission Of The Church, 2018  puts it:  
 “Communion, synodality, collegiality - 6. … In this ecclesiological context, synodality is the specific modus vivendi et operandi [way of life and operation] of the Church, the People of God, which reveals and gives substance to her being as communion when all her members journey together, gather in assembly and take an active part in her evangelising mission.”
None of this sounds heretical or off the wall to me; in fact it sounds very good and I would echo what Dan Horan, OFM says: “I would suggest that synodality is not merely an option to be recovered, but is in fact the only authentic way to be church.” [emphasis added]

 “I would suggest that synodality is not merely an option to be recovered, but is in fact the only authentic way to be church.”
 
George Weigel’s criticism.
I will offer only one short quote (always a dangerous thing!):
“Serious consultation and collaboration are essential to effective pastoral leadership, including the leadership of the Bishop of Rome. But over the 50-plus years of its existence, no one has figured out how to make the Synod of Bishops really work. Propaganda about “synodality” that functions as rhetorical cover for the imposition of the progressive Catholic agenda on the whole Church is not an improvement on that track record; it’s a masquerade, behind which is an agenda.”
 
As much as I respect George Wegel all I will say is I do not agree with his criticisms. Perhaps because from what I have heard I strongly approve the “progressive agenda” and its broadcasting of inconvenient truths. Those that do not approve generally also dislike Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ; Vatican II; Ilia Delio, OSF; Richard Rohr, OFM; Laudato Si’, and much of what Pope Francis espouses. Some do not like me, especially the one who verbally attacked me after mass one Sunday as I stood before my display about the Season of Creation for being a “radical,” which of course I am; radical being derived from the Latin radix meaning root i.e. treat root causes not just symptoms of problems.
 
Let us pray for Pope Francis:
Lord, give to Your shepherd, Francis, a spirit of courage, right judgement, knowledge & love. 
May he build Your church into a sacrament of unity, love, and peace for all the world. 
May he continue to lead us on new and challenging paths to walk together always guided by Your Holy Spirit to cherish, nurture, protect and sustain our Sister Mother Earth and work for the common good.
May the example of St Francis always inspire our Popes in new ways. Amen.
 
        Peace & joy, Andrew, ofs
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PACT OF THE CATACOMBS - A rebuttal of criticism of the Pope and the Amazon Synod

11/21/2019

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​Let me repeat: Tom Kington (7 Sept 2019) wrote in The Times on the Amazon Synod: “A synod planned by Pope Francis … has provoked the fiercest clash yet between the pontiff and his conservative critics.” (emphasis added)
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Photo by Edward Pentin
Frankly, as a Laudato Si’ Animator, I am torn between ignoring or even rebutting such criticism and thinking I should at least know what is out there and perhaps alert others. It is in the spirit of the latter belief that I include the criticism. I do not write off the critics; just their criticism which I certainly do not share nor want to propagate.
 
As an example let me quote Prof Roberto de Mattei, a historian with a mixed past reputation who has been described as "a renowned apologist for ultra-traditional Catholicism" (and loud confirmed critic of Pope Francis): “The Amazon Synod is therefore the symbolic fulfillment of the Second Vatican Council, the realization of that “preferential option for the poor” for which Monsignor Helder Câmara, Don Giuseppe Dossetti, Cardinal Suenens and Cardinal Lercaro fought so hard for. The Amazonian Party …, by lining up its troops in the Catacombs of Domitilla, is sending the Church this message: “There is no going back.”. “And [it’s] only the beginning, for another 50 years” as Maurício López, Executive Secretary of REPAM, stated, during the signing of the new Pact of the Catacombs.”
 
What? Not Vatican II!  And Pact of the Catacombs! Oh no, woe unto us! (Pardon my sarcasm). You may recall that “preferential option for the poor” is actually a principle of Catholic Social Doctrine! Do such critics not reveal themselves by their own words, or merely the complexity of life as a Catholic? Some of what de Mattei abhors and castigates, I admire and promote. Such criticism (in Rorate Cæli, 21 Oct 2019) totally misses the mark and is lost on me.
 
In another example of Catholic ultra-right wing criticism of Pope Francis, the title says it all: “From the Pact of the Catacombs to the Amazon Synod The pope’s heretical assault on Catholicism was a long time coming.” by George Neumayr, 20 Oct 2019
 “Dom Hélder Câmara, a Brazilian archbishop who served as the head of the archdiocese of Olinda and Recife from 1964–85, was famous for his let-it-all-hang-out socialism and support for priests who joined armed revolutions. “My socialism is special, it’s a socialism that respects the human person and goes back to the Gospels. My socialism it is justice,” he said. “I respect priests with rifles on their shoulders; I never said that to use weapons against an oppressor is immoral or anti-Christian.” ”
My comment is that we know that many repressive regimes’ armies had Catholic military chaplains. I will just say one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
 
 
Criticism of the Synod came from many sides.

Not all were satisfied with the emphasis on the cry of the earth. Some thought it was not enough and some that it was too much. What is certain is that for many of the Amazonian people, while priests, deacons and role of women are important they must not overshadow the overriding importance of the earth and human rights. “While media focus on married priests and women deacons, "for us, that is a distraction, because the bottom line is life," says a Curripaco leader from Venezuela, "This synod for us is about the planet."   Read more
  
Many of them are willing to risk and lose their lives. Yet another loss has recently been reported: “Brazilian 'forest guardian' killed by illegal loggers in ambush. Paulo Paulino Guajajara was killed by armed loggers …” 
 
Paulo Paulino Guajajara is not the first. According to Global Witness, Brazil is the deadliest country in the world for environmental and land defenders with 44 killings recorded in 2017. Maranhão – the nation’s poorest state – is among the worst affected. There were more death threats and attacks on indigenous groups here than anywhere else in 2016, according to the Pastoral Land Commission.
 
A balanced voice of reason from a Franciscan Sister
(whom I met and worked with at the World Social Forum in 2016 in Montreal)
 
“Franciscan Sister Sheila Kinsey, executive pro-secretary of the justice, peace and integrity of creation commission of the Union of Superior Generals (USG) and International Union of Superior Generals (UISG), told the Register that, for her, the priority for the Amazon was ensuring that indigenous people have the benefits of their resources, especially in mining communities.
 
On criticism that the synod has, for some, seemed to be more about politics and social justice than worship, faith and salvation of souls, Sister Sheila said it is important, “through faith, to find ways to work together.” This is how those against the faith “destroy: They politicize issues that are really of our faith, and we get caught up in that,” said Sister Sheila, who is not taking part in the synod. “That’s how they co-opt our message — the two extremes, both on the left and on the right, on both sides.”
The answer, she said, was “to be clear: It’s about caring for each other and how we can do that” and putting “Christ at the center.” It is about “bringing Christ’s presence to one another, the presence of Jesus who is within our hearts,” Sister Sheila said. “The presence of Christ whom we receive in the Eucharist needs to be our life, the center of our lives.”
 
N.B. The (US) National Catholic Register is owned by the Eternal World Television Network which many consider to be notably aligned with the conservative wing of the church and to an extent critical of Pope Francis and JPIC as espoused by him and his supporters such as FVC, FAN or GCCM (in spite of EWTN being Franciscan).
  

PACT OF THE CATACOMBS

You may have read this in Understanding JPIC (at 3.2.12.b.):
“… about 40 bishops … signed what they called "the Pact of the Catacombs." The "Pact" was conceived as a challenge to the "brothers in the episcopacy" to lead a "life of poverty" and to be a "poor servant" Church, as was the desire of John XXIII. Here are some excerpts:
“ … conscious of the deficiencies of our lifestyle in terms of evangelical poverty. … We will try to live according to the ordinary manner of our people in all that concerns housing, food, means of transport, and related matters. … We renounce forever the appearance and the substance of wealth, especially in clothing (rich vestments, loud colors) and symbols made of precious metals (these signs should certainly be evangelical). …
We do not want to be addressed verbally or in writing with names and titles that express prominence and power (such as Eminence, Excellency, Lordship).
…. We will do everything possible so that those responsible for our governments and our public services establish and enforce the laws, social structures, and institutions that are necessary for justice, equality, and the integral, harmonious development of the whole person and of all persons, and thus for the advent of a new social order, worthy of the children of God. 
(Kloppenburg, OFM, 1966 & Sobrino, SJ, 2009)
 
Now, more than fifty years later, a new version has been signed by some bishops attending the Amazon Synod. On 16 November 1965, just a few days before the closing of the Second Vatican Council, forty-two Council Fathers celebrated Mass in the Catacombs of Domitilla, to ask God for the grace “to be faithful to the spirit of Jesus” in the service of the poor. After the celebration of the liturgy, they signed the “Catacombs’ Pact of the Poor and Servant Church”. Later, more than 500 Council Fathers added their names to the pact.
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More than 50 years later and following in the footsteps of the Council Fathers, tracing out new paths, [20 Oct 2019] the legacy of those Council Fathers was taken up by a group of participants in the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which is focused on the theme “New paths for the Church and for an integral ecology”. Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, OFM, the General relator for the Synod, presided at Mass in the catacombs, after which the Synod Fathers present signed a new “Pact of the Catacombs for the Common Home for a Church with an Amazonian face, poor and servant, prophetic and Samaritan”. [N.B: Signatories included lay people, some referring to themselves as “synod mothers”, and non-Catholics]
 
To read the full texts of the two Pacts of the Catacombs go to:
Original: Pacts of the Catacombs 1965
New: Pacts of the Catacombs 2019
 
 
Here is an outline of the New Pact of the Catacombs
 
“Modelled on the original Pact of the Catacombs for a Poor and Servant Church, the signatories of the new pact commit themselves to defend the Amazon jungle in the face of global warming and the depletion of natural resources. They recognise that they “are not the owners of Mother Earth but rather the sons and daughters formed from the dust of the ground” as the biblical text of Genesis implies. They call for a renewal of God’s covenant with all of creation.
 
They also call for a renewal of the Church’s preferential option for the poor, especially for native peoples. In particular, they call for the abandonment of a “colonist mentality” and denounce aggression against indigenous communities. The bishops insist on welcoming “the other”, namely those who are different and call on Catholics “to walk ecumenically with other Christian communities in the inculturation and liberating proclamation of the Gospel.”
 
Within the Church, the bishops call for “a synodal lifestyle where representatives of original peoples, missionaries, lay people, because of their baptism and in communion with their pastors, have voice and vote in the diocesan assemblies, in pastoral and parish councils and, ultimately, everything that concerns the governance of the communities.” And they call for urgent recognition of “the ecclesial ministries that already exist in the communities, exercised by pastoral agents, indigenous catechists, ministers of the Word.”
 
The bishops also call for recognition of “the services and real diakonia of a great number of women who today direct communities in the Amazon and seek to consolidate them with an adequate ministry of women leaders of the community.”
 
The bishops call for “new paths of pastoral action in the cities where we operate, with the prominence of the laity, with attention to the peripheries and migrants, workers and the unemployed, students, educators, researchers and the world of culture and communication.”
 
In the face of a consumeristic society, they also call for “a happily sober lifestyle, simple and in solidarity with those who have little or nothing; to reduce the production of garbage and the use of plastics, favoring the production and commercialization of agro-ecological products, and using public transport whenever possible.”
 
Finally, the Amazon bishops insist on placing themselves on the side of those who are persecuted for their prophetic service of denouncing and repaying injustices, of defending the earth and the rights of the poor, of welcoming and supporting migrants and refugees.”
 
 In this context, it is worth remembering the original Pact of the Catacombs proposed by Archbishop Helder Camara at the end of Vatican II. This was in turn inspired by Cardijn’s own 1903 consecration of his life to the working class on the deathbed of his father.”
 
From: [Cardijn was the Belgian priest, later ​Cardinal, Joseph Cardijn who is an originator of the See, Judge, Act methodology. [See Understanding JPIC, 3.2.104]. For more on the Pact, see option for the poor and Vatican II.

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News from the Amazon Synod

11/11/2019

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Let us dwell on just two points: Simplicity and Inculturation
 
Simplicity: The following quotation summarizes one of the two themes of the Synod.

“17. The listening to the clamor of the earth and the cry of the poor and of the peoples of Amazonia with those that walk with us, calls us to a true integral conversion, with a simple and 
sober life, all nourished by a mystical spirituality in the style of Saint Francis of Assisi,
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Photo: nationalreview.com
example of integral conversion with joy and Christian enjoyment (Cf. LS 20-120). A prayerful reading of the Word of God will help us to reflect further and discover the groans of the Spirit and will encourage us in the commitment to look after the “common home.” ” (emphasis added)  (Zenit Translation of the Final Document by Virginia M. Forrester, 6 November 2019).
 
Inculturation: Bishop David Martìnez De Aguirre Guinea, Apostolic Vicar of Puerto Maldonado in Peru, said one of the strongest themes to come out of the Synod was inculturation, or how to harmonize local cultures with the Church.
 
Inculturation is the acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture by another culture, and, in the context of this article, the adaptation of the way Church teachings are presented to other, non-Christian, cultures and, in turn, the influence of those cultures on the evolution of these teachings. Historical examples would be the influence of Greek pagan philosphers (e.g. Plato & Aristotle) on Catholic doctrine; and the timing of Christmas to coincide with the winter solstice (Yule) or celebration of the pagan Roman Sol Invictus (Unconquered Sun) i.e. Christianity appropriated pagan ideas by adopting new meaning or adapting meaning or events to coincide and harmonise with Christian beliefs.
 
All human experience occurs within a cultural setting. The Gospels’ background was Judaic and Greco-Roman. The Catholic Church is by definition universal, in which case should it not take all cultures into consideration? Does it?
 
Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, OFM spoke at a mass 20 Oct 2019 where a new Pact of the Catacombs [next blog posting] was signed: “welcoming and valuing cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity in a respectful dialogue with all spiritual traditions." Synod members pledged simplicity, & closeness to the poor (Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service 10.21.2019)
 
‘The Cry of the Poor, Together with that of the Earth, Has Reached Us from the Amazon . . . We Cannot Pretend We Haven’t Heard It’ (Pope Francis, Before the Angelus, Zenit, 27 Oct 2019) Let us ask ourselves today: “What good thing can I do for the Gospel?” We were asked this in the Synod, desiring to open new pathways for the proclamation of the Gospel. … For the journey ahead, we invoke the Virgin Mary, venerated and loved as Queen of Amazonia. She became so not by conquering but by “inculturating herself”: with the humble courage of a mother, she became the protectress of her little ones, the defense of the oppressed.” [emphasis added.]
 
Unfortunately, an issue of controversy concerning inculturation has been reported. As a Laudato Si’ Animator, I am torn between ignoring or even rebutting such criticism and thinking I should at least know what is out there and perhaps alert others. It is in the spirit of the latter belief that I include the criticism. I do not write off the critics; just their criticism which I certainly do not share nor want to propagate.
 Pope Francis told bishops at theInculturation: Pachamama
 
A two-foot-high wooden carving of a naked pregnant woman was presented as "Our Lady of the Amazon" to Pope Francis on the first day of the synod (Oct. 4), at a tree-planting ceremony at the Vatican Gardens. The statue was part of exhibits on the Amazon region displayed in the Church of St. Mary in Traspontina during the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon in Rome.

​A video of the event immediately created a kerfuffle among some Catholics, who criticized it as a pagan symbol and an attempt by the current pontificate to undermine the Catholic faith. Other Catholics defended the carving, which was said to represent the Incan goddess Pachamama, as an acknowledgement of the culture of the indigenous people in the Amazon. Opponents of this view stole the statues and threw them into the river Tiber.   READ MORE

Referring to the statue as "Pachamama," like many media had done, Pope Francis told bishops at the synod that the statues had
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​Pachamama
CNS photo/Paul Haring
been displayed in the Rome church "without any idolatrous intention," although the men who took the statues claimed on social media that they did so because the statues were idols. "Pachamama" is a term for "Mother Earth" used by some South American indigenous people.  (Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service, October 25, 2019)
 
The pope also said that the statues, which floated, had been recovered by Italian police. The statues, "which created such a media clamor," he said, "were not damaged." 
​
The Vatican press department dismissed the notion that the pope was endorsing paganism, but in a synod that has raised questions of married priests and infusing indigenous culture into Catholic rites, Pachamama nevertheless immediately became a symbol of the ideological wars surrounding the synod. 

Why the opposition to this statue? Was it Pachamama or has it become Our Lady of the Amazon? I would suggest that like beauty, surely the answer lies in the mind of the beholder! To me, if Pachamama is a reflection of South American, including Amazonian, Indigenous spirituality and pre Christian paganism, let us rejoice because through inculturation does it not closely resemble Franciscan spirituality as exemplified by “Our Sister Mother Earth” in the Canticle of the Creatures: “Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth who sustains and governs us, …?”
 
Are we Franciscans accused of syncretism, pantheism, paganism or idolatory? If so, let me borrow the recent words of Greta Thunberg and apply them (albeit in a different context): “How dare you!” And how much more pro-life can the depiction of a pregnant women be? Or is a pregnant woman not pro-life and made in the image of God if she is pagan? Does not God also love pagans?
 
All this opposition comes from Catholics some of whom link the Amazon Synod to liberation theology, Marxism, even to Mikhail Gorbachev; in spite of the fact that one of the “founders” of liberation theology, Fr Gustavo Gutiérrez (who later became a Dominican), said liberation theology was 90% “preferential option for the poor” which you may recognise is a principle of Catholic Social Doctrine. Do the opponents have a narrow view of Catholicism and not understand the realities of the Amazon within the universal nature of the Church or accept the concept or necessity of inculturation? Since when is theft, vandalism and ignorant insularity the answer?

After I wrote this I received the following from a Mexican Bishop I had met in Chiapas: Is ‘Pachamama’ a Goddess? Asks Monsignor Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel. See also: Sometimes a Statue is Just a Statue

Inculturation: An Episcopal Consecration
 
Dom Pedro Casaldáliga, a Catalan Cordimarian religious was consecrated bishop in 1971 in the city of São Felix do Araguaia in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso by Pope Paul VI. A prominent representative of Liberation Theology, Archbishop Tomás Balduino, Bishop Emeritus of Goiás Velho … reported: “Pedro… was surrounded by the poor people of that region. He received the liturgical symbols that were inculturated in the cultures of indigenous and peasant peoples. The mitre was a straw hat, the staff a tapirape oar, and the ring was made of tucum becoming, on his finger and those of many pastoral agents, a sign of his commitment to the journey of liberation.”
 
Bishop Pedro Casaldáliga transferred the diocesan government to his successor, Bishop Leonardo Steiner: “[Pedro], on handing Leonardo the tucum ring, recalled that the causes we defend define who we are and that the causes of this Church are known to all: the option for the poor, defense of indigenous peoples, commitment to farmers and the landless, formation of inculturated and participatory communities, effective living of solidarity.” ”            ....READ MORE

Inculturation: Our Lady of Guadalupe
 
Here is another (and for me personally extremely powerful – but that’s another story) example of inculturation. It is a shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in a remote Chiapas, Mexican community home that I visited in 2002 where She is draped in the local womens’ tilma (shawl or cloak) of the 45 indigenous Mayan Tzotzil people who were massacred in Acteal in 1999 thus making Our Lady of Guadalupe one of their own and a perfect example of inculturation.
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Our Lady of Guadalupe, 2002 and Acteal market, 1999. Photos by Andrew Conradi, ofs
Finally while thinking of Mexico let us remember this:
​
“With the carnage of World War I in mind, Pope Benedict XV extended All Souls Day to the whole Catholic Church in 1915. On All Souls people of faith remember those believers who have gone before them and ask God to welcome them as they enter their final journey to be with God forever.
 
While Día de los Muertos also remembers the dead, it celebrates their living memory as well. Gatherings at gravesides become family reunion picnics—with the dead invited. Food, drink, music, flowers, and fireworks are part of the celebration. It is a kind of party during which the dead are remembered and rejoiced over. In the home, altars decorated with flowers, photos of the deceased, and a variety of food offerings for the dead extend hospitality to the deceased and recall their presence. …

Catholicism embraces all these dimensions of remembering the dead. Whether in prayer for all the faithful departed on All Souls or in the customs of Día de los Muertos, the past enters into the present. Families and the larger family of faith gather around altars and places where the deceased rest to affirm life in the midst of death and joy in sorrow. A memory celebrated becomes a living hope for eternal life.” (emphasis added)   .....READ MORE

                                                            - Andrew Conradi, ofs, Laudato Si’ Animator, Global Catholic Climate Movement 

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A Future for the Amazon, a Future for All

10/6/2019

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This piece by Andrew Conradi, ofs, Laudato Si' Animator, Global Catholic Climate Movement centres on the links between
the Season of Creation,
the Bishops’ Synod
and Development & Peace’s Fall Campaign

all of which focus on the Amazon.
 from Development & Peace
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If environmental & human rights defenders are assassinated, 
can they be seen as martyrs?
Did they die for us too?


On the Feast of St Francis 2019, at a powerfully symbolic event held in the Vatican Gardens, Pope Francis planted a tree alongside Amazonian leaders from Brazil and dedicated the upcoming Synod on the Amazon to St. Francis of Assisi. The tree that was planted is a Holm Oak, the tree reputed to have been at the centre of one of St. Francis’ famous conversations with nature. Read more.... 
 
The working document of the Amazon Synod Instrumentum Laboris, (IL) states that the goal is “to listen to the voice of the Amazon and to respond as a prophetic and Samaritan Church.” IL states at §145: “To question power in the defence of territory and human rights is to risk one’s life, to step onto the path of cross and martyrdom. The number of martyrs in the Amazon is alarming … The Church cannot be indifferent; …, it must help to protect the men and women who defend human rights and remember their martyrs … .”
 
The most famous assassinated defender in recent years was the outspoken environmental activist Berta Caceres, a Lenca indigenous leader, who attracted international attention for opposition to a hydroelectric dam in Honduras. Although a court order banned her from the area and she endured death threats, she successfully led protests that thwarted the project.
Berta, awarded the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize – considered the Nobel for ecological actions - was assassinated at home 2 March 2016, sparking outrage and offering another example of the impunity and violence in the Central American country.
 
As Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Si’: “it is essential to show special care for indigenous communities and their cultural traditions. They are not merely one minority among others, but should be the principal dialogue partners, especially when large projects affecting their land are proposed. For them, land is not a commodity but rather a gift from God” (146).

Berta was hailed as a martyr of Laudato Si'. Read more... 

The Amazon has its share of environmental and human rights assassinated defenders. IL §145 indicates over 1,000 between 2003 and 2017. ​​Brazil's land and environmental activists have long been a target for the mining and logging industry.
According to the environmental watchdog Global Witness, Brazil was the deadliest country in 2017, with a record 57 such activists killed, of 201 deaths worldwide.

Dilma Ferreira Silva, a regional coordinator of Development & Peace’s Brazilian partner organization, the Movement of Dam-Affected Peoples (MAB) was killed March 22 [2019] in the Amazonian state of Pará. Dilma was a prominent activist and recognized leader who, for more than three decades, fought for the rights of the people affected by the Tucuruí mega-hydroelectric dam project on the Tocantins River of the Brazilian Amazon. The dam caused the displacement of an estimated 32,000 people, as well as serious environmental damage.​
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Maxciel Pereira dos Santos, worked for Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI), the Brazilian governmental protection agency for Indian interests including their culture and environment. Maxciel, who worked to protect indigenous people from farmers and loggers attempting to seize land, was killed 6 Sept 2019. Santos served more than 12 years at FUNAI including five as chief of environment services at the Vale do Javari reservation, according to INA, a union group representing FUNAI workers.
 
A Season of Creation 2019 Prayer of the Faithful:
In this Season of Creation we thank God for the inspiration of those who heard the cry of the earth and cry of the poor and lost their lives by assassination because of their defence of the Amazon Rainforest and its indigenous peoples.  They included Fr. Ezechiele Ramin in 1985, Sr. Dorothy Stang, in 2005, and to name just two in 2019: Dilma Ferreira Silva, on 22 March and Maxciel Pereira dos Santos on 6 Sept for whom we ask the Creator God’s blessing and we pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the Synod of Bishops soon to discern a course of action for “Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology.”
But such assassinations are a widespread injustice:
321 human and/or environmental rights defenders
were killed in 2018
​
The world is deadlier than ever for land and environmental defenders,
with agribusiness the industry most linked to killings

Read More... 
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 from Development & Peace
For Action
International
Please sign on-line the D&P solidarity letter
to two groups in the Amazon: the seringueiros in the Machadinho d’Oeste municipality, Rondônia State and the Mura people of Manaus, Amazonas State. The seringueiros are traditional artisanal rubber tappers. By state-recognized right, a group of them practice sustainable hunting, gathering, fishing and rubber tapping on 16 reserves. Here is the solidarity letter:  
Read more:
A future for Amazon, a future for all
A mine of misery
The seringueiros are traditional artisanal rubber tappers
 
Laudato Si': "reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility, above all on the part of those countries which are more powerful and pollute the most." (169)   
 
To fulfill the Paris Agreement a recent study has estimated 75%  of the effort required must come from government action
and 25% from individual initiatives. That is why we must keep up the pressure on Governments as Laudato Si’ (179) advised us!  Read More...
See & Listen what Greta Thunberg said to the UN: Video (4 mins 56 secs)
Did you demonstrate with youth on 20 &/or 27 Sept?
  • 20,000 reported in Victoria 27 Sept, up from about 3,000? 20 Sept.
  • 500,000 in Montreal including Greta 27 Sept!
 
20 & 27 Sept 2019 Victoria, BC Climate protest      OFS sign on the right.
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National
Canada Election 2019
Canada’s Jesuits suggest issues for reflection and questions to ask candidates. 
They include: 1. Climate Crisis; 2. Canadian Ombudsperson for the Global Extractives Industries; 3. Justice and Right Relationship with Indigenous Peoples; &amp; 4. Refugees & Migrants. Check their valuable tool for reflection

Here is some further background on Justice and Right Relationship with Indigenous Peoples regarding water and compensation for treatment of Indigenous children and youths.

Water
When asked if he was just writing a "blank cheque" for problems faced by Indigenous communities, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh asked if the same question would be raised if Toronto or Vancouver had a clean drinking water problem.

Compensation for children and youths challenged by Liberal Government "It's always about money," Indigenous activist and academic Pam Palmater told CTV Question Period. "But more than that, it's about devaluing the lives of First Nations kids
because I guarantee you that if this was about some students in Quebec in a French school and they were dying because of discriminatory underfunding, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."      Read more/see more about both issues.

​Migrants and Refugees                   
​

Once more we see in the statue below the links to violence and migration and how everything is connected as Laudato Si’ reminds us (117,120 & especially 138).

​"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Hebrews 13:2 
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The Pope and four refugees from various parts of the world together unveiled this statue entitled Angels Unawares in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on the World Day for Migrants and Refugees (29 September which the Church has been celebrating since 1914). Canadian Fr. Michael Czerny, SJ (Cardinal designate) Vatican Under-Secretary for Migrants and Refugees, said the special theme for this year’s observance is: “It’s not just about migrants.”  
 
In his homily Pope Francis denounced the world's indifference in the face of the migration and refugee crisis. “When we become 'spiritually lukewarm', we become half-Christian without substance."  He warned against a “globalization of indifference” in which migrants, refugees, displaced persons and victims of trafficking become emblems of exclusion. The Church’s mission is to all those living in the existential peripheries, who need to be welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated. Earlier (26 Sept) he said: “Lukewarm faith, leads so many to find excuses in uncertainty and fuels the tendency to procrastinate.” Timothy Schmalz, of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, the artist creator of Angels Unawares says it was inspired by Hebrews 13:2.
​
You may be familiar with Timothy Schmalz’s famous Homeless Jesus first exhibited at Regis College, University of Toronto in 2013 then in Rome where it was blessed by the Pope. It is now reproduced and exhibited in over a 100 places including outside the Papal Charities Building, in Vatican City.
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​His face covered;
​only the gashes on his feet indicate who
He is
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Amazon Synod
“The Amazon Synod is a conscious ecclesial effort to implement Laudato Si’ in this fundamental human and natural environment.” (Cardinal Designate Michael Czerny, SJ & Bishop David Martínez de Aguirre, OP)
  
Read more...
​

Given the criticisms arising regarding the working document [of the Amazon Synod] (Instrumentum Laboris), Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, stated this morning [3 Oct 2019]: “The Instrumentum Laboris isn’t a papal document, it’s a compilation of the questions and petitions of the Amazonian peoples, who have expressed their anxieties. The expressions have been compiled, not with one assembly, but with a total of 170 assemblies and other forums. So that the Bishops can listen.” [I ask: If the detractors of the Synod miss that essential point of the Synod – listening – are they an example of ecclesial clericalism?]    Read more....  
 
“What really bothers the detractors of Pope Francis is that his theology stems from reality: from the reality of injustice, poverty and the destruction of nature, and from the reality of ecclesial clericalism.” [And I believe we can say Pope Francis’ theology proceeds using Cardinal Cardijn’s method See, Judge, Act long used by the Church and based on reality not theory & seeking to unite not divide.]  Read more...

I leave you with this prayer from the Global Catholic Climate Movement:

   We give thanks for the witness of Pope Francis and the loving presence of our Creator. 
   We ask forgiveness for all the times we have not acted as brothers and sisters with creation. 

   We ask that the Creator unite us now and throughout the year to live our vocation to care for our             common home. Amen.
 
I hope you had lovely celebrations of the Transitus and Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi and were able to eat some of his favourite almond biscotti (thanks to Brother Jacoba)!
I wish all: Peace, joy and all good! 
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    Homeless Jesus - Jesuits.ca

    Andrew Conradi, ofs

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

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    ​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)
    Picture
    ​(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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