“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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Send a cheque to Development and Peace,
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Phone 1-888-664-3387 to donate.  

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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!

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” !

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.​

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.

See more: https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1380223988016/1544125243779

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.

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

.....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

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.

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

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)
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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.

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.

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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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

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.” 

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

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.

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.

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.

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 

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.

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.”

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...

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; & 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.

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.

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!