Becoming a Laudato Si Community
Laudato Si Quote of the Week:
#49. “It needs to be said that, generally speaking, there is little in the way of clear awareness of problems which especially affect the excluded. Yet they are the majority of the planet’s population, billions of people. These days, they are mentioned in international political and economic discussions, but one often has the impression that their problems are brought up as an afterthought, a question which gets added almost out of duty or in a tangential way, if not treated merely as collateral damage. Indeed, when all is said and done, they frequently remain at the bottom of the pile. This is due partly to the fact that many professionals, opinion makers, communications media and centres of power, being located in affluent urban areas, are far removed from the poor, with little direct contact with their problems. They live and reason from the comfortable position of a high level of development and a quality of life well beyond the reach of the majority of the world’s population. This lack of physical contact and encounter, encouraged at times by the disintegration of our cities, can lead to a numbing of conscience and to tendentious analyses which neglect parts of reality. At times this attitude exists side by side with a “green” rhetoric. Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
Did you complete your Laudato SI Survey? Deadline: October 4th
Laudato Si Survey: Click here to view a short video explanation of the reflection process, the survey, and why we are doing this. Here is the link to the on-line survey tool sisters, associates, staff, and colleagues in mission in North America are asked to use - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AM-CP-Laudato_Si_reflection-2021
Please complete the survey by October 4, Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Ending Human Trafficking
FACT:
Along with illegal arms and drug trafficking, human trafficking is one of the largest international crime industries in the world. A report from the International Labor Organization (ILO) says forced labor generates $150 billion in illegal profits per year. Two-thirds of that money came from commercial sexual exploitation, while the rest is from forced economic exploitation, including domestic work, agriculture, child labor and related activities.
Dismantling Racism
Catholic Bishops of Canada Statement of Apology to Indigenous Peoples 9/24/2021
“We, the Catholic Bishops of Canada, gathered in Plenary this week, take this opportunity to affirm to you, the Indigenous Peoples of this land, that we acknowledge the suffering experienced in Canada’s Indian Residential Schools. Many Catholic religious communities and dioceses participated in this system, which led to the suppression of Indigenous languages, culture and spirituality, failing to respect the rich history, traditions and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples. We acknowledge the grave abuses that were committed by some members of our Catholic community; physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, cultural, and sexual. We also sorrowfully acknowledge the historical and ongoing trauma and the legacy of suffering and challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples that continue to this day. Along with those Catholic entities which were directly involved in the operation of the schools and which have already offered their own heartfelt apologies, we, the Catholic Bishops of Canada, express our profound remorse and apologize unequivocally.”
Justice for Immigrants and Haiti Partnership
Who Is My Neighbor? Washington, Afghanistan, Haiti
Georgetown Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life online live seminar for Young People, Thursday, October 7, 2021, 7-8 pm Eastern.
First of three gatherings on Fratelli Tutti. This unique virtual gathering of young people will begin with a welcome from Cardinal Wilton Gregory, and then move to a conversation with a young Latino who works at Catholic Charities and a Muslim woman working on issues of inclusion and democracy on the message of Pope Francis and challenges of Fratelli Tutti for young people across the boundaries of faith, background, and politics. Then the conversation on “Who is my neighbor?” will continue with a recently arrived Afghan refugee, a Haitian leader with Catholic Relief Services, and a principal at a Catholic elementary school in Washington, DC.
Find registration (RSVP required) and more information here.
Addressing Climate Change:
“There will be no new relationship with nature without a new human being,
and it is by healing the human heart that one can hope to heal the world from its social and environmental unrest.”
Pope Francis
Save the Date: The Addressing Climate Change committee, in collaboration with the CP Province JPIC Department is co-sponsoring a zoom session October 4, 2021 7-8 pm (Eastern) on Laudato Si Action Platform Goal #1 Cry of the Earth. Please click here to join us!
Share Your Ecological Conversion Story! The Climate Committee is offering short vignettes from SSND Sisters, Staff and Colleagues in Mission, describing the personal experience of ecological conversion.
3 minute limit! If interested in taping a vignette please contact Arlene Flaherty at aflaherty@amssnd.org
