19 Jun 2015 | Non categorizzato
All the popes, from Pope Paul VI on have spoken about the environment, focusing on the issue of ecology? Pope Francis’s encyclical on the Creation created a buzz even before its publication. What is the scope and significance of this document? “The uniqueness of this extraordinary document was highlighted at the presentation of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis, which I attended on June 18, 2015. Laudato si’ is the result of team work. The founder and director of the Postdam Institute for the study of the impact of climate change, Dr. Shellenhuber, said that it puts faith and reason together, and that its content is totally in line with scientific proofs. It is a concrete encyclical, as economist Dr. Carolyn Woo describes it, in which the Pope claims that it is important to protect the environment even from an economic standpoint because this will bear fruit and reduce costs. Metropolitan Jhon Zizioulas thanked Pope Francis several times, as he emphasised how the Encyclical highlights the relationship of man with the earth, along with his relationship with God and neighbour, a relationship very often forgotten. In conclusion, Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, highlighted how Pope Francis places integral ecology at the core of the document, affirming that “when we speak of the ‘environment,’ what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature and the society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it.” What projects will EcoOne be bringing ahead for the protection of Creation? “First of all, there is the intellectual contribution, and international meetings for the elaboration of an ecological theory based on care, environmental conscience-responsibility, new person-nature relationship, and sustainable development. There have been many initiatives over the years at the level of study, personal and team research. I mention only one, which was the recent contribution by EcoOne to the ongoing reflection on ecology published under the title Focus sull’ecologia in Nuova Umanità (34, 2012/1, 1999), which presents:
- an essay on the media debate over climate change, the result of a discussion with climatologist, Antonello Pasini. This essay is connected to the results presented in the last part of the book Il pianeta che scotta, in which you find the ideas of EcoOne, written by Lucca Fiorani, president of the EcoOne Commission, and Pasini;
- essay titled: Un etica ecologica basata su una ecologia di comunione (an ecological ethic based on an ecology of communion), written by Miguel Olivera Panao. It offers a philosophical vision of the synthesis among three levels of ecological understanding: the natural, the human, and the spiritual.
But there are also other initiatives of a didactic-educative type that can support those would like to change their lifestyle, such as the Earth Cube which engages them in protecting the earth, with one of the phrases that are written on each of its sides. Then there is the scholastic project ‘Giving to Save the Environment’ which invites people into a ‘saving energy pact’ which turns acts of energy saving into scholarships for disadvantaged teenagers. In 1949, Chiara Lubich lived a period of intense mystical contemplation amidst the splendid natural surroundings of the Dolomite Mountains in northern Italy, and this had a very important role. What insights are offered by that vision of the cosmos in the mysticism and spirituality of Chiara? “The culture that emerges from the charism of unity contains the foundations of a new understanding of the concept of sustainable development which is not yet fully developed. In Chiara Lubich’s mystical intuitions we’ve learned that looking at nature with God’s eyes, we catch the presence of God beneath all things. Nature comes to be seen as a gift of God, as an expression of His love. In those words of Chiara, ‘everything is substaniated with love,’ we see unity in the biodiversity just as in the non-biological diversity. Moreover, we see that God creates for and out of love. When God created, He created all things from nothing out of love, because He created them from Himself . . . He drew them from Himself because creating them he died (of love), died in love: loved and therefore created.’ Therefore, for Chiara, the logic with which God creates is forever that of self-emptying, so that creation emerges. Chiara sees the creation as an action of God that is not estranged from his internal dynamic, the dynamic of giving all of Himself. So, God not only created the cosmos, but He keeps it alive and sustains it in continuation second by second accompanying it with His providential love. Finally, we perceive the golden thread that joins all beings. ‘Everything on earth, therefore, shared in a rapport of love with everything: every thing with every thing. . . but you need to be Love in order to weave the gold thread among the beings.” The rationality in nature speaks to us of a Creator who is relationship, the rational being par excellence. God relates in a Trinitarian relationship, and all the things He created carry that Trinitarian stamp.
19 Jun 2015 | Non categorizzato
Al convegno, promosso da AFNonlus, parteciperanno i partner di progetto tra cui l’Ente Nazionale per il Microcredito e il Dipartimento di Agraria dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II. L’evento, patrocinato dalla Società Italiana per l’Organizzazione Internazionale (SIOI), si svolgerà presso la sala workshop 50 – Cascina Triulza EXPO Milano 2015. Il progetto Haiti, danneggiata dal grave sisma del gennaio 2010 e tra i paesi più poveri del pianeta con circa l’80% della popolazione sotto la soglia della povertà, è minacciata da una seria crisi ambientale, direttamente connessa al fenomeno della deforestazione. L’utilizzo di legname per le costruzioni e soprattutto come combustibile ha un impatto negativo sulla salute delle persone, sul clima e sull’ambiente con implicazioni sociali ed economiche. Il percorso per dare una risposta concreta a queste problematiche è complesso e lungo, ma può essere facilitato con la proposta elaborata da AFNonlus, basata sull’utilizzo di tecnologie a impatto zero e nello specifico un modello di cucina solare rispettosa dei bisogni sociali, ambientali, climatici e culturali del popolo haitiano. La sperimentazione avverrà presso la comunità di Mont-Organisé, nel nord est del Paese, dove AFNonlus è già presente dal 1985 e sostiene, tra l’altro, 20 scuole. E proprio queste scuole costituiranno il punto di partenza per sensibilizzare, utilizzare, formare e diffondere questa buona pratica.
18 Jun 2015 | Non categorizzato
Raimundo is a hairdresser and Edilene, an anesthetist and public administration clerk. So to take interest in the environment is not exactly their line of expertise. But in the face of the environmental and cultural invasion they are undergoing, together with other families with whom they share Christian ideals, they started to pose some questions to themselves. What heritage would we be leaving to our children? How can we diffuse our vision to a society that seems to be unaware of this destruction? How can we go against the current? They have been married for 29 years, and have three children and three grandchildren.They live in Abaetetuba (Parà – Brazil), an «island» that covers Igarapé-Miri, Moju and Barcarena, three cities that were famous in the 1980s for the mining and industrial settlements. Many families had left their fields to work for the multinational companies, and settled down in the suburbs, nurturing new areas of poverty, with the illusion of a wealth they never reached. The impact of these industries on the environment was devastating, to say the least. It had started with the indiscriminate felling of the açaizeiros (a regional native plant) to extract the palmito which was exported, depriving the families of an essential nutriment. The industrial residues dumped in the rivers had caused a visible reduction of fish and prawns, while atmospheric pollution reduced the production of fruits remarkably. This happened at a local level. But the effects of the deforestation had a repercussion at global levels.The Amazon, in fact is a region where everything is mega in size, like its extension (occupying over 50% of the entire Brazil), its biodiversity, its forests and volume of sweet waters. But with the deforestation underway, all these precious resources run the risk of completely losing their efficacy. It was not easy to see what had to be done. But Raimundo and Edilene could count on an element to make the difference: unity with the other families and the strength deriving from letting God guide them in their choices in life. So they made a joint decision to transform with their own resources, a grazing field of 34 hectares into a fruit grove. For trees, they chose the typical varieties of the region that were more at risk of extinction, and at that point, some of these were no longer known by the youth. They worked hard and with great enthusiasm to create in Abaetetuba, an area for the preservation of local biodiversity. The fruit grove, now producing edible fruits of 166 native species with two African species, makes up a collection of a unique genre: a wealth that offers an alternative to the region’s sustainable future. The area called Radini, in honor of their children, Raisa, Radi and Raoni, is often visited by internationally famed researchers and environmentalists, actors, singers and also bishops and common folk but especially the youth. In fact, the site offers theoretic/practical lessons on biodiversity and conservation of the environment,with the distribution of informative material. Even after the awards and acknowledgements received – like the important recognition in 2012 given by the Goeldidel Parà Museum – the site is now the subject of newspapers and magazines in the region. Edilene and Raimundo are always surprised to see the interest of so many people, some of whom feel the urge to follow their example and become, as they like to define themselves, “environmentalists with a heart.”
See reportage on page 47 of the journal Amazonia Viva http://issuu.com/amazoniaviva/docs/43_av_mar_2015_web_ok/1
17 Jun 2015 | Non categorizzato
See call for papers The international congress sponsored by Communion and Law will be held in Castel Gandolfo (Rome). The focus this year will be on how citizen participation can help to protect and preserve the environment, and how this concept might inform discussions regarding legal rights and responsibilities regarding environmental protection. The themes to be discussed: Environmental law and the right to the environment – The relational feature of environmental law – Principles of environmental law– Publications on the protection of the environment and participation rights – Environment, the city and territory – Environmental protection and responsibility– Entrepreneurial responsibility– Environmental protection and lawfulness. The topics were chosen following the works and reflection points that arose during the preparatory phase of the Congress, particularly during the international seminar of March 2014 held in Castelgandolfo (Rome) and in the Summer School of Abrigada (Portugal) in July 2014. Programm Press releases All the news regarding the preparation and enrollment for the Congress will be found on the site www.comunionediritto.org/en/.
16 Jun 2015 | Non categorizzato
The client I manage a banking agency. One evening, leaving the office, I was weighed down by a big, unresolved problem: it regarded a client who had misused his savings account. I could see only two solutions, which made me suffer: seriously damage the client, starting the legal processes, or risk shirking my duties. I had an appointment to meet my wife, to return home together. Usually I try to free myself from all my worries, but that evening I couldn’t. She immediately understood and said to me, “Difficult day today, right?” I began to confide in her. Mary did not know all the problems of the bank, but she listened attentively, in silence. After telling her everything, I felt relieved and more confident. The problem remained, but it was no longer only mine. The next day I was able to imagine a third solution that permitted me, in respect to my duties, to not harm the client. (G. K. – England) Hearing problems I had serious hearing problems, and urged by my parishioners, I went to a specialist. After asking me to which religious order I belonged, he began to list his resentments against the Church for all the inconsistencies and contradictions which had made him lose the faith. I listened to him with love, realizing that I found myself in front of a person who wasn’t satisfied with superficial Christianity. In turn, I responded that there are no arguments for defending the Church except a coherent life. I added, “God loves us as we are.” He asked for my address and phone number. That same evening he came to visit me, and he told me that he had been in the seminary until the age of 18 when it seemed to him that Marxism responded better to what he was seeking; now however these certainties had broken down. After a few days he confided to me that, entering a church, it seemed to him that God was telling him, “I have never abandoned you.” Now both he and his wife have returned to the sacraments. (P. G. – Italy) Layoff At the factory they recently distributed letters of termination of employment, one of which was addressed to Giorgio. Knowing his precarious economic conditions, I went to him and invited him to return with me to the personnel office. “I’m better off than he is,” I stated. “My wife has a job. Fire me instead.” Our boss promised he would have a second look at the case. When we exited, Giorgio embraced me; he was visibly moved. This event naturally spread by word of mouth, and two other employees, more or less in the same conditions as I am, offered their places to two other terminated employees. Management was forced to rethink its methods of choosing layoffs. Our parish priest, who came to know about the episode, told the story during his Sunday homily, without saying names. The next day he told me that two students brought him all their savings for the workers in difficulty, saying, “We too want to imitate the gesture of that worker.” (B. S. – Brazil)
13 Jun 2015 | Non categorizzato
“… One way of applying this faith in God is when we are worried about something that makes us anxious. Sometimes it is fear for the future, or concerns about our health, we are frightened about suspected dangers, we are worried about our relatives, apprehensive about a job we have to do, we are uncertain about how to behave, there is the shock of bad news. There are fears of various kinds. Well then, at times like these, precisely in times when everything is uncertain, God wants us to believe in his love and asks of us an act of trust. If we are really Christians, he wants us to make good use of these painful situations to prove to him that we do believe in his love. This means believing that he is a Father to us and he thinks of us, and casting upon him every anxiety we have, burdening him with them. Scripture says: “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Pt 5:7). … The fact is that God is our Father and he wants his children’s happiness. This is why they unload every burden onto him. Besides, God is love and he wants his children to be love. All these worries, anxieties, and fears block our soul, shutting it up in itself, and get in the way of our opening up towards God by doing his will and towards our neighbours by making ourselves one with them so as to love them in the right way. In the early times of the Focolare, when the Holy Spirit was teaching us our first steps on the path of love, “casting all our anxiety on the Father” was something we did every day, and often several times a day. In fact we were leaving behind a purely human way of living, even though we were Christians, so as to move into a supernatural, divine way of living. That is, we were beginning to love. Worries are stumbling blocks to love. So the Holy Spirit had to teach us how to get rid of them. And he did. I remember we used to say that just as you cannot hold a hot coal in your hand, but you would drop it at once so as not to get burned, so too with the same speed we had to cast every worry onto the Father. I can’t remember any worry cast into the Father’s heart which he did not take care of. … So let’s cast every anxiety on him. We will then be free to love. We’ll run faster on the path of love which, as we know, leads to holiness.” C.Lubich, Cercando le cose di lassù, Roma 19924, p. 26-29. Read the whole text: Chiara Lubich Center
