By Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ & Director, CREDI
This year marks the seventh anniversary of Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical: Laudato Si’, on care for our common home. It is addressed to “every person living on this planet” (3, LS).
Laudato Si’ Week runs from May 22 to 29. The theme this year is: Listening and Journeying Together. Pope Francis will inaugurate the week at the Sunday Angelus prayer from St Peter’s Square, Rome.
See daily activities during the week and check out the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, which is a key Vatican initiative “to empower the universal Church and all people of good will to respond to Laudato Si’; to achieve total sustainability in the holistic spirit of integral ecology”.
Don’t miss activities from our local Laudato Si movement. CLICK HERE
The platform is designed for seven sectors: Families, Parishes & Dioceses, Educational Institutions, Healthcare & Healing, Organisations & Groups, Economic Sector, Religious.
As stewards of God’s creation, we are all encouraged to observe Laudato Si’ Week. What can you and I do? We are asked “to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering and thus to discover what each of us can do about it” (19, LS).
The main objective of Laudato Si’ Week is:
- to raise awareness of the importance of Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, on care for our common home
- to promote the principles of integral ecology
- to begin together the journey towards ecological conversion
We are reminded that Pope Francis calls for an integral ecology that sees the interconnectedness of environmental, economic, political, social, cultural, and ethical issues: “Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live” (139, LS).
During the week, we are invited to reflect on and celebrate the seven Laudato Si’ goals, which are grounded in the concept of integral ecology. The goals are:
– listen to and respond to the cry of the Earth (As Pope Benedict XVI said in 2007: “Our earth, speaks to us and we must listen if we want to survive” )
– response to the cry of the poor
– ecological economics
– adoption of simple/sustainable lifestyles
– ecological education
– ecological spirituality
– community resilience and empowerment
– emphasis on community involvement and participatory action
One of the events planned for the week is a virtual webinar, jointly planned by CCSJ/AMMR and the Faculty of Food & Agriculture, UWI, STA on Thursday, May 26 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on the topic: ‘Food Security & Environmental Impacts’.
Some of the issues that will be addressed include plastic pollution, linking food security to climate resilience, managing pollinators for sustainable agricultural production.
Pope Francis warns of global food insecurity. Here in the Caribbean region, as Daphne Ewing-Chow, a senior contributor to Forbes on Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability, states, severe food insecurity has increased by 72 per cent since April 2020 – affecting nearly 40 per cent of the population in the English-speaking Caribbean (an estimated 2.8 million people), one million more than in April 2020.
See the fourth CARICOM-World Food Programme Caribbean COVID-19 Food Security and Livelihoods Impact Survey.
Please register in advance for the Webinar:
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
I will Chair the webinar and read a message from His Grace. Dr Mark Wuddivira, Dean, Faculty of Food & Agriculture, UWI, will deliver welcome remarks.
Panellists are:
* Ansari Hosein, Executive Director, Caribbean Agricultural Research Development Institute (CARDI)
* Reuben Hamilton Robertson, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative, T&T and Suriname
* Dr Lena Dempewolf, Biodiversity Specialist of the Environmental Planning and Policy Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development
* Daryl Rampersad, President, Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago (ASTT)
* Professor Judith Gobin, Head, Department of Life Sciences, UWI
* Dr La Daana Kanhai, Marine Scientist/Lecturer, Department of Life Sciences, UWI
* Dr Gaius Eudoxie, Deputy Dean Outreach and Internationalisation, Faculty of Food and Agriculture, UWI
There will be a Q&A segment and CCSJ/AMMR Programme Coordinator Darrion Narine will deliver the Vote of Thanks. Call 622-6680 for further information. And check out the social media platforms of all Commissions, Ecclesial Communities, and other Catholic organisations to discover what activities they will be engaged in this week, and how you can participate in these (See page 13).
See CCSJ’s website for action that you can take: ‘The draft framework towards an Environmental Policy for the Archdiocese of Port of Spain’: http://rcsocialjusticett.org/2.0/special-focus/environment/
Listening and journeying together during the Laudato Si’ Week and onwards is part of our Synodal journey.
SOCIAL JUSTICE QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
“One detail about the passers-by [in the parable of the Good Samaritan] does stand out: they were religious, devoted to the worship of God: a priest and a Levite. This detail should not be overlooked. It shows that belief in God and the worship of God are not enough to ensure that we are actually living in a way pleasing to God.” (74)—
– Pope Francis, Fratelli Tuitti
CCSJ Social Justice Education Committee
