News Archives » North America
Kansas Diocese Opening Green Cemetery May 25th, 2012
Wichita, Kansas is about to become one of the very few cities in the country to offer ‘gree’ or non-toxic burials. The open Kansas prairie – tall natural grasses and the quiet of nature – is where the Catholic Diocese of Wichita will open the area’s first natural burial area. There are no caskets, no vaults, and no headstones.”
In a recent article in the local press, Jim Sheldon, Director of the Catholic cemeteries explains: “The idea is that we’ll have natural gamma grasses, little blue stem, tall to have area like it used to be like the Kansas prairie. “…[A] natural burial area will not only save money for the families who are burying loved ones, but it will save the environment, according to the Casket and Funeral Association of America. This is largely due to the fact that [e]very year, 827,000 gallons of embalming fluid – dangerous chemicals – along with tons of steel, copper, and bronze are buried in the ground, causing potential environmental dangers.
The Oblate JPIC Committee has been looking at the issue of ‘green’ burials in the past year.
To learn more about green burials, visit this article by U.S. Catholic Magazine.
The Migration of Our Plastic… May 25th, 2012
Plastic found in the gut of a dead albatross on Midway Island; Photo Credit: Chris Jordan
The MIDWAY media project is a powerful visual journey into the heart of a deeply symbolic environmental tragedy. On an island 2,000 miles from the nearest continent, tens of thousands of baby albatrosses lie dead on the ground, their bodies filled with plastic from the Pacific Garbage Patch. A team of film makers and researchers visiting the island over a period of several years has produced a stunning film that captures both the immensity of this tragedy—and our own complicity—head on. In this process, they have found “an unexpected route to a transformational experience of beauty, acceptance, and understanding.”
Watch a trailer for the film….
Take Action: Use less plastic, and recycle what you do use. Never toss bottles into or near storm gutters. And support local efforts to ban polystyrene containers and plastic bags.
Support the Call for a Special Rapporteur on HR and Climate Change May 25th, 2012
A group of NGOs, including VIVAT International, has issued a petition calling for a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change at the Human Rights Council. VIVAT International, of which the Oblates are a member, is a strong supporter of this petition and is asking members of our network to support the initiative.
We encourage you to sign on as an individual or on behalf of your congregation, if you are delegated to do so.
To read and sign the petition please visit the following link: http://www.petitions24.com/sr_human_rights_and_climate_change
According to the UN, “global warming will affect, and already is affecting, the basic elements of life for millions of people around the world. Effects include an increasing frequency of extreme weather events, rising sea levels, droughts, increasing water shortages, and the spread of tropical and vector born diseases.”
“Viewing the data through a human rights lens, it is clear that projected climate change-related effects threaten the effective enjoyment of a range of human rights, such as the right to safe and adequate water and food, the right to health and adequate housing. Equally, the human rights perspective brings into focus that climate change is set to hit the poorest countries and communities the hardest.”
“The international human rights standards serve as a guide for measures to tackle climate change, underscoring the fundamental moral and legal obligations to protect and promote full enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the core universal human rights treaties.”
Fortnight For Freedom May 19th, 2012
On April 12, the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a document, “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty,” outlining the bishops’ concerns over threats to religious freedom, both at home and abroad. The bishops called for a “Fortnight for Freedom,” a 14-day period of prayer, education and action in support of religious freedom, from June 21-July 4.
Bishops in their own dioceses have been encouraged to arrange special events to highlight the importance of defending religious freedom. Catholic institutions are encouraged to do the same, especially in cooperation with other Christians, Jews, people of other faiths and all who wish to defend this cherished freedom.
The fourteen days from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More—to July 4, Independence Day, are dedicated to this “fortnight for freedom”—a great hymn of prayer for our country.
Please see the USCCB website for more information on organizing a special event in your parish.
Tell Congress: End Too-Big-To-Fail. Make Banking SAFE May 17th, 2012
The top five banks now control 52 percent of the financial industry’s assets; they had 17 percent in 1970. The six largest banks control assets equal to 62 percent of the nation’s gross national product. They may be not only too big to fail, but also too big to save.
The biggest of them, Dimon’s JPMorgan Chase, has $2.1 trillion in assets and more than 239,000 employees. The bank’s recent bad bet that now amounts to $3 trillion, is a clear indication of the need for serious reform.
Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Keith Ellison have introduced a measure to cut too-big-to-fail banks down to size. The SAFE (Safe, Accountable, Fair and Efficient) Banking Act would put in place an important element missing from the financial reform legislation of two years ago: a cap on how big banks can get. The bank lobby defeated all efforts to include a limit on their size.
Now the six largest banks – led by JPMorgan Chase – are collectively larger and more concentrated than they were before they blew up the economy, with the assets they control growing from $6.1 trillion before the collapse to more than $8.5 trillion today, according to Federal Reserve data.
Wall Street lobbyists have successfully delayed and diluted regulations that were supposed to flow from the Wall Street reform bill. And the big banks have ways to push their way around any barriers.
We need a fail-safe. If a bank can’t be too big, then it can’t be too big to fail.
Among the provisions of the Safe Banking Act are that no bank could hold more than 10 percent of all of the insured bank deposits in the country, nor could a bank holding company have non-deposit liabilities greater than 2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.
By the standards in the SAFE Banking Act, four existing banks are currently above the size cap—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo—and would have to shrink. This would be a major step in making banking sober—and boring, as it should be—once again.
Thanks to the Campaign for America’s Future for the information on this bill.
