By: Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, director, La Vista Ecological Learning Center
I didn’t know what to expect when I read the invitation for a Barge Bashin late April, but I quickly accepted since I always wanted to see a barge up close, having observed them from the bluffs for so many years. On the parking lot of Alton, Illinois’ Melvin Price Locks and Dam I was given a life jacket before heading to the Living Lands and Watersbarge docked there. I could not have imagined the impact the evening would have on me as I felt myself rocking between hope and despair. One young man with one boat began collecting trash on the Mississippi near his home in 1998 and sorting it in his parents’ back yard. Now his organization has a fleet of 4 barges, 2 towboats, 5 workboats, 5 trucks and a crane. All of these are needed to do the work of trash removal and sorting, watershed conservation, tree plantings and education on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Illinois Rivers. His web site reports that he and his crew of 9 have collected over 12 million tons of trash with 120,00 volunteers. They say they are the only group doing “industrial strength” river cleanup in the world. And they do all of this in a spirit of fun. Their impact on the river made me feel hopeful; the fact that the amount of trash has increased over the years evoked a feeling of despair. The barge in the photo is one of three the crew filled during their 3 weeks in our area!
Part of the Barge Bash evening included a Sierra Club presentation on the Mississippi River Restoration and Resilience Initiative (MRRRI) This piece of legislation seeks federal funding to care for the Mississippi and its communities threatened by flooding and other extreme weather events, and pollution. Imagine that this river, which provides drinking water to 20 million people, is a flyway for millions of migratory birds, and provides habitat for endangered species, is only now about to get federal protection!! While the Initiative evokes hope, the fact that there has not been legislation to care for our precious river until now does not. This called to mind Thomas Berry’s desire for Earth jurisprudence which recognizes Earth as a living being with intrinsic value and every constituent, including rivers, as having the right to be, the right to habitat, and the right to fulfill its role in the Earth community. Sadly, we are a long way from that visionary perspective.
Not long after my barge experience, I listened to the webinar The Language of Trees featuring Kathleen Dean Moore and Alison Hawthorne Deming who helped sort my feelings. Both women have been writing and teaching about the natural world for decades, and they are intimately familiar with the inclination to hope as well as despair. In response to a question about how to nurture hope Moore commented, If despair comes knocking at your door, double bolt it and pretend you are not at home. Despair denies meaning and relieves you of responsibility. It is moral abdication! Deming responded with equal sincerity, Hope is a moral choice. There is plenty of evidence that we should not be optimistic, but to be of use in the world, choose hope!
One webinar participant indicated that when she dies, she wants to be “fully used up”, and so she asked, what can we who are not writers and speakers do? Their reply: Use the gifts you have and do what gives you a sense of agency. Because of the extreme urgency of the climate crisis, ratchet up your activities however you can, making them happen on a larger, broader scale.
Hearing the wisdom of these two seasoned women shed light on my barge experience. I know I can’t match the energy of the youthful crew on the barge, but I absolutely can respond to life as Kathleen and Alison propose. Also, I felt confirmed in using my ability as a writer to continue these reflections as one of my gifts to our planet in crisis. Following are some opportunities for you to act and nurture hope.
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Our colleagues from the Interfaith Coalition in Washington have organized a delegation of religious leaders to express prayerful solidarity with the people of the Ukraine!
Please keep them in your prayers as they make this pilgrimage!! – Fr. Séamus P. Finn, OMI
World Religious Leaders Travel in Emergency Just Peace Mission to Pray in Kyiv (24-25 May 2022)
WARSAW, POLAND– A high-level delegation of religious leaders will travel to Kyiv in an emergency intervention seeking to contribute to ending aggression against Ukraine, the bombing of Ukrainian cities, and to pray for a just peace. The leaders will meet in Warsaw, Poland, and travel 14-hours by bus to Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 24 and return to Warsaw on May 26.
In March, Mayor Vitali Klitschko of Kyiv, Ukraine’s besieged capital, issued a call to the religious leaders to come to Kyiv: “I make an appeal to the world’s spiritual leaders to take a stand and assume the moral function that is incumbent upon them, and to proudly assume the responsibility of their religions for peace,” said Klitschko. “ … Come to Kyiv to show their solidarity with the Ukrainian people. To show their compassion, and to join together in a spirit of harmony that my country and the whole world needs. Let us make Kyiv the capital of humanity, spirituality, and peace.”
This May, religious leaders from around the world have answered Klitschko’s plea. More than a dozen leaders and people of faith from the major world religions will arrive in Kyiv on Tuesday, 24 May to engage in prayer, pastoral accompaniment, and distribution of humanitarian aid, as well as key encounters with peacebuilders, religious leaders, and political leaders. READ THE FULL STORY @ OMIUSA.ORG.
Pope Francis is asking every parish, retreat center, house of formation, and Catholic center to discuss synodality. In the seven mandated questions, the fourth asks “How connected do you feel to the core mission of the Church–making disciples for Jesus?” St. Eugene de Mazenod must be agreeing with this on every Catholic being a missionary.
St. Eugene de Mazenod
The province website Mission-Unity-Dialogue, www.harrywinter.org, has been updated to help with this. At the bottom of the home page, two pyramids have been constructed to reflect a vital change in our structure and attitude, to better promote mission. On the left is the Latin rite Roman Catholic Church as it has existed from the Council of Trent, 1563, to the beginning of the Second Vatican Council in 1962. At the top of the pyramid is the pope, alone, and at the bottom, the laity. On the right is our Church as it now exists, with the changes of the Second Vatican Council, the laity on top, and the pope with the bishops on the bottom. The schema of these two pyramids can easily be printed in Sunday bulletins, and other resources both for vowed Oblates, and lay Oblate discussion.
The Oblate US Province and Oblate School of Theology have jointly issued a statement on the recent killings in Buffalo, New York. The Oblates have a long history in Buffalo.
“We, as Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate who serve the people of Buffalo in pastoral care, and as Oblate School of Theology, a ministry of the Missionary Oblates, pledge to continue preaching this truth proclaimed by St. Eugene, to work toward unity and truth, to eradicate racism in ourselves and work against it wherever it may be found.”
Congratulations to Dr. Steven Nabieu Rogers, new Executive Director of Africa Faith & Justice Network (AFJN)! OMI USA JPIC has been a member of AFJN for 30 years.
Washington DC – The Africa Faith and Justice Network, a Catholic 501(c)3 organization, has named Dr. Steven Nabieu Rogers as its new Executive Director. With Catholic missionary congregations and numerous Africa-focused coalitions of all persuasions, AFJN works to advocate for just relations with Africa and in partnership with African people as they engage in the struggle for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation.
“I am pleased to announce that Dr. Steven Nabieu Rogers has accepted AFJN’s Executive Director position” said Sr. Florence Deacon, OSF, Chair of the Board of Directors. “Dr. Rogers comes highly recommended and has a breadth of knowledge and experiences that will serve him well in his new leadership role. I believe his grasp of the realities of what is happening in Africa and his vision will set AFJN up for a solid future.”
Dr. Rogers earned his Doctorate of Philosophy in Urban Planning and Public Policy from the University of Texas at Arlington (Arlington, TX) and a Masters in Social and Public Policy from Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA). Prior to joining AFJN, he was a faculty member and Old Mutual Research Fellow at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (Cape Town, South Africa). Dr. Rogers has published articles on globalization, urbanization and housing in Africa and believes that Africa’s needs are best served by an African-led intellectualism emanating from the lived experiences of Africans. READ FULL RELEASE.
