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Kokotek, Poland: Polish Provincial Visits Refugees from Ukraine March 18th, 2022
Almost 130 Ukrainians found refuge in the Oblates’ retreat house in Kokotka, Poland.
On Sunday, the Provincial of the Polish Province visited war refugees from Ukraine who found refuge in the Oblate Youth Center in Kokotka, Poland. Currently, nearly 130 people are staying here, including about 60 children. Their stay and maintenance is financed by the Polish Province and private donors.
Father Paweł Zając, OMI celebrated the Eucharist for those willing. In a word addressed to the faithful, he noted that for the first time Holy Mass was celebrated in the chapel of the Oblate youth center, which was still under construction. He compared the construction of this most important place for the OCM to the building of the Church community that we all are. Our task is to build a new world in which love will replace hate, joy will replace sadness, and we will not pay back evil for evil. Holy Mass was celebrated for the good stay of guests from Ukraine in Kokotka and for peace across our eastern border. In addition to the Ukrainians, the Eucharist was attended by several employees of the Oblate Youth Center, who help the guests of the center on a daily basis, and people who support the Oblate help. Read the full story.
2022 Ash Wednesday: Let Us Fast for Peace March 2nd, 2022
Pope Francis has asked all of us to offer our Ash Wednesday fast for peace in Ukraine.
Let us offer our sacrifices, prayers, and actions of this day for a peaceful resolution to the conflict and for an end to war. Jesus, Prince of Peace, hear our prayer.
#PrayforUkraine
2022 Lent: Practice 40 Days of Kindness February 25th, 2022
Rekindling our Connection to the World
La Vista and the Confluence Climate Collaborative invite you to join our observance of Lent which has become a tradition we share with the broader community online. We invite you to join us on our gentle Lenten journey guiding us to freedom from consumerism, increased peace in daily life, and greater alignment with Earth’s goodness. By practicing 40 days of Kindness toward each other and our Earth, together we can Rekindle our Connection to the World.
Through this practice we will:
* create more space and time in our lives for what really matters;
* live mindfully and joyfully in the present, wonderful moment;
* act to counter climate change, which is deeply affected by our habits and increasingly affects us all.
This online program will provide a variety of simple but inspiring suggestions for shifting our identity from consumer to lover of the whole Earth community. During the final week we will invite you to join the special challenge we are calling a Consumer Fast: 7 days of living with nothing but the absolute essentials – those things that meet our needs or bring true joy and nourishment.
This is an individual journey, but not one you will be embarking on alone. Start where you are, and let’s see where we can go together on a more sustainable future for all.
Please join by visiting either the Confluence Climate Collaborative:
Blog: studiogaiaedwardsville.com/blog or
Facebook event: bit.ly/3M4qBbi or by an
Email sign up: bit.ly/3skTtnY
BOOK REVIEW: Ecotheology: A Christian Conversation January 25th, 2022
EDITED BY KIARA A. JORGENSON AND ALAN G. PADGETT, WITH A FOREWORD BY KATHARINE HAYHOE
Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2020. 228 pp. $24.99
This is an exemplary ecumenical dialogue on ecothology and will be essential reading for those in the field. Four leading ecotheologians—Anglican, Lutheran, evangelical-Reformed and Catholic—each offer an account of what they see as the central points in ecotheology. The other three authors provide comments which critique and expand on that essay, illumining one another. The book is an excellent introduction to the basics of ecotheology and also takes the reader deeper with rigor and substance.
The first essay is by biblical scholar Richard Bauckham, who states that while the interpretation of “dominion” (Gen. 1:28) as “stewardship,” however flawed, has proved useful, it is not sufficient. Based on meticulous exegesis of key verses in Genesis 1, he proposes that humans see themselves as “fellow creatures” within the interconnected community of creation. Bauckham points out that the biblical perspective is neither anthropocentric nor biocentric, but theocentric—and that all creation is included in God’s plan for our future. Click here for full book review.
Rev. Fr. Rohan Silva, OMI: Our Duty to Make This ‘Havocked Home’ Back Into a ‘Home of Hope’ January 19th, 2022
By Fr. Rohan Silva, OMI
The pandemic represents the permanent threat to the whole world, labelled as the worst social shockwave and the unprecedented economic down turn in recent history. Sri Lanka with this viral outbreak like the similar middle-income countries is also most vulnerable where the 
economic tremor is already felt and its severe assault may be expected to be significantly direct and indirect. The scarcities or the fear of such possibilities are what has created part of the havoc. However, the human potential is to win these hurdles of life with hope and courage. This edition of Social Justice, its 201st volume has thematized this very notion that if there is havoc then there is hope with all human imagination and effort.
The life styles have been changed too, some people for two + years have not seen their friends and family living overseas and just beginning to normalize but not without anxieties and fears. The teachers and students have been aloof from primary school to the postgraduate students in universities managing through just with cloud technology devising different platforms of communication. Many national and international symposia, conferences have been held in similar methods and media. The havoc hit the core of every single stratum of life and living from a new born to the oldest civilian cutting short his/her life grossly terminating the fondness of the grand children with their grandparents. Complete havoc has caused in the traditional households and wonder about possible alternatives to reconnect and relate like before. READ THE FULL ARTICLE.
Read the Nov. -Dec. 2021 “E Edition of Social Justice Magazine” of Centre for Society and Religion (CSR)
