News Archives » Laudato Si
Missionary Oblates Oppose U.S. Withdrawal from Paris Climate Agreement June 6th, 2017
“Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods.”
Pope Francis, Laudato Sí: On Care of our Common Home
Missionary Oblates JPIC is deeply concerned about the impacts of environmental degradation on God’s creation. The decision by the Trump Administration to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, which was ratified by 195 countries including the United States is a disappointment. We join other faith leaders and communities to urge the Administration to reconsider this decision and propose concrete ways to address global climate change and promote environmental stewardship. As people of faith who value the care for creation, we believe that impacts of climate change will directly impact all communities, both in the United States and around the world, especially poor and abandoned people whom Oblates minister to each day. Visit the links below to read more on the issue.
- US Catholic Bishops’ statement on Paris withdrawal
- Catholic Climate Covenant’s statement on Paris withdrawal
- Missionary Oblates JPIC climate change resource
2017 World Environment Day: “Connecting People to Nature” June 1st, 2017
“We are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet might be what he desired when he created it and correspond with his plan for peace, beauty and fullness.”(Laudato Si, 53).
Every June 5th people around the world celebrate World Environment Day to raise awareness about environmental issues. The UN designated this day at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, with the first observance taking place in 1974 and annually since then.
Today people around the world spend this day engaging in projects to improve their communities, for example neighborhood clean-ups, actions to protect wildlife, replanting trees, etc.
We also celebrate Pentecost a day before World Environment Day, on Sunday, June 4. Given this intersection, we invite you to explore Breath of Love, a very creative and rich new prayer/reflection resource from Sr. Gen Cassani, SSND. It includes a novena of prayers leading up to Pentecost (6/4), as well as quotes and reflections from Laudato Si’ and sacred scripture, plus ideas for commemorating World Environment Day (6/5).
As Sr. Gen has written, “you are invited to add to, create, have conversations, mull over, contemplate, delight in, question, probe, . . . ” – we simply say enjoy!
Click to download Breath of Love, a Pentecost and Environment resource compiled and designed by Sr. Gen Cassani, SSND.
2017 World Water Day: Why waste water? March 17th, 2017
The Call for Stewardship of Water
Responding to Signs of Our Times in the Spirit of St. Eugene De Mazenod
“Oh, come to the water, all you who are thirsty.”
Isaiah 55:1
March 22, 2017 is World Water Day. To mark this observance OMI JPIC has developed this second in a series of resources for Oblates. Last month, in a letter addressed to the Province, Fr. Bill Antone, OMI, invited Oblates and Associates to reflect on challenges within our nation today. He asked, “How can we be engaged? He then recommends an effective response by calling us to “…reflect deeply on how our Catholic faith and principles can shed light upon a myriad of questions we face concerning immigrants, ecology, economy, trade, human rights, race, patriotism, church unity, world order, checks and balances, war and peace.” We hope this resource leads us all to thoughtful reflection and action for communities struggling to experience this basic human right, close access to clean water.
Download the full resource here.
Festival of Social Doctrine: “Multi-stakeholder Collaboration” December 8th, 2016
By Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI
“In the midst of the people” was the organizing perspective used to bring together more than 500 participants at the Festival of Social Doctrine in Verona Italy last weekend. Small business leaders, church leaders and members of government were represented in the festival as were numerous representatives of church associations and civil society. They showcased some of the very successful projects that continue to evolve on cooperatives and credit unions and have been operating for years and presented some innovative ideas and approaches to the application of Catholic Social teaching to business and the not for ‘profit sector. The encyclical Laudato Sí provided the motivation for the participants and the stimulation for the talks, panels and workshops.
In his message to the festival Pope Francis returned to the theme of “encounter” when he encouraged those gathered to be open to the great diversity of peoples that comprise the fabric of humanity. “When you are with the people you see humanity: never exists only the head, always exists also the heart. There is more substance and less ideology. To solve the problems of the people you should start from the bottom, get dirty hands, have value, listen to the last”.
In the workshop that I presented with Bishop Moses Hamugonole from the diocese of Monze 
in Zambia, we were asked to share some thoughts in the engagement of the churches with the mining companies and specifically in Zambia. We built our input on the call for multi stakeholder dialogue that is encouraged in Laudati Sí and the decision of the Zambian Episcopal conference in April 2016 to convene a conference on how Mining and Agriculture can contribute to sustainable development.
We recalled how the extractive industry represented by the CEO’s of many major mining companies asked for a structured sustained conversation with the Vatican through the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. This conversation began by focusing on the poor reputation that mining has in many communities and regions and sought to explore how the industry could be a more constructive partner in promoting development. Thus was born in Rome in September 2013 the Days of Reflection and followed by Days of Courageous Conversation between major stakeholders that have now been convened four times during the intervening three years with other initiatives at national and regional events.
A primary question that has been reiterated in Laudato Sí asks about the appropriate mechanisms and sustainable ways of cultivating the abundance of the natural resources in our “common home” that have been entrusted into our care and promised also to sustain future generations. This includes both the resources on the surface of the earth as well as those below the surface. How do we structure the exploration and use of these basic resources in such a way that we leave behind an inhabitable planet?
Secondly we discussed the role and responsibility of each stakeholder and how they might work together to contribute to appropriate and sustainable development and be cognizant of the multiple crisis like poverty, youth unemployment, migration, destruction of the environment, deteriorating infrastructure and violence that societies face across the world? For corporations and foundations this must extend beyond philanthropy but be integrated into their very business models and operations and their investment philosophies. For governments and political leaders it requires the exercise of their authority for the promotion of the common good which includes the protection of “our common home”.
“I urgently appeal, then for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all” (no.14)
OMI LaCombe: Statement on Water and Treaty Rights Crafted at Fall Symposium November 4th, 2016
Prayer. Photo courtesy of Kiply Yaworski
A collective statement about water and treaty rights — in the context of Laudato Si’s call to care for our common home and for each other — was crafted Oct. 22 during a daylong symposium at the Cathedral of the Holy Family in Saskatoon.
Entitled “Our Common Home: as long as the rivers flow,” the symposium was presented by OMI Lacombe Canada’s Office of Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation (JPIC) at St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, working in collaboration with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, the Archdiocese of Regina, the Office of the Treaty Commissioner, St. Thomas More College, Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, and Queen’s House of Retreat and Renewal.
Read the full article.
