What is Enough?

It’s two days after Thanksgiving and one day after what is commonly known as “Black Friday” here in the U.S.  Meanwhile, the climate justice pilgrims have just completed their journey from Rome to Paris on foot for the People’s Pilgrimage, bringing the voices of people of faith from across the world to Paris for the COP-21 climate negotiations, with the message that the United Nations must pass a strong climate treaty. 

I find myself joining other OurVoices leaders in asking the question, “What is enough?” 

How is it that we choose to be thankful for a day every year, and then we allow ourselves to continue to live in a society that turns around the next day, with people knocking one another over in the quest to get the best deal on the latest gadget? 

I have always understood that the holidays are a time to be grateful for what we have, for family, friends, nourishing food and the opportunities provided for us in our lives.  A time to sober ourselves to the reality that there are billions of people across the planet who are hungry and living in poverty, subject to the whims of an unstable climate caused in large part by our unsustainable lifestyles.  Given these realities, to me the materialistic frenzy that surrounds the holidays is too harmful to just be written off as shallow.  

I am grateful for growing up with a religious orientation that taught me the love of God for all people, and through which I eventually came to understand the spiritual and ecological interconnectedness of all people and aspects of creation to one another.   My experiences and those of many other spiritually conscious people have convicted me that faith, religion, and spirituality allow any of us to transform ourselves into more compassionate human beings, and that this transformation is exactly what our religious and spiritual traditions were created for.   When we do not pay attention to this reality and instead focus on the inflatable Christmas lawn decorations and long wish lists for Santa Claus and his elves, we are betraying the very purpose of the holi-day.  Americans spend more than $600 billion during the holiday season, causing some to believe Christmas is synonymous with materialism.

How did we get to this point, and what will it take for us to return to the real meaning of the holiday season….and pass strong climate legislation?

I like returning to St. Nicholas, from whom the story of Santa Claus was born.  As legend has it, when Nicholas learned of a poor man who could not afford a proper dowry for his three daughters, he decided help them. He secretly threw three purses filled with gold coins through the window of the family’s house in order to help prevent the women from remaining unmarried, becoming prostitutes or being assumed to be prostitutes.  To me this is far cry from what our society has manufactured, which somehow ties a spinoff of the legend of St. Nicholas together with a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ in a stable in Nazareth, into a “holiday” celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike that does more harm than good for God’s creation, or to use the term popularlized by Pope Francis, “our common home.”   Not to mention completely looking past the deeper spiritual messages that Jesus preached about and stood for through his incarnation as the Christ.  

For a moment, let us pause at the wonders of the sacred world we are privileged to live in.  

For me, this is enough.

As we return to thinking about the season of gift-giving, wouldn’t we do better to celebrate the holidays by following the example of St. Nicholas, who gave of himself to protect the welfare and dignity of young women?   Given how our actions create ripple effects, our unsustainable lifestyles are directly connected to instances of human trafficking across the world:  as I have learned from Franciscans International, areas where mining of precious minerals occurs are also hot spots for human trafficking.  Instead of asking for the latest electronics or fashion items from the local mall this year, what if we replaced our selfish desires with means of combating instances which destroy the lives and self-esteems of our global brothers and sisters?  This year, for those who insist on buying me gifts for Christmas, I’ll be asking for products and services that help girls get to primary or secondary school safely through Global Girlfriend.   And no gift-wrapping, please.   In the meantime, I’ll be praying for a strong climate treaty at COP-21, with the awareness that we must put our prayers and Pope Francis’ words of Laudato Si’ into action in order to realize a better world.

Faith in Action Food Summit: October 22

Breaking Bread Together to Address Hunger & Health

Faith calls us to be present to the world’s realities: a faith life which is disconnected from the needs of one’s physical body and the world around us is not good for one’s physical or spiritual well-being. Instead, we are called to create communities where everyone is free from disease, no one goes hungry, workers are treated well, and where children are nourished and ready to succeed. In such a community, people can eat with dignity around the table together, and food is affordable and accessible for all. This is the world we are called to co-create with the universal Creator. National Food Day – a nation-wide celebration of real food – is an opportunity for faith leaders to come together to celebrate real food and see what we can do to create a food system that feeds and nourishes with the bounty of the earth, rather than one that harms human health and the ecosystems surrounding us.

The Bronx Multi-Faith Advisory Group cordially invites you to gather for a Faith in Action Food Summit on October 22nd from 10am-1pm at the Bronx Museum of the Arts (1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx NY 10456). This is an opportunity for faith leaders to gain a deeper understanding of the ways people of faith can get involved in creating an equitable and sustainable food system that promotes health and reduces hunger. The Summit will equip participants with messages that can be taken back to congregations the following weekend, putting Bronx-based efforts to create a holistic food system on the map alongside others from across the country who will also be celebrating Food Day, which is held every year on October 24.

We hope you will be able to join us. Please RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bronx-faith-in-action-food-summit-registration-18785766734

Faith and the Environmental Justice Movement: A Franciscan Perspective

Catholics are natural allies in the struggle for environmental justice.  As a Catholic, I have been most drawn to the example of St. Francis of Assisi, who is our tradition’s patron saint of the environment. St. Francis, who followed Jesus’ call to leave everything behind and live a life of intentional poverty and simplicity, lived in a medieval world where people, who had previously enjoyed a more intimate bond with their ecosystems, began to be disconnected from the land as a result of extensive land holdings owned and controlled by the small minority in the ruling class.  This separation of people from the land, coupled with abuse of power, led to oppression and a class of poor deprived of their humanity and dignity.

Francis’ identification with the poor gradually brought him to an understanding of his place as a “little brother” to all humanity and all creation. His famous “Canticle of the Creatures,” which is the inspiration for Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, reveals how integrally interconnected St. Francis felt to all elements of God’s creation. He came to see God reflected in all of creation and therefore sought to maintain the integrity of all creation.

The essence of Franciscan spirituality, then, is a focus on seeing God in everyone, especially the marginalized, and working toward protecting the integrity of all creation. Therefore, by working to maintain the integrity of all creation—with particular emphasis on the poor, vulnerable, and those least responsible for environmental degradation—Franciscan spirituality lends itself to a focus on environmental and climate justice.

Through St. Francis’ commitment to following the convictions of his faith, he consciously joined the “story of power,” which is the story of humans and creation that also “includes a focus on the differences of status, privilege, social class, levels of influence, wealth and political and social power of various groups” (Franciscan Care for Creation).  This is the story that continues through the environmental justice movement today.

Environmental justice communities have a unique perspective on the ways in which consumer culture and differences in societal power negatively affect the health of impacted communities. By tapping into our own spiritual wells and joining the spiritual movement for climate justice, we can help to bridge the knowledge and lived experience of these communities with the moral clarity of our faith traditions – thereby more effectively helping to ensure that policies and systems prioritize the health of people and ecosystems, rather than business interests.

By examining our own tradition’s religious teachings on the environment and engaging in dialogue with congregations about our role in causing harm to – or protecting the integrity of – creation, we are lending our voices to the environmental justice movement. We are moving ourselves and others into a new consciousness about how to live in unity and harmony with the earth and one another.

Some of the ways Catholic congregations and other faith communities are doing this include conducting energy audits of houses of worship, converting to clean energy where possible, starting compost and garden projects, divesting from fossil fuels, and advocating for better U.S. climate policy. The Franciscan Action Network, where I serve on the Board of Directors, is leading an interfaith coalition working to get money out of politics and calling out members of Congress who have been supportive of the Koch brothers’ “No Climate Tax” pledge through a #KochvsPope campaign, among other actions.

Above all, we are promoting the concept of simple living, which allows us to practice a life of ongoing conversion and provides lifelong opportunities to live in right relationship with our world. Catholics in the Franciscan tradition embrace an ecology that keeps humans and all of creation out of harm’s way. It allows us to see the “thisness” – the unique specialness of each particular living and nonliving thing – that is characteristic of Franciscan spirituality.

Written for WE ACT for Environmental Justice, http://www.weact.org/member-blog-kelly-moltzen 

A Theology of Liberation and the New Creation

The concept of a biblical approach to addressing poverty has always challenged me, especially since learning of St. Francis of Assisi’s commitment to voluntary poverty when I was a teenager.  What should be my role, as a person of privilege, in helping to bring justice and equity to the poor?  Several years ago, inspired by Francis of Assisi and the modern day Shane Claiborne, I could think of no better way to figure this out than by moving to the Bronx and living in community with others wanting to figure this out too. 

Shortly after moving to the Bronx, my roommates and I were blessed with the opportunity to get to know two people who moved into the apartment above us whose life and work was steeped in the practice and culture of liberation theology.  I was intrigued by the many stories they told of oppressed peoples in Central and South America, and even here in the United States, rising up and confronting the established powers with the power of the Gospel.  The power of the Gospel in the hands of the poor and oppressed seemed like something St. Francis of Assisi would have rejoiced at seeing.

While I do not profess to be an expert in liberation theology or the history of the Latin American church, I have learned from Joseph Nangle OFM in his book Engaged Spirituality that the liberation theology movement led to a decision made at the 1968 Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Medellín, Colombia, to prioritize the poor over the privileges of the established order. The impact of this decision by the church hierarchy was not inconsequential: more and more people sought to join this movement which was improving the authenticity of the church, now that the church was authentically serving the New Creation. And over the next ten years, a thousand people were killed for working to implement this vision, by those who preferred the status quo – continuing the Christian tradition initiated by Jesus of the faithful being persecuted by empire. 

This is the backdrop of where our current pope, Francis, was formed and lived out his early years.  The Latin American church, Pope Francis, and all they represent show us what it means to live out what Fr. Joe Nangle calls an “engaged spirituality” – a spirituality that impacts how we live every aspect of our lives.  Living a life of voluntary poverty, a counter-cultural lifestyle that prefers simplicity to consumerism, is a direct threat to the empire of capitalism that permeates society.  Following Jesus’ call to leave everything behind and follow him, the way Francis of Assisi did, leads us more fully into our faith and begs us to develop a deeper spirituality whereby we can live a richer, fuller life.  Living out an engaged spirituality allows us to recognize our interdependence with one another and all of God’s creation, and feel a sense of reverence and wonder about it all.

It is from this perspective we can best appreciate what Pope Francis has to share with us in his encyclical Laudato Si’.   Pope Francis lays out the framework for an integral ecology – one in which we recognize the responsibility we have as human beings to humbly come to terms with our place in the world.  Building on the spirituality and mysticism of St. Francis of Assisi that is so clearly expressed in St. Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures, Pope Francis continues on to “read the signs of the times” (Mt 16:3) and lays out what St. Francis would say “is ours to do” in this day and age, in order for us to rise to a new consciousness and accept the responsibility God gave us when he gave us the gift of life on Earth.

When God became incarnate through Jesus, He did so to show us how to live as a human being on Earth in such a way that would allow us to honor our Creator.  Through Jesus and the many parables He gives us throughout the Gospel, we learn how to prioritize the needs of the poor and marginalized, not take more than we need, and counter the empire that leads to suffering and injustice.  What Pope Francis is doing now is building off of the lessons of Jesus, Francis of Assisi, and many others from recent church history who are also working towards the “New Creation.”

This “New Creation” is what is referred to in the Lord’s Prayer, Isaiah 65, Revelation 21, and in many other places throughout the Bible and religious liturgy.  It is the Kingdom of God that Jesus spoke of so often and invited us to join him in building.  We are invited to be co-creators with God, which maybe is another way of interpreting the call St. Francis heard to repair God’s house, when he prayed in front of the cross of San Damiano. What greater honor do we have than the opportunity to accept this supreme invitation? 

To build the New Creation, we will need to take a sincere look at the institutionalized racism, economic inequity and environmental injustices surrounding us, and examine our contributions to the injustices and desecration of the ecological web of life.  We as humans have pushed our ecosystems beyond that which is sustainable, and it is we humans (especially the most vulnerable, who are least responsible for the desecration) – as well as other creatures – which are suffering the consequences of veering too far away from God’s original plan for humankind.  I am of the belief, much like Pope Francis, that the only hope for humanity may lie in the humility and spirituality delineated by the life of St. Francis of Assisi and the posture towards creation he shows in his Canticle of the Creatures.

Trade Deals Hit Poor Hard

There’s something about lived experience that is so much more useful than what we can learn through reading textbooks, news articles, or other third party sources of information. Life teaches us things that become imprinted on our beings in ways that cannot be undone by hearing critiques from those with their own uncompromising agendas. For me, a public health nutritionist, international trade deals were not something that I normally would have paid much attention to had I not met people who were able to show me the connections between the trade deals negotiated behind closed doors and the tremendous disenfranchisement and poor health of people living in poverty, both in the Bronx and across the world.

It was through hearing stories of Mexican peasants forced off their farms and into poverty and economic migration across the US-Mexico border, for example, that I understood the legacy of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Given the impacts that past trade agreements such as NAFTA have had on those experiencing involuntary poverty, we must look critically at the trans-national agreements currently being negotiated: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade In Services Agreement (TISA).

Free trade, at first glance, sounds like a good idea. It seems like an opportunity to provide an expanded market for entrepreneurs wishing to engage in an exchange with others who may be outside of their regular circles of customers. But as I have learned from trade justice activists, when global corporate powers set the agenda, they do so at the expense of the working poor, small businesses, health, environmental sustain-ability, and even democracy. The negotiations which led to the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) included advisors from many industry trade groups, while non-governmental organizations representing human rights, labor, the environment, and other social justice causes were barely given a voice at the table. Due to this imbalance, there is an inherent structural lack of democracy within the WTO, whereby, because decisions are made by consensus, powerful countries are able to dominate trade policy and put pressure on smaller and poorer countries to accept larger countries’ agendas, allowing for corporate-managed trade at the expense of social, environmental and developmental interests. According to a Discussion Course on Globalization and its Critics published by the Northwest Earth Institute, WTO rules allow countries to challenge non-tariff barriers which can include “policies put in place for health and safety, environmental, and human rights concerns.”

 It should not come as any surprise that despite public resistance in dozens of countries, trade negotiators have developed new trade agreements outside the WTO. These new agreements advance corporate interests to an even more extreme degree than WTO negotiations allowed. Further, the new agreements being negotiated unfortunately have again not taken into account the voices of the public and developing countries. Instead of building on the concept of democratic participation of membership in the WTO and negotiating more regional trade deals which would give more economic opportunities to developing countries, as former director-general of the WTO, Supachai Panitchpakdi, from Thailand has pointed out, the agreements on the table are predominately US and European centric trade deals. These deals would benefit the big corporations at the expense of the small companies, health, the environment, and the human rights of those in the lower and middle classes. The deals weaken labor and environmental standards employed in production processes and lead to more jobs being shipped overseas as companies seek to find the cheapest possible labor.

Exploiting their inside track to the negotiations, the corporations have influenced the development of new trade agreements which would give them even more global power than they were given through the WTO. For example, TPP and TTIP would expand the number of corporations who would qualify for investor state dispute status, the ability of international corporations to sue sovereign states for regulations that infringe upon their profits or expected future profits. This could mean natural gas companies suing the New York State government for the profits they may have generated had it not been for the recent state-wide ban on hydraulic fracturing. Further, twenty-four of the twenty-nine chapters of the TPP text do not even relate to trade, but instead include sections on food standards, labor, environment, and intellectual property, for example. The intellectual property chapter includes provisions for companies to extend their intellectual property and patenting abilities, such as over seeds and other agricultural inputs, as well as pharmaceuticals. In the case of pharmaceutical patents, this would mean increased prices of medicines and health care, which will strain public health systems and leave the most vulnerable unable to afford important medications.

TPP proponents claim that the agreement would create new jobs in the US. However, critics of the deal have found that the very study from the Peterson Institute of International Economics that is cited to show that 650,000 new jobs would be created in the US also predicts that the TPP would actually create zero additional jobs. Further, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, any projected gains for US workers would be wiped out by inequality that the TPP would produce. All of the job creation and promises being touted by the TPP advocates can be summed up in these words from Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” I have found, particularly among labor unions, that there is a great concern that the TPP would encourage companies to outsource manufacturing jobs to countries where workers could be paid lower wages—undoubtedly at the expense of labor standards and human rights as well. In the Bronx, developers would be incentivized to tear down current apartment buildings and ship in materials—produced without regard to the workers or the environment—to build new housing developments, displacing some 7,000 families from their homes. Meanwhile, as trade negotiators and corporations support the outsourcing of jobs, there are efforts to localize production. Perhaps out of a necessity for their own sovereignty, community residents have started to come together to create cooperative development initiatives that provide workers with living wages as well as dignity and empowerment. But again, because of the restrictions on government procurement contracts, the TPP and TTIP would push local businesses—including construction businesses—out, in favor of what can be found within the global corporate marketplace.

While the negotiating texts of the TPP have been kept secret from the public and access is limited even for members of US Congress, President Obama asked for and received fast track authority from Congress, after a huge fight from the advocacy community.  Congress has thereby effectively surrendered its constitutional authority to shape trade agreements, and prevented the public from having a say in the negotiations. Our government may have decided that corporations are people, but in the eyes of our Creator, corporations will never be people. Not unlike, St. Francis of Assisi, who gave up a wealthy inheritance to live alongside the poor and care for all of creation, we need to call out the financial motives behind these trade deals, and stand up against the destructive effects they are having on our families and communities. The most important thing we can do right now is raise awareness about the dangers of the TPP and let our Congressional representatives hear our concerns about these trade agreements. We cannot allow corporations to ruin our environment and our health. The people who run these corporations are disconnected from the reality that we are interdependent with the land; their decisions are going to hurt all of us, especially the most vulnerable.

While fast track has already passed, opposition to the trade treaties is growing, so much so that it may be possible to still prevent the treaties from passage. May we gain strength from Pope Francis and his call to the whole world in his encyclical, Laudato Si’, to call out our government’s support of policies and treaties which make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Laudato Si’! Multifaith Global Climate Convergence in Rome with OurVoices

It’s been two weeks since the OurVoices Global Multifaith Emerging Leaders Convergence in Rome.  Though, I feel like it will take me years to fully process all of the amazing conversations and people I met.  Attending a global convergence with emerging leaders from across all faiths and denominations working on climate justice issues brought my abilities to work on international community public health, which I studied several years ago at NYU, to a whole new level. 

The Convergence started out with a rally in St. Peter’s Square, where we brought banners and props made in partnership with the artists from the People’s Climate March in NYC last September, where our group of multi-faith leaders came together to thank Pope Francis for his encyclical, Laudato Si’. The continuity of the movement from the People’s Climate March really made me feel like I was part of a genuine movement. Those of us who identified as Catholic took the opportunity to ask people in St. Peter’s Square if they were interested in signing a petition created by the newly created Global Catholic Climate Movement, which has already been endorsed by Pope Francis. Leaders within the Global Catholic Climate Movement are aiming to get 1 million signatures before the United Nations climate negotiations in Paris this upcoming December.

During the rest of the convergence, we heard from seasoned leaders from many faith traditions as well as emerging leaders from across the world.  I was able to see the common language about care for the Earth across all faith traditions: Hinduism, Baha’i, Islam, Judaism, Catholicism, Sikhism, and others. Learning from so many traditions which were new to me, while also being reminded of the ecologically spiritual rootedness of my Franciscan Catholic tradition, was an enlightening and spiritually liberating experience. 

From Sister Kathleen Deignan at Iona College, I identified with her feeling from living in NYC that NYC is “desertified.” I am drawn to believe that the Catholicism rooted in the Celtic spirituality of Ireland, a family heritage which we both share, played a role in the progression of our spiritual understanding of our need to green the earth again.

During the U.S./Canada breakout session, I learned of the lobby training that Emily Wirzba does with students through her work at Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington, D.C.; Daniel Blackman’s work in Atlanta to organize around a commemoration of the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina; and Austin Weisgrau’s work in Portland around fossil fuels and dialogue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I also learned of Josh Smith’s work with Catholic youth in Canada and the Green Churches Network in Canada and Norman Levasque’s book “Greening Your Church.” I was reminded of Louis Tillman’s work to provide economic opportunity for youth through a church community garden in Chicago, as I happened to already meet him just a few short weeks ago through Wake Forest University’s Re:Generate fellowship program.

What I’ve found through my experiences is that the issues that affect disenfranchised communities are the same regardless of if the community is in the mountains of Peru, in the mountains of Appalachia, or in the streets of Harlem or the Bronx in the United States.  Environmental injustices lead to health disparities, such as how children become contaminated with poisoning from toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, or arsenic, because of pollution. People are robbed of their ability to sustainably grow food on the land and end up looking for nourishment from the fossil-fuel intensive industrialized food system, because of the interests of private development agencies and corporate monopolies. What this convergence added to the conversation was the explicit acknowledgement that when the church is silent against the companies that commit such atrocities, she is acting as an accomplice.

As shared by Rabbi Lawrence Troster from Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth, the climate crisis is not a political issue but a spiritual issue, so we need to approach it as such.  Yet hearing of the struggles to activate religious leaders in Asia and move “environmental” issues away from just being “secular” issues reminded me of the challenges we face.  How can we move people who will fast for a cause for a brief period of time, to adopt long-term lifestyle changes such as recycling?  Listening to Betty ask her global sisters and brothers to donate soil and sand to the island of Fiji because of the realities of sea level rise strengthened my conviction to continue working on climate justice issues.  I even got a chance to journey alongside Yeb Sano, the former U.N. climate negotiator for the Philippines, who has left his role with the U.N. to lead the People’s Pilgrimage – a powerful worldwide spiritual movement that reinforces the need to address the climate crisis principally from a spiritual perspective, because as demonstrated by previous U.N. climate negotiations and political decisions made by various nation-states across the world (especially the most powerful), status quo political rhetoric and decisions are not getting us to where we need to be fast enough.

I was inspired by interfaith efforts to promote public health, such as the Global Interfaith WASH (WAter, Sanitation, Hygiene) Alliance and the leadership in sustainable development happening in Africa and Asia. I was impressed to learn of the leadership of the Archdioceses in Australia and Kenya and their support of young adults in promoting Catholic ecology.  The Catholics in Australia are even working on organizing around World Youth Day 2016 which will be held in Poland and include a focus on ecology.

 I was not surprised to learn that the Garifuna people in Honduras already have a climate mitigation plan. Many countries in the Global South have shown leadership in addressing climate change issues because these are the countries impacted the most.

Most importantly, the convergence participants were given a bit of encyclical education by a Vatican representative.  “Encyclical” means circular letter. It is meant to be passed on, read, and listened to. To a room of emerging multi-faith leaders, the Vatican representative told us to “take it, make it your own, be true to it and pass it on with love, sympathy, compassion.”  “Take the time to read it.” “Don’t give up on religious leaders.”  “It’s not about ecology, it’s about life.”  And if we have other ideas for the leadership that the Church should take?  What do seminaries have to teach the Church?  Take it to the Vatican: “The Vatican is not a control tower.”

Pope Francis’ encyclical sends a powerful message. It tells us that the Church acknowledges the eco-spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, the realities of how our careless human lifestyles are disrupting the climate and affecting the most vulnerable, and how a spiritual grounding and integral ecology can help us to reverse much of the damage we’ve done.  I am very interested to see how discussion and dialogue about the encyclical (there are already a number of discussion guides out there) can lead us to healing and a deepened appreciation of faith and community.

Before we left the convergence, we were given the task of drafting an eco-theological project to carry out in our home countries. The three stages of the task include an eco-autobiography, exploring spiritual resources, and finding a forum for public expression. I found this task to be a particularly useful exercise in helping me define my own spiritual journey.  The first stage of the task helped me unearth the experiences I had while growing up that led to the development of my spiritual convictions, and had me ponder my relationships with land, animals, and other non-human forms of life. It also had me reflect on my personal experiences with environmental justice issues, something I’ve had to intentionally immerse myself in because of the protection that the privilege that my cultural and socioeconomic background afford me.

Regarding the texts which have informed my eco-theology, I thought about the creation mandate found from a spiritual reading of Genesis in the Bible, as well as a few books by Franciscans I’ve learned of through the Franciscan Earth Corps, including “Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth” and “Repair My House: Becoming a Kindom Catholic.”  These texts have helped inform my understanding of Catholic Franciscan eco-theology, such as the “thisness” of each unique creation of God and the Trinitarian worldview which underpins Christianity.  Drawing from these reflections to identify the basis of my own spiritual beliefs about the environment, I found that contemplation and the practice of being present can lead us to experience a feeling of oneness and interconnectedness, and a sense of divine presence in everything and everyone in the world. This translates into the responsibility we share to steward the Earth and treat everyone and everything as our brothers and sisters because of the kinship we share with creation; as well as the need to work for justice and reconciliation, especially when we have privilege, because of the Gospel’s call to prioritize the poor.

The last part of the task, finding a forum for public expression, is still a work in progress for me. Perhaps my reflections here are a form of this public expression, though as I continue to process all that I learned during the convergence and continue to learn at home, I’m sure my ideas will continue to evolve. I welcome thoughts on meaningful methods I could use for public expression, but most importantly, I encourage everyone reading this to create their own version of the eco-theological project.  As the convergence participants learned from the Vatican representative, it is up to us to take what we find in the encyclical as well as in our own faith traditions, and use it in our own contexts.  As St. Francis said, “I have done what is mine to do; may Christ teach you what is yours to do.”