"Feed My Sheep" "Thus, as we follow the command of our Lord, we will emulate Him by making ourselves ‘Shepherds of His Flock’—by declaring our love to Him, we are to serve and nurture His people." We received the following powerful reflection and commentary on the calamitous climate change-related drought in the Phillipines from Fr. Rey Carvyn P. Ondap, CP, Executive Director, Passionist Center for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation in General Santos City. (see previous newsletter story on Fr. Rey here) Fr. Rey, in his reflection on the Third Sunday of Easter, says "let us give focus and our utmost attention to one of the calamities brought about by the Climate Change—the intense dry spell also known as El Niño in the Southernmost part of Mindanao, one of the three major islands of the Philippines. This drought has already devastated not only the agricultural lands of the area but also the lives of thousands of families due to hunger." See a fact sheet here. "In 2015, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services (PAGASA) released statements that the dry spell is expected to reduce rainfall by 60 to 80 percent, affecting more than half of the country. It was expected to be one of the strongest in the last decades, predicted to endanger livelihoods, harvests and nutritional status of rural poor households in the agricultural sector." Read: Feed My Sheep, A Reflection from Fr. Rey Ondap, from the Third Week of Easter
0 Comments
Presented at The Festival of Faiths, Louisville, KY 2014Until quite recently we assumed humans were inserted into creation as an addendum. That perspective is now being shattered by discoveries that we emerged and evolved within the 4.5 billion year story of the Earth. We do not live on the Earth, as if it were only a backdrop for our personal dramas. We came out of the Earth. This did not go unnoticed by ancient sages as recorded in Genesis: “the Lord God formed humans out of the clay of the ground.” Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011) was internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation in Africa and beyond. She was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Wangari Maathai was born in Nyeri,Kenya. She was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree in veterinary anatomy. She was active in the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976-87 serving as chair from 1981-87. It was while she served in the National Council of Women, in 1976, that she introduced the idea of planting trees with the people. She developed what became known as the Green Belt Movement into a broad-based, grassroots organization whose main focus is the planting of trees with women groups in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life. Through the Green Belt Movement Wangari assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees on their farms and on schools and church compounds. She assisted with helping leaders in other countries adapt her vision in other countries. In her later years she campaigned strongly against land grabbing and rapacious allocation of forests land. Wangrai Maathai addressed the UN on several occasions and spoke on behalf of women at special sessions of the General Assembly for the five-year review of the earth summit. She served on the commission for Global Governance and Commission on the Future. She and the Green Belt Movement received numerous awards, most notably The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. |
Categories
All
|