JPIC LETTER N. 17
Tuesday December 21, 2021
More than 300,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the Philippines due to typhoon Odette, one of the world’s strongest storms. Winds, floods and rain are threatening millions of people in the archipelago. The typhoon passed directly over Cebu Thursday Dec. 16th. According to the authorities, 8 regions are at high risk. Local authorities are working with humanitarian organizations and aid agencies to assist in evacuations. When we opened our phones this morning Dec. 19th, Fr. Bogey informed us that so far no MSC among the victims in the District of Surigao, about 3 hours by land from Butuan City where Fr. Gomez from our MSC Center for the Poor left already with a truck for relief operations for Surigao. Yes, MSC is not absent. Typhoons are not exceptional in this region, but the temperature of the water in this time of the year and the violence devastation are indeed exceptional.
A few weeks ago Kentucky (USA) was on the spot with the disaster of the floods. It called into mind what we have witnessed last year in Summer in several European countries as well. Awareness is growing that climate change has to do also with human choices and activities.
Not only climate change is a hot topic. We can’t forget the drama of the refugees and the migrants. Returning to Lesbos, the Greek island that has become a symbol of Europe’s refugee crisis, Pope Francis on Dec. 5 chided world leaders for their “cynical disregard” of the plight of migrants. The pope’s visit was brief and his message direct: Indifference kills.
“Stop ignoring reality, stop constantly shifting responsibility, stop passing off the issue of migration to others, as if it mattered to no one and was only a pointless burden to be shouldered by somebody else,” Francis pleaded during his return visit.
In the same time there is the humanitarian crisis of the Afghan, Syrian and other people brought to Byelorussia by its president Lukashenko and then dropped by his soldiers at the border with Poland where they are stuck, squeezed and helpless in the cold. Thousands of people shameless used in a political revenge game of Byelorussia and the European Union that put sanctions on his dictatorial regime. On Migrants Day Pope Francis tweeted: “Let us look into the eyes of the discarded people we meet, let us be provoked by the faces of children, the children of desperate migrants. Let us allow ourselves to be moved by their suffering in order to react to our indifference”.
COP26
As climate change dries out places in Africa or Amazonian ecosystems, Indigenous communities are among those who stand to lose the most. That’s a message that Indigenous leaders have been taking to climate summits, with gradually increasing visibility, for more than a decade. But even participating in those events is fraught. EarthBeat reported on Nov. 19:
Txai Surui, a 24-year-old Indigenous activist from Brazil, spoke forcefully at the opening of the U.N. climate conference, COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland, telling of a childhood friend, Ari Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, who was murdered for defending his people’s territory. She added, “Indigenous people are on the front line of the climate emergency, and we must be at the center of the decisions happening here.” She urged her listeners — among them, more than 100 heads of state taking part in the opening world leaders summit — to “end the pollution of hollow words” and “fight for a livable future and present.” The audience applauded, but Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who stayed away from the conference, attacked her, saying she had no right to criticize her country. Two weeks later, the home of another Indigenous leader, Alessandra Korap Munduruku, in Santarém, Brazil, was robbed and vandalized just after Munduruku returned from COP26. The verbal and physical aggression against these two Indigenous women is a continuation of the violence that each year claims the lives of hundreds of people worldwide who have worked to defend their land against powerful economic interests. We admire the members of the Chevalier Family who are supporting the indigenous people in the Amazonas.
The violence shows how difficult it will be to meet climate targets without tackling the economic injustice that Pope Francis has pointed to as the underlying cause of climate change. Illegal gold mining booms in Amazonas harming environment and health. Catholics are among those speaking out about gold mining’s impacts, but complex causes and great financial interests transform their effort into a David-and-Goliath kind of struggle. Not only in Amazonas, also in West-Papua where mining activities ignore human rights and fuel a political conflict of indigenous peoples with the Indonesian state. Other examples can be given about mineral extractions in Congo or forest exploitation in the Equator province of Congo or in Cameroun. If you want to know Google will tell the stories. Land is not a commodity but a gift !
At the last MSC General Conference some participants asked to highlight also the spiritual dimension of all these concerns. This is done each month in our First Friday prayer/action where the whole Chevalier Family finds nourishment, while we use gratefully the work of Fr. Hans Kwakman MSC who links the letter of Pope Francis Laudato Si to our own spirituality. In 2022 he will do so with the other encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti. These monthly inputs are like appetizers to read those 2 powerful encyclics. Last September on 26th we celebrated World Day of Migrants & Refugees and Pope Francis gave a message “Towards a WE always greater”. There is enough “spiritual food” to nourish our actions in every day life but DO WE PAY ATTENTION to it in our religious communities, in our MSC publications and media work? That is the question … We are trying now to form an international JPIC commission, as suggested by the Conference.
7 Years Laudato Si Action Platform
When you surf to our new website http://ametur-msc.org/website you will notice that now our Congregation is enrolled in the 7 years program to implement the 7 Laudato Si goals to work towards a more sustainable way of living on this planet, “our common home”. We published the DECLARATION (also subscribed by the other members of the Chevalier Family) joint with a lot of suggestions for concrete actions in our communities on these 7 goals. Don’t be overwhelmed it is a 7 years journey. Discern what is locally possible in 2022 and commit yourself, your community to join a worldwide action program initiated by the Dicastery for Integral Human Development of the Vatican. What we do together we do better! In the coming year we shall also pay attention to the link with what is proposed for a synodal Church: communion, participation, mission built on the pillars of the LS Action Plan – Resource sharing – community building. We want to cultivate fraternity and welcome the guidance of the Holy Spirit. What steps does the Spirit invites us to take in order to grow in our journeying together ? Are you ready to collaborate ?
GOD’S BLESSINGS FOR 2022
