CURRENT CONCERN Odd question. I’m sure most of us are talking about it all the time. In the lived experiences of its impacts, which are now everywhere, it would be like trying to hide in a closet while the house is being destroyed all around us. But I pose the question because, officially, our state has not had permission to talk about it for years! You know you are living in troubled times when even words – words that also describe reality – can be banned from official business of state government. “You shall know the truth…” “What has been kept hidden will be brought into the light.” Powerful words. Words we neglect at our peril. The Catholic Church is learning this the hard way right now. And the world is learning this about the reality of climate change in extremely hard ways right now. Lethal heat waves and drought, deluges of rain and record floods, the polar vortex unmoored from the arctic by warming winters and sent to wander south over the Midwest, anomalous weather that has thrown off the seasons we once knew, rising seas, melting arctic waters and glaciers all around the world… Read Margaret Swedish's full article here. | INFORMATIONWe Are Still In Archdiocesan Creation Care Collaboration On November 21,2016 representatives from parishes, the Archdiocese, Marquette University, Marquette HS/Laudato Si' Project, City of Milwaukee, and Catholics for Peace and Justice/Waukesha County Green Team met to begin discussing how we can bring the content of Laudato Si’ more fully alive and prominent in our parishes and our community. Lots of good information was shared and connections made. The next meeting is Jan 13 at 12 noon. Contact Rob Shelledy at the Archdiocese to get on the information/invitation list. If you are interested in building a Creation Care ministry in your parish, connect with this group. What is COP21? More than two decades ago, members of the United Nations met in Rio de Janeiro for the “Earth Summit.” At this extraordinary gathering, attendees agreed on some basics about climate change and how to tackle its human causes. This agreement is called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or “UNFCCC.” In it, 196 nations agreed to meet every year to fashion a treaty on how to keep the planet from warming to dangerous levels, and how in the meantime to help affected people. These nations are “parties” to the UNFCCC agreement. Together we call this gathering of 196 nations the Conference of Parties, or COP for short. The COP has been meeting every year since 1994. This November 30, they will convene for the 21st time. And that’s where we get the term COP21 Why is COP21 Important? | PARISH RESOURCESJoin the Force for Creation - Become a Laudato Si’ “Animator”. Animators promote the Laudato Si message to help turn it into action in their local communities, whether that be a parish, school, religious congregation, lay group, youth organization, retreat center, Boy Scout troop, or more. Learn More HereVatican Video on Celebrating the Anniversary of Laudato Si’ |
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