One of the people whose thought has inspired the creation of this website is the amazing Jorge Bergoglio, a.k.a. Pope Francis.
As a Catholic layperson participating in the Justice and Environment Mission Group of Sisters of Holy Cross in Manchester, NH, I have been privileged to study Pope Francis’ transformative encyclical Laudato Si’ in the company of a marvelous group of Sisters. The “Gardening for Resilience” articles on this website were a direct outgrowth of conversations shared with members of this group. ( If this could be of interest to you, please see the website page under A List of Projects in General entitled “Gardening For Resilience – a Case Study of the IJS Effort and a reprint of the 2 part article from “Earth Beats.”)
While it is vital that we inform our young people about the varied beings and the intricate and ancient interactions that characterize the world in which we live, it’s also important that we as adults educate ourselves about the complexities of the technologically altered world which our species is currently devising. We must do this so that we, as responsible citizens of this planet, can attempt to conduct our everyday lives as wisely and as compassionately as possible. We must develop and model ways of being for our students – actions! – that are consonant with our mature understanding of ecological processes, the human condition, and our regard for the health of the entire Earth Community – both human and “OtherWise.”
The following are two documents I would like to share that stem from this challenge. Both are directly related to Laudato Si’. The first is simply a pretty flyer that offers a few suggestions about practices that will allow us to better embody the message of ‘Laudato Si’ in our daily lives. It was developed for a Mercy2Earth event at the Parish of the Resurrection in Nashua, NH in 2017 which took place in conjunction with a campaign sponsored at that time by the Global Catholic Climate Movement.
Laudato-Si-Applications-2019The second is an article written as part of a specific, informal research project which we pursued in the Environment and Justice Group. For this exercise, we decided to study specific concrete manifestations of the Modern Industrial cultural paradigm, a world view and way of life that many of us consider outmoded and destructive – particularly in light of its negative impacts upon both human and ecological well-being, particularly in terms of social justice, biodiversity, and climate stability. Characterized by a psychology of fear and insecurity, this world view appears to be overly dependent upon objectification and narrowly rational, verbal modes of processing experience. With its incessant competitiveness and commodification of human to human relationships – and human to earth relationships as well, it can be regarded as one of the motive, root forces causing the despoiling of the planet. The Modern Industrial outlook and way of life has contributed to colonization, warfare, displacement, and the loss of entire human cultures and lifeways, as well as the loss of biodiversity and damage to the fundamental life support systems of the planet – i.e. the chemical composition of the atmosphere and even the oceans. The maladaptiveness and folly of this way of existence was examined and identified by Pope Francis and his collaborators in Laudato Si,’
My focus for our small group’s project was bioengineerered organisms (GMOs / BEs) and their use in industrialized food production. The following is my report.
GMOs-and-Laudato-Si’-2019