CCFMC News February 2010

 

Integrity of Creation - a Franciscan challenge

One of the inspiring lectures during the Meetings of the International CCFMC Executive Team at the end of October in Frascati was the contribution by the theologian Sr. Marlene Perera, FMM from Sri Lanka entitled „Integrity of Creation – Eco Justice: A Franciscan Challenge.” We want to raise the interest of our readers by presenting short summaries of some of the lectures.

 

The Paradise “Earth,” created by God, is in greatest danger.

That creation in its beauty and diversity is threatened this cannot be denied even by a quite undiscerning individual. But what are the reasons for the ever faster destruction of our planet? And what does our responsibility as Christians and Franciscans look like in view of this development?

In Sr. Marlene’s opinion the reasons for the devastation is to be traced to the desire of humans to dominate creation and to make themselves the centre of the universe. This has led to ruthless exploitation of nature for the benefit of a few elites. Technology in itself is nothing negative, it is neutral. But it is the way humans make use of it that threatens all life. Hence humans do not only destroy the beauty of nature but also the capacity of the earth to regenerate and preserve itself. Therefore humans are in danger of losing their own humanity. The destructive way of dealing with creation will not only affect the environment, but it will continue to widen the gap between the rich and the poor nations, and also between the rich and the poor people.

International and Peoples’ responses. Due to this alarming development international committees and countries have responded with warnings and suggestions, but so far to little avail. But many initiatives from below, from civil society, non-governmental organisations, and other dedicated groups raise the hope that the World Social Forum, the World Theology Forum, the World Environment Day of 5 June 2009 – just to mention a few – are making a name for themselves and give courage for action.

New Environmental Vision Imperative. The global perception that the human is the center of the world and he is the image of God, have mainly been developed and propagated by European philosophers resulting in a horizontal transcendence and the principle that the human stands above creation; not only in Europe but also on a global level in the course of globalization. “The human then is the earth’s biggest problem and is now the biggest threat to nature, human life, civilization, natural and cultural diversity ... The crisis is then not merely environmental, ecological but also cultural and religious and deeply spiritual. It fundamentally questions the civilization we have built – co-opting even religions,“ Marlene Perera says.

Many movements are involved in the search for alternative concepts and ideas. They are all looking for a life of harmony with nature, with other creatures, with us. The Inter-Faith Movement, the Eco-Feminist Movement, and the Indigenous Peoples’ Movement have shown special dynamics in this respect.

There is a developing thrust among the different religions for mutual understanding and dialogue, Sr. Marlene states. Given the existing reservations one should think about how the different religious orientations and confessions can be of help to each other “to find the human’s rightful place in creation as a responsible steward and a caretaker, as one among the rest of the species in nature with a sacred responsibility to protect, foster and nurture all life on earth, as God’s servant. “ There is much lo learn from one another. The self-critical question to ourselves is whether we are able to sit together as equals among other religions sharing the same table/meal? This is the only way to have new dreams and such new life-giving visions.  

The Eco-Feminist Movement deserved to break open the long-time prevailing dualistic system with its hierarchical organisation. In this hierarchical system of values, whatever is organic, earthy or of the body - this also includes women and nature – is placed on a lower rung and can thus be exploited. The Eco-Feminist Movement finally took up the voice of Mother Earth. Women just as nature are being oppressed and have to be freed to be themselves again. This struggle for liberation needs to take place on economical, social and political fronts as well as on the religio-cultural front.

The spirituality of Indigenous Peoples always regards nature and all life as sacred: it is the one life, that life that God shares with all God’s creation and humans. For these peoples the land is not a commodity, but home – Mother Earth. We should open ourselves in depth to their insights that enables them to orient and live their lives in harmony with nature, Marlene Perera emphasized.

Earth-oriented spirituality. In today’s ever growing signs of a spiritual crisis a new approach to life is urgently called for. Down the ages we have ignored that creation is the first symbol of divine manifestation and thus the first sacrament and source of revelation. Jesus’ vision of God’s reign is wholeness, ‘Shalom’ to and communion among all God’s creatures. The parables that Jesus used to relate the Good News to people clearly demonstrated his intimacy with nature, his understanding of nature’s way. The Gospels on the temptations of Jesus by the devil show us that the human cannot use creation to satisfy his cravings for possession or to exercise power over creation. The Gospel thus empowers humans to move away from this urge to disrespect creation. The Church has lost track that nature is the primary symbol of the sacred and it has been rather slow to grasp the seriousness and urgency of ecological issues.

The Franciscan Challenge. Francis of Assisi is universally hailed as the man of nature. Each phase, each episode of his life demonstrates his way of dealing with creation in a respectful, gentle, a venerating way. His Canticle of Creatures celebrates creation. His life was somewhat of an ecstatic union with God in nature. He regarded everything to be holy beyond the prevailing limits of what has to be holy or profane.

Conclusion. Justice towards creation is the prerequisite for genuine justice within society, Marlene Perera emphasizes. She reminds of what the young Marcus Briggs, a North American Indian, had told us all during the World Theology Conference in Belém: he could not go along with our eco-paradigm, which is self-centered in the sense that our concern for the environment was basically because of the threat to human life. This boundary, Sr. Marlene says, has to be overcome in order to find a new ecological vision and ecological ethos. It is necessary to undergo a deep interior change of attitude. This is a profound spiritual endeavor!

Download:

http://www.ccfmc.net/wEnglish/ccfmc/bibliothek/mission/Marlene_Perera.pdf

 

Follow-Up:

The inspiring lecture by Sr. Marlene demonstrated the importance of looking at and the interpretation of the Franciscan ideal from its respective cultural and social context. This will allow us to act as an international family. The work group questions have thus been formulated accordingly:

1.   What will be the concrete contribution of the course for the establishment of a culture of non-violence, reconciliation, and for the integrity of creation?

2.   What will be the concrete contribution of the course for the liberation of mankind and institutions from their desire and strive for power?

3.   What will be the concrete contribution of the course for the solidarity with small grass root movements supporting life and campaigning justice and peace?

The results of the group discussion are remarkable. In order to realize Francis’ visions in our day and age we have to take very small steps always starting with the reality we live in. The answer will always be different, for Africa, for example, different from Europe or Asia. It is always crucial to observe the dignity of man. Each individual is the image of God, the garbage collectors in the streets just as much as the managers in the mega cities our world. .

This is admittedly only possible when we rediscover and observe our prophetic role. In doing so we should learn from Francis to call attention to the blatant injustice of our societies more through our way of living as through words. The CCFMC is a tool to train this capability. As Franciscan Family we should be a network of praying, serving, and prophetic congregations supporting and encouraging each other. Then the world will notice us. Then we will be able to dare to solve conflicts, to reconcile disputing parties, and to be able to give hope to the poor and the ill. This is the indispensable political and prophetic dimension of our charism. Its furtherance is the lasting mission of the CCFMC.

 

Latin America

Ten-Year Anniversary of the World Social Forum – a Franciscan Perspective

The World Social Forum has now slowly come of age. A decision has now to be reached what the tools and the directions for the future will be for the largest and regular meeting of civil society. The Franciscan Catechist Sisters from Brazil who participated in the most recent World Social Forum in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre sent the following report on this event:

“... from 25 to 29 January 2010 stock was taken on the route taken to date covering the methodology, the difficulties, the mistakes, and also the perspectives. The variety of activities and discussions that were part of the World Social Forum in the past ten years has been a mobilizing factor to civil society and has contributed to establish a collective awareness that it is possible to build another world. However, it was not possible to gain room for a mobilization on a large scale for a definite alternative project.

There is urgent need to further develop the dialogue, the discussion between the individual movements and groups, and to strive for unity in diversity, in a center-mindedness without centralism. It is necessary to find a consensus for the setup of an other possible or necessary world and to plan on a long-term basis and to make a change to the here and now, as – an unnamed participant said – ‘either we change our behavior or the planet’...

Lectures and discussions in the different events of the World Social Forum also emphasized that we are suffering a crisis of our civilization; one of its mainstays, i.e. the economic systems is threatening to collapse. This crisis also affects cultural, social, and environmental relationships.

Since the World Social Forum of Belem (2009) the conviction has grown that environmental issues cannot be dealt with separately from social and political issues. This year this aspect turned into a central topic. There is consensus that matters cannot be dealt with separately just as if global warming would have nothing to do with capitalism. There is also coverage of the issue of good life, which had already been discussed last year and has been taken up again in various discussions. The conclusion was that good life, a term by the indigenous people, is not required to fulfill the economic prerequisites of the present system. Boaventura de Sousa Santos (Professor for Sociology at the University of Coimbra) emphasized that now two problems have to be solved at the same time. On the one hand one strives for the development of a new model for the world, and on the other hand one strives to overcome the injustices of the existing system...

In summary it can be said that we have to have to speed up our steps urgently and that all movements whose goal is to protect and to defend life, need to team up. An economic model has to be developed and its central concern should be life and solidarity, and not pursuit of profit. The politics of governmental bodies has to be designed as such that a sustainable social system will benefit from it, a system in which joint commodities will serve for use and not for misuse... “

 

Alliance of the Catacombs

In the U.S. electoral campaigns, the “dream of Martin Luther King“ was often hinted at, the dream that should be fulfilled around this time; at the same time on the occasion of the 50^th Anniversary of the convocation of the Second Vatican Council the Alliance of the Catacombs of the Servant and Poor Church was invoked melancholy. On 16 November 1965, a few days before the closing event of the Council, 40 Council Fathers celebrated the Eucharist in the Roman Catacombs of Domitilla where they signed the so-called Alliance of the Catacombs.

One of the driving forces of this prophetic group was the Brazilian Bishop Hélder Camara whose 100^th Birthday is being celebrated this year. The thirteen points of this Alliance insist on the Evangelic poverty of the Church abandoning honorary titles, privileges and ostentation, it insists on collegiality and co-responsibility in a Church representing the People of God; it calls for openness to the world and brotherly and sisterly relationships.“

Excerpt from: Pedro Casaldáliga Bishop emeritus of São Félix do Araguaia, MT, Brazil, Circular Letter 2009

Download:

http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/Casaldaliga/cartas/200902CasaldaligaCircularLetter.pdf

 

Text of the Alliance of the Catacombs in Spanish:

http://www.ccfmc.net/wEspanol/ccfmcbibliothek/teol_mission/Catacumbas.shtml?navid=99

 

Signs of the Times

CLAR: Haiti and the chances for a true Kairós

The earthquake catastrophe that shook Haiti in January 2010 initiated the Board of the Confederation of Latin American Religious (CLAR) to send a letter to its members on the issue of Haiti – but not only Haiti. The letter entitled Haiti, on the way to a true kairós has been summarized below:

First of all the letter gives an overview of the extent of damage and destruction by the earthquake; it reports about the initial supporting measures as well as the long-term perspectives for the reconstruction but also about the causes and reasons for Haiti having turned into a country at the edge of its existence.

A “permanent solution“ and a “united response, based on institutions“ to the catastrophe have been urged by the UN General Secretary and Pope Benedict XVI. This way the occurrences of Haiti are to be turned into a Grace of God, into a kairós. But how can this be accomplished in a country with a rich culture, a poor economy, and fragile politics?

This could be achieved by

·     A sense of belonging to the world we live in and to the faith we confess; the sustainability of the answer depends on the involvement of institutions that we are associated with;

·     Through mutual collaboration: The collaboration of departments and the mutual responsibility between governments responsible for the collection and honest administration of supporting aid, and the Church having to take care of the restoration of social structures. Orders play an important role in this process. They have to try to revive a historical presence in a new kind of way.

The engagement for Haiti will have to open new horizons on governmental and church-related level. But the current call for help cannot be left unheard. The point is to show the “zeal of a firefighter“.

Leonardo Boff: Haiti as test case for mankind

Hospitality and solidarity are the virtues that mankind has to remember if it does not wish to be destroyed by a catastrophe similar to the one in Haiti. These words are contained in the article written by Leonardo Boff on the issue what mankind should and has to learn from the earthquake in Haiti.

„ ... In the not too distant future we will have many Haitis with millions of climate refugees ... Haiti can be a sign by the Angel of Death who duskily wanders about claiming the lives of people with his scythe...

The philosopher Kant already regarded hospitality as a privilege and duty for all people as we are all inhabitants, better yet sons and daughters, of this earth. We have the privilege to move about on earth, to accept and grant hospitality. Will the governments be prepared to grant this basic right to all the crowds of people who are not able to live any longer without water and without harvests in their regions affected by global warming? Solidarity is the second virtue. It is inextricably linked with humanity and it is part of the human nature of man ... It means collective awareness and common identity of all...

We have reached a point of our history where we are all integrated in a global society. Without solidarity of everyone with everyone as well as with Mother Earth no one will have a future...”