Moving toward the Hanukkah of Light

Despite the Darkness

 For years, The Shalom Center has talked about “Corporate Carbon Pharaohs” that make huge profits out of deeply wounding – scorching -- Mother Earth and the web of life that sustains us all.  Their greed has been killing human beings in floods and famines, droughts and the spread of tropical diseases.  And these Corporate Carbon Pharaohs have devoted a small proportion of their profits to buying elections --  making sure that democracy cannot halt their business plan for burning Earth.  In the last few weeks, we have learned both how vile the behavior of these Carbon Pharaohs has actually become,  and how dogged, creative organizing can stop them.  On the one hand, now we know that beginning in 1977, Exxon, one of the biggest of the Corporate Carbon Pharaohs, knew from its own scientists that the massive burning of oil was overheating the planet and would lead to deep destruction, many deaths. And they lied about their knowledge in order to continue and cover up this crime. If Exxon were an ordinary person, its behavior might be called conspiracy to murder.  And on the other hand, after seven years of organizing in many forms – rallies, prayer services, huge marches, nonviolent arrests, persistent lobbying – President Obama has just “buried” the XL Tar Sands Pipeline before the Pipeline could literally bury cowboys, Indians, farmers, prairies, ice fields, and human communities.  So now we know –- even though Exxon lied, even though people died, it is still true that we can decide – if we choose to.  Now  that we know about Exxon’s criminal cover-up, what should we do? 

"Concerning Care for Our Common Home" [This is the full and final text of the encyclical by Pope Francis, issued at Noon Rome time (6 a.m.  EDT) on June 18, 2015. The encyclical addresses the climate crisis from a powerfully universal spiritual outlook,  biblically rooted, and sets that crisis in the broader context of several increasingly powerful technologies used in increasingly destructive ways so as to endanger our Mother Earth -- and then in the even broader context of a systemic spiritual crisis afflicting the world culture, economy, and politics. [Laudato Si, beginning with its title, evokes the life-work of St. Francis of Assisi in his love for the poor and of all Creation. [It is notable that this day marks the renewal of what/who  St. Francis called "Sister Moon,"  and thereby is the first day of the Jewish lunar "moonth" of Tammuz and the Muslim lunar "moonth" of Ramadan.  Ramadan very clearly and Tammuz to some extent call forth renewed self-examination by individuals and societies of their relationship to the Spirit; to greed and top-down exploitation by the powerful; and to the Earth. The choice of 1 Ramadan as the day to prclaim Laudato Si may reflect Pope Francis' desire for a world-wide flowering of Earth-loving responses from all religions and possibly his admiration for St Francis' unusual attempts during the Crusades to seek peace and wisdom in dialogue with Islam. Emphases of the first three paragraphs, paragraph 139, and the universal prayer near the end are mine.--  AW, editor]

The encyclical letter of the Holy Father Francis -- Laudato Si: Concerning Care for Our Common Home

 1. “Laudato si’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”. 2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made upof her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters. Nothing in this world is indifferent to us.  3. More than fifty years ago, with the world teetering on the brink of nuclear crisis, Pope Saint John XXIII wrote an Encyclical which not only rejected war but offered a proposal for peace. He addressed his message Pacem in Terris to the entire “Catholic world” and indeed “to all men and women of good will”. Now, faced as we are with global environmental deterioration, I wish to address every person living on this planet. In my Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I wrote to all the members of the Church with the aim of encouraging ongoing missionary renewal. In this Encyclical, I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home.