In Part II, I covered the introduction to Laudato Si’ with emphasis on its spiritual roots in Pope Francis’ relationship with St. Francis of Assisi. Today, I will give an overview of the first five Chapters, necessarily not comprehensive and necessarily from “30,000-feet.”

Chapter One describes our Earth’s woes. We are familiar with some: climate change and threats to water (including increasing scarcity), air, soil and biodiversity, for example. We may be less familiar with how these things bring about a decline in the quality of human life, and we may not realize that the burden of environmental degradation is born disproportionately by the most vulnerable. The Pope urges us to search for the right path between two wrong views; one view says we need do nothing because the earth will heal itself with the application of new technology and without the need for any ethical considerations or deep change; the other says that the only solution is to reduce the human population and all forms of intervention in nature. Continue reading “Walking Before We Fly, (Pt. III) – Joe Genova” →

Next week, I will be able to wish my Daddy a “Happy Father’s Day.”  At the same time, in Minneapolis, a young six-year-old girl named Gianna will not.  Gianna’s father was George Floyd, the Black man cruelly, callously murdered by white cops just a few weeks ago.  I have been struck by the action that has risen in the wake of his death—the discussions, the protests, the riots, the call for change.  As Gianna observed, her “Daddy changed the world.”  And we should all pray that her observation rings true.

When I watched the video of George Floyd’s death, I saw the humanity taken away from him.  He called out for “Mama”; he called out for “water”; he called out for breath.  He called out for the gifts that God grants us as His people—but still, George Floyd died from the oppressive power of the law in this country.  I pray to God every time I see the video replay that He will bless George with a different outcome—that this father will be able to get up and see his children.  Instead, Gianna and her siblings—and all of us—must relive what happened for the rest of our lives.  We are forced to see what white complacency, fragility, supremacy, and inaction do to Black people. Continue reading “Called to Act – Lauren Lee Pettiette Schewel” →