CSCA folks may be interested to attend the Metro Vancouver Alliance Seminar this weekend, which is meeting to discuss Pope Francis’s recent focus on caring for the environment.
Pope Francis is a religious leader who has captured the world’s imagination as few before him. For those who assume a pope is simply the top representative of a church hierarchy that has nothing to do with them, Francis’s progressive and egalitarian approach to pastoring and teaching sets him apart.
His papal letter last year, Laudato Si (Praise Be), dovetailed precisely with a climate-change debate that was reaching critical mass. It became an unlikely sensation, especially among progressive groups just like ours. MVA’s current list of campaigns – Income justice, housing affordability, accessible transit, and social inclusion – does not explicitly include “climate change” in its agenda, but many of our leaders know intuitively, as does Pope Francis, that abuse of our natural environment underlies a host of modern social wounds – indeed, is inseparable from them. In our 2-hour session, we’ll discuss the interconnections that Pope Francis makes in his prophetic call for an “ecological conversion.”
If you are looking for spiritual sustenance in your work for the common good – or for a crisp moral argument, or a framework for the partnership of science and faith, or even a roadmap of humanity’s journey to this climate crisis – you may find it in Laudato Si. Come join other MVA leaders in a fortifying discussion of this watershed document. (Source)
Please note, space is limited please rsvp directly to mvaseminar@shaw.ca