April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
ADVOCACY
Local discussion on papal encyclical
Father Broderick heads the Albany Diocese's Pueblo to People sister-parish program, which matches parishes here with those in other countries, and he advocates on environmental issues. He said the pope's encyclical is "urging us to look at our consumer lifestyles and put our needs more in line with the global family's."
Some Catholics are using the release of "Laudato Si'" as an opportunity to become leaders on environmental issues: for instance, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet want to spearhead sustainability efforts.
"We have such an effect on folks; we have to be witnesses and role models" for the greater community, said Sister Linda Neil, CSJ, who holds a Master's degree in earth literacy and leads presentations on environmental issues. The sisters plan to cite the encyclical in articles for the religious order in the upcoming months.
"Laudato Si'" has sparked the need for an interfaith conversation about preserving the earth, as well. The University at Albany's interfaith center and sustainability department will sponsor an interfaith panel Sept. 17 with an overview of the papal encyclical by Bishop Emeritus Howard J. Hubbard of the Albany Diocese, plus a talk with spiritual leader Tom Porter of the Mohawk Nation and a "sustainability dinner."
"There's a professor on campus who has an organic farm, and he has free-range chickens," explained Donna Crisafulli, executive director of the interfaith center. "We're going to try, through him, to get all the food for the dinner."
The College of Saint Rose in Albany also plans to integrate the encyclical into an interfaith discussion. The Sidney and Beatrice Albert lectureship, founded in 1991 to promote interfaith dialogue, will host a "panel discussion [on] getting the perspective from other faith traditions, relative to what [the pope] has to say," said Deb Riitano, a Catholic who serves as executive director of the ecumenical Capital Area Council of Churches.
"I think that, if we all join in the various faith traditions to explore this, important results will come from that," Ms. Riitano told The Evangelist.
"We need to listen to our fellow humans. I think we're being invited into listening to all of creation," said Sister Linda.
The encyclical is "a call for everyone to rethink our unthinking patterns of life," said Father Broderick. "We really are connected to everyone else in some way."[[In-content Ad]]
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