by
Maxine Pohlman, SSND Director, LaVista Ecological Learning Ctr. (Republished from OMIUSA.org)
On April
29th, following our semi-annual meeting at the OMI Provincial Offices, members
of the OMI JPIC Committee, under the leadership of Antonio Ponce, OMI,
participated in the People’s Climate March. United with over 200,000
people on the streets of Washington, DC, and tens of thousands of people at
over 400 sister marches around the world, we showed our concern for climate
action. It was a powerful experience to be united with people from a
variety of faith traditions, from environmental, justice, labor, student,
indigenous, and social justice groups from around the country.
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| OMI JPIC Director, Fr. Antonio Ponce, OMI is at center-right in green shirt in the photo from the Washington march. |
Pope
Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si was very present, being quoted on
hundreds of creative signs carried by energized people of faith. The most
repeated quote was one OMIs also find central to the encyclical and to the
climate crisis: “Hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
Antonio
Ponce, OMI, and committee members were pleased to carry a sign provided by the
Global Catholic Climate Movement, which read “Catholics for Climate Action.”
According to Pope Francis, “climate action” includes developing
“…policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and
other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced, for example,
substituting for fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy.”
What can
one person do? Each of us can vote for candidates that are in alignment
with this kind of action, both locally and nationally. How shall we do
this? In the same spirit expressed both during the Climate March and in
the encyclical, “Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern
for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.”
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| (L-R) Antonio Ponce, OMI, Séamus Finn, OMI, Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Christine Huelsmann, Gary Huelsmann |
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