OFFICE OF SOCIAL MINISTRY
“The poor and the earth are crying out. O Lord, seize us with your power and light, help us to protect all life, to prepare for a better future, for the coming of your Kingdom of justice, peace love and beauty.” (Pope Francis’ closing prayer in “Laudato Si’,” the pope’s 2015 environmental encyclical)
These words, connecting the “cry of the poor” with the “cry of the earth,” were the focus of two “talk story” sessions at the recent IUCN World Conservation Congress in Honolulu.
During a roundtable discussion on mining, ethics and spirituality, participants were reminded that two months after the May 2015 release of “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis called to Rome communities affected by negative consequences of mining. They shared the “cry of the poor” (the struggle for just wages and working conditions) with the “cry of the earth” (polluted water, land and air). The pope urged the participants to engage all those involved in the ecology of mining — the owners, investors, managers, workers, consumers and those who dispose the waste — in responding to the “cry of the poor and earth” for the “the care of our common home.”
The basic message of “Laudato Si’” was also a focus in one of the six special dialogue sessions. A video of Pope Francis sharing his “Prayer for Creation” urged viewers to “make radical changes in the way we protect this precious gift by not only hearing the cry of the earth, but also the cry of the poor.” Parishioners from the Diocese of Honolulu told how the ecological spirituality of “Laudato Si’” is being lived in Hawaii through our One Ohana: Food and Housing for All initiative.
For example, children on Oahu’s leeward coast learn conservation through “hands in the soil” education in a garden called Hoa ‘Aina O Makaha on Sacred Heart, Waianae, parish property. “Laudato Si’” stresses that “everything is connected.” It lifts up St. Francis of Assisi as an example of someone who lived an ecological spirituality that connected the cries of the poor and the earth.
World Conservation Congress participants learned how the Sisters of St. Francis at the Our Lady of Keaau community houses formerly homeless persons who have now joined Sacred Heart parishioners in feeding homeless persons at the boat harbor. These houseless residents call their village Puuhonua O Waianae and they daily protect and care for the area’s anchialine ponds (bodies of water with an underground connection to the ocean) as a part of their kuleana.
These stories show why Pope Francis asks us not only to hear the voice of the poor, but to accompany them on the journey to empowerment and self-determination. “Laudato Si’” calls us to be transformed through experiencing God and our shared vulnerability in the cry of the poor and the earth, connecting us all to care for our common home.
In that spirit, we continue our diocesan talk story enrichment days. The next ones are at the Kamiano Center in Honolulu on Sept. 24 and at Annunciation Parish in Waimea on the Big Island Oct. 1. Both run 9 a.m.-noon.
For more information, please contact rstark@rcchawaii.org or itamashiro@rcchawaii.org.
Also, HOPE Services Hawaii, Catholic Charities Hawaii and other faith-based organizations, are sponsoring “Help End Family Homelessness” sessions on Oct. 5 in Hilo, and one yet to be scheduled on the Kona side in November. For more information, contact bmenino@hopeserviceshawaii.org.
Mahalo,
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
