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#LiveLaudatoSi Learning Webinar: Women of Faith – EcoLeaders

Celebrates 5th Anniversary of Laudato Si'

“I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone...” Pope Francis, Laudato Si’(14)

By CJ Martin and  Agnes Richard

In May 2015, Pope Francis issued the Encyclical Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home, in which he expressed his profound desire for every human being on the planet to commit to the changes necessary to protect our common home and care for the most vulnerable among us.

In May 2020, the message could not be more important.  At time of writing we are entering a pause where our hyper-consuming, frenetically active business-as-usual has come to a stand-still all around the world, creating an opening to ask:  what can come next?

Women of faith who have been living Laudato’s Si’s message for decades have much to share in answer to that question.

On Wednesday, May 20^th, at 1:30 (EST), Global Catholic Climate Movement - Canada will host a one-hour teaching webinar, “Women of Faith - EcoLeaders”, featuring Sister Priscilla Solomon, CSJ and Sister Linda Gregg, CSJ both of the Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada.  The important and practical work in Care of Creation and ecological justice done by these Sisters give them important voices in this epoch of change.

Moderated by GCCM Canada coordinator Agnes Richard, the Sisters will speak to questions such as: If we look at the combined Vatican documents resulting from the Synod for the Amazon can these be understood as a model for discussions about social and ecological justice in biomes other than the Amazon? Are there parallels between the damaging effects of colonialism in the Amazon, and problems here in Canada?  What does Pope Francis mean to practice inculturation with regard to relationships between the Catholic Church and Indigenous people? What work is being done by Catholic women in the Amazon?  Following decades of leadership from communities of Catholic women in Canada, what actions can be taken in support of ecological justice in this country?

Sister Priscilla Solomon, CSJ, is an Ojibway woman of the Anishinabek Nation and a Sister of St. Joseph in Canada from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. As the coordinator of the Faith and Justice ministry in her congregation, with special attention to ecological justice, Indigenous rights and right relations, she has recently focused on healing and reconciliation between Indigenous Peoples and Settler Peoples in Canada.  She also worked with Sister Eva Solomon in the Western Assembly of Catholic Bishops’ Building Bridges program which is focused on Indigenous inculturation and interculturation of faith. As the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon heard pleas to defend the rights of the region's Indigenous people and of the land they hold sacred, Indigenous and church leaders from Canada and the U.S.A. went to Rome to support them. Sister Priscilla Solomon was among the Jesuit-sponsored delegation to the simultaneous Tienda de la Casa Comûn symposium.

Sister Linda Gregg, CSJ, has a B.A. in Indigenous Studies from Trent University, and both a Masters of Divinity and a Doctorate of Ministry in Eco-Theology from Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto, where she is now a part-time faculty member.  She coordinates an 80 plot organic community garden at St. Joseph Villa in Cobourg along with extensive Sister’s organic gardens. She ministers as an experienced Retreat Director, Spiritual Director, and as an Organic Master Gardener.

FREE registration for #LiveLaudatoSi Learning Webinar: Women of Faith - EcoLeaders,

Wednesday, May 20, 2020, 1:30 to 2:30, through this link.

For those who would like a refresher on Laudato Si’ this half hour video, Laudato Si’ A Canadian Response, will be helpful. And for information about the Vatican Synod for the Amazon, this one hour webinar A future for the Amazon – A future for all, prepared by Caritas Canada Development and Peace, may also be useful background. 

Any questions about the event can directed to Agnes Richard.