ASIA/INDIA - The "Laudato Sì Week", for a better tomorrow

Monday, 18 May 2020 laudato sì   sustainable development   local churches   orders  

Mumbai (Agenzia Fides) - "As a Catholic community in India we want to reflect, pray, discuss and act for a more just and sustainable tomorrow": says to Agenzia Fides Fr. Joseph Gonsalves, at the head of the Archdiocesan office for the Environment in Bombay, reporting how the Indian Church is celebrating the 5th anniversary of the encyclical "Laudato Sì", with the special "Laudato Sì Week" from 16 to 24 May.
The Archdiocesan Office for the Environment has prepared a short booklet suggesting various activities for groups and families, also during the confinement period, imposed to contain the coronavirus. We recommend behaviors and awareness initiatives for a sustainable lifestyle throughout the year, for parents, young people, students. In the meantime, Fr. Ivel Mendanha, Redemptorist, made a series of videos that reflect on Pope Francis' document: "Together with a daily reflection on a different aspect of the protection of Creation, we also provide activities that can be practiced every day, during the week from 16 to 24 May. Let us unite to protect our common Home", said Fr. Ivel to Fides. While the world is in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we place our trust in God and do our part to build a better world. We are a family united with God, with humanity, with Creation: let's take care of each other, for future generations", adds Fr. Mendanha, urging all the baptized Indians to seriously take a path of reflection and action, following the criteria indicated in Laudato Sì.
Among the various communities and religious orders involved in raising awareness, the Indian Jesuits re-launched the importance of the encyclical Laudato Sì for schools, recommending a whole series of resources and actions. Students are encouraged to join "Tarumitra" ("Friends of the trees"), a large student organization in India, whose mission is "to protect and promote a healthy environment on Earth". The student movement was conceived and launched by the Jesuits of the Patna province in 1998 and is now a project of the Jesuit Conference of South Asia. The movement covers a network of hundreds of high schools and colleges across India: in the Laudato Sì week all members are invited to spread an ecological sensitivity and promote a spirituality and a vision of the world that are "friends of the earth" and do not consider the "common Home" as an environment to be exploited. (SD-PA) (Agenzia Fides, 18/5/2020)


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