BACKGROUND
Before the issuance of Laudato Si
The 1983 Vancouver Assembly of the World Council of Churches was a response “to a situation of crisis”:
Damage to environment —> God’s Creation
Threat posed to the survival of life — > God as Creator
Liberator
Sustainer
IMPERATIVE
People are called upon to renew their covenant with God — > God as FAITHFUL
Covenant Partner
JPIC according to Laudato Si
Pope Francis, quoting St. Francis of Assisi’s “Laudato si, mi Signore”,
“Praise be to you, my Lord”:
“In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi
reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. ‘Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs.’”
“The sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her….”
IMPERATIVE
“The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. . . . Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home.”
WHAT MUST BE DONE
World Council of Churches, 1983
Respond to the call to renew our covenant with God by affirming his Creation and HIM as Creator, Liberator, Sustainer amidst the increasing threats to the environment and survival of life
Laudato Si – Pope Francis
“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, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affects us all. . . . We require a new universal solidarity. . . . All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents.”
THROUGH THE IHMP – JPIC MINISTRY in works of transformation
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Help in the values formation of the other ministries by incorporating environmental knowledge and encouraging action to care for / nurture it in all aspects of everyday life through catechesis, worship, and social action (with ecological resource management as a practical application of such knowledge and concern, starting in every household)
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Help the other ministries in providing direction for a more environment-oriented Christian living, good citizenship, a more environment-conscious and focused leadership with the Church and Government in partnership toward restoring the environment, mitigating / overcoming the dangers to life, and affirming God’s presence in all Creation
The JPIC Ministry, in terms of membership, is unlike the other ministries in that there is just a core team of two “heads” each of two families identified as “JPIC” in the activities of the IHMP Parish Pastoral Council. However, since the imperatives of JPIC concerns all ministries and everyone else, everyone in the IHMP is a member of JPIC, with the “technical” JPIC in the PPC organizational structure acting as coordinator or facilitator or advocate or partner of IHMP in its overall environmental agenda and activities, such as “Go, Grow, Rainforest.” At present, we continue to contribute through the media (Philippine Daily Inquirer and People’s Journal) articles clarifying environmental issues. We are also working with the Catholic Women’s League, national level through one of its officers who is also a parishioner of IHMP, to promote ecological waste management in all the dioceses of the country, starting with the preparatory activities for and the celebration itself of the CWL anniversary last May 2016, to be continued this September with the orientations for Manila / Quezon City dioceses.
