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Caring for our Connecticut Water

8/17/2016

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CARING for OUR CONNECTICUT WATER


“ Let the waters under the sky be gathered together in one place and let the   
  dry land appear” (Gen 1:9).
 

Our earth, our home, appears covered with immense quantities of water, but in actuality only 2.5% of the earth’s water is fresh and drinkable. And of that, most is locked in icecaps, permafrost, and underground.  Usable water is shockingly scarce, and yet no natural resource is more essential to life. How important that we care for it wisely and justly. As Pope Francis has written in Laudato Si, “access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right”. Yet, according to the U.N., water scarcity affects more than 40% of the global population and is only expected to rise.
 
Many of us contribute to projects providing safe water and sanitation to those in the third world. But here in CT, water scarcity seems a problem far from us. We open our taps and without a second thought receive high quality, safe, clean water. In the grocery aisles and convenience stores we see an ever increasing array of bottled water advertising its freshness and purity. Yet are there water issues right here in the U.S. and in our home state, which we need to address in order to “care for our common home”? YES.
 
Across the U.S. “water wars” are breaking out.  From California and Oregon to Maine and Florida, for-profit water bottlers have quietly partnered with economic developers to reap profits off municipal water systems and community aquifers. These multinational corporations quietly gain access to community water rights. They mass-produce single serve plastic water bottles from petroleum products in robotic lines each capable of producing 2.5 million bottles/day. The bottles are sent to market in semi-trucks spewing diesel fumes into the air and then marketed as a “superior “ product. Meanwhile, the cost of what is often already-healthy re-processed tap water is marked up exponentially. The $1 spent for a convenience store 16.9 oz brand-name bottled water could buy 281 gallons from a Hartford residential tap. And only about 30% of the bottles are ever recycled.  Most wind up strewn as litter, polluting rivers and the oceans, or buried in landfills where they can take 450 years to degrade. A floating patch of plastic garbage the size of Texas now resides in the Pacific Ocean.  And by 2050 there will be more plastic, by weight, than fish in our seas.
 
Sadly, in late 2015, “water wars” came to Bloomfield, CT where an enormous water bottling factory is now under construction.  Niagara Bottling of California will use up to 1.8 million gallons of municipal water/day to fill up to 10 million single serve plastic water bottles.  Its taxes, water rates, and special sewer service charges have all been discounted. In the exact opposite of conservation pricing, the corporation will be incentivized to use more water by rates that drop once it uses over 500,000gallons/day.
 
Pope Francis, in Laudato Si, warns us that “the control of water by large multinational businesses may become a major source of conflict in this century”. He also urges that we “counteract the throwaway culture which affects the entire planet”, “limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximizing their efficient use, reusing and recycling them”.  One simple way of following his wise counsel is to commit to carrying a reusable water bottle and avoid buying bottled water whenever possible.  Educate others. Be willing to support public financing  that will allow us to replace and repair public water infrastructure, rather than see another Flint, Michigan develop. Help advocate for the completion of the CT state water plan, which will guard the public trust waters of the state, and for legislation which will limit the expansion of water bottling in CT.
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Parish Social Justice Ministry in Action - Silvia's story

8/8/2016

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The Hispanic Social Ministry team from St. Peter Church in Torrington invited me to a meeting to share the work they have been doing in social justice ministry and discover new ideas, opportunities and challenges.
 
When we met, there were two moms who were struggling, who brought their needs to the church.  Culture and language limitations sometimes seem to lead to these encounters.
 
I would like to share with you, a case that required our immediate attention. It exemplifies how community can show mercy.  I am grateful that Silvia has allowed me to share her story.
 
At my meeting with leaders of St. Peter’s in Torrington, someone said “Arturo you have never met Silvia.  She is part of our Parish Social Ministry team.  At the moment she and her five month old baby girl are at CT Children’s Medical Center in Hartford”. So I asked if she and her baby were ok.  I felt that something was not right.  I asked what was going on with her and I was told the baby is very ill.  Silvia is from Torrington so she is sleeping at the hospital and does not have enough money for food. The baby had been hospitalized several times and was once even brought in by helicopter.
 
I asked, “What does she need, what are you doing to help her, what can I do, what can the church do”?
 
I thought of the Gospel reading from Mathew 35:41 “I was sick and you visited me”.  I thought of parishes that were local: Our Lady of Sorrows, Saint Augustine and St. Rose in East Hartford.  Someone from those Social Ministries might be able to help her. 
 
I stopped by to visit her with Mrs. Ana Landskron, who is a volunteer in our office.  My heart was broken when I saw such a beautiful baby lying down very sick. I asked Silvia “How can we help”?  Ana said to Silvia, “Let’s pray Silvia - for you and the baby”…, and we started praying.  The Lord was present and it seemed that somehow peace came to all of us.
 
First Silvia said that she was often hungry while in the hospital sleeping near the baby. She also said that it was hard to have her concerns translated.  At that moment a nurse walked in the room asking if there was anything that Silvia need help with.  Silvia asked the nurse “Please, can Arturo translate something for me.  She wanted to let her know that the baby was not eating much. She also wanted to know if she was able to take her baby back home. “I can have her sleep with me, hug her, and feed her anytime” she said.  She was sad to find out that her baby was not able to leave the hospital at that time.
 
The very next day I called friends from other social ministries at parishes in the Hartford area asking for help. God is good!  Many parishioners from those parishes came forward to help her, to support mom, and bring food for her while she is there. They offered company and lots of prayers. It pleased me so much to see how parishes can come together to help someone in need. Thank you to all who visited and took care of Silvia and her baby.
 
Arturo Iriarte
Parish Social Ministry coordinator
Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry

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Our Mission
To advance Catholic Social Teaching by educating and preparing parishes to work for social justice. 
​The Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry
of the Archdiocese of Hartford

467 Bloomfield Ave. Bloomfield, CT 06002
Phone: 860-242-5573 

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