In light of faith: Let your voice be heard! Posted on June 15, 2017 (A series of columns focused on and written by millennials and young adults)
By Patrick Laorden
Catholic News Service

“Make your voice heard; let it resonate in communities and let it be heard by your shepherd of souls,” proclaims Pope Francis in his letter to young people this past January. As we look to the upcoming Synod of Bishops in October 2018, these times are crucial for young adults to be engaged in the life of the church.  For me, this means being an advocate for social change in a world very much in need of it.  For almost five years, I discerned religious life with the Dominicans. My time in formation helped me to understand the apostolic life of the church and what it means to go into the world and proclaim the Gospel as the friars have done for more than 800 years.

In 2014, I served as a missionary in Kenya and made a silent pilgrimage through Kibera, the largest urban slum in Africa. While there, I saw extreme poverty. But I also saw a persevering spirit within the people.  This encounter was where I truly realized what I was called to do: to dedicate my life working for social change. Though I did not continue with formation, God’s provided me with a new way to answer this call.  Today I work as a parish social ministry coordinator. I organize an annual social justice conference, provide faith formation in parishes and schools, work with parish social ministry leaders and connect with local grass-roots organizations.

I’ve noticed a smaller young adult presence at Mass and in social justice efforts. On occasion, young adult groups participate in daylong opportunities to do service. However, they are by and large not engaged in ongoing advocacy or ministry. I’m left asking the question: Where are they? I suspect the upcoming synod will ask that same question.

Our pope wants to hear from us and wants the world to hear from us. That means we need to move beyond direct service into advocacy, where we can bring the Gospel into the public square, for instance, by looking at unjust policies and communicating with our legislators. It means regularly showing up in pews and food pantries alike.

In preparation for the synod, I think we should turn to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “Two Feet of Love in Action” inspired by Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclicals “Deus Caritas Est” (“God is Love”) and “Caritas in Veritate” (“Charity in Truth”), which remind us that when it comes to love of neighbor, we need two feet: charity and social justice.

Charity responds to immediate needs and specific situations, like my ministry at a children’s orphanage in Kenya. Social justice entails finding solutions to the structural dimension of problems, such as how these slums came to existence in the first place, and how we might change those conditions.

Pope Francis has repeatedly challenged young adults to create a culture of encounter by emulating Jesus. This requires going beyond our routine activities and concerns, listening to and accompanying others and awakening ourselves from complacency. Our faith will only continue to grow if we remain steadfast and share it.  My challenge to fellow young Catholics is to raise our voices so that the world knows a different way.

​Composting is simple.  The following are thoughts of the author and many more ideas and techniques can be found online or in books.
 
If you live on a property with the space for a compost pile, you can simply begin to pile your organic materials in a spot that you select. You don’t really need a container to make compost, but, if you don’t have the space, or if you prefer a more tidy appearance, you can use a container.  A wide range of containers are available to purchase or you might choose to construct your own bin or container.  A container can be as simple as a modified trash can. (Remove the bottom, drill a few small holes, and place it on the soil).
 
After choosing a place and method, start collecting organic materials to put on your pile or into your container.  From outside of your home, you can use leaves, grass clippings, weeds and garden debris.  From inside of your home, you can include kitchen waste from vegetables or fruits, egg shells, bread, coffee or tea grounds, and paper towels that have not been exposed to chemicals or toxic substances. You should avoid meat, bones and dairy products as these materials will attract unwanted rodents.  You should also avoid anything that is toxic and pet feces in order to maintain the healthy quality of the finished compost.
 
The next step is to simply wait.  You can keep adding materials to your pile or container and the finished compost will first appear on the bottom.  If you want to accelerate the process, you can periodically turn or mix the contents. 
 
The final step is to use it.  Use it at your convenience - Compost won’t spoil.  You can spread it lightly on your lawn to make it greener. You can apply it to your garden to make the plants stronger, healthier and more disease-resistant.  You can sprinkle it around your houseplants or container plants. You can package it and give it to friends and neighbors.  And even if you never use it, you’ve already done great work by keeping organic waste out of the waste stream.
 
There are rarely problems encountered in small-scale composting, but the two most common issues are easily addressed.  In the ordinary process of anaerobic decomposition, microbes and other decomposers need both oxygen and moisture.  If you find that the contents become slimy, wet or smelly (too much moisture and not enough oxygen), add more dry materials like dried leaves, shredded paper, paper towels or sawdust, and then mix the contents.  If the materials are too dry, decomposition will be slow.  The remedy for this condition is to add more green materials like fruit and vegetable scraps, grass clippings, or a small amount of water, and then mix the contents.
 
I urge you to respond to Pope Francis’ call for action by composting.  In a small but important way, you can do something about the “immense pile of filth” that Pope Francis describes in Laudato Si. 
 
Written by Michael Lefebvre, OCSJM Laudato Sí Team member

Over the past several years we have been working with The Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fatima, to make social ministry an integral part of the entire parish. With funding from our Cooperative Parish Sharing (CPS) program and assistance from Arturo Iriarte, OCSJM Parish Social Ministry coordinator, the sisters have been able to build upon their ministries to families and youth. Sister Aurea Torres, who is the local Superior of her order, is currently the Coordinator of the youth group "Youth in Action with Christ" from St. Augustine and St. Anne-Immaculate Conception Churches. As the Director of Religious Education at Saint Anne-Immaculate Conception Church she coordinates the Saint Monica Women's Group, both programs which have received CPS support.

Sister Aurea also collaborates with the RCIA program for young people, and the various parish groups and ecclesial movements. She is currently working with Arturo to offer a workshop about CRS Rice Bowl on Saturday October 15, and is planning future workshops on topics such as Human Trafficking and Know Your Rights.

The Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fatima were founded by the Servant of God Mother Dominga Guzman-Florit in 1949 in Yauco, Puerto Rico.  They are a Puerto Rican Religious Congregation of Pontifical Right that are affiliated with the Order of Preachers (Dominican Friars) called to serve all people, but especially the family.  Their missionary presence is found in Puerto Rico, the United States, Haiti, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. They also offer social work in Connecticut, Washington and Texas.

​Sister Aurea was born in Arroyo, Puerto Rico, “I am the 6th of 7 children of Ricardo Torres and Josefina Ramos. I am blessed with a very special family where my parents planted in our hearts the love of God, devotion to the Virgin Mary and love of our brothers and sisters. In November of 1969 I was baptized. My parents were a living example of love of God and the Church. Every day we prayed the rosary as a family and that tradition continues on to this day. Together as a family we participated in the Holy Mass in the Chapel of San José. In that community my spiritual life developed.”

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.

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

“Laudato Si’ — On Care of Our Common Home” is the title of Pope Francis’ second encyclical letter. These two lyrical Italian words, taken from a prayer by Saint Francis of Assisi praising God for all creation, translate into English as “Praised Be” or “Be Praised.” They remind us of our personal responsibility to God to be good stewards of his creation.

Last summer, even before the encyclical was published, there was speculation — from scientists, environmentalists, politicians and others — about the “hardline” stance the encyclical might take on global warming and climate change. “Laudato Si,” however, proved to be more of a social encyclical than an environmental one.

Just as Pope Saint John Paul II advocated “integral human development” in the face of contemporary social evils, now Pope Francis calls for an “integral ecology” that addresses environmental issues in the larger context of economic, social, cultural, and moral questions. Although global warming is clearly a focus, our Holy Father is not trying to write a scientific exposition. Rather, he is drawing our attention to the obligation we have from God to be good stewards of life and of our planet.

As we see in the Book of Genesis, God entrusts the world he has created to us, and our stewardship has moral and ethical implications. Genesis also teaches that the human person exists in three fundamental and closely interconnected relationships: with God, with our neighbor and with material creation. We are intrinsically linked to each other and to all God’s creatures by unseen bonds that constitute a universal web of relationships. This entails a responsibility on our part for the common good, including the good of future generations.

These relationships, Pope Francis says, are broken by the sin of “presuming to take the place of God and refusing to acknowledge our creaturely limitations,” (66). Moreover, our increasing manipulative power over nature has objectified it and diminished our reverence. As a result, “our common home is falling into serious disrepair … and we can see signs that things are now reaching a breaking point,” says the Holy Father (61).

Increased awareness and a resolve to remedy the situation lead to everyday things like recycling, turning off unneeded lights, reducing plastic and paper use, carpooling, separating refuse, participating in Greater New Haven’s clean-up and preservation efforts, caring for other living creatures, and any number of socially-conscious steps that improve respect and protection for what God has created and entrusted to our stewardship.

Pope Francis writes that such efforts “benefit society, often unbeknown to us, for they call forth a goodness which, albeit unseen, inevitably tends to spread” (212).

“Laudato Si” is an urgent reminder that care for our “common home” is a profound moral responsibility shared by us all.

The Most Reverend Leonard P. Blair is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Hartford.

5
Hear stories about refugees and inmates, and get pointers for the upcoming presidential election

4
Pick up Social Justice summer reading materials

3
Purchase fair trade coffee, chocolate, tea, and crafts

2
Meet other Catholic social justice leaders from around Connecticut

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Kick-off Laudato Si' Week with keynote presenter, Sr. Damien Marie Savino

Register!

Online or by calling 860-242-5573

“The Church without frontiers, Mother to all, spreads throughout the world a culture of acceptance and solidarity, in which no one is seen as useless, out of place, or disposable.” Pope Francis Message for the 2015 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, September 3, 2014

In this Year of Mercy, how are we providing shelter to the homeless? How are we caring for the immigrants among us?  Do our undocumented brothers and sisters feel  "a culture of acceptance and solidarity"?

Currently, all public colleges and universities in Connecticut set aside a proportion of tuition revenue to be used as ‘institutional aid’ to assist students with a demonstrated financial need. Undocumented Connecticut students, without immigration status, pay full tuition. They contribute towards this institutional aid, yet Connecticut does not allow undocumented students access to receive institutional aid.

After graduating from our state’s high schools, higher education remains out of reach. It doesn’t have to be this way! Our legislators have the power to change the way institutional aid is given out, so that undocumented students are able to get access to the scholarships their tuition helps fund.

For more information about how to take action and stand in solidarity with the undocumented students, check out the ct4adream.

Turning on the faucet, and having clean water come out, is a luxury that is easy to take for granted. The crisis in Flint, Michigan has helped us realize that safe, clean, water is a precious resource, even in the United States.  Over the last few month, Connecticut has also been talking about water, but not because it is toxic. Bloomfield’s water has been so well cared for that it is attractive to massive water bottling companies.  Niagara Bottling has been working with the Metropolitan District Commission to create a water bottling plant in Bloomfield.  This California- based corporation would bottle an enormous number of bottles a day- 1.8 million gallons, so much that concerned citizens are calling this a “water raid.”
 
Bottling this much water a day will have an effect on all of Connecticut, not just Bloomfield.  Recently, Senate Bill 422 was approved in the committee and needs to go to the floor for a vote.  According to the concerned citizens and environmental advocates: SB422 would
“Prioritize state residents in a drought and prohibit the export of water out of state in any Drought Emergency. Residents will be cutting water use while water bottling companies will be shipping it out-of-state. The DPH will step in only when our reservoirs are down to 10% capacity. Revise our state drought plan to protect residents. The only way to protect Connecticut's water while its state water plan is being developed is to pass SB422. (Clean Water Action, http://tinyurl.com/water322)
 
“ Without legislation, it will continue to be "open season" for corporate raids on our water. Who gets to decide the future of our water?  SB22 would put a moratorium on large water sales and level the playing field for water rates and special sewer charges for ALL customers. Help protect Connecticut's water. Urge your state representative and state senator to support SB422.”(Bloomfield Citizens,  http://tinyurl.com/water4716)
 
As Catholics, we believe that water is a fundamental right. Caring for creation is one of the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching.  The next month will be a critical time to learn about the Niagara deal and help Connecticut form just policies around water usage to protect this sacred resource for both the present and the future.  

​There will be Department of Energy and Environmental Protection public hearings, legislative visits, and an email campaign that will be happening as part of the Bloomfield Citizens actions.  If you would like to stay up to date on this issue or be a part of advocating for a just water plan for Connecticut, please contact Sarah.Hillier@aohct.org
 

Today, March 22, is World Water Day!  Catholics believe that everyone has a right to water: It is a right to life issue. "The right to food, like the right to water, has an important place within the pursuit of other rights, beginning with the fundamental right to life. It is therefore necessary to cultivate a public conscience that considers food and access to water as universal rights of all human beings, without distinction or discrimination.” (Caritas in Veritate, §. 27)  
 
Throughout today, consider learning about issues related to water, praying for those who are experiences problems with their local water, and taking action.

Across the globe, we hear stories of water...
Read Drop by Drop. It is an engaging story that helps children understand important lessons of how to work for justice and peace and to help those in need. The story is about a girl named Sylvie and how her village needed water.  After reading Drop by Drop, see how you and your parish can donate to Catholic Relief Services.

Across the United States, we hear stories of water...
Nestle Waters—the largest bottler of water in the world—is drawing millions of gallons of water a year from the San Bernardino National Forest. Nestle’s permit to remove this precious resource expired in 1988, at which point the Forest Service should have turned off the spigot.  Watch a four-minute documentary explaining the impact Nestle’s operation is having on the forest and demand that the company and our government ensure this shared public resource is protected for future generations.    —  Visit storyofstuff.org/movies/nestle/  for more information.
 
Across the state and in our backyard, we hear stories of water...
Niagara Bottling, a large California-based corporation, wants to  purchase 1.8 million gallons of water per day from greater Hartford's public supply so they can bottle it and sell it. Their plan is to manufacture 2.6 million single-use plastic bottles of water per day at a new Bloomfield plant. Connecticut residents are mobilizing to address the gaps in local review of water management decisions, not just in Bloomfield but in all the communities served by the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) . Learn more about this issue and write to you local representatives through Clean Water Action’s website:  http://tinyurl.com/water322.

For more information on this topic visit.