Square Box/Round Earth: The Campaign Workshops Begin

Ecological Justice: from seed to flower

"I was just struck by this idea of the big box store," reflected Tom, building on an earlier comment, "What we are trying to do is take the Earth, which is round, and turn it into a square box."  A big box is efficient, economical etc. etc. but is not our planet.  We can't turn a round planet into a square box. But we are trying and we are destroying our home in the process.




It was an apt reflection by our Simcoe County zone rep as we kicked off a new five-year campaign on ecological justice in a three and a half hour formation session.  I am so grateful for Becky Johnson and her team at St. Mary's parish in Barrie (Jack, Darlene, Joanne).  They do such a great job hosting these annual gatherings for the northern part of the Toronto Archdiocese. Thank-you!

Fifteen people spent the morning of October 15th exploring the meaning of ecological justice and looking at how supporting small-scale agriculture can help reduce climate change. This was the first of 6 similar workshops offered across the whole archdiocese. For information to attend other dates click here

What a 'silent discussion' looks like.

Participants delved into this year's D&P campaign materials by rotating through 5 different stations each named for one of the five theological principles guiding our work for the next five years: Integral Human Development,  Sacredness of the Earth, Option for the Poor, The Common Good, and Solidarity.  Activities ranged from negotiating climate deals to 'silent group discussion'.



 We ended our time together by watching the campaign DVD for this year and praying the litany for the earth: "Encourage us Lord, that we might have the courage to press for changes by the principalities and powers of our society." 

Cohesion in Barrie

On Saturday I was on the road up to St. Mary's in Barrie early in the morning.  By 11:00am we had 18 people posting blue water drops on the wall.  Each drop contained words sharing the experience of water in our faith.  This was part of a formation workshop facilitated by myself and our national council member Sylvia Skrepichuk on our new water campaign.  Sticking stuff on walls is a favourite workshop tactic, especially in popular education.  Somehow a workshop feels more productive if something is stuck on the wall - why is that? At the very least I would say it makes things pretty.

This time we did something a bit different though. The drops were not placed on the wall wily nily.  You can see in the picture that I've posted how they fit together.  We did this to illustrate the phenomenon of cohesion.  Our campaign Tabloid uses the cohesive properties of water to describe the work of KruHa, an indonesian organization supported by Development and Peace, "each drop of water becomes stronger when united with other drops of water.  Indonesian water activists work much the same way.  Development and Peace partner KruHa (the People's Coalition for the Right to Water) is a coalition of more than 30 Indonesian organizations, each working to ensure water access for all Indonesians, especially the marginalized."

One participant, 'fair-trade Bob' (a leader in the local fair trade movement), happens to be an oceanographer by training.  Speaking of cohesion led him to comment on the many other amazing properties of the H20 molecule. Indeed, this gift given by God for life is truly unique.

Water also adopts amazing properties when placed in a water gun. Bob found this out when playing the role of a bottled water company denying peasant farmers access to a local spring.  The activity was part of a simluation to share the experiences of the Sukabumi community in Indonesia described in our Tabloid.

The morning formation was the third of four being offered in the Archdiocese of Toronto. We do one for each of the North, Central, Western and Eastern regions of the Archdiocese.  The west is the last, November 27th at St. Dominic's in Mississauga (625 Atwater) 9:00-1:00pm. Do come!