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Archives Ursulines add voices to call for climate change

Oct. 15, 2014

By Sister Sheila Murphy, OSU
Member, Diocesan Faith & Ecology group

The streets of NeW York City around Columbus Circle  Sept. 21, were filled with joyous, peaceful citizens who were “Taking a Call for Climate Change to the Streets” according to the New York Times.

“Legions of demonstrators descended…with a message of alarm for world leaders set to gather [that] week for a summit meeting on climate change,”  the neWspaper reported.

The latest figure estimated for participation was 400,000 including Ursuline Sisters With connections to the Diocese of Ogdensburg.
The atmosphere was electric, energizing, spirited.  No problems, no complaints, no disrespect, no agony. 

As people emerged from subway exits they sought the means of joining the crowd with others already in the street; however the police were polite and conscientious as they invited people to keep moving - otherwise there would have been a grand back-up!  

There was no rain despite some earlier warnings.  And no sun - that would have been very uncomfortable on a warm fall day. 

There were banners, streamers, symbols, singers, pray-ers, drummers, bell ringers, color designations, parents with kids, and grandparents.

A couple outfitted in neon green had come on a bus from Plattsburgh! 

And finally after a good while waiting on 57th Street, the “Catholic” group got the okay to start moving. 

This joyful occasion was not all fun and games: at an appropriate moment there was silence befitting the seriousness of the message - the message was understood as nothing less than the future of life on planet Earth.

Catholic bishops have made known their concerns RE: carbon pollution and its effect on living beings.

“Increasingly limited access to water, reduced crop yields, more widespread disease, more frequent and intense droughts and storms, as well as conflict over declining resources—are all making the lives of the world’s poorest people even more precarious.”  (Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development & Committee on International Justice and Peace)

Dominican Patricia Siemen shared her reasons for participating in the March: “We are marching to demonstrate our solidarity with everyone who has a commitment to change the environmentally destructive ways we are living as a people….As a woman of faith, I believe it is our moral responsibility to care for all of creation.”

In August our own Bishop LaValley, during his blessing of the solar panels at his residence, pointed out that as Catholics, “we should foster a deep respect for the sacredness of God’s creation….The solar panels are good economically, environmentally, and spiritually [but the savings are minor considering] what can be done to create a more sustainable future that is consistent with God’s intention” for our world. 400,000 people certainly think we can do a better job now in caring for Earth, our home.

Ursulines

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