Pope Francis and Fr Sean McDonagh
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Discuss, Debate, Discern, Decide
Brendan Hoban writes in the Western People that the key to understanding Pope Francis “is in his Jesuit training. In simple terms Jesuits, it seems, place huge emphasis on a two-stage process in dealing with problems. The first is: sponsoring discussion, debate, consultation, discernment. The second is: making a decision.”
Caring for our common home
Sean McDonagh tells us that Pope Francis’ encyclical is ‘ one of the most important documents to come from a Pope in the past one hundred-and-twenty years.’
‘Pope Francis is the first to acknowledge the magnitude of the ecological crisis, the urgency with which it must be faced and the irreversible nature of ecological damage.’
Sean reminds us though that while ‘this is a most exciting document, it is only a beginning. Real efforts and resources have to be placed behind it if this concern is to find its rightful place at the heart of Christian ministry.’Ireland’s Care for Our Common Home
Sean McDonagh, Columban priest and president of An Taisce, reminds us that in his ‘On Care for Our Common Home’ Pope Francis asserted that “Christians realise that their responsibility within creation and their duty towards nature and the Creator, are an essential part of their faith.”
Sean says that “If our care of the environment is judged by our commitment to vision outlined in Laudato Si’ Ireland is not doing well at all. “Dermot Lane commends and challenges the ACP
Dermot Lane offers his thoughts on the ACP in a letter to its annual meeting
A civil war in the Church?
Brendan Hoban in his Western People column questions the commitment of the leadership of the Irish Church to follow Pope Francis on the issue of family.
“Ireland will be represented at the synod in Rome by an archbishop and a nun. In a way no more needs to be said about the response of the Irish Church. While both may well be up to speed on the realities of marriage and family life in Ireland today, neither is married or has children so the signals are all wrong. Isn’t it inexpressibly sad for our Church that there was in Ireland no one the Irish bishops could find to trust who was married and had children?”Laudato Si and the Path to COP 22
Seán McDonagh, SSC reports on a Joint Consultation on ‘Laudato Si’ and the Path to ‘COP 22’ organised by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences.
He quotes Prof. Ramanathan Veerabhadran as saying “the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming is the most important environmental issue facing the world today.”
“At the end of the meeting the group released this document in preparation for the COP 22 which will take place in Marraakesh from November 7 to 18th 2016.
“ The Paris Climate Agreement is historic. For the first time since the signing of the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), all countries have agreed to act in order to protect the planet. The core goals include: (1) keeping warming to “well below 2-degrees C” and “to pursue efforts to keep below 1.5-degree C”; (2) enabling countries to adapt to the adverse impacts already underway; and (3) ensuring the flow of fair and equitable financing to achieve the climate goals.”