Global – Welcoming and sharing of efforts in caring for our common home at the Ecojesuit Meeting 2023
Ecology coordinators from Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and South Asia journeyed on the first week of August to the Ecojesuit Meeting 2023 on Commitment, Communication,and Collaboration at Balay Laudato Si’ in the ancestral domain of the Pulangiyēn community in Bendum, Malaybalay City, Mindanao, Philippines. Partners from the Jesuit Refugee Service-Asia Pacific and Christian Life Community also joined and shared their own networks’ experiences in ecological engagements and possibilities for further collaboration.
Datu Menaling, the tribal leader of the Pulangiyēn community in Bendum, showed how important the welcome is in people’s busy days, and which can be viewed as a challenge to the Church to give a greater welcome to the poor. Xavier Jeyaraj, Secretary of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat (SJES) and Pedro Walpole, Global Coordinator of GIAN-Ecology or Ecojesuit reiterated the call to collective commitment, urgency, and renewed focus on communication and collaboration.
In his welcome, Xavier shared the Society’s journey towards ecological awareness and advocacy by tracing back the early recognition of environmental challenges 50 years ago with the publication of Limits to Growth, to the participation of six Jesuits in the Earth Summit in 1992, and the establishment of the Global Ignatian Advocacy Networks (GIANs) in 2008.
He also reminded participants of the inseparable link between justice for the poor and care for the environment and highlighted in the General Congregations (GCs) 34 and 35 of the Society of Jesus. The 2022 GIAN Governance Document: APathway to Deepen Collaboration promotes a collaborative, spiritual approach, encouraging Conferences, Provinces, and Regions to address global challenges. The call for genuine ecological conversion is echoed in Fr. Sosa’s 2023 message De Statu Societatis, stressing that tangible actions with UAP4 Care for the Common Home are urgently needed, moving beyond good intentions. The Ecojesuit Network is called to “renew its commitment, enhance collaboration, and strengthen communications towards effective advocacy.”
Pedro highlighted the need to strengthen commitment and communication by listening to the contexts and challenges of ecological engagements at the Conference and Province levels, while taking note of the sustained crises and mounting global challenges. He recalled that the previous Ecojesuit annual meetings always listened to stories – in India, in the Amazon, in Bonn – and are about where there is hope that can be formed, and always involved some engagements with local communities.
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