FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 22, 2015
Sharing a message of welcome with Pope Francis, Maryknoll Lay Missioners today issued this press release together with our Maryknoll partners to note the historic importance of the pontiff’s recent encyclical not only for Catholics, but for all people who care for the environment and for the poorest, most marginalized communities around the world.
In a more lengthy statement published on the website of Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Maryknoll leaders stated: “In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis shows the fundamental link between social exclusion and environmental devastation, two major concerns of Maryknoll missioners today. Around the world Maryknoll Sisters, Lay Missioners, Affiliates, Fathers and Brothers witness the manifestations of climate change in the global south that are affecting the marginalized communities they serve: lack of food security, water availability, and changing weather patterns that most often threaten lives and livelihoods of people with the fewest economic resources and options.”
Read the full Maryknoll leadership statement on the encyclical here: http://www.maryknollogc.org/statements/maryknoll-leadership-statement-pope-francis-encyclical-care-our-common-home.
Maryknoll Lay Missioners also demonstrated support for Pope Francis’ encyclical in this letter to Congress, for which we jointly participated among many faith-based organization leaders. One excerpt from this letter states: “As faith leaders across denominations and faith traditions, we resonate with Pope Francis’ concern for the poor and the planet, as with his call for a discussion of critical issues that transcends conventional divisions. We urge members of Congress – and all of us — to listen with open minds and hearts to his words and to work together, even across great differences, for the common good.”
Erik Cambier served as Maryknoll lay missioner for 25 years, in Tanzania, the United States, Venezuela and El Salvador.
