Fr. Bob’s Corner

In a powerful little booklet (pastoral letter) entitled, The Need for Conversion, the ‘Social Affairs Commission of the ‘Canadian confidence of Catholic Bishop’s’ challenged Canadians this March 2008 to take a hard realistic look at the way that we, as Canadians, are treating our planet. “Are we not like the prodigal son”, they ponder, “who asked his father for his inheritance and then left home and proceeded to waste it (Luke 15:11-32)?” Commenting on our excessive need for more and more, the Bishops observe that we are mismanaging the Garden of Eden: “In our drive to earn more, to possess more, to consume always more, we have sacrificed a great deal to the economic almighty, which has become like the substance of modern life. We have mismanaged the Garden of Eden entrusted to us.”

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This is just a quick update* on what’s happening regarding the Canadian mining company wanting to come into the area where the Scarboro priest, Pat Kelly Lives. (near our Sister Parish) Here is a link to two letters that were published in the Prairie Messenger regarding the issue: Link Please note that there is an update on the web site that I mentioned before: www.insidemindanao.com My understanding from our sister parish (Sister Christine) is that the company has started to build a road into the area… certainly bad news, and that various pieces of equipment have been air-dropped into the area. The Sisters serving at our Sister Parish have not heard of any concerted effort being made (such as a petition or campaign coming out of an NGO like Development and Peace, etc.). Hopefully that’s coming… in the meantime, the first step, they believe, is to let the Canadian people know what a Canadian company is doing there.

May 29th update

*Previous Posts on this site related to Canadian Mining

Feb 1, 2007 - Selfishness and Greed: Why? Why? Why?
Feb 22, 2007 - Canadian Bishop’s Decry Mining Practices
March 3, 2007 - Progress Responsibility - The Poor Ignored
April 4, 2007 - Ground Breaking Report

With all the problems we have in this world, one would hope that governments and corporations would all be struggling to advance justice. When people are exploited and used for the sake of financial gain the very peace of this world is strained and undermined. And, I don’t think planet earth will be able to tolerate much more without dire consequences for all of us. (Why can’t the pain of the oppressed be recognized and alleviated?)

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