Features/Features

{mosimage}Former Prime Minister Kim Campbell once famously remarked that an election campaign is no place to debate major public policy changes. The electorate judged her harshly, but she was right to point out that the process of fighting elections has a negative effect on the merits of a policy.

{mosimage} There is a powerful moral imperative for politicians of this generation when it comes to the environment. It is a call for leadership, for a consequential change in the way our society relates to nature — for a society that may not yet want it.

{mosimage}Ecotheology, a spirituality deeply connected to nature, reverence for the Earth, a strong conviction that the environmental crisis is a religious crisis of faith and morals — none of this should seem exotic, revolutionary or unorthodox to practising Catholics, according to University of St. Michael’s College liturgy professor Chris McConnell. In fact, it should be as familiar as the Mass.

{mosimage} The resurrection of an old-growth forest is growing one square metre at a time.

The Jesuit Collaborative for Ecology, Agriculture and Forestry started fund-raising for the Old Growth Forest Project in November 2006 and has raised $70,000, half in the $20 for a square metre donation. One anonymous donor sponsored $35,000 worth of square metres.

{mosimage}GUELPH, Ont. - In a recent Ignatius Loyola News newsletter, Fr. Jim Profit, S.J., wrote, “After working in the garden all day, I felt tired, stiff and sore, yet completely revived and bore my dirty fingernails with pride. Working with soil is an experience of the soul for me…. There is something about this land that invites the experience of community, life and God.”

{mosimage}It’s not just about avoiding pesticides any more. In fact, if you choose wisely, the food you eat can help to ensure more than just your own health. According to Community Sharing Agriculture farmer Heather Lekx, choosing to eat organic foods should also help to put your conscience at ease.

{mosimage} Mary Sojczynsky is looking forward to chowing down at the fourth annual Organic Harvest Feast at Guelph’s Ignatius Jesuit Centre Sept. 15.

{mosimage}BURLINGTON, Ont. - For 32 summers, Prof. Josef Svoboda and a small band of students would trundle off from Toronto to Canada’s far north where they would spend their days measuring tiny flowers, counting samples of small plants and monitoring weather patterns and the melting of glaciers. And in the long evenings under the midnight sun, they would talk about life, the universe and God.

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Editor's note: As concern for the environment raises new heights, it's worth exploring what Christians are doing about the crisis, and what Christian theology has to say. This package of stories highlights some of the ways Christians, particularly Roman Catholics, are grappling with the issue.

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{mosimage}The Redemptorist Fathers used to be famous for three-day parish retreats. Many of the older men in the order can tell stories of years they spent driving town to town, spending a week in each parish they visited concluding with a marathon of preaching.