Representatives from various Hispanic-Latina churches were introduced to the Presbyterian Hunger Program’s Earth care programming this week as part of a series of educational talks called “New Year, Earth Renewed” or “Año nuevo, Tierra renovada.”
Presented by the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the Rev. Dr. Patricia Tull, an environmental theologian and author of “Inhabiting Eden: Christians, the Bible, and the Ecological Crisis,” recently led more than 50 participants through an online presentation highlighting her and her family’s journey toward building a zero energy home located in Henryville, Indiana.
When discussing the issue of forced migration, we see images in the U.S. of violence and economic inequality in Central America, South America and parts of the Middle East.
Last year, I took more than two dozen flights. In many cases I could have taken a bus, but for little extra cost, I opted to save time. A flight from Lima (on the Pacific coast) to Tarapoto (in the Amazon) takes a little over an hour. The bus takes more than 25 hours. So, for about $25 more per flight, it seems worth it to travel by air. I know my knees are grateful. But, like so many things in life, there are usually more costs than those that simply make a dent in our wallets. There are environmental costs, too.
The Presbyterian Church of Kabuga, Rwanda, has two primary schools — Kabuga (with 310 students) and Muyumba (with 192 students). Parents, students and teachers are celebrating the fourth consecutive school year that students in Primary 6 in both schools have achieved a perfect score on Rwanda’s national examination.
An old farmhouse, converted into a conference center, sits atop Dem Heiligen Berg, “the holy mountain,” overlooking the city of Wuppertal, Germany. It is from this spot that many residents say Earth seems to touch heaven.
In 2015, Pope Francis proclaimed Sept. 1 as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, joining Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios I of Constantinople, who earlier extended an invitation for Christians to offer “every year on this date prayers and supplications to the Maker of all, both as thanksgiving for the great gift of creation and as petitions for its protection and salvation.”
