April Action:
University Ministry welcomes you to its annual April Action day of service. Every year for this environmentally themed service event, USF faculty, staff, and student work at several sites in the Bay area to provide urban community gardening, clean-up, planting, and beautification services. April Action provides the USF community with opportunities of service that enrich individual's advancement in creating a more humane and just world. Sites this year included Golden Gate Park, June Jordan School of Equity, Bernal Hall, and Friends of the Urban Forest. April Action took place this year on Saturday April 21st, 2012 from 7:30am to 12:30pm. Participants met in front of Gleeson Library (Gleeson Plaza) at 7:30am.
Community Garden:
Come get your hands dirty at USF's very own community garden! Students can drop by any time on Fridays between 12 and 4 and lend a hand with garden maintenance.
Where and When: Drop in hours every Friday between 12pm and 4pm at the garden (on Turk between Lone Mountain and the School of Education).
Appalachia (March 11 - 17, 2012)
In
the Appalachian Mountains, the inhospitable terrain makes economic development
difficult. In order to create
infrastructure or mine coal, part of the local ecology must be destroyed. This
is not a new dilemma for the people of Appalachia; it has been a part of life
in this region. The local economy is not diverse and has relied on the
production of coal for generations. Coal mining today is part of the culture
and heritage. Entire families are
employed my mining companies. Without this investment, vast segments of society
would be out of work, hurting the whole economy in mining communities. Coal
corporations are interested in maximizing profits and have recently turned a
cheaper form of mining known as mountain top removal. The people who depended on coal industry are
interested in not discouraging any production.
If coal mining was reduced or ended today, entire communities could not
survive financially. On the other hand,
the health and ecological effects of coal mining are apparent in
Appalachian. Coal mining procedures,
like mountain top removal, eradicate the local habitat by exploding vast parts
of mountains with dynamite. The ecology
of the surrounding area is endangered when large portions of the environment
are eliminated, increasing the possibilities of flooding and landslides, and
killing plants and animals in that area. An even graver consequence of mountain
top removal is the pollutants (dust from explosions) it emits in the local
atmosphere. Cancer rates are
unquestionably higher in nearby communities.
The question is, “How much should environmental protection restrict or
prohibit economic development?” This
trip will allow you to meet community leader and see firsthand the realities of
this dilemma. You will engage in
dialogue with both opponents and supporters of more regulation on coal mining,
visit organizations working in the area and be challenged to analyze the
situation on a personal level.
Click here for more information on other Immersions
Portions of the General Congregation of the Society of Jesus pertaining to the environment (complete document available at www.sjweb.info/35/index.cfm)
The documents of the Thirty-fifth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus clearly states:
This Congregation urges all Jesuits and all partners engaged in the same mission, particularly the universities and research centers, to promote studies and practices focusing on the causes of poverty and the question of the environment’s improvement. We should find ways in which our experiences with refugees and the displaced on one hand, and people who work for the protection of the environment on the other hand, could interact with those institutions, so that research results and advocacy have effective practical benefits for society and the environment. Advocacy and research should serve the poor and those who work for the protection of the environment. (GC 35 Decree 3 #35)
In our preaching, teaching, and retreat direction, we should invite all people to appreciate more deeply our covenant with creation as central to right relationships with God and one another, and to act accordingly in terms of political responsibility, employment, family life, and personal lifestyle. (GC 35 Decree 3 #36)
Portions of the Promotio Justitia’s Healing A Broken World document pertaining to the environment. (complete document available at www.ecojesuit.com/)
Promotio Iustitiae’s Healing A Broken World, a document published by the Social Justice Secretariat at the General Curia of the Society of Jesus, lists the following as one of its recommendations: “Jesuit higher education institutions, theological faculties, business schools, research and capacity-building centers are invited to engage students in transformative education and to explore new themes and areas of interdisciplinary research.”
“The Church, and especially the two most recent Popes, have been insisting on the need for us to collaborate in the efforts to preserve the environment, and thus to protect creation and the poorest populations, who are those most threatened by the consequences of environmental degradation.
The Society of Jesus is also involved in this task. Many Jesuits and collaborators who accompany poor farming communities are attempting to protect the environment and promote sustainable development as an essential condition for the future. The younger generations of Jesuits are especially sensitive in this regard. Some Conferences have made the ecological question an apostolic priority. Most definitely, the Society is engaged in many efforts in this field.
(Healing A Broken World: Promotio Iustitiae p. 7)
We need to proceed in dialogue with the world, with all religions and with those committed to environmental justice. This is a crucial dialogue at the very frontier of the ecological sustainability of all life.
(Healing A Broken World: Promotio Iustitiae p. 17)
The first consideration proposed by Ignatius is the Principle and Foundation (SE, 23). We understand today that creation is ―both a resource from God as well as an avenue to God, making it possible for humans to communicate with each other.
(Healing A Broken World: Promotio Iustitiae p. 34)
Following Ignatius‘ directive that ―love ought to be put more in deeds than in words (SE, 230), we need to make an offering of ourselves with great generosity to heal our relationship with creation
(Healing A Broken World: Promotio Iustitiae p. 34)
