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Biodiversity loss nears “tipping point”

24 Oct 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The author of this Sunday’s reading from 2 Timothy recalls being “rescued from the lion’s mouth” and “from every evil threat” and looks forward to being brought safely to the Lord’s heavenly kingdom. But these days it is the animal kingdom--from the mighty lion to the humble coral reef--that is under threat. The United Nations warned an international gathering this week that the world faces the worst extinction rate since the dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago, and there may be as few as 10 years left before biodiversity loss reaches an irreversible “tipping point.” “This meeting is part of the world’s efforts to address a very simple fact--we are destroying life on earth,” Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Program, said at the opening of the meeting in Nagoya, Japan. Delegates from nearly 200 countries are being asked to agree to new 2020 targets after governments largely failed to meet a 2010 target of achieving a significant reduction in biological diversity losses. The two-week meeting aims to prompt nations and businesses to take sweeping steps to protect and restore ecosystems such as forests, rivers, coral reefs, and oceans that are vital for an ever-growing human population. “What the world most wants from Nagoya are the agreements that will stop the continuing dramatic loss in the world’s living wealth and the continuing erosion of our life-support systems,” said Jim Leape, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International director-general. WWF and Greenpeace called for nations to set aside large areas of linked land and ocean reserves. Developing nations say more funding is needed from developed countries to share the effort in saving nature. Much of the world’s remaining biological diversity is in developing nations such as Brazil, Indonesia, and in central Africa. They also want a fairer deal in sharing the wealth generated from their ecosystems, such as medicines created by big pharmaceutical firms. Source: An article by Chisa Fujioka for Reuters

developing countries united nations environmental program extinction biodiversity

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Preaching to a place of pluralism

Short essays about observed trends in Roman Catholic life - Pastoral trends

Preachers address people who make many different choices and who live their lives in many different ways. There has always been human diversity, of course; in the past, people groups were different one from another, but diversity was not nearly as strong within people groups. That is what marks the reality of the preacher and pastoral leader today. All of us live in an age of choice, and the choices before us are immense and bewildering. Many avoid choice, finding it hard to make long-term commitments. For example, far more people marry—or are ordained—later in life. Teens often turn off church or enter upon a time of seeking in college—and beyond, as adolescence is extended into early adulthood. At the same time, more young people come from religiously mixed, non-practicing, or a religiously seeking household. That is not especially unusual for U.S. culture, which was arguably founded on choice. Religiously, believers in the United States have long "denomination-hopped," and Catholicism is increasingly seen as one denomination among many. Oddly, the challenge here is not only to retain those one can retain at any particular time. It is also to plant the seed and the memories that will lead those who are exiting to consider returning when the time comes. The preacher more than ever might just have that one moment, that one opportunity, to connect with someone. There is little room to maneuver for today's preacher or presider. Each moment should be understood as potentially the last such moment for those in attendance—today, more than ever. © 2009, Bryan Froehle.

Authors Bryan Froehle

pluralism diversity

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The inner word

23 May 2010 - Solemnity of Pentecost, Cycle C

Paul was addressing a community experiencing conflicts and differing loyalties. Every community of faith—including yours—has such divisions. How do you bring people together under one Lord and Spirit? How do you help them realize their different gifts and help them feel equally valued? How do you call people to accept responsibility to use their gifts for the benefit of all? The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, a divine presence that continues in the church to this day. How do you let the Spirit into your work? How do you help others to understand the gospel, despite the diversity of the people hearing it? Is your ministry one of renewal and forgiveness?

divisions diversity

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Homily stories

30 May 2010 - Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Cycle C

THE EMPLOYEES at an international publishing house specializing in encyclopedias and world data were just as one would imagine—culturally diverse, well-educated, bookish, and respectful of others’ beliefs and social mores. For a young Irish Catholic editor it was an eye-opening experience to be working alongside Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Universalist Unitarians, agnostics, atheists, Catholics and Protestants of every stripe, and one self-described Northumberland Danish communist. Religion was rarely discussed, but, one day while riding in the elevator together, the Hindu librarian and Catholic editor struck up a conversation about world events and political strife in the Middle East. “All these religious wars are so crazy,” the Hindu commented. “After all, we all believe in the same God.” We do? the editor thought to herself. Well, not exactly, she concluded. But she had no intention of getting into a theological debate, and the more she thought about it, the more wisdom she uncovered in the librarian’s insight. If we accept that there are truths emanating from the source of the universe, and all of us tap into these universal truths in varying ways, then, yes, we all believe in the same God—a God who defines love and who for Christians is love, in flesh and spirit from the beginning, now, and ever shall be.

Authors Patrice J. Tuohy

religious diversity

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Make a spirited effort to protect endangered languages

15 May 2016 - Preaching the News for the Solemnity of Pentecost, Cycle C

Pentecost can be thought of as the premier multicultural, multilingual feast in the liturgical year. As the Spirit alights on the followers of Jesus in this Sunday’s reading from Acts of the Apostles, Good News pours from their mouths in a cacophony of languages, astonishing the large, diverse crowd of Jews from around the ancient world that has gathered in Jerusalem: “In amazement they asked, ‘Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?’ ” Linguistic diversity, which used to be a given around the world, has suffered tremendous losses in the past century. Modernization and mass media have taken their toll, as well as earlier, misguided attempts of governments and church groups alike to “civilize” indigenous people out of their native languages and customs. Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, linguists say, nearly half are in danger of extinction and are likely to disappear in this century. In fact, they are now falling out of use at a rate of about one every two weeks, according to a study supported by the National Geographic Society and Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, an organization for the documentation, revitalization, and maintenance of languages at risk. Some endangered languages vanish in an instant, at the death of the sole surviving speaker. Others are lost gradually in bilingual cultures, as indigenous tongues are overwhelmed by the dominant language at school, in the marketplace, and on television. The study identified five regions of the world where languages are disappearing most rapidly. The “hot spots” of imminent language extinctions are: Northern Australia, Central South America, North America’s upper Pacific coastal zone, Eastern Siberia, and Oklahoma and Southwest United States. All of the areas are occupied by aboriginal people speaking diverse languages, but in decreasing numbers. K. David Harrison, an assistant professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, said that more than half of the remaining languages have no written form and are “vulnerable to loss and being forgotten.” When they disappear, they leave behind no dictionary, no text, no record of the accumulated knowledge and history of a vanished culture. The dominance of English threatens the survival of the 54 indigenous languages of the Northwest Pacific plateau of North America, a region including British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington. Only one person remains who speaks Siletz Deeni, the last of many languages once spoken on a reservation in Oregon. Forty Native American languages are still spoken in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, many of them originally used by indigenous tribes and others introduced by Eastern tribes that were forced to resettle on reservations there, mainly in Oklahoma. Many indigenous languages are disappearing as there are no longer any young people left to speak those languages, so their remaining speakers are dying out. In North America, since 1600 at least 52 Native American languages have disappeared. Forty-six languages are known to have just one native speaker while 357 languages have fewer than 50 speakers. Lessons drawn from the readings We hear this Sunday how the Body of Christ, though of many parts is one body: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” Diversity is our strength, our wealth as a church and a society. And our tradition encourages us to welcome the stranger. Let’s make sure those who speak a different language are allowed to continue doing so in a world increasingly dominated by a few nations and cultures. Final thought in light of the news Roughly 6,100 of the remaining 7,000 languages in the world face the risk of extinction in this century. What can be done to slow things down? We can start by making an effort to learn about other lands and cultures, and also to study another language. Language study is good for many reasons: Doing so will increase your tolerance, says one author, and studies suggest it will also keep your mind more alert and healthy and help to stave off dementia. And all the while, you will be helping keep the body of Christ alive in all its diversity and richness. Now, that’s the Spirit!

languages Pentecost Holy Spirit multilingual diversity

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Homily stories

24 Jan 2010 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

I held a number of part-time jobs growing up, working in lots of low-level departments in businesses, factories, and shops. Wherever I worked, one thing was always the same. My co-workers would eventually get around to saying, “Nobody appreciates what we do. If it weren’t for us, this place would fall apart.” And of course, to varying degrees, they were right. Each group—from janitor to copy clerk, from the loading dock to the reception desk—had an important function to play. Yet from time to time they all felt unappreciated. Our culture focuses on a few celebrities at a time, which can have the effect of diminishing the worth of the many who are not in the limelight. But Saint Paul has some wise advice for anyone in an organization or group: Focus on the unity that’s possible because of your diversity. Bosses, elected officials, and parents who take the time to see and lift up those around them, giving each contributor their due, do a lot to heal the organization they are in—whether at work, the community, or the family. If each member of the family knows that who they are and the gifts they bring are seen and appreciated, jealousies fall away and more energy is available for exploring our truest identity as members of the one body of Christ. Then we’ll all realize that without any one of us, this place would fall apart.

Authors Tom McGrath

appreciate body of christ diversity

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Catholics agree on the basics

Short essays about observed trends in Roman Catholic life - Pastoral trends

When was the last time you heard Catholics dividing into separate camps over who believes in the Trinity, or whether the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus is central to the faith? Probably not a whole lot. But how often do we hear of differences in Catholic practices and expressions of belief? Is this really a critical problem? We are after all in a time of world cultural development many call “postmodern,” a time notable for differences and diversity. The internet and other modern communications tools, not to mention transportation and production technologies, make it impossible to say with Henry Ford that people can have any color they want “as long as it’s black.” Instead, people can pretty much have any color they want—and can and do seek out the expression of faith that makes the most sense to them and gives them the most life. Yet in essentials, in survey after survey, Catholics are pretty much in agreement on the basics—and on social ethics, a strong respect for human dignity, and a sense of compassion for others. People do seek diversity in expression of those values today, possibly at rates higher than in the past, possibly not. But in any case we should not be afraid of this situation. Rather, we should welcome it. The glass is not half empty: It’s mostly full. We’re just imagining that the glass is larger than it really is. When we look at essentials, there is very considerable similarity. If we overemphasize areas of difference, they will seem to be larger to us. If we put them in proper perspective, we can see the unity we all have, as members of the church universal, globally, across the generations today, through the past, and into the future. © 2007, Bryan Froehle.

Authors Bryan Froehle

diversity Unity

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What is our central focus?

Short essays about observed trends in Roman Catholic life - Pastoral trends

Today, 75 percent of homes have no school-age children. Thirty years ago it was just the opposite. When a large majority of households had school-age children to be formed and raised, it was not surprising that Catholic parishes could unite around the needs of the Catholic school and CCD program. A large number of households with children had something in common. Parishes focused on “doing something for the kids,” and it worked. The model based on very high proportions of Catholics with school-age children could succeed with relatively limited leadership. The overriding need and the structures required were obvious; everything grew up organically, in a taken-for-granted style around a common need. Nothing could be more different today. At a time when most households no longer have school-age children, people bring a diversity of needs that often overwhelm parishes and pastoral leaders. Having a large number of households without children means that they have very little in common. Pastoral leaders need to make hard decisions: What common interests are to be a central focus? We may therefore see good reasons to embrace the emergence of increasingly specialized parishes—some focused on youth, others oriented toward young adults, some with a strong focus on certain kinds of musical styles. The simple truth is that a number of ministry needs cost money and valuable talent. Parishes have limited funds and can only invest strongly in some areas. Logically, this situation would lead either to a mediocre parish life that tries to be all things for all people, or a specialized parish that does something especially well. © 2005, Bryan Froehle.

Authors Bryan Froehle

catholic schools diversity school-age children

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Homily stories

14 Jan 2024 - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

At the age of 21, Ray became the first African American elected to represent my city on my county’s commission. He ran against a politically experienced and divisive candidate, and no one thought Ray would win. But Ray did win—by three votes. (If you think your single vote doesn’t make a difference, think again!) When Ray ran for re-election, he won by a landslide. In the time between those two elections, Ray accomplished what is increasingly hard to do these days—he created consensus among his peers and got things done. I proudly campaigned for him both times. Ray simply has a special gift of leadership, a knack for team-building and problem-solving. Ray is very open about his deep Christian faith and how it drives his commitment to social justice—it resonates with people who might not otherwise side with him. He’s also plain old likable—even that first candidate he defeated speaks of him warmly. When I think about the complicated work of creating diversity, equity, and inclusion in government, churches, organizations, and workplaces, I think the best thing those of us with privilege can do is identify and support leaders like Ray who are breaking barriers—of age, race, or whatever—so they can show us how it’s done. Let them beckon us to come and see what’s possible.

Authors Jennifer Tomshack

consensus Leadership team-building problem-solving diversity

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