The Conference, sponsored by Dominican Sisters International, (DSI) asked one of the most significant and expansive questions of our age: What is the Earth Asking of the Order? Provocative to say the least, some might even say presumptive. Yet the meeting participants grasped the deepest and most profound realities we face on this planet. Organizers hoped that by asking the largest questions, Dominicans would see the significance of the New Cosmology as the critical lens from which all preaching needs to flow and all justice action should emerge.

A message to the Dominican Family was prepared by the group in which they urged other Dominicans to explore the contemporary scientific understanding of the origin and evolution of the Universe, recognize our dependency on corporate, industrial food systems and examine in depth our dependency on fossil fuel, among other recommendations. (READ MORE)

It seemed like a wonderful coincidence that the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth is getting wide media attention on the issue of global warming when this gathering asks the Dominican Family to face questions of planetary survival and global responsibility. Participants sent a letter of support and thanks to Mr. Al Gore, former US Vice-President who is the featured speaker in the film.

Dominicans attended from New Zealand, South Africa, Philippines, Germany, Switzerland, India, Trinidad, Italy and the US. The weekend program was preceded by week-long study and conversation at nearby Genesis Farm for the members of the international community who attended. About 45 US Dominicans attended the weekend program.

Diane Jadgeo, OP, from Trinidad, who holds a Ph.D in theology from Catholic University, addressed Development and Ecology from the Perspective of a Small Island Nation. She said, “Trinidad and Tobago is considered affluent in the Caribbean and enjoys plentiful natural resources. Yet, it has 25-35% of her people living in poverty. There is great crime, corruption and unemployment. She characterized her island home as holding a “vulgar prosperity”. Why is it, she asks, that more money does not equal less crime, respect or cooperation? She added, “We treat the poor as if they have only one hunger – bread. All people hunger for truth, for beauty for goodness.”

Jadgeo said she is suspicious that the New Cosmology could be a “new white ploy” to continue the oppression of the poor. A startling statement from a theologian. Rather than New Cosmology, Jadgeo proposed the notion of Cosmic Sanctuary, since, in her view, cosmology remains a scientific idea. Cosmic sanctuary evokes the sense of home and brings together the ecological, scientific notions of who we are with our fundamental Dominican mission of connection and inclusion. “Even the sparrow finds a home in this sanctuary,” she said.

Indeed she offered a new way to use earth language in our justice making. The old justice model is a scale, which weighs things in a balance. A new justice model is a river, that flows without end and honors all of life. The river offers a natural balance, giving and receiving. Thus the meeting converged the interests of justice and peace with care of creation.

Five bio-regions of the Earth saw representatives attend the meeting, each presenting a particular issue or feature of that region. Judith Robinson, OP (New Zealand), Ann Braudis, MM (Philippines) and Prakash Lohale, OP (India) used the eastern chakras spirituality to lift up the ecological challenges of the Asia/Pacific bio-region. Monika Huppi, OP (Switzerland and Hanna Remke, OP (Germany) brought encouraging news of recycling and environmental accountability from Europe. Sharon Zayac, OP (Springfield, USA) and Jane Abell, OP (Houston, USA) offered a schematic of how oil is at the heart of fossil-fuel energy consumption, ecological deterioration and economic implications in North America. In South Africa, Aloysia Zellmann, OP(South Africa) and Nobulali Bulurelo, OP (Germany) described the lack of water and inadequate waste disposal management that contributes to poverty and disease. Diane Jadgeo, OP (Trinidad) and Therese Antoine, OP (Trinidad) focused on the impending disaster now taking place with the development of two Alcoa Aluminum plants that are displacing thousands of villagers in Trinidad. Weak pollution laws and government corruption make this situation difficult to advocate against in Latin America/Caribbean.

Miriam MacGillis, OP

Other presenters included a power point presentation by Elize Garcia of Sor Juana Press on the Seeds of Possibilities: Dominicans Laying the Foundation for the Ecozoic Era. Chris Loughlin, OP (Kentucky) offered a set of grounding principles out of which the international community in attendance had worked during the weeklong session. Pat Siemen, OP (Adrian) offered some juridical principles that apply law to the earth. A new Center for Earth Jurisprudence is being launched by Barry University and St. Thomas University, Miami, FL. The center will look at law and governance from an earth-centered-rather than a human-centered-perspective. (READ MORE)

Miriam MacGillis, OP (Caldwell) of Genesis Farm also spoke and noted that the work of the Dominican Order is in part "to correct perceptions of death and sexuality that have crippled people for centuries." She added, that psychic energy is the same as others - it moves toward the center, must be fed and sustained. When this does not happen, the energy has to move away from the parent organization and find a new place to be."

The International Community that was gathered at the meeting made a commitment to carry forward the message of the meeting in each of their bio-regions. In the US, Jane Abell, OP (Houston) and Sharon Zayac, OP (Springfield) agreed to do that.

Carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide. It gives you an idea of how much just being in your daily life impacts the earth.
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Participants collected over $500. to offset the carbon footprint of the meeting so that new trees can be planted in each bio-region . Enough money was raised so that the South African delegates can plant 15 trees as a community project.

VERBATIM:

Personally, I am energized and feel this input/output will be able to be conveyed to my region in the Pacific. I will do my utmost to do that.
Judith Robinson, OP
Inverfcargil, New Zealand

The most encouraging part for me was Diane's statement that the poor need more than bread. There is more than one hunger and we need to pay attention to the human quest fore beauty, compassion and respect.
Margo Saich, OP (Sparkill)

I found great encouragement in the commitment of everyone present to continue to contemplate and preach the Word as revealed in all of creation.
Margaret Galiardi, OP (Amityville) conference organizer

It is so clear that Earth's crisis is both spiritual and ecological, and that we have a distinctive opportunity to reinvent ourselves and our responses in mutually sustaining ways that honor the diversity, subjectivity and communion that are at the heart of the mystery of creation.
Pat Siemen, OP (Adrian) conference organizer