Mid-City Christian: 'We are part of a living nature'

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

'We are part of a living nature'

As a Catholic parent, I'm uncomfortable with 'In God we Trust' posted at public school

Recent news in Texas related to the required display of "In God We Trust" posters in public school has Catholic parent Britt Luby questioning whether her community is aware of what religious liberty means, what Christian nationalism is, and what Catholics owe our non-Christian brothers and sisters.

As a practicing Catholic and a hospital chaplain, Luby says she has incorporated much of her Catholic identity into her daily life.

"These are comforting practices to me, but I recognize that they are not for everyone," Luby writes. "I am grateful for the choices I have in how I live out my identity as a person of faith. And I'm also grateful that I am not required to participate in practices that are not comfortable for me."

'We are part of a living nature': Parallels in pope's, Indigenous views of humanity's relationship with creation

Patiachi, 35, an Arakbut (also spelled "Harakbut") Indigenous woman, was one of the people who addressed Pope Francis during his visit to Peru's Amazonian Madre de Dios region in January 2018. Before thousands of Indigenous people from at least five Amazonian countries, she told the pope of the difficulties her people faced in a region known for its biologically diverse forests but devastated by wildcat gold mining.

"We ask that you defend us!" Patiachi said.

Patiachi and two other Indigenous women who took part in the October 2019 Synod for the Amazon say there is significant convergence between Francis' view of the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world and their Indigenous understanding, based on their people's worldview, or cosmovision. Nevertheless, they see areas in which work remains to be done.

More headlines

At Global Sisters Report, read a Q&A with Dominican Sr. Maureen Geary, the new president-elect of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
ICYMI: As participants entered the Vatican Aug. 29 for a closed-door meeting on the church's governance, women's ordination advocates gathered outside to protest — only to then be removed from the premises and later detained by authorities.
ICYMI: Cardinal Robert McElroy used his first homily after receiving a red hat from Pope Francis to emphasize that humility is one of the chief challenges and callings of the Christian life.