Rome, Italy. Responding to the call of Pope Francis and following the theme “Everything is Connected,” the Claretian Missionaries celebrated the Laudato Si’ Week, on Saturday, May 23, 2020. At a time marked by the crisis of the COVID 19 pandemic and the environmental crisis, it was an invitation to reflect, pray, and prepare together to build a better world.
Laudato Si’ Week is one of the global campaigns organized on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the publication of the encyclical on the care of the common home and this Global Campaign is expected to continue for 7 years.
The Solidarity and Mission Team of the General Prefecture of Apostolate of the Claretian Missionaries celebrated the Laudato Si week, organizing a global Webinar on the theme “Laudato Si’: A call to sustainable life” with the participation of José Cristo Rey García Paredes, CMF, (Spain); Efraín Vásquez Mamani, CMF (Sri Lanka); and Fernando Guzmán (Argentina), addressing the topics of eco-spirituality, eco-education for the new generations and social transformation. This Webinar was moderated by Edgardo Guzmán, CMF (Claretianum, Rome).
This Virtual Online activity aroused the interest of 360 persons from 43 countries, including Claretians, formators, and formandi of most of the formation houses of the Congregation, members of the Claretian Family, religious of different religious congregations and other persons sensitive to the cause of the environment.
This webinar which took place on May 23, in two different time slots, covering almost 20 time zones, created an opportunity for these hundreds of participants to listen to the three excellent speakers, with simultaneous translation into English and Spanish. It was the result of joint work between the General Secretary of JPIC, the General Mission Procure and the Claretian Team at the United Nations.
The handling of the new communication platforms leaves great learning and the challenge of using these means to enable other forums of dialogue in the congregation and between the apostolates around the care of the “common house” and our missionary action in what we could call post-pandemic.
This activity, first of its kind, opened the horizon for future global encounters, to dialogue and share on common themes of the Congregation and the world.
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