Ecology, environment, alternative energy, religions, human beings, nature: these are the themes of the 12^th International Encounter, Our Mother Earth, organized by the Sacred Convent of Assisi in collaboration with Italy’s Environment Ministry. The encounter took place from 17-20 September 2016 within the framework of the International Meeting, Thirst for Peace: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue.

 

According to Fr. Enzo Fortunato, director the Sacred Convent’s press office: “It’s time to change our lifestyles to preserve Creation, in line with the commitment and determination proposed by Francis of Assisi, and pass it on to future generations. Everyone must make this effort, as Pope Francis has said repeatedly. No one should feel exempted from the responsibility of safeguarding creation on a daily basis by making every effort to use its resources respectfully.”

 

 

 

500 Buddhist nuns recently completed a 4,000 km. (2,485 mile) bicycle trek from Kathmandu, Nepal to Leh in northern India to call attention to the human trafficking going on in that remote Himalayan region. Along the route, they met many local people, government officials, and religious leaders, and took the opportunity to spread messages of gender equality, peaceful co-existence and respect for the environment.

 

The nuns explain the initiative in this way: “When we were doing relief work in Nepal after the earthquakes last year, we heard how girls from poor families were being sold because their parents could not afford to keep them anymore. We wanted to do something to change this attitude that girls are inferior to boys and that it’s okay to sell them. Our bicycle trek shows that women have power and strength like men.”

 

The nuns, who belong to the Drukpa Order, come from India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Because of their training in the martial arts, they are popularly known as the Kung Fu nuns.

“Women of Africa, Proclaimers of God’s Mercy: ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I did, could this be the Messiah?’” This was the theme of the 9^th Conference of the Africa Region of the World Union of Catholic Women Organization (WUCWO), held in Lilongwe, Malawi from 29 August–5 September. 150 international delegates and 350 local representatives participated in the event, which opened with a Eucharistic Liturgy presided over by Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa, President of the Malawi Episcopal Conference.

 

Afterward, Rosaline Nganku Menga, president of the WUCWO Africa Region, opened the work of the meeting by underscoring the importance WUCWO’s importance for the Church and all society. “In spite of the efforts of the Church, some governments and a few non-governmental organizations (NGOs),” she said, “there are still many challenges on this continent. In addition to poverty, illiteracy, gender inequalities, AIDS, corruption and misgovernment, in the last few years there has been an increase in terrorism, ebola, human trafficking, the migration of youth and climate changes.” The purpose of the Conference was to make concrete proposals regarding the family, the Church and society.