By Jim Heffernan
I came across these just after the death of Pope Francis. I wish I had found them sooner. I spent 10 years in Catholic schools and have become a fervent ex-Catholic. I thought I was too hip to listen to anything the Catholic Church had to say.
I see now that I was wrong, and that the Church has a lot to say. We should all be listening. We would have a much better world if we would heed the words of Pope Francis and take them into our hearts. You don’t have to agree with everything or even believe in God to extract the good sense and virtue in his words..
I truly believe what the Catholic church has been saying is what we should be hearing from our government.
“Laudato Si” (Italian for “Praise to You”) and “Fratelli Tutto” (Italian for “Brothers All”) are encyclical letters that were sent to Catholics throughout the world. “Laudato Si” was written in 2015 and “Fratelli Tutto” was written in 2020.
These are the first encyclicals I’ve ever read. They are structured like long letters with multiple parts. Each paragraph is numbered. They were written in Italian and have been translated into many languages. The wording is somewhat stiff and formal, but he uses simple words and writes in a way that touched me. They do not have a strong narrative style, but they are filled with wisdom.
“Laudato Si-On the Care for Our Common Home” is 176 pages long divided into 6 parts with 246 paragraphs. It concludes with 2 prayers and a discussion guide. It was written 10 years ago and time has only amplified the truths it contains. The title comes from the St. Francis’ prayer that starts out, “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us,”. It is the first encyclical to focus on climate change. We don’t hear much of it from our media, but I think that is our loss and our peril.
Here’s a quote from Paragraph 2 where Francis laments the fate of our sister earth and encapsulates the theme of the entire encyclical.
“This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor;…..”
“Fratelli Tutto-On Fraternity and Social Friendship” was written 5 years later. (“Fratelli” includes male and female and Francis makes it clear in his first line). It is 199 pages divided into 8 chapters with 287 numbered paragraphs. Pope Francis is very concerned our failure to build societies that respect the dignity and needs of all. We too easily see some of us as valued and others as disposable.
Here’s paragraph 15 from “Fratelli”. I thought it did a masterful job of describing today’s political climate.
“The best way to dominate and gain control over people is to spread despair and discouragement, even under the guise of defending certain values. Today, in many countries, hyperbole, extremism and polarization have become political tools. Employing a strategy of ridicule, suspicion and relentless criticism, in a variety of ways one denies the right of others to exist or to have an opinion. Their share of the truth and their values are rejected and, as a result, the life of society is impoverished and subjected to the hubris of the powerful. Political life no longer has to do with healthy debates about long-term plans to improve people’s lives and to advance the common good, but only with slick marketing techniques primarily aimed at discrediting others. In this craven exchange of charges and counter-charges, debate degenerates into a permanent state of disagreement and confrontation.’
There are references in both letters to Catholic sacraments that might seem strange to those who have not spent time as a practicing Catholic. I did not see how they detracted from the central messages of taking care of our common home and promoting the common good among all of us. I do not agree with the Church’s stance on abortion, but I cannot fault the underlying morality of his messaging.
Both are available at Cloud and Leaf Bookstore and Tillamook County Library. Also freely available as PDF files on the internet. Discussion guide might only be available on Kindle version.
As always, discussion welcome at codger817@gmail.com. If you want the discussion guide or PDF, let me know.