Today we are witnessing the reality of the climate change and in many parts of the world there are initiatives taking different steps to answer to this reality.
Reading these signs of the times the Catholic Church now is celebrating the “Synod of Amazon” facing different issues, but the most important one is the new path of Dialogue with Creation.
The Synod of Bishops was established by St Paul VI on 15th September 1965. Its formation took place in the context of the Second Vatican Council . Over the years the synodal norms have undergone successive improvements. Recently Pope Francis, with the Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis communio (September 15th 2018), has profoundly renewed the Synod of Bishops, inserting it within the framework of synodality as a constitutive dimension of the Church, at all levels of her existence.
The Synod is understood as a process composed of three parts: the preparatory phase, in which the consultation of the People of God on the themes indicated by the Roman Pontiff takes place; the celebratory phase, characterized by the meeting of the assembly of Bishops; and the implementation phase, in which the conclusions of the Synod, once approved by the Roman Pontiff, are accepted by the local churches. We are now on the Celebratory phase.
Pope Francis has convened a Special Synodal Assembly on the Pan-Amazon, indicating that the main objective is “to find new ways for the evangelization of that portion of the People of God, especially the indigenous, often forgotten and without a perspective of a good future, also for the cause of the crisis of the Amazonian forest, lung of fundamental importance for our planet”.
These basic information helps us to understand how the Church is moving today on the path to Dialogue with Creation and it is very symbolic the name “ Synod of Amazon.” Starting from the Amazon, the symbolic and real, “ lung of our planet,” we are invited to see how urgent it is to give attention to the important aspect of Dialogue with Creation supported by the basic principles of religions and cultures. Guided by this spirit since the beginning (1984) the Silsilah Dialogue Movement has given a special attention to the four pillars of dialogue that are: Dialogue with God, Dialogue with the Self, Dialogue with Others and Dialogue with Creation.
The major steps, part of our commitment of Dialogue with creation have been, for Silsilah, the protection of the environment in the area of Zamboanga ( Mindanao) fighting against mining groups willing to enter inside the watersheds of Zamboanga. Different activities have been done along the years, including the formation of a group of partners called “Friends of Zamboanga Watersheds Movement”. Today we are moving toward another step that is the “ Dialogue with Creation Partners Movement.” We believe that this new step has a greater opportunity to gather respected leaders and groups who have a sincere commitment to protect the common house, our mother earth. This can be considered also a form of interreligious dialogue because we believe that all religions and cultures are united, in principle, to this common interest.
The new Dialogue with Creation Partners Movement wishes to answer to common issues of dialogue with creation and in this new MOVEMENT we choose as regular members those who have proven to be consistent in this important mission. At the same time, we invite as associate members agencies of the government, institutions and NGOs which have the same interests convinced that also agencies of the government and other institutions, are important to share their polices and expertise, part of their responsibilities and duties, in spite of the internal dynamics related to politics and priorities of profit that we see in the process. At the same time the Dialogue with Creation Partners Movement can also influence their policies and directions for the common good of our “mother earth”.
Advocacy and other forms of partnership will be part of the mission of this new movement. At the same time we are convinced that each institution part of the partners movement has to go on with their priorities. Meanwhile, our PARTNERS MOVEMENT has the mission to inspire all on the right direction.
Guided by this specific interest and mission we welcome the Synod of Amazon convinced that solutions taken will help to create a new interest on dialogue with creation and to move with more determination to the right direction.
We are convinced that the Dialogue with Creation Partners Movement will benefit from this new initiative of the Catholic Church and encourages us to continue to search for more together with those who are committed to promote the common good from different cultures and religions.