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From garden and woodland
MICHAEL BURKE
Thursday, May 01, 2008
The mudslide in Ocho Rios two weeks ago is reason to take heed that something has gone wrong with the way in which we treat our environment. As we crucify the earth for profit, one recalls the pain of the Blessed Virgin Mary as her son was crucified. In this month of May, Roman Catholic churches across the world will as usual observe the month in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As we read in the Scriptures "from this day forward, all generations shall call me blessed," (Luke 1:48).
By the end of May there will be the processions where the congregation will sing: "Bring flowers of the rarest; bring flowers of the fairest, from garden and woodland and hillsides and vale. Our full hearts are swelling our glad voices telling, the praise of the loveliest rose of the dale. O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the angels, Queen of the May."
While I was at St Theresa's Roman Catholic preparatory school in Vineyard Town, some 50 years ago, I could identify with the garden, the woodland, the hillsides and the vale. But at the rate we are going, a child of a generation not too far in the future could well ask what is a garden and what is woodland? And at that time, where will we get blossoms from to crown the statues of Mary?
Two things happened recently that seem to be more than coincidence. I was browsing in a library at a Roman Catholic Church and came upon The Greening of the Church by Father Sean MacDonagh, a book that I had read nearly 17 years before and very fast. On learning that Father Charles Roux, Australian priest who was also an environmentalist was working in Jamaica as pastor at our Lady of Perpetual Help in St Ann's Bay, I arranged an interview with him. At that time I wrote columns for the now defunct Jamaica Record.
The priest introduced me to two books by Father Sean MacDonagh, one was To care for the earth and the other was The Greening of the Church. I could read the books, but could not leave with them as they were his only two copies and there was no Internet in common use then. I took notes from the two books in about three hours, which formed the basis for my article, "A look at environmental theology", published in the Jamaica Record on November 25, 1991. The other incident was the mudslide in Ocho Rios. Both incidents pointed to a call to revisit the environment.
Somewhere among the edited speeches by national hero Norman Manley in Rex Nettleford's Manley and the New Jamaica, the national hero spoke in the 1950s about the Kingston Harbour changing colour every time it rained. Because the harbour is now polluted beyond belief, we do not see how much of the land is being washed away into the sea.
Twenty years ago on January 29, 1988, the Roman Catholic bishops of the Philippines circulated a pastoral letter to their citizenry, which is heavily Roman Catholic. The title of the pastoral letter was enough to think about, which was "What is happening to our beautiful land?" Everything Peter Espeut in the Gleaner and John Maxwell in the Sunday Observer have ever written concerning the abuse of the environment and more is contained in that letter. The pastoral letter can be found on the Internet by simply going into Google and typing in "What is happening to our beautiful land?"
The late Pope John Paul ll was very concerned about environmental abuse. He begged for debt forgiveness in the world as it leads to a further erosion of the environment. Many nations are forced to mine the earth massively so that minerals can be exported to pay for the crippling debt that has engulfed many Third World nations. His other reason was, as is written in the 1988 Filipino pastoral letter, concern for the environment as "the ultimate pro-life issue". The Filipino bishops referred to the washing away of the soil as the "haemorrhaging of the earth".
As they reminded us of the Creation story and that the earth was really the Garden of Eden, the Filipino bishops pointed to the words of Jesus Christ: "I have come that they may have life to the full." (John 10:10.). And in the Philippines by 1988 the bishops were lamenting the depletion of 30 million hectares of land to just about one million. One can always wonder if this is how the world is going to end. Man's selfishness and greed is ultimately going to be our undoing.
We sing "Jamaica land we love" as part of our national anthem. On special occasions we sing "Jamaica land of beauty". In the Roman Catholic Church, on the occasion of political independence and national day of thanksgiving in October, the prayers speak to the land, fruits the animals and to "our Caribbean waters so blue and sparkling". But if we do not do something in the future we will be thankful for the bare rock at the top of the mountains that the sea has not covered, thus graciously allowing some to live.
-
ekrubm765@yahoo.com
MICHAEL BURKE
Thursday, May 01, 2008
The mudslide in Ocho Rios two weeks ago is reason to take heed that something has gone wrong with the way in which we treat our environment. As we crucify the earth for profit, one recalls the pain of the Blessed Virgin Mary as her son was crucified. In this month of May, Roman Catholic churches across the world will as usual observe the month in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As we read in the Scriptures "from this day forward, all generations shall call me blessed," (Luke 1:48).
By the end of May there will be the processions where the congregation will sing: "Bring flowers of the rarest; bring flowers of the fairest, from garden and woodland and hillsides and vale. Our full hearts are swelling our glad voices telling, the praise of the loveliest rose of the dale. O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the angels, Queen of the May."
While I was at St Theresa's Roman Catholic preparatory school in Vineyard Town, some 50 years ago, I could identify with the garden, the woodland, the hillsides and the vale. But at the rate we are going, a child of a generation not too far in the future could well ask what is a garden and what is woodland? And at that time, where will we get blossoms from to crown the statues of Mary?
Two things happened recently that seem to be more than coincidence. I was browsing in a library at a Roman Catholic Church and came upon The Greening of the Church by Father Sean MacDonagh, a book that I had read nearly 17 years before and very fast. On learning that Father Charles Roux, Australian priest who was also an environmentalist was working in Jamaica as pastor at our Lady of Perpetual Help in St Ann's Bay, I arranged an interview with him. At that time I wrote columns for the now defunct Jamaica Record.
The priest introduced me to two books by Father Sean MacDonagh, one was To care for the earth and the other was The Greening of the Church. I could read the books, but could not leave with them as they were his only two copies and there was no Internet in common use then. I took notes from the two books in about three hours, which formed the basis for my article, "A look at environmental theology", published in the Jamaica Record on November 25, 1991. The other incident was the mudslide in Ocho Rios. Both incidents pointed to a call to revisit the environment.
Somewhere among the edited speeches by national hero Norman Manley in Rex Nettleford's Manley and the New Jamaica, the national hero spoke in the 1950s about the Kingston Harbour changing colour every time it rained. Because the harbour is now polluted beyond belief, we do not see how much of the land is being washed away into the sea.
Twenty years ago on January 29, 1988, the Roman Catholic bishops of the Philippines circulated a pastoral letter to their citizenry, which is heavily Roman Catholic. The title of the pastoral letter was enough to think about, which was "What is happening to our beautiful land?" Everything Peter Espeut in the Gleaner and John Maxwell in the Sunday Observer have ever written concerning the abuse of the environment and more is contained in that letter. The pastoral letter can be found on the Internet by simply going into Google and typing in "What is happening to our beautiful land?"
The late Pope John Paul ll was very concerned about environmental abuse. He begged for debt forgiveness in the world as it leads to a further erosion of the environment. Many nations are forced to mine the earth massively so that minerals can be exported to pay for the crippling debt that has engulfed many Third World nations. His other reason was, as is written in the 1988 Filipino pastoral letter, concern for the environment as "the ultimate pro-life issue". The Filipino bishops referred to the washing away of the soil as the "haemorrhaging of the earth".
As they reminded us of the Creation story and that the earth was really the Garden of Eden, the Filipino bishops pointed to the words of Jesus Christ: "I have come that they may have life to the full." (John 10:10.). And in the Philippines by 1988 the bishops were lamenting the depletion of 30 million hectares of land to just about one million. One can always wonder if this is how the world is going to end. Man's selfishness and greed is ultimately going to be our undoing.
We sing "Jamaica land we love" as part of our national anthem. On special occasions we sing "Jamaica land of beauty". In the Roman Catholic Church, on the occasion of political independence and national day of thanksgiving in October, the prayers speak to the land, fruits the animals and to "our Caribbean waters so blue and sparkling". But if we do not do something in the future we will be thankful for the bare rock at the top of the mountains that the sea has not covered, thus graciously allowing some to live.
-
ekrubm765@yahoo.com