This is the Part III of the article begun in the October 2000
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Click here for Part I, Part
II or Part IV
Weekend Themes:
Friday night
Rebuild My Church
Saturday Morning
Intimacy: Building a Healthy Society
Early Saturday Afternoon
Ecology: Building a Healthy Cosmos
Later Saturday Afternoon
Youth: Building a Future Church
Sister Ramona has a broader sense of ecology than many of us. We might think of plants and the earth and our relationship to animals and the inanimate creation. Sister Ramona also sees our relationships to people and the call for justice. She relates ecology to several articles of the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order.
Article 11 � ...simplifying their own material needs
Article 13 � Strive to create conditions of life worthy of people redeemed by Christ
Article 14 � Called to build a more fraternal and evangelical work so that the kingdom of God may be brought about more effectively
Article 15 � Let them individually and collectively be in the forefront in promoting justice by the testimony of their human lives and their courageous initiatives
Article 18 � ...strive to move from the temptation of exploiting creation to the Franciscan concept of universal kinship
The central element of all the discussion around this was simplicity. Simplicity is a very basic Franciscan charism. Small groups explored ways of simplifying our lives. Everyone seems to be in a different place and able to simplify different aspects of their lives. Some things people would like to do are impossible due to needs of employment, neighbors and a myriad of pressures and circumstances. Still there is a need to adjust our lives so that we can leave a livable and sustainable world to future generations.
I think of one family I know. They make great sacrifices to allow the mother to be home with the children. They are providing for the children with home school and other programs that allow the children to grow up surrounded by Christian values. And they are making preparations for the future when the children will be in regular schools and need to be able to live the values they are learning now in the real world. By both choice and necessity their lives are very simple. And the family is very happy. They are not Franciscans, but they are far better Franciscans then I.