AMERICA/BOLIVIA - Indigenous theologian: "Ecology of hearts, according to Laudato Sì"

Tuesday, 12 December 2017 laudato sì   indigenous   laity   ecology   environment  

Diocesi Udine

Cochabamba (Agenzia Fides) - "The profound indigenous spirituality, in its harmonious relationship with all creation, sees in the care of the common home a responsibility for future generations.The bond of relationship between the indigenous peoples and Mother Earth translates into mutual care: man takes care of the common home and the common home takes care of the human being": says to Agenzia Fides Tania Avila Meneses, a Catholic laywoman of the indigenous Quechua, Bolivian theologian, coordinator of the Amerinda Cochabamba Network, a network of American Catholics open to dialogue and interfaith cooperation, promoter of the preferential option for the poor and the excluded.
"Our society - notes Tania Avila - is marked by selfishness that only seeks well-being and sees in the 'common home' an object that can be used without limits", recalling the need to deepen the Encyclical "Laudato Sì" to overcome this mentality: "To give life and put in practice Laudato Sì, taking care of the 'common home', is an urgent responsibility because the damage caused is so great that if we do not act today, our lives are seriously at risk". "We need a personal mental conversion that goes through the need to first of all 'make our hearts' ecological", she says.
According to the coordinator of the Amerinda Cochabamba Network, one of the fundamental points on which to work at a pastoral level is to "learn to listen and recognize the voice and spirituality of the indigenous peoples with an attitude of humility and openness towards other ways and paths of knowledge, as valid as the Western ones". Avila, who recently coordinated a workshop on "Integral Ecology: disciples and missionaries, guardians of creation", held in Quito last November, notes that "it is urgent to limit the mining work from the subsoil and reduce the use of carbon, but even at a personal level one can do a lot, by better administering resources such as water and electricity, and putting in place forms of recycling. One must avoid being taken by consumerism that leads us to buy, creating unnecessary needs: it is urgent to put into practice the Laudato Sì in our life", she concludes. (LG) (Agenzia Fides, 12/12/2017)


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