Georgetown University Hosts Historic Three-Day Meeting on Integral Ecology
By Fr. Matthew Carnes, SJ
In preparation for the upcoming Synod on the Amazon region, to be held in the Vatican in October 2019, Georgetown University hosted a three-day symposium entitled, “Integral Ecology: A Synodal Response for the Care of Our Common Home.”
The event was coordinated by REPAM (Red Ecclesial Pan-Amazonica, or Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network), a four-year-old initiative of the Catholic Church in all the countries that are stewards of the Amazon basin. Drawing upon the Church’s ties to indigenous communities and deeply aware of the impact of climate change on the life of the poor, REPAM has rapidly grown to play a central role in helping the Church prepare for the synod. In preparing the conference, it reached out to include representatives to other regions of critical importance to the environment, including the Congo basin, South Asia, and the Philippines, and it featured the participation of representatives of the United Nations and other international organizations. (...)
