NMIPL IN THE NEWS

Text of Prof. Rich Wood’s Presentation on Laudato Si

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On May 20, University of New Mexico Prof. Richard L. Wood helped us commemorate the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment. Dr. Wood shared his thoughts online via Zoom. Here is a video. Below is an excerpt from the presentation followed by a link to the full text on the NMIPL blog.

St. Francis, like Pope Francis, deeply experienced the joy of living in God’s love. I would like to begin my reflections there, based on Pope Francis’ other great encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel. There, Francis emphasized living in daily encounter with the Spirit of Life, within the intimate flow of relationship between Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit.

One thing we can do now, every day, is to make sure we are living within that intimate flow, cultivating a spiritual practice individually and (hopefully again soon) communally that provides a bedrock of joy in our lives and relationships because we know we are loved, we know we are sinners in the arms of a forgiving God, intimately embraced by the One that theologian Elizabeth Johnson calls “She Who Is”. It is that kind of encounter, lived intimately and mystically, that I think Jesus, Francis, and Clare all lived, and into which Pope Francis is calling us today. Here is the full text

Laudato Si at 5: Economy, Ecology with Prof. Richard L. Wood

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To commemorate the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si: Care for our Common Home, we invited UNM Sociology Prof. Richard L. Wood to share from his background of sociology of religion, social theory,democratic life and struggle for justice in United States.

This Zoom presentation contains Dr. Wood’s reflection, which touches on such themes as the role of ancient prophets to convey God’s love for creation alongside righteous anger and our society’s focus on consumption and production (not only on resources but on our time). The session is followed by a question and answer session. We will post a partial transcript in coming days.

Cool Congregations Calculator Available

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The members of the NM IPL Cool Congregations Committee are helping to unveil and implement broad use of a new tool called the Cool Congregations Calculator. The tool is an easy way to determine your congregation’s carbon footprint and how it compares with similar congregations in your area. There is also a tool to determine your household carbon footprint.

The tool can be accessed through the Cool Congregations webpage. We encourage you to try out the tool. You may want to start with the one for your household and move from there to your faith community. David Robertson (robertson.david51@gmail.com) is the contact for questions or problems using the Cool Congregations Calculator tool.

Join the Challenge

We also wanted to make you aware of the Cool Congregations Challenge. It is an annual national contest to recognize “Cool Congregations” that are becoming energy efficient and sustainable role models within their communities. A $1000 prize will be awarded for each of five categories of sustainability. See the Cool Congregations webpage for detailed information.

New Mexico IPL can also provide you with general assistance as your faith community considers energy savings and solar installation. We can connect you to financing options through NM IPL, Catholic Energies, RE-Volv and help connect you to other resources as you begin the brainstorming and planning process. Clara Sims (cesims1122@gmail.com) is the primary contact at New Mexico IPL for Cool Congregations work.

Carlsbad Current Argus. Sep. 3, 2020 New Mexico finalizes oil and gas wastewater regulations, lawmakers hear testimony (Rev. Nick King Quoted)

Las Cruces Sun-News,  Aug. 19, 2020, Report on solving climate crisis brings hope (Co-authored by Michael Sells, Clara Sims and Edith Yanez)

Santa Fe New Mexican, Aug. 15, 2020 Vote your values this November  (Commentary by Larry Rasmussen and Tabitha Arnold)