Ecostewards Journal Winter Spring 99

In December 1998, WSI sent its representatives, Fred Krueger and Edgar Castellini, to Mexico City to meet with members of the Mexican Interfaith Council (CIM) and other interested parties. The result was the beginning of a close collaboration between the Mexican Interfaith Council and WSI, with WSI being asked to solicit international and North American participation for a major conference on the environment in Mexico. This congress or "congreso" will be organized around the theme of Love and Care of Creation. Phase I of this congreso will convene in October 1999. Phase II, inviting extensive participation from the global business and environmental communities, will follow in 2000. This congreso will facilitate effective environmental change in Mexico, putting the inspiration and idealism of religion behind environmentalism.

Below we print the Goals of Love and Care of Creation, a document expressing what CIM hopes to achieve with its environmental initiative. If you readers of EcoStewards would like more information on this Congreso as it develops, please contact WSI, or see our Latin American Alliance website at www.latinsynergy.org for up-to-date information.

Goals of "Love and Care of Creation"

Caring for the Earth is more than just an environmental obligation, it is a spiritual responsibility we must learn to embrace. Each living creature is connected with all others. There is only one Earth, one Mankind, and one Creation. Without care for Creation, we destroy God's work and ourselves as well. We believe that a coalition of dedicated and devoted religious communities can unite to promote the Love and Care of Creation.

Love and care for creation is an interfaith concern. Religious leaders from virtually every faith and creed recognize this, and have forcefully spoken out about the need for religious communities to address environmental concerns. Thus Pope John Paul II has said, "The ecological crisis is really a moral crisis"; Christian Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I has said, "To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin." The Dalai Lama has noted, "Today more than ever life must be characterized by a sense of universal responsibility"; a Thai Buddhist monk notes, "The entire cosmos is a cooperative." Concern for creation unifies all people of faith.

The words of these religious leaders warn us that, in the absence of a responsible coalition dedicated to the love and care of creation, we humans may ruin God's work. We are presently on the verge of ecocide: killing our planet and ourselves.

CIM and the religious communities of Mexico hereby dedicate our time and human resources to the cause of love and care of creation. We pledge, to the utmost of our abilities, to carry out the following three endeavors:

1. To educate members of our religious communities in their responsibilities unto creation as part of their faith;

2. To instruct people in our communities to become trained, skillful coworkers in environmental matters;

3. To initiate and conduct ecological activities in our local communities, putting into practice our environmental consciousness informed and inspired by our love and care for creation.

CIM and the religious communities of Mexico intend to encourage and support all those environmental groups whose goals coincide with ours, and who invite or permit us to participate in their activities.

We need to make a difference. So help us God.

Goals of "Love and Care of Creation"

Caring for the Earth is more than just an environmental obligation, it is a spiritual responsibility we must learn to embrace. Each living creature is connected with all others. There is only one Earth, one Mankind, and one Creation. Without care for Creation, we destroy God's work and ourselves as well. We believe that a coalition of dedicated and devoted religious communities can unite to promote the Love and Care of Creation.

Love and care for creation is an interfaith concern. Religious leaders from virtually every faith and creed recognize this, and have forcefully spoken out about the need for religious communities to address environmental concerns. Thus Pope John Paul II has said, "The ecological crisis is really a moral crisis"; Christian Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I has said, "To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin." The Dalai Lama has noted, "Today more than ever life must be characterized by a sense of universal responsibility"; a Thai Buddhist monk notes, "The entire cosmos is a cooperative." Concern for creation unifies all people of faith.

The words of these religious leaders warn us that, in the absence of a responsible coalition dedicated to the love and care of creation, we humans may ruin God's work. We are presently on the verge of ecocide: killing our planet and ourselves.

CIM and the religious communities of Mexico hereby dedicate our time and human resources to the cause of love and care of creation. We pledge, to the utmost of our abilities, to carry out the following three endeavors:

1. To educate members of our religious communities in their responsibilities unto creation as part of their faith;

2. To instruct people in our communities to become trained, skillful coworkers in environmental matters;

3. To initiate and conduct ecological activities in our local communities, putting into practice our environmental consciousness informed and inspired by our love and care for creation.

CIM and the religious communities of Mexico intend to encourage and support all those environmental groups whose goals coincide with ours, and who invite or permit us to participate in their activities.

We need to make a difference. So help us God.

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