In October 2019, the bishops of the Amazon gathered in Rome to discern how people of faith can stand in solidarity with the exploited earth and marginalized communities. While the synod was about the Amazon, it is also a model for the entire world.
Every community of faith, wherever they are, is invited to listen to the experience of marginalized communities, take seriously the costs of environmental degradation, and discern how it can take action to protect all life.
The Missionary Society of St. Columban has lived in the Amazon region and accompanied the communities that call it home, including the natural world, for over half a century. On this webpage, you will find a series of articles about the Synod and the Amazon, as well as practical ways you can listen and respond to the "cry of the earth and the cry of the poor" (Laudato Si', #49).
Read the Pope's exhortation, The Beloved Amazon
Why is the Church committed to being an ally with the Amazon, and other marginalized communities?
Bring the Synod to Your Community
How can your faith community initiate a process of cross-cultural dialogue, ecological conversion, and collaborative social action?
Tell the Senate: Protect Environmental Defenders
Every year, hundred of people are killed or persecuted defending the environment. Tell the US Senate to protect them.
The Synod marks a turning point, a before and after of the Church. It is a ray of light that affirms hope in a time of great darkness. This current historical moment is full of storm clouds that prevent us from seeing the way forward with clarity. The synodal conversion is an invitation to embrace with passion the way of God which is given to us in this moment.
Throughout the Amazon, indigenous and local communities are being threatened and displaced by extractive industries, like logging, oil, gas, and dam projects, as well as by large-scale infrastructure developments, like roads, electrical interconnections, and commercial ports.
Sr Birgit Weiler, MMS
There needs to be persistent common efforts to overcome machismo and clericalism in our Church in general and in the Church of Amazonia in particular.
CNS photo/courtesy Father Julio Caldeira-REPAM
In the face of a global climate emergency, massive forced migrations, global inequality and violence on a global scale, we are called to see in the “signs of the time” the seeds of a new future, of ecological conversion, moving forward with hope and courage befitting a Spirit that comes anew “to set hearts on fire” and “to renew the face of the Earth.”
The United States is responsible for a portion of the deforestation happening in the Amazon, including the recent fires that made headlines. Many US manufacturers and other companies source materials from the Amazon region.
The military industrial complex and the fossil fuel industries are connected to one another. In relation to the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rainforest there is one company, BlackRock Inc., which encompasses all the concerns of Amazon peoples.
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