Cosmic Walk
The Canadian Augustinian Centre for Social Justice, Scarboro Foreign Missions and Development and Peace jointly sponsored a forum and meditation on the environment, its relation to our faith and social justice. The event took place at St. Brigid’s Parish in the East end of Toronto on Monday May 28, 2012. Fr. Carlos Sierra, Pastor of St. Brigid’s was very gracious to allow the event to take place in the Church and the hall.
The evening consisted of Mass at 6:00pm with an ecological and environmental theme, followed by a light supper, then presentations from 7-9:30pm. The guest speakers included; Sr. Noreen Walsh OSU, Dr. John Dorner from the Archdiocese of Ottawa and Luke Stocking from Development and Peace. Sr. Noreen led the participants in a “Cosmic Walk” – a meditation on creation as God’s gift. Dr. John Dorner spoke about his role in the Archdiocese of Ottawa as the environmental liaison. Luke spoke of the work of Development and Peace in sustaining the environment in a global context.
Several positive encouraging results came forth from this event.
Fr. Francis Galvan OSA invited all participants to an “Eco-Walk” on the grounds of Marylake Monastery in King City on Saturday June 9. Environmentalists from the Oak Ridge’s Moraine Society would be guides to help the walkers understand the various aspects of the trails, growth, flowers and fauna.
Greening Sacred Spaces representative attended the event and have begun to work with the Augustinian Centre on several projects in the Archdiocese of Toronto.
The Augustinian Centre will take these ideas and report to the United Nations Conference on Sustainability in Rio in June (Rio+20).
Photos of the “Eco Walk” at Marylake
Joe Gennaro & Oak Ridge’s Guide
Group of Walkers
Marylake Shrine & Mary Lake
Lisa Dwyer& Beaver House
THE PRESENTERS
Sister Noreen Walsh led the group in a “Cosmic Walk” meditation emphasizing our need to be obedient to the voice of the earth, of being, – this is more important for our future happiness than the voices of the moment, the desires of the moment. For a summary of her presentation entitled “Nurturing Ecological Spirituality”, please click here
Cosmic Walk
Dr. John Dorner, from the Archdiocese of Ottawa spoke about the teachings of the Catholic Church and provided some practical ideas of how we as people and as parishioners can be more respectful of the environment in our parishes. For a summary of his presentation entitled “Environmental Stewardship”, please click here.
Photos from the Environment evening at St. Brigid’s
Brian Dwyer & Sr. Noreen
Fr. Francis Galvan
