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Don Bosco Provincial House, Hyderabad, 14 January 2021: During the praxis-orientation webinar on Ludato si, organized by the Salesian Province of Hyderabad, on 14 January, 2021, Fr Cedric Prakash S.J. spoke on the theme, “Grounding Laudato Si in the Soil and Culture of Human Rights in India”. The main thrust of his talk was on the 5 Cs – Common Challenges faced by the world, in the area of environmental crisis, the Causes of Ecological Degradation, the need for Caring for our Common Home and the Commitment and the Courage called for, in heeding the Cry of the Earth and Cry of the Poor.
His basic argument was that Pope Francis’ call for fighting the forces of ecological degradation cannot be delinked from the fight against the exploitation of the poor – the working class, the Dalits, the Tribals, Women, those being peripheralized, pauperized and invisibilized, every day. This challenges the Church and the society, at large, to go beyond the tendencies towards tokenism and cosmetization and trivialization of the spirit of Laudato si, by reducing the processes called for, just to planting trees and avoiding the use of plastic. Pope’s call challenges us to greater daring and pastoral imagination, in standing up to the corporate forces, who are reducing the Mother-Earth to merely a means to gratify their never-satiable hunger for profit.
