MADISON — On April 30, the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) in Madison and the Office of Hispanic Ministry (OHM) of the Diocese of Madison teamed up to bring the faith-based environmental documentary film The Letter to the Madison-area Spanish-speaking community.
“The Letter portrays how our brothers and sisters from all over the world are affected by climate change, with one of the consequences being relocation and immigration in search of safety and a better life,” explained Lorianne Aubut, coordinator of Hispanic Ministry for the Diocese of Madison. “This reality is something that many of our Hispanic brothers and sisters suffer but often goes unnoticed.”
The Letter follows the journey of environmental activists who receive a life-changing invitation from the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis to discuss the climate crisis. The film features brief stories on five protagonists: A man from Senegal in West Africa who is advocating for his community in the face of a growing climate refugee crisis; an indigenous man from Brazil who is fighting to protect the forest his people call home, putting his life on the line to do so; a young teen in India who became a climate activist at the age of nine to call on national and global leaders to act quickly to ensure a safe future for herself and her peers; and lastly, a couple in Hawaii who dedicate their lives to studying the marine world and what we can do to care for these fragile yet vital ecosystems.
“This film was so good because everything in there was right on the spot,” said attendee Sonia Ramirez. “We will pay the price [for what we are doing to our environment] – not only us, our children and future generations. We need to do something about that.”
Meeting Pope Francis
The film documented these protagonists’ powerful, uplifting encounter with Pope Francis, together representing the voices of the poor, indigenous peoples, youth, and wildlife. At their meeting at the Vatican, the protagonists discuss their unique perspectives and calls to action on the climate crisis.
Pope Francis explains that all perspectives are needed to face this grave problem.
“We don’t dismiss anyone,” says Pope Francis during the meeting. “It’s like a choir. We have to sing together. And right now unity means saving mother Earth, saving biodiversity, saving ourselves, and saving our children.”
After watching the film, 25 event participants discussed how they were noticing climate change, what role they think faith and religion play in solving climate change, and what actions they wanted to take as individuals, faith groups, and as a community.
“I think religious leaders should be more willing and open to challenge their followers to cut back on wasting materials, in order to be more environmentally secure,” said 14-year-old participant Enrique Franks.
Ramirez commented, “I would think that any of the religions should be concerned about this.” She added, “Mother nature is trying to tell us something. [These issues] are something that affects everybody.”
Powerful illustration
This film is a powerful illustration of the interconnectedness between environmental degradation and the suffering of vulnerable people.
The youth from India said she started having nightmares after seeing on the news a catastrophic flood that hit close to her home in India.
The man from Senegal received a phone call while filming the documentary, telling him the devastating news that a storm caused both a flood at the school where he works and sank a boat carrying 200 climate refugees from Africa to Europe, killing several people including one of his acquaintances.
Many of the people in attendance at the event noted they are already seeing severe climate change impacts in their Latin American home countries in the form of more frequent and severe droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, and flooding.
With the showing of this film, CMC and the OHM sought to bring this messaging to the Madison-area Hispanic community in order to inspire more people of faith to take action in defense of the most vulnerable among us and all life on the planet.
CMC also wanted to foster a sense of solidarity and support among immigrants already experiencing the worst impacts of climate change.
Aubut explained that with events like this one, “The Office of Hispanic Ministry seeks to connect all Spanish-speaking Catholics in our community to Catholic Social Teaching opportunities in order to increase awareness, and we want to advocate for the people for whom these teachings apply.”
Both the CMC and OHM plan to continue to offer bilingual (English/Spanish) events throughout this year pertaining to Care for Creation and other Catholic Social Teachings.