Design. Charity. Life.

Many people agree that we do not live in a just world. Why? Because everyone’s not treated fairly, things just don’t work out for everyone, the wrong people win court battles, and millions of people are starving. So, do we live in a just world?

Well what is justice? It means being able to get what you deserve. Food, health, shelter included. Does everyone in the world have those things? No, unfortunately, so the answer is no, unfortunately, the world is not just.

“Expecting the world to treat you fairly just because you are a good person like expecting a bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian and don’t eat meat.” It just doesn’t work that way. But does that mean we should stop being good people?

In the Catholic religion, Justice is one of the four cardinal virtues. It is the moderation between selfishness and selflessness.

So what can we do to be less selfish? Ok, let’s give all of our money away to a charity. That’s great, but there’s a major difference between the formal meaning of the world “charity” and the word “justice”.

Charity is social service. Charity provides direct services like food, clothing, and shelter. Charity addresses problems that already exist. Examples of the works of charity in action are homeless shelters, food shelves, clothing drives, emergency services. The order of nuns that Mother Teresa started is called Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa did charity; she gave wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor.

However, Justice, is this month’s virtue, and it has a different focus. Justice is social change. Justice promotes social change in institutions or political structures. Justice responds to long-term needs. Where charity addresses a current problem, such as hungry people in the streets, justice is directed at the root causes of social problems. Justice addresses the underlying structures or causes of these problems – basically, making sure the mess isn’t made to begin with. Examples of justice are legislative advocacy, changing policies and practices, political action.

So, overall, understand that we need BOTH charity and justice. They’re two ends of a spectrum of living out our faith.

The world is facing a major climate crisis. As human beings, each one of us is a cause of global warming.

Now let’s think. Earth Day is not just about the trees and air. It’s about the overall health of our planet. We’re facing a population crisis, religious wars, and food shortages.

We’re not just victims, we’re not useless. Remember Earth Hour last month? In Toronto, we used nearly 10% less energy during that hour. And the rest of the world participated too, showing that we can take action to save our earth.

We’re going to kill ourselves if we don’t act though. Some glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau, which provide half of the drinking water for 40% of the world’s population, are melting. If these glaciers disappear, 2.6 Billion people may face a serious drinking water shortage. Also, don’t be blaming third-world countries for pollution either. The U.S. emits one quarter of the world’s greenhouse gasses, while the entire continent of Africa is responsible for only about 5 percent! The US is depleting their water supply so much that they may eventually have to buy our fresh water. How about this one: in 40 years, there will be no seafood left to catch.

So, I could read statistics all morning. But I’m not going to. We’re destroying our Earth and ourselves here. We are living on borrowed time. This is an illusion of prosperity and success. It will suddenly come to an end. There are limits to our current global society.

What’s that? You want do something about it? Great! Don’t buy disposable stuff. Turn off your computer. Donate. Don’t buy things with more packaging than actual product! Drive less. Volunteer. Recycle.

Speaking of recycling at d’Youville, we should get going on that. Apparently it’s not in the custodians’ contract to collect our recycling. We need to work towards getting thins like this corrected. Or, do the recycling yourself, like the grade 12 at Cardinal Leger who single-handedly became his school’s recycling program. This winter, he armed himself with a garbage bag and picked up 50 pop cans from the caf, still noticing a lot more in the garbage. So he put on gloves and dug around for cans in the trash. He collected 90 more cans. Then he started to collect 200 cans a day, for a month, stored them in his garage, and then dropped them off at a scrap metal facility. That’s dedication.

Don’t want to do it alone? Get involved in a group. Don’t just sit there; go to greenpeace.org, sierraclub.ca, wwf.ca, earthroots.org, eco.ca, naturecanada.ca, peyalliance.com, or thegreenguide.ca.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this: “Man must respect the particular goodness of every creature, to avoid any disordered use of things which would be in contempt of the Creator and would bring disastrous consequences for human beings and their environment” (Catechism 339).

So let’s respect our environment in all ways we can. We’re the generation that’s going to make the difference. Let’s not be one of the last surviving generations of mankind, alright?

Reflection for International Human Rights Week at d’Youville Secondary School

While it may be a regular school day in Brampton, there is an important issue being promoted this week. That’s because December 10th was International Human Rights Day. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations declared respect for human rights and human dignity “is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”.

Now I can go naming articles and quoting sections of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but instead I’m going to tell you what it’s all about and why it’s so important. You see for some reason, although God created us in his image and we are all equal in God’s eyes, humans don’t seem to treat each other this way. All around the world, people are being murdered needlessly, repressed, raped, ridiculed, deprived of basic needs such as health care and nutrition.

Let’s not be selfish and think about all of our rights. We live in a society where we’re pretty much protected. But what do these International Human Rights actually include?

First off, like I just said, article one. It says this: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” International means in all countries. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms of the declaration without distinction – so why isn’t this happening in our world? Oh, because we see ourselves as different from others around us, right? So is that acceptable? No. It says we all have these rights without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status, regardless of political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs. That pretty much says that I, Daniel Francavilla in Brampton, have the same rights as a 17-year-old boy in Malawi living in a hut.

Recently a British newspaper revealed that GAP clothing was being made by child labourers in India, some as young as 10 years old. You’re not allowed to force me to sit in a filthy, humid room for 16 hours a day sewing logos on Old Navy sweaters and pay me a few cents an hour. And guess what? You’re not allowed to force a 17-year-old girl in the Dominican Republic to do that either. But guess what – it happens. And we’re letting it. You’re letting it happen, I’m letting it happen. When we go purchase those expensive shoes, jeans, or even computers, we’re promoting this industry. And it’s a violation of human rights.

Article 13 says that everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. So if you want to get a job in New York, you can leave, make some money, and come back to Canada, and you’ll be welcomed back. However, you can definitely come up with several examples of countries today where people are murdered or imprisoned for trying to leave their own country.

Article 18 says that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. So if you’re just sitting there in school and you see that there’s a problem with the way things are being run, don’t just get ticked off – go express your thought – respectfully of course. And if you are slacking in your faith, I suggest you go thank God for the fact that you can express your faith openly and won’t be taken to prison for it.

Article 21 says that everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. So when you’re 18 you can vote for someone to represent you. Why are there hardly any young people going to the poles? I don’t know, but in some countries people would do anything to have the opportunity to vote, or at least have their vote count.

You know I’m not going to go through all of these random articles in the Declaration of Human Rights. But haven’t you noticed that these are all great rights that we are all supposed to have, but many people around the world simply don’t. Simple things like the right to rest and leisure from work and the right to education – we just assume we’re all good, because we have them. But there are so many people around the world who are deprived of these basic things! In Canada we could never imagine being forced to work all day with no rest and minimal pay, or to not be able to go to school and get a good job.

So during this week, and during Christmas, let’s appreciate the rights that we have. Human Rights Day 2007 is the start of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Prayer:
God, let us be thankful for the rights we have.
Let all of us at d’Youville continue to be protected and safe.
Help us to pay tribute to those who originally wrote the Declaration, and to the many human rights defenders around the world who have struggled to make their vision a reality.
Let’s pray for those who are dying and suffering around the world, and those that are being deprived of basic human rights.

More info:
UN Human Rights Day
Declaration of Human Rights

On October 19, I had the privilege of attending an huge event at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. It wasn’t just another concert. It was a special gathering if youth from all over Canada, 8000 of them to be exact, at an event called Me to We Day.

We are blessed to live in a city such as Brampton, which is thriving. We have an average household income of nearly $100,000 and handfuls of new schools going up all around us. We have it good compared to many other places around the world. My message today is not about life in Brampton. It’s about something greater, something global.

Poverty. The gap between the world’s rich and poor has never been wider. Malnutrition, AIDS, conflict and illiteracy are a daily reality for millions. I’m going to throw a bunch of shocking facts at you right now. These are all things that were covered at National Me to We Day on Friday:

• In North America, we spend 17 billion dollars a year on dog and cat food. That’s more than we spend on foreign aid.
• World Military Spending Topped 1 Trillion dollars in 2004
• We spent 18 billion dollars last year on make-up
• In Europe, they spend 11 billion dollars every year eating ice cream.
• And we spent 40 billion dollars last year playing golf.

So what do we do now? Why am I telling you all these numbers, while you sit in your classroom wearing your uniforms, waiting for the day to begin? Craig Kielburger, the 24-year old activist who started Free the Children at age 12, sums this up perfectly when he says, “It’s totally possible to end poverty in our lifetime.”

We need to understand that it’s not chance or bad luck that keeps millions of people impoverished and suffering. It’s man-made factors that cause this awful situation. Things like unjust global trade, country debt burdens, and aid that is just not effective. We’ve got someone dying at least every 3 seconds. I’d say that’s an emergency, wouldn’t you?

Ok, so how realistic am I being in saying that we – our generation – can end poverty? Very realistic. If we wanted to provide every single child with a chance to go to school, it would cost about 12 billion dollars every year. Now I personally do not have an extra 12 billion in the bank. But clearly, we can send every kid to school at this price, considering people spent 400 billion dollars last year on cigarettes. You may ask, are you kidding me Daniel? No! But it sure is ridiculous, just plain stupid, selfish, and unjust.

As a Catholic, I believe that we are all God’s people and have to do something to help one another. They are our brothers, members of the same human family, and have the same nature, dignity, destiny, and needs as ourselves. You should all know God said to love your neighbor as yourself – not just let them starve and order a pizza for yourself. And of course, I am not targeting Catholics to save the world alone! Many other faiths believe in helping others as yourself. So please go make a difference and donate, help in whatever way you can. Don’t be selfish all the time.

As the Free the Children charity and Craig Kielburger said to us the crowd on Friday, “Be the change”.

A random rant, reflection, article by Daniel Francavilla

The Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations to deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a “moral” cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following. This is from an article posted on September 22, 2007.

Now, we’re studying “morality” in my grade 12 Religion class. And for some reason, morality is the focus of the entire course. Morality is what’s considered right or wrong – acceptable or unacceptable, by society, religion, or individual conscience.

So, these three things relate apparently, since the article is called “Pope to make climate action a moral obligation”: morality, religion, and the environment.

Remember back in elementary school there were ads and things promoting a healthy environment, such as “don’t litter” signs and a “don’t waste water” song on Sesame Street? Well that was like the watered-down version of crap so nobody would feel bad. But guess what now? We have a global crisis!

I invite you to visit flickoff.org if you don’t believe me.

But anyways, back to the Pope. He is going to be meeting with the United Nations and also the US about this kind of stuff. Someone has to take action, you know? Because killing off our species is immoral! And that’s against the Catholic religion. Right? (Thou shall not kill… which is why smoking is against the Catholic religion too, because you’re damaging and killing your body).

So, the new Pope has personally led moves to emphasize green issues, focusing on the belief that climate change is affecting the poorest people on the planet, as well as the principle that believers have a duty to “protect creation”. So there you go.

Now a lot of people don’t like these important people preaching about the “green” movement because sometimes, they end up being the biggest polluters. We won’t get into the scandal about Al Gore having such a huge house with massive air conditioning and such… give the guy a break. But what I’m saying is, the Pope is not like this. He has actually done something about the environment already.

Vatican City has become the first fully carbon-neutral state in the world, after announcing it is offsetting its carbon footprint by planting a forest in Hungary and installing solar panels on the roof of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome!

So if you think that the Climate Change Crisis is only a trend, you’re wrong. If the 80-year-old Pope is taking action, then you should too. And if you’re one of those people who think that Global Warming isn’t happening, look around you. You know the Olympics? Well news was just released saying that poor air quality threatens Beijing Olympics. An article says runners are staggering and falling over in the streets! That’s a when it becomes moral issue – it’s about life.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, head of the Catholic Church in the UK, recently said that, “this is a crucial issue both today and for all future generations. We are the stewards of creation and we need to take that responsibility seriously and co-operate to care for the created world.”

Now obviously, the environment changing is not just only Catholic issue. In order to solve this problem of Global Warming and such, religion and science need to work together. That means everybody. Even you.

Check out initiatives from organizations like the David Suzuki Foundation, Green Peace, and more.

As the Flick Off website explains, Global Warming is affecting biodiversity, food systems, economies, human and animal life, and our living habits. That’s why we, everyday people, have to do something. Never mind the government’s broken promises, and plans that only sound good. Face it; government and big business aren’t racing to meet their targets.

The Flick Off commercial actually says, “We only have 10 years to dramatically reduce our emissions or we’re screwed.” I say that should be taken pretty seriously.

Don’t be in denial, or you going to die soon. Listen to the Pope. Don’t trust him? Then listen to Leonardo DiCaprio even.

I’m not asking you to go around hugging trees and picking up cans on the beach. Instead, fix the relationship between man and earth. God put us here to maintain this amazing world. I’m sure God would have never have guessed the most intelligent species on earth would be the ones who destroyed it.

A government source said that, “Pope Benedict is the spiritual head of 19 % of the world’s population and a highly respected figure. If the Pope’s words are taken on board by his community, that is one big constituency for change and could turn the tide on climate change and environmental degradation”.

Good luck on saving the world.

With all due respect,
Daniel Francavilla