On October 21, St James Parish in Pennington will be hosting a speaker who will describe the message of Pope Francis in his Encyclical “On Care For Our Common Home.” The program will begin at 7:15pm and will be held in the Parish Family Center.
This will be an opportunity to hear and discuss the appeal from Pope Francis addressed to “every person living on this planet” for an inclusive dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. As he has written: “Everything is connected …There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself.”
Joann Held, Liturgy Coordinator at St James, and active with many local environmental groups said, “The Pope’s encyclical is commonly called ‘Laudato Si,’ after the first words of a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi that are cited at the beginning of the document. In Laudato Si, Pope Francis is calling all people to a ‘new and universal solidarity’ in need of right relationship with one another, our Lord and our natural world. This is an opportunity for all of us who care about the environment to share our concerns and our hopes.”
The speaker will be Mark Rohlena, Director of the Office of Domestic Social Development in the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He serves as a resource to the bishops on domestic social policy and works to advance Catholic social teaching in federal policymaking on a host of issues, including environmental stewardship.
Everyone throughout the Hopewell Valley and beyond is welcome to participate in this honest conversation on some of the mort important and timely issues we face today. St James Church is located at 115 East Delaware Avenue in Pennington, NJ. The driveway leading to the Church entrance is just east of the Rectory. Once on campus, just follow the signs to the meeting room.
Contact the parish office for more information at: 609-737-0122 or www.stjames-nj.org.
