Editorial

‘Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer…’ (Richard III). Since the start of 2020 we have endured the force of nature’s fury - drought, bushfires, flood and now pestilence. And with COVID -19, besides the insidious virus, there has been the economic meltdown. For all of us this has meant social isolation, for others, also a loss of income and for the vulnerable even more hardship. 

Will the second half of this year become our ‘glorious summer’? Let us look for hopeful signs. What are the lessons to be learned from our enforced lockdown?

I write this on World Environment Day, and drawing upon Pope Francis encyclical, ‘Laudato Si’, one wonders if what we have experienced shouldn’t make us reflect on the impact of climate change.

World: ‘There is no way we can shut everything down in order to lower emissions, slow climate

change and protect the environment.’

Mother Nature: ‘Here’s a virus. Practise.’

(Anonymous)

Ecological conversion is at the heart of Pope Francis’ encyclical. We know that all of creation, including human beings, are intimately connected. This requires of us ‘right relationships’ – with nature and with the vulnerable, the indigenous, the ‘other’. (#LaudatoSi5)

In our schools and community works we have seen resilience, creativity and a passion to do what is best for those we serve. The broader community has a new regard for teachers – the ability to adapt, work under pressure and creatively maintain learning for students has been widely lauded. 

In our community we have seen acts of human kindness and resourcefulness, the commitment and selflessness of health professionals and the ongoing work of charities such as our Kildare Ministries Community Works: Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project, Presentation Family Centre and Well Springs for Women.

As a nation we have had to recognise ANZAC day and Mother’s day differently; as a Church we have celebrated the great feasts of Easter and Pentecost ‘remotely’; and in some ways both have enabled us to reconnect, and renew our relationship with these annual observances.

At home, we have been forced to ‘disconnect’ and engage with family and friends via online chats but in doing so maybe we have slowed down more and contemplated what is really important to us and our society and our environment. Below are some lines from a poem, the P.M. of New Zealand, Jacinda Adern chose to share:

Rest now, Mother Earth

Breathe easy and settle

Right here where you are

We’ll not move upon you

For awhile.

We’ll stop, we’ll cease

We’ll slow down and stay home

Draw each other close and be kind

Kinder than we’ve ever been.

This sacrifice of solitude we have carved out for you…

We were just afraid of how much it was going to hurt – and it IS hurting and it will continue to hurt

But not as much as you have been hurt.

So be still now

Wrap your hills around our absence

Loosen the concrete belt

Cinched tight at your waist

• Rest
• Breathe
• Recover
• Heal

And we will do the same.

Extracts from ‘For Papatuanuku – Mother Earth’ by Nadine Anne Hura

To conclude, we are not alone… let’s recall the words of St Ignatius,

‘Think about doing your work well, ‘as if everything depended on you, while knowing that everything in fact depends on God’

Hope is our ally in these times – buoyant, resolute and resourceful. As we endure our ‘winter’ and the new ‘normal’; may we look forward, with hope, to those ‘summer’ days.

Come, Holy Spirt, renew the face of the earth!

Jeff Burn

Executive Officer

Kildare Education Ministries