JPIC PROGRAMME AT PILOSOPHY HOUSE

 We had a privilege of meeting Fr. Lawrence, who is the coordinator for Justice peace and integrity of creation (JPIC) which is one of the important dimensions of the Society of the Divine Word SVD. As hinted in the tittle above, the three times we met within the month of November 2022, the meetings were centered on the Encyclical of Pope Francis on nature famously called in Italian LAUDATO SI which was published in 2015. 

 LAUDATO SI is structured after the famous canticle of St. Francis of Assisi on nature in which he exalts the Lord for putting nature at the disposal of human beings. As such, all phenomena in the universe are intrinsically connected to us human beings as we all move and have our being in him (Acts 17:28), Who is the ONE and the UNMOVABLE MOVER. Therefore, in referring to natural phenomenon, Francis of Assisi used names such as brother fire and sister water to express this intimate connection nature has with human beings.

Further, the pope in this encyclical raises a number of issues regarding the way nature, that is, the surroundings or environment, (which I have referred to earlier on as intimately connected to us) has been treated. The fundamental argument in this encyclical can be summed up in the following syllogism. 1. Nature is our brother and sister 2. No one would like to do harm to his brother and sister 3. Therefore, we should not do harm to nature which is our brother and sister. From the SVD philosophy student’s understanding, the above presents the core of the encyclical. It calls all humanity to wake up from the slumber of the injustices done to nature. 

We found the meetings fruitful because, from a philosophical point of view following the thinking of Martin Heidegger, the world provides a platform upon which human beings can fully realize themselves. So, if we do harm to the world, we actually destroy ourselves for we are beings in the world. This line of thinking coincides with the belief that, when we do harm to nature, nature will do harm back to us. In conclusion, they say knowledge is power, this knowledge we have acquired will be a weapon for us to use to explain to our brothers and sisters who had no such opportunity to be enlightened as we were on the importance of nature. We indeed thank Fr. Lawrence for finding time from his busy schedule to impart this awareness of the need to regard nature as our brother and sister whom we cannot do away dispassionately.