UCA SA - Crying Out

Crying Out

By Monica Conway
Assistant Director, Catholic Education SA

Posted Aug 10, 2021 in News

Exploring the Statement from the Heart and care for the environment (The South Australian Dialogue of the Roman Catholic Church and Uniting Churches).

Crying Out is an excellent resource for groups within Roman Catholic and Uniting Church communities and broader Christian communities to prayerfully discern topics for ‘our time and people.’

The Introduction says that the resource will help the reader ‘consider the interconnectedness of climate change and First Peoples, taking in current context, realities and respective traditions.’ Building on the dialogical space that has been developed through the South Australian Dialogue of the Roman Catholic and Uniting Churches the resource promotes the processes of engagement that are fundamental to mature discernment of the challenging issues facing our contemporary communities.

The resource starts with naming the issues under the heading of ‘In the Wilderness.’ The issues are named truthfully and powerfully, and in ways that call for a response. We are encouraged to reflect, pray, own the issues and to hear ‘The earth and her people crying out for healing and renewal for the whole of creation.’

The Uluru Statement from the Heart sets the scene for a connected vision of how we can work for, and with, First Peoples as we care for all creation on earth. The call to deep partnership echoes Pope Francis’ call to strengthen our sense of connectedness toward ecological conversion and action. Crying Out provokes our thinking through asking searching questions such as ‘how is the call to care for the earth related to care for one another?’ and provides a Roman Catholic response and a Uniting Church response for consideration.

Crying Out concludes with a section called Faith in Action and so completes a cycle of knowing, understanding, reflecting, praying and acting which can be repeated over-and-over again in response to the critical issues of our times.

I commend this resource to all who seek to engage with these challenging issues in ways that promote dialogue and connection; and which illustrate how our faith can support and inspire us in this quest.

Download Crying Out here