SHARE LENT 2022
Share Lent 2022 Message of Bishop Raymond Poisson, CCCB President
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In 2015, Pope Francis published a letter addressed to all of us entitled Laudato Si’. In this letter, he tied the protection of the environment with love of neighbour, particularly by casting light on the fact that the poorest nations are generally the main victims of ecological degradation: “a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”, he tells us. The upcoming Lenten period is a time for a call to conversion, in order to bring us closer to the Lord, to go out to encounter our neighbour and to care for Creation, our common home.
Recent international gatherings have highlighted the direct impacts of the climate crisis; at a time when our Canadian communities are just starting to experience them, our brothers and sisters in the Global South have suffered them for a long time. For us Christians, in order that our faith in Jesus might be expressed in action, I encourage you to respond enthusiastically to the invitation of Share Lent 2022, which is being organized by Development and Peace – Caritas Canada under the theme “People and Planet First”. This campaign is an expression of the Gospel message and of the Church’s social teaching, both of which take into consideration the integral development of the human person.
Despite the difficult ecological situation of those communities where Development and Peace’s partner organizations are active, those communities are finding ways to adapt so as to live in harmony with their environment. This coming Lent, Development and Peace will highlight their efforts in order to encourage Canadians to fast sincerely and to pray that we may all work together as one family in caring for Creation.
Every year, Development and Peace also invites the Catholics of Canada to practice almsgiving by donating to the collection taken up on Solidarity Sunday (3 April 2022). The funds that are gathered then will allow Development and Peace to fulfill its mission and to transform lives in almost 30 countries around the world. Therefore, I invite you, in Christ’s name, to support the Share Lent 2022 campaign by spreading its message in your communities (especially by means of a letter of support), by participating actively in the activities in which you will be invited, and by encouraging fundraising in order to place people and the planet at the heart of our priorities. “For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power” (1 Cor. 4:20).
Fraternally in our Lord,
+ Raymond Poisson Bishop of Saint-Jérôme and of Mont-Laurier
President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In 2015, Pope Francis published a letter addressed to all of us entitled Laudato Si’. In this letter, he tied the protection of the environment with love of neighbour, particularly by casting light on the fact that the poorest nations are generally the main victims of ecological degradation: “a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”, he tells us. The upcoming Lenten period is a time for a call to conversion, in order to bring us closer to the Lord, to go out to encounter our neighbour and to care for Creation, our common home.
Recent international gatherings have highlighted the direct impacts of the climate crisis; at a time when our Canadian communities are just starting to experience them, our brothers and sisters in the Global South have suffered them for a long time. For us Christians, in order that our faith in Jesus might be expressed in action, I encourage you to respond enthusiastically to the invitation of Share Lent 2022, which is being organized by Development and Peace – Caritas Canada under the theme “People and Planet First”. This campaign is an expression of the Gospel message and of the Church’s social teaching, both of which take into consideration the integral development of the human person.
Despite the difficult ecological situation of those communities where Development and Peace’s partner organizations are active, those communities are finding ways to adapt so as to live in harmony with their environment. This coming Lent, Development and Peace will highlight their efforts in order to encourage Canadians to fast sincerely and to pray that we may all work together as one family in caring for Creation.
Every year, Development and Peace also invites the Catholics of Canada to practice almsgiving by donating to the collection taken up on Solidarity Sunday (3 April 2022). The funds that are gathered then will allow Development and Peace to fulfill its mission and to transform lives in almost 30 countries around the world. Therefore, I invite you, in Christ’s name, to support the Share Lent 2022 campaign by spreading its message in your communities (especially by means of a letter of support), by participating actively in the activities in which you will be invited, and by encouraging fundraising in order to place people and the planet at the heart of our priorities. “For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power” (1 Cor. 4:20).
Fraternally in our Lord,
+ Raymond Poisson Bishop of Saint-Jérôme and of Mont-Laurier
President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
