our extraterrestrial brothers and sisters

Both my brother and bloggy friend Garpu pointed out this tidbit:

Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

I was reminded of the time my 4 & 5 year old Sunday School class devolved into a discussion of space aliens.

... another little boy told me that his dad believed in Aliens. The class was heavy on the boys, and so conversation took a GIANT detour into the realm of the space alien, whether they existed, and if so if God loved them too. Heavy science fiction theology for the age group. I was struggling with trying to figure out how to get us back to planet earth and human beings - since I knew for sure both of those existed. It was tough going. As they say, resistance is futile. And of course, this is just when my pastor walked into the room. He looked at me, smirked and raised an eyebrow, and headed out the back door. He was just using our room as a shortcut.

I wish I'd had this bit of theology to impart. Hopefully the little boy who brought up the topic (who is probably 14 or 15 by now) reads this story!

By the way, did you know that the UN has an office for Outer Space Affairs?

Religious at the UN

As part of my spring ministry experience, I was incredibly lucky to be able to tag along for a week at the UN with one of our Sisters who is one of our Congregation's NGO representatives. Our main task was to attend the 16th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (more on that later). For me, it was also an eye opening first hand exposure to the role of religious communities at the UN. It turns out that there was a front page article in the Tablet last month on exactly this topic! I'm going to quote the article to give some background if you don't mind:

Hundreds of Catholic organisations, lay and Religious, from all over the world are accredited to the United Nations systems in New York, Geneva, Paris, Vienna and Nairobi. ... Catholic organisations are very vibrant at the moment," says Sr Dorothy Farley, a Dominican who has headed the International Catholic Organisation Information Centre for the past 13 years.

Her office provides Catholic agencies at the UN with accreditation details, advises them about whom to talk to on what issues, and sets up briefings with national Catholic staff and experts on health, education, environment, development and poverty matters, often in dialogue with diplomats and UN executives. …

NGOs are accredited to the department of public information or to the Economic and Social Council, or to both. "Catholic NGOs at the UN have been active advocates on the alleviation of poverty, access to primary education, empowerment of women and climate change," says Isolda Oca, information officer at the Department of Public Information. "They are effective. They come to conferences, briefings, workshops, and high-level meetings at the General Assembly." …

The nuts and bolts of being a representative mean submitting briefings to UN committees, attending NGO working groups, meeting General Assembly and Security Council members and, most significantly, giving them off-the-record briefings. Achieving change can at times seem a slow, laborious process, but this has borne fruit in the past. Caritas representatives at Special Sessions on HIV and Aids at the UN General Assembly have helped to lobby governments to increase funding and commit to providing universal access to prevention, treatment and care. Their words have been incorporated in final declarations.

The key to success is not being part of a Catholic ghetto, but working in partnership with other colleagues across the NGO spectrum. Catholic NGOs stress that they are not part of a bloc, but are there to represent the issues that are vital to their organisations on the ground. However, they do bring an important moral dimension to their work.

So, that's why we were there - the "nuts and bolts" of having NGO status. The Sister I was with focuses on environmental issues, and in particular water. Our Congregation Justice & Peace Coordinator also represents us at the UN - we actually ran into her in the UN cafeteria one day. They publish a periodical called UN Update that shares their work at the UN with the Congregation at large.

It was an amazing (if somewhat overwhelming) experience. On Wednesday I went to a meeting at the International Catholic Organization Information Center mentioned in the article. It was a monthly gathering of different men and women religious at the UN to share information and network. It helped me to put together some of the puzzle pieces of this very important ministry.

I have loads more to share over the coming days, but that gives you some of the context.

hello again

Just a quick note to let you know I'm back on the other side of the Hudson in Jersey City. My first UN experience was incredible. So much to process. I hope to share more in the coming days, but for now just a big hello.

Visiting my alter ego

Many moons ago I took a silly blog quiz to discover what country I most resemble and learned I am no country ...

You're the United Nations!
Most people think you're ineffective, but you are trying to completely save the world from itself, so there's always going to be a long way to go. You're always the one trying to get friends to talk to each other, enemies to talk to each other, anyone who can to just talk instead of beating each other about the head and torso. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, and you get very schizophrenic as a result. But your heart is in the right place, and sometimes also in New York.

Well, tomorrow afternoon I am going to the United Nations headquarters in New York for the first time! I'm going to be there all week in fact, attending the meetings of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development with Sr. Suzanne, our UN NGO representative. How cool is that??


The UN Commission on Sustainable Development was established in 1992 to ensure follow-up on the Earth Summit. The CSD meets every year in New York to focus on clusters of issues. This year's meeting will focus on the following thematic issues: Agriculture, Rural development, Land, Drought, Desertification and Africa. The CSD has opened its sessions to broad participation from both governmental and non-governmental actors (which is why our NGO rep is going and I get to tag along as part of my ministry experience -- again, how cool is that??).

As a result, I'm going to be away from the blog this week. I'll be back home Friday night. Until then .... Peace!

my inner dj returns

I woke up this morning with this song in my head. The meaning is obvious ... time is slip, sliding away. I've got this week and next week at my ministries. Then I'm spending a week at the UN with one of our Sisters who is our NGO representative (it's a conference on Sustainable Development that promises to be an amazing experience). Then one more week at my ministries. Then it's back to the Novitiate for the "home stretch" ...

There's a danger to start living into the future rather than being present in the future. So my prayer is a simple one ... to simply be present today (rather than slip sliding away).