FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
We, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, representing 1,064 vowed sisters worldwide, strive to move “always toward profound love of God and love of Neighbor without distinction.”
We reaffirm our commitment to justice, nonviolence, unifying love, solidarity with our Native American sisters and brothers and our sacred communion within the whole Earth Community. Looking always to increase our awareness of issues of injustice, we take this opportunity to also reaffirm our support for people and communities adversely impacted by pipeline projects across our country including our Native American sisters and brothers near Standing Rock.
In November of 2016, the Sisters of St. Joseph voiced our affirmation of and support for the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes and their peaceful efforts to protect their water, sacred burial sites, and treaty-protected land threatened by the Dakota Access Pipeline. We expressed our concerns with the dangerous, potentially lethal force used on peaceful water protectors/protesters at the Oceti Sakowin/Sacred Stones Camp.
The Sisters of St. Joseph continue to voice our concerns, particularly regarding those persons and communities most impacted by pipeline projects and their related environmental and cultural impacts. We continue to urge our elected officials and governmental agencies to engage in respectful dialogue with impacted communities through regulatory and court processes and to ensure peaceful and environmentally responsible outcomes for the:
- Dakota Access Pipeline, particularly in North Dakota, threatening the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes;
- Lancaster County Gas Pipeline in Eastern Pennsylvania threatening land owned by and sacred to the Sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ;
- Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline replacement, particularly in Northern Minnesota. This project threatens tribal communities in Canada, at the point of extraction in the Alberta tar sands; Minnesota, where the new lines and multiple surface water and Mississippi River crossings are planned; and Wisconsin.
The Sisters of St. Joseph commitments to care for Earth and to reduce our carbon footprint are inspired by Pope Francis’ challenging encyclical, Laudato Si’:
“We see increasing sensitivity to the environment and the need to protect nature, along with a growing concern, both genuine and distressing, for what is happening to our planet…Our goal is not to amass information or to satisfy curiosity, but rather to become painfully aware, to dare to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering and thus to discover what each of us can do about it.”
Pope Francis (Laudato Si’,19)
We turn to the God of all of creation and ask that we may truly be instruments of unity, peace, and care for all creation.
