CHA's Webinar: Health Impacts of the Ecological Crisis and Your Response on March 25 3-4PM ET

The flooding, wildfires, super typhoon, hurricanes among other natural disasters are extreme, and more frequent.  Apart from the natural calamities impact on the livelihood, there are healthcare risks that are tied up to all of these.  Be prepared in responding to crisis.  Want to learn how our world's health is now impacted by ecological crisis?  Anything that you breathe, feel, and see differently are signs of the health risks that you can watch out.   By having the information available to you, you can better prepare yourself with what you need in order to respond better.  

This webinar is posted here as this is the interconnection of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation with  Healthcare.  As the Laudato Si' teaches us, everything is connected.  When one is hurting, the whole is affected.  Pope Francis gave us a message that we cannot be healthy on a sick planet.  It is a hope that this webinar can help the attendees in coping with the information needed to respond to health needs of individual affected by the ecological crisis.

Some questions that you may have in mind or you want to answer:

• How resilient is your household to withstand the ecological crisis and disaster?
• Do you have the resources that you need?
• How do you prepare for specific risks associated with natural disasters?
• What do we need to be aware of to lessen the impact of the ecological crisis in community?
• What is your disaster healthcare recovery plan?
• What can you do to lessen the impact on the health?

Visit the free webinar below brought by the Catholic Healthcare Association, our congregation's partner in health related faith-based resources.  

Date: March 25, 2026

Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST

Who: Dr. Sheetal Khedkar Rao, MD

Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Academic Internal Medicine

How: Register here for Catholic Healthcare Association's Webinar on CHA Responding to Ecological Crisis

Resources:

https://ignatiansolidarity.net/papal-encyclical-on-ecology-2015/

https://catholicclimatecovenant.org/

https://www.chausa.org/focus-areas/environment/laudato-si

https://laudatosimovement.org/

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health

Vigil in Solidarity with Families on March 24 9AM PT/11AM CT/12 ET

Never before in a long time that migrants and people of color have been in fear.  People are protesting, being the voice of those who are not able to seek refuge and put in detention, separated and not able to be with their families, and children afraid and feeling lost without a support that they can rely on.

The fear in our communities due to what is happening in United States is real especially among the people who are marginalized.  How do we use our faith to carry on and know that God is with us?   Mary and Joseph traveled from Bethlehem to Egypt (Mt 2:14) to protect Jesus from the massacre of the innocents and from Egypt to Nazareth (Mt. 2:23).  Some people might associate themselves with the situation of the Holy Family.  Some would see their story as something different.  However, we want to call Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we know that there was persecution during their time.   

• What kind of persecution are we living in this generation?  
• How do we cultivate peace in the period of chaos and uncertainty?
• How is love for our neighbor being lived by the people of today?

For those who would like to be in solidarity with those who could not find a place to stay, or those who could not be welcomed,  and for those who are living in fear and anxiety, this is an invitation to pray, and to contemplate, and offer your time with God who is always present, loving, and gentle.

The Ignatian Solidarity Network is having.a vigil to pray in faith and not fear among with the school community with faculty, students, and administrators.

Faith Not Fear Virtual Vigil for Migrants | Tuesday March 24, 12:00pm ET/9:00am PT/11:00 AM CT

Refer to this website for more information

Newsletter in Spring (March-2026)

 Click the image to expand and view the newsletter.

Global Prayer for Peace Across Traditions March 26 9:00 CDT

Millions of people continued to be displaced because of war in the Middle East.  There is an increasing growing tension and hate due to the war causing more disasters and suffering among the people.  Pope Leo XIV has been pleading for peace in the Middle East.  He appeals to the national leaders for an end of US-Iran war.  He calls on leaders to have the ceasefire and open the door for political and diplomatic dialogue.  

USCCB supports the pontiff in praying for peace and calling on the leaders to end the war. The USCCB Bishops are even more vocal on their disagreement with war.  The president Archbishop Paul Coakley highlighting the importance that all nations', and organizations' commitment to peace will have a concrete effort to prevent escalating the war that is already on high alert. Archbishop Mc Elroy was upfront with his opposition on war and the rhetoric of the country's president on preventive war.  The Vatican Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, reminded that using God to justify war is the gravest sin.  

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is asking the people of faith and goodwill in all churches, congregations, and communities across the globe of all traditions and in various contexts to pray for peace in shared space, primarily offering the intentions for Middle East.  The council published a joint statement in their request for prayer with their deep concern for humanitarian and social impact of the war in Middle East.  It will be held online on March 26 15:00 CET or March 26 9:00 AM CT.   People n the Middle East and those with internal conflict in these surrounding areas are longing for justice, peace, and reconciliation.  

Register to get the link to the online prayer for peace on March 26 9AM CT from the World Council of Churches here.

To read the joint statement of the World Council of Churches on this request praying for the deep concern for humanitarian and social impact in Middle East: here

In addition to the invitation above, a prayer for peace is posted from Pope Leo with the awareness that the Middle East is facing justice and peace crisis: here which is also below in text.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amén.

 

Lord of Life,

you shaped every human being in your image and likeness.

We believe you created us for communion, not for war,

for fraternity, not for destruction.

 

You who greeted your disciples saying, “Peace be with you,”

grant us the gift of your peace

and the strength to make it a reality in history.

Today we lift up our prayer for peace in the world,

asking that nations renounce weapons

and choose the path of dialogue and diplomacy.

 

Disarm our hearts of hatred, resentment, and indifference,

so we may become instruments of reconciliation.

Help us understand that true security

does not come from control fueled by fear,

but from trust, justice, and solidarity among peoples.

 

Lord, enlighten the leaders of the nations,

so they may have the courage to abandon projects of death,

halt the arms race,

and place the lives of the most vulnerable at the center.

May the nuclear threat never again dictate the future of humanity.

 

Holy Spirit,

make us faithful and creative builders of daily peace:

in our hearts, our families,

our communities, and our cities.

May every kind word, every gesture of reconciliation,

and every choice for dialogue be seeds of a new world.

 

Amen.

Protect Life, Stop Execution

Another life is at stake in Florida.  There is nothing worse than losing life. When life is gone, nobody can recreate one.  It is not something that can be restored once you lost one.  The relationships, the memories, and the meaning that a life has created by every individual are uniquely formed from an individual basis.  Every life is sacred from womb to tomb.  

At the heart of the Catholic Church is valuing life.  We are all valuable in the eyes of God.  He was pleased when he created us in his own image (Gen 1:26-27).  Human dignity has been intrinsically imbedded in our very being from conception.  The dignity of life cannot be taken away by any of our actions. 

On March 31, 2026 a life will be executed for the murder of Teresa McAbee in 1987.  James Duckett was sentenced to death penalty.  There has been a doubt in James Duckett case due to unreliability of the statement of the key witness who recanted her statement.  Grace Gwendolyn, the key witness was instructed to cooperate and otherwise she would be in jail longer than if she supported what she was being told to do.  The testimony of Department of Justice that FBI Analyst who testified regarding the DNA analysis of the case was reported to be overstated and considered scientifically unsupported.  These are few reasons that highly call for abolition of Death Penalty.  Our system that wanted to penalize a human being, to take one's life away because one's life has been taken.  At all cost, the justice system that some of the States use is to put people including those who are with doubt to be in prison for years to wait for their execution costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation and legal fees.

The shift in the church's teachings on this have been there for years especially supported and advocated by late Pope Francis.  The faithful people have to go back to the humility and love of God for his creation.  We are created for love and anything that is oppose to love is against what God is calling us to do.  

Just as how God showed us his love by giving us His Son (Jn 3:16), we too are called to show love by giving our life to love.  Ephesians 4:31-32 NLT, we are asked to forgive one another:

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." 

Please contact Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Board of Executive Clemency urging them to grant clemency to James Duckett, and stop his execution.

Oppose an execution: https://catholicsmobilizing.org/our-work/death-penalty/executions/