As Part of Laudato Si’ Week 2003 one of the major activities that is being promoted at the official campaign is a showing of the movie “The Letter.” Anyone can watch this movie on YouTube, here is the link to it.
It is a one hour and twenty-one minute video. The movie is about the famous 2015 Pope Francis encyclical on the environment: Laudato Si’. Here is an official description of what the movie is about.
In 2015, Pope Francis wrote Laudato Si’ (The Letter); an encyclical letter about the environmental crisis to every single person in the world. A few years later, four voices that have gone unheard in global conversations have been invited to an unprecedented dialogue with the Pope. Hailing from Senegal, the Amazon, India, and Hawai’i, they bring perspective and solutions from the poor, the indigenous, the youth, and wildlife into a conversation with Pope Francis himself. This documentary follows their journey to Rome and the extraordinary experiences that took place there, and is packed with powerfully moving personal stories alongside the latest information about the planetary crisis and the toll it’s taking on nature and people.
This movie allows us to appreciate the stories of those who are affected by the environmental situation and can describe first-hand what the environmental effect has been to their own homeland. In Pope Francis encyclical on the environment: Laudato Si’, he stated how important dialogue is for moving ahead with the environmental issue.
I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all. – LS #14
The goal of this dialogue is for “a new and universal solidarity” with a recognition that “all of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents.” Through this video the Holy Father goes further than mere suggestion by providing us with four distant voices that are an essential part of this dialogue. This allows us to enter into solidarity with these four voices and add their wisdom to our own local experience.
Metro New York Catholic Climate Movement and St. Francis College are looking to offer a public screening of this video and to facilitate this dialogue with anyone interested in exploring this topic. Once we have the details of the event we will promote it on this webpage.