“The retreat brings people together, builds community in the forest, gets participants outside and off their screens, and uses nature sustainably to heal and inspire minds and souls,” stated Great Mountain Forest Executive Director Michael Zafros. Retreat registration closes on July 30.
"Much of my optimism comes from you folks in the front few rows, high school students who are now speaking out and demanding that those in positions of authority act on our behalf and not the special interests that may be funding their campaigns.”
-- Climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann
Pope Francis, in his impressive Encyclical on the environment, shows himself to be fully aware of the interlocking cause and effect of politics, industry and environmental destruction.
Disasters make us wake up and realize all over again how precious life is, and how important health and security are to human happiness. Even here in the placid Berkshires, we need to think about disaster prevention and preparedness. No, we don’t live in an earthquake zone, and no, I don’t see any riots on the horizon in quiet little Great Barrington. But there are some big issues brewing that we do need to be paying attention to now, before they become runaway disasters.
Pope Francis would, I think, have been the ideal person to reframe his Church’s view on contraception because he has repeatedly shown himself capable of conciliatory gestures which, notwithstanding their great effect in changing popular attitudes towards the Church, have never actually deviated from traditional Roman Catholic teachings.
