A boy collects water in Anibong, a community in Tacloban, Philippines, Feb. 4. According to the Philippine government, more than 6,000 people died as a result of Typhoon Haiyan in November. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)
A girl transfers drinking water she collected from a faucet Nov. 12 after Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated Tacloban, Philippines. Aid agencies faced challenges getting food and water to the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos affected by the storm. (CNS ph oto/Romeo Ranoco, Reuters)
Residents fill up containers with water at an emergency distribution center in Poca, W.Va., Jan.11, after the state issued a water ban due to a chemical spill into the Elk River. (CNS photo/Lisa Hechesky, Reuters)
Polluted water is seen May 7 in front of the Manguinhos slum complex in Rio de Janeiro, where Pope Francis visited during his visit for World Youth Day. (CNS photo/Ricardo Moraes, Reuters)
Umu Maiga carries her month-old daughter as she starts a cooking stove at a camp in Mopti, Mali, June 8 for those displaced by Islamist rebels. (CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey)
by Sharon Abercrombie
Diving deeply into prayer and making sacrifices are the primal stuff of Lent.
For many U.S. Catholics, participating in weekly parish faith sharing gatherings around Scriptural themes, foregoing those luscious squares of 72 percent dark chocolate, eating simple, meatless meals, donating the resulting grocery savings to Catholic Relief Services’ Rice Bowl program to feed hungry people in 100 countries – all these have become the spiritual staples of this penitential season.
For ecologically minded parish coordinators searching for materials relevant to their midweekly Lenten and Advent gatherings, Sr. Terri MacKenzie’s ongoing creativity has proven to be a real gift.
Since NCR featured MacKenzie’s Ecospiritualityresources.com in February 2013, the site has continued to brim generously with Scriptural references, contemporary music resources, poetry, YouTube videos and selections from contemporary environmental spirituality pioneers that are relevant to global developments around ongoing climate crises.