Eastern Orthodox Patriarch: Young people can save democracy and the planet

[pnwmom]

https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/eastern-orthodox-patriarch-bartholomew-says-young-people-can-save-democracy-and-our?fbclid=IwAR0D6xIo6ujDQq7MTcKUP1CL75AH17-9uOy_rUgcTFzIgTwsMOHkYoFD-PU

Climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic are interrelated crises that challenge churches to respond with both faith and science, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said Oct. 28 at the University of Notre Dame, where he received an honorary doctorate.

"It is our obligation before God, neighbor and creation to assume responsibility for addressing climate change and suppressing the pandemic," the Eastern Orthodox Church leader told his audience.

Speaking directly to students in the basilica where the ceremony took place after vespers, Bartholomew said young people offer "the optimism that we so yearn for, the readiness to accept change and sacrifice, the capacity to overcome polarization and partisanship, the conviction to be catalysts of social and ecological justice as well as, quite frankly, the opportunity to save democracy and our planet."

He added, "May God grant your generation the necessary wisdom and courage to continue leading this charge and mandate."

SNIP