Editorial

By Archbishop Raymond Roussin, SM

Soon, as a resident of British Columbia, I will be receiving a $100 “Climate Action Dividend” cheque. The stated purpose of this Climate Action program is to decrease our collective harmful impacts by inspiring individuals to make different consumption choices.

This, then, is an opportune time to examine our lifestyles. What is at the heart of our daily choices? Are our hearts aflame with love? Does love alone stir us to act? Does this love encompass everything? (St. Therese of Lisieux).

Do we have a preferential love for the poor which affects our manner of living and our decisions concerning our ownership and use of goods? (Pope John Paul II)

Do we love our “every neighbour without exception as another self, taking into account first of all his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity, so as not to imitate the rich man who had no concern for the poor man Lazarus?” (Gaudium et Spes)

Today, one hundred of my brothers and sisters will labour to make – collectively – less than the value of the cheque that I – just one individual – will received, hand-delivered to my mailbox. This is not money that I was counting on. This is an unexpected gift I have been entrusted with. This is a gift I will be offering to my less fortunate brothers and sisters.

I encourage you and your families to reflect in prayer on the Synod’s call “to be more than ever a reflection of Jesus Christ in all we are, do and say.” I encourage you to examine your lifestyle and consumption choices. I encourage you to consider that residents of British Columbia will be receiving cheques the value of which will exceed the daily income of 440 million people worldwide. I encourage you to be aflame with love.

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On June 17 the worst industrial accident in B.C. history was commemorated as hundreds gathered at the Ironworkers Memorial (Second Narrows) Bridge. It was there that, 50 years ago, 17 construction workers died when the bridge collapsed.

On the anniversary of the accident, Archbishop Roussin sent the following letter to Ironworkers Local 97: On that infamous day of June 17, 1958, families were forever changed by the collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge.

On that day, our Archdiocese was with you – on-site, in emergency wards, and in the morgue. Within 15 minutes of the collapse, Father Joseph Carney had waded into Burrard Inlet to meet casualties as they were brought to shore; Father Nunzio Defoe was at North Vancouver’s Lions’ Gate Hospital meeting injured workers being brought into the emergency wards; and Father Peter Mallon was at the city morgue anointing those killed.

Fifty years later the Archdiocese of Vancouver is once again with you as we pause in remembrance of this tragedy. We continue to be vigilant to “the danger of treating work as a special kind of ‘merchandise,’ or as an impersonal ‘force’ needed for production” (Pope John Paul II), always remembering that behind work is a person with inherent human dignity.

I offer my prayers and thoughts for those killed and injured in the construction of the bridge, their families, their co-workers, and their friends.