Faith in Action

Mountaintop removal mining came to the Rochester (MN) Franciscan community on April 26, when OVEC staff member Carol Warren delivered the keynote speech to the annual Justice and Peace Conference.

One hundred community members attended the talk, which included excerpts from Christians for the Mountains Mountain Mourning DVD. Later that evening, about 30 sisters also viewed Catherine Pancake’s Black Diamonds documentary and were able to ask still more questions.

The Rochester Franciscans have made implementation of the Earth Charter at all levels of their common life a top priority, and were appalled to see the destruction of our mountains, and the harm to the health and culture of the people.

They are eager to help, and decided on several actions: Calling their Congress people to support the Clean Water Protection Act, showing the DVD at other regional meetings, and composing a letter to be sent to public officials in Appalachia, Minnesota, and the many other areas of the country where the sisters work.

The letter will also be posted on the Sisters’ website, www.rochesterfranciscan.org, which serves a large number of women’s religious communities, with a link to OVEC’s website for more information and photos of mountaintop removal. It is possible that the community will offer a resolution to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents the policy interests of many communities, and the Franciscan Federation.

The letter notes that the community is "deeply grieved by mountaintop coal mining" and that this "assault on the natural world has ethical and moral implications… The coal industry is responsible for ecocide as well as devastation for human families living in those areas… What a price to pay for government and industry encouraging an ever more voracious appetite for electricity rather than encouraging the public to conserve and use wisely."

In order to exercise shareholder responsibility and activism, the Sisters’ Social Investment Activities Committee has purchased token shares of stock in Massey Energy.

OVEC can look forward to working with these new allies, who are truly concerned about the devastation of our beautiful mountains.