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At my parish during the homily on the sixth Sunday of Easter, the question was asked, “What gives you hope?” in response to the second reading, which said, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” (1 Peter 3:15).
The celebrant proceeded to walk around the congregation and ask people on the spot to give an answer. I started to sweat. Would he ask me? What would I say? I breathed a sigh of relief when he went on with his homily, and I realized I was safe from having to answer the question in front of the entire congregation.
But the question stayed with me. What gives me hope? It took me a while to come to the obvious answer, but then it hit me. Mission gives me hope. Being transformed in little and big ways by God’s love as experienced through encounters with people and the Earth brings me joy.
On April 23, I had a mission experience right across the street from my office here in Washington, D.C. I was invited to speak to students from Catholic University taking a class on business and ethics. I talked about the issues of genetically modified organisms and the patenting of life.
Columban missionaries have been committed to these issues for years as reflected in our ministries to rural, agricultural and indigenous communities; academic and theological study and publications; and through our advocacy work here in the JPIC Office.
I nervously entered the room to talk about mission with the challenge to present the facts of the issues and to share the Columban experience. I wondered how receptive the students would be to both.
I was pleasantly surprised by the discussion that followed my comments. Many of the students are on the verge of embarking on their professional careers, and I saw young people committed to their faith and bringing values of solidarity and justice to the work world.
Sharing with the students was a real reminder that we are missionaries in all places, at all times, and with all people. This is what gives me hope.
In peace,
Amy Woolam Echeverria
The Issue: Genetically Modified Organisms and Patenting of Life
Modern biotechnologies have powerful social, economic, and political impact locally, nationally, and internationally. They need to be evaluated according to the ethical criteria that must always guide human activities and relations in the social, economic, and political spheres. Above all the criteria of justice and solidarity must be taken into account. One must avoid falling into the error of believing that only the spreading of the benefits connected with the new techniques of biotechnology can solve the urgent problems of poverty and underdevelopment that still afflict so many countries on the planet.
—Pope John Paul II, Address to Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 1981
The threat posed by genetic engineering to the integrity of creation and the livelihoods of small-scale farmers is of deep moral and social concern to Columban missionaries. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), are created by transferring genetic material from one organism to another to create new organisms with particular characteristics. The long-term effects of GMOs are poorly understood.
Preliminary studies, however, show worrisome trends for health, biodiversity and local community life.
Genetic engineering raises many social concerns with particularly harmful consequences for local community life. Under patent laws that allow multinational agribusiness and pharmaceutical companies to “acquire” local knowledge and then claim it as their own, local farmers and communities lose control over traditional knowledge of crops, food production and distribution.
Farmers are forced to purchase seeds that have been shared and stored freely for centuries, thus leaving their security at the hands of these corporations. Most of the world’s farmers are poor and cannot afford the fees charged for patented seeds. As a result, they are either pushed heavily into debt with creditors or slowly displaced from their livelihood, often leading to rural, urban and international migration.
In addition, GMOs may cause health complications, including allergies, new and threatening viruses, some cancers, and respiratory and gastrointestinal reactions. While the results of research are inconclusive at this time, too many health concerns remain to be able to deem this technology safe for human or animal consumption.
Many environmentalists have reacted strongly against GM technology because of the potential imbalance it could have on the world’s biodiversity. Environmentalists caution that while the use of GMO crops could wipe out or significantly reduce a particular pest or weed for a time, they can foster resistance in that particular pest or weed or increase other pests or weeds not resistant to the same GMO crop.
Therefore, new technology is continually needed to combat the problem, fostering a greater dependence on GMO crops. Many also fear that by cross-pollinating with wild varieties, GMOs could dominate and wipe out essential diversity within species.
There is a heated moral and ethical debate surrounding GMOs, and religious groups are among the loudest voices. Some scientists, environmentalists and religious leaders call for the adoption of the precautionary principle, which says that we should not proceed with GM technology when there remains such uncertainty about the possible affects these crops can have on human health and the environment.
Since there so much conflicting data exists about long-term consequences of GMOs, is it not wise to move slowly?
Reflection Questions
- Are GMOs grown in your state? Does your state, county or city have a policy on GMOs?
- Is agriculture/farming an integral part of your local community? If so, what position do candidates take on promoting healthful, local farming alternatives?
- What do you believe God intended when He called us to be stewards of nature?
Columban Response: Sowing Seeds & Relationships
By Fr. Larry Barnett
For nearly 10 years, Tabitha Bark was a Columban lay missionary in Taiwan, ministering to migrant workers in Chungli City. But her passion has always been food safety and organic farming, part of her wider involvement and interest in ecological issues.
After working in Chungli City, Tabitha, who is from South Korea, realized she wanted to live in a place closer to nature. Moving to the mountains among aboriginal people was a logical step.
The Atayals depend upon nature for their livelihood by growing vegetables, fruit trees (persimmons, plums, peaches and oranges) and harvesting bamboo shoots.
Tabitha now works with the Columbans’ ministry among Taiwan’s Atayal aboriginal people in DaGuan, a village of about 50 families that is perched on the edge of the DaAn River in the mountains of central Taiwan.
Not long after her arrival, Tabitha turned a patch of ground in front of DaGuan’s tiny church into an organic vegetable garden, where she grows chili, green peppers, spinach, lettuce, basil, onions and other green-leaf vegetables. Tabitha says the garden is an important statement about how we as Christians hope to live on the Earth and a valuable way to become part of the lives of the people among whom she lives and works.
It is difficult work with often uncertain financial rewards.
For more than 1,000 years, the Atayals have acquired wisdom on how to live together with nature. Tabitha wanted to learn that wisdom. “I wanted to be educated by them about the mystery of our relationship with the Earth,” she told me.
Tabitha’s organic garden is a visible and practical expression of that mystery. Simply living in the mountains—with its scenic beauty, cleaner air, peace and quiet—is not enough for Tabitha. Growing vegetables brings her closer to nature and the local people. Nourishing and caring for the vegetables is a step toward closer communication with the natural world and educating herself and others about the value of safe food and humans’ relationship to the natural world.
Better Food & Paying Jobs
To compete with imported food and products from the Taiwan lowlands, the Atayal people have become accustomed to using pesticides and growth hormones on their vegetables and fruits. Tabitha said her vegetable garden is not so much about organics, but rather about the safety of our food and the unnatural effects pesticides have on food and the soil. As soil slowly grows sick from with the addition of unnatural additives, we humans, too, slowly get sick.
The message is particularly relevant to a small group of Catholic women in the village. They operate a local restaurant that offers aboriginal cuisine to tourists and visitors to the area. The restaurant was started to create paying jobs for local people, using local products and supporting local cultural crafts, such as weaving.
From the beginning, the restaurant was eco-friendly and raised all its own vegetables in nearby gardens. These gardens are not organic, but the ladies are aware of the issues and actively experiment with local remedies for pest control. For example, they spray cabbages with a water/chili mix to prevent caterpillar damage.
Tabitha is clear about the connection between her garden and her ministry as a Columban lay missionary. Humans and nature are both from God, and our lives are interrelated with God and creation. God gave us consciousness, Tabitha says, to recognize who we are, where we are from, why we are on the Earth and what we have to fulfill, including care for the Earth itself.
Our sin is that we do not live up to this calling. Jesus came to recover our relationship with God, to reconcile us to God. Through the cross and resurrection, Jesus offered his life for all creation, so we have the Christian obligation to understand the full dimensions of our new relationship with God and the natural world.
Tabitha sees this obligation in personal terms: “Our journey to understand our relationship to creation in Christ is also a journey to understand more clearly who I am. As a lay missionary, I am committed to that journey.”
Tabitha is also clear that her presence in DaGuan bears witness to the truth that, through our baptism, we are all missionaries. She wants local people to know and live out this truth. Tabitha was baptized as an adult, and her reflection on her baptism has led her to see that our relationship to nature is part of our common call to be disciples.
An organic vegetable garden in DaGuan is an important sign of how we can live in the world as new life in Jesus Christ. Having fresh, healthy vegetables for dinner is reason enough to give daily thanks for God’s grace. They also taste better!
Columban Father Larry Barnett has been a missionary in Taiwan since 1982. He holds a doctorate degree in anthropology.
This article appeared in the February 2008 issue of Columban Mission magazine.
Suggested Action
Spring is here, and farmers’ markets are beginning to appear just like the azaleas! Consider purchasing locally and organically grown produce. For the nearest farmers’ markets and other great resources, check out www.localharvest.org.
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