COP27 attendees are standing on holy ground

Article written by Elise D. García for Global Sisters Report

(...) The view from the top was spectacular — a wilderness of desert and rock mountains stretching in all directions, except for the startling speck of green marking the monastery far below. I was hardly what anyone would call a pious child, but to this day I recall feeling in the depths of my teenage soul a sense of being on holy ground, breathing in holy air, experiencing the fiery flame of life that burns but does not consume.

These images flooded my mind when I learned that COP27 would be meeting Nov. 6-18 just 50 miles south of Mount Sinai, by the Red Sea in in the resort town Sharm el-Sheikh. Could the power of the religious significance of this holy site of divine revelation to Jews, Christians and Muslims be a game changer for these climate talks? Could the call Moses heard on that land more than 3,000 years ago to remove the sandals from his feet "for the place where you stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5) be heard by all of us today as a call to recognize our whole Earth home as holy ground?

More resources related to COP27:

COP27 Prayer Calendar

JCoR Guide to COP27

Shoeless on Sinai: A Digital Pilgrimage to COP27

Webinar: Catholic Sisters at COP27

Recording of the webinar: Catholic Sisters at COP27

(...) The U.N.-based Justice Coalition of Religious, the Dominican Leadership Conference, and the International Union of Superiors General, or UISG, have joined in calling for a digital pilgrimage to COP27 called Shoeless on Sinai. They are inviting us "to pray in solidarity with the whole Earth community and, in a special way, with the Catholic sisters, brothers, priests, and other faith leaders who will be advocating for environmental justice in the UN proceedings on the Sinai Peninsula." Their website includes links to webinars leading up to COP27, a calendar of daily reflections from the Dominican family, a JCOR Guide to COP27 and a litany of Shoeless on Sinai prayers, calling on us to remove our shoes of ignorance, apathy, greed, and individualism — and to recognize we "stand on holy ground."

The UISG on Nov. 3 issued a powerful statement on behalf of more than 600,000 Catholic Sisters worldwide of the need for an integral global approach that cares for God's most vulnerable people and addresses both climate change and biodiversity loss.