Peg Vámosy planting tree seeds with parish youth in Monte San Juan, El Salvador
Everything is interconnected, and … genuine care for our own lives and our relationships
with nature are inseparable from fraternity, justice and faithfulness to others.
—Pope Francis, Laudato Si’
Dear friends,
Most of us are not accustomed to thinking of environmental or ecological sin. But Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si’ has made it clear that we must examine our conscience about the way we treat not just our fellow humans but non-human creation as well.
“Everything is connected,” Pope Francis has been preaching.
More than anyone I know, our Maryknoll lay missioner Peg Vámosy in El Salvador has understood, lived and embodied this truth.
Peg remembers that people in the rural parish where she has been working for the past 12 years were stunned the first time they heard their pastor preach that those spraying chemical herbicide on their land needed to go to confession for their sin against the Earth.
That Salvadoran pastor’s homily was no accident. It was the result of the committed leadership of Peg and a group of her fellow parishioners in Monte San Juan Parish who have taken seriously the Gospel mandate to “care for our common home.”
Together Peg and her group have led their parish to new environmental awareness and action:
- They have experimented with, implemented and promoted sustainable agriculture practices in their community.
- They have established recycling programs and encouraged a wide range of other changes in individual lifestyles as well as community practices.
- They have led environmental awareness and study programs in their parish.
- And they have worked with farmers, town leaders and national and local government leaders to protect a crucial watershed in their community.
This summer, Peg is retiring and returning to the United States after serving as a Maryknoll lay missioner for 16 years — with stints in East Timor and Cambodia prior to moving to El Salvador.
I invite you to honor Peg’s pioneering work by making a donation to support
Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ work in agriculture, environmental advocacy and parish pastoral ministries.
From left, Omar, Hernán, Peg and Nico work on a ditch for water catchment in the parish’s organic corn field.
Over several decades in mission (with Maryknoll, the Peace Corps and other organizations), Peg has worked and walked with farm families in their daily lives. She has found that such “accompaniment” has been as rewarding for her as it has been inspirational to those with whom she serves.
“By listening to the voices of farm families and community members,” Peg says, “we learn from each other. Listening also to the land and the river, we grow in respect for all voices of creation — blended into a chorus that sings of the glory of God.”
Peg quotes Pope Francis’ encyclical: “In union with all creatures, we journey through this land seeking God … Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope” (Laudato Si’, 244).
Thank you for all you do in your own lives and community to combat climate change and care for our common home.
Please consider a joyful gift of any amount today. And please keep Peg, her community of Monte San Juan and all of our missioners in your prayers, just as you are in mine.
In hope and shared purpose,
Elvira Ramirez
Executive Director
Elvira Ramirez is Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ executive director.
