The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. (Isa 24:5)
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Visualizing Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’
This poster was originally designed by A.Vonn Hartung for an ecumenical conference on the environment organized by the Catholic Commission on Justice and Peace in Puerto Rico on Earth Day 1993.
The poster is interactive. Crayons were provided to the participants who purchased the posters–the proceeds of which went to the Faith-based environmental movement.
It depicts St. Francis giving thanks for Creation but he stands in a semi-polluted world. The scripture reading is from Isaiah 24:5 (“The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant”).
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“Latter-Day Jonah” is a concept (a drawing with a paste on image of planet Earth) that speaks of the crisis that we face with climate change due to the overuse of carbons in our energy consumption and the unsustainable development that is taking place because of our predatory economic system and the technology that we have developed that is so powerful that it is threatening to destroy the natural balance of God’s creation.
The threat that we witness in the drawing is both the terrestrial devastation shown by the power of the bulldozer and the crisis we face in overfishing and pollution of our oceans where we see a young fisherman being swallowed like Jonah by a giant fish. This is symbolic of the Awakening of consciousness that we as a species are Awakening to as scientific data is revealed to us.
This drawing in some ways is a self-portrait as I recall becoming aware of the crisis that we face as Humanity peers into and contemplates our future.
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Dedicated to this year of renewing the world. Jesus points the way to the future of a sustainable world. A future in BALANCE with God’s Creation— Nature.
A testimony to and celebration of the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ historic letter (encyclical) to the world, “Laudato Si’ —On Care for Our Common Home.”
I dedicate this Painting to all First Responders. All people who are Suffering or Acting to live in Balance with our Climate, who strive for the good of others and Future Generations. Fishers of Men are 1st Responders. They are the heroes that show up first when there’s a tragedy, where people are in danger of losing their lives or losing their souls.They are not only firemen, policemen and soldiers, but also You and Me who help make a better world. They, with great Humility, are our Priests and Nuns who with the Saints save Souls, hear our confessions, lead our communities in Faith, settle differences between us, and face with us the dangers and solutions to climate change. God Bless them all!
Fishers of Men
Fishers of Men go out further than any boat can know.
They sail over the shoals and rocks, where no others dare to go!
They fish with nets of Mercy in seas and oceans drag,
for those who’ve lost their footing and off the decks were dragged.
They troll in lakes of poison, in rivers clogged with slime
to pull aboard the wretched that Sin has rendered blind.
They scoop up the fragile and their kind, that hold fast to the line of flotsam and jetsam
that hope has left behind!
They surf the tides of turmoil and teach no fear of death.
They rise in swells of innocence until clear knowing builds and crests.
Fishers of men, fish for Souls, Souls that lose their way,
those who’ve sunk below the pale,
who in the deep of muck and dark, in the bottom lay.
Fishers of Men are Saviors!
Compassion, Love, and Mercy are how they reach so deep.
Following the Savior they’ve learned “Saving Grace” comes through Faith,
Humility and Penance in Redemption is forgiveness.
It is the Master’s Way, the Truth and the Life.
So as they Fish they teach us the Way to Pray, which is to say,
fish to save, for ALL on Earth are fragile and ALL on Earth need us to Pray,
to Serve, so in our own turn—We may save
and with our Savior stay …
A.Vonn Hartung ©2022
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With the Global Pandemic, I felt we were in a Garden of Eden Moment of Time, and I must do a carving. Thinking of the Future—Mothers and children came to mind. Hence the title “Eve and Adam” which expresses the wisdom of Human Love over Material Profit. And I knew it would need to be a carving that would speak to the Pandemic, but also that which I believe brought on the Pandemic—an imbalance in the mode in which we live with Nature, the destruction of the cosmos! Impending climate collapse! The Question is, are we—the Human Species—continuing to cause this imbalance and if so, can we correct it? This Question is the essence of the message of the carving. We see our modern-day Adam pondering this question shown more as his temptation—recalling the original story of the Garden of Eden.To answer this the parable of The Garden of Eden and the forbidden fruit speak to us here and now as we find ourselves in A Garden Moment of Time. God, we pray— help us to be Wise!
The painting shows wandering refugees leaving their destroyed homeland. Exhausted, wounded, searching simply for a place to live. Behind them are the endless galaxies of Infinite Space with the Pillars of Creation known to us by the NASA Hubble telescope. In the mid-ground the eroding rocks look sympathetic although decrepit due to a dissolving world. There is Hope, however—as leading the way amongst the goats, is the “Lamb of God” bringing them out of Climate Collapse and into a healthy and sustainable future. Christ help us!
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How is it that we can love and feel the Suffering of People and vulnerable life so far from our distance here in Puerto Rico? It is because God has linked us all together like the embrace of a Beautiful Flowering Vine, and that we are All Linked in His Sacred Creation so that what we do for others or do to others we also do to ourselves.
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The painting is a visible metaphor showing how we are damaging “Our Common Home” Planet Earth. The most sacred, precious, and delicate of all our symbols is the Dove. Here we see her wounded, bleeding crippled in her nest. Her Mate tends to her, as indigenous people look on with compassion, for they know what it is to be wounded. In the background and all around we see how we are abusing God’s Sacred Creation. Lord, help us to Heal Your Gift of Earth, “Our Common Home.”
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The Magi Return as Angels to reflect our Creator’s Gift of “Our Common Home”. The three Magi who brought gifts to our Lord and savior baby Jesus, now as Angels return and bring Us their greatest gift, shown in the mirrors they hold— the Reality that We are One Integral piece of the Living Cosmic Puzzle we call Earth, “Our Common Home.” God Created Earth for us to live in and to Share, BUT!—we do not own Her. She is not a Big Box Store for us to Trash! In Christ we pray.
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Bilingual Exhibit Catalog
20/21 Vision
Paisajes de Nuestra Tierra
Inauguración del Centro de Bellas Artes
Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 1998
A QUESTION OF MORALITY
Published in “El Nuevo Dia” 22 April 1996
By Lydia Gonzalez, editor of “Por Dentro”
Exhibit Catalog
La Palabra y la Piedra
Universidad del Este (UNE), Carolina, Puerto Rico
Cuaresma 2005
Apertura de la Exposición La Palabra y la Piedra
presentación por Dr. Jaime Partsch
ENGLISH TRANSLATION