Catholic Committee of Appalachia (CCA) writes to you as an ally in the struggle for justice in our region. We thank you for your leadership as you issue statement after statement expressing sensitivity to the situation of the poor and marginalized in West Virginia and in our world. We also commend you and thank you for highlighting Pope Francis’ new ecological encyclical, Laudato Si’, in the media as it relates to the issues of poverty and ecological destruction in West Virginia. No other bishop in CCA’s network is issuing teachings or correlating the encyclical with distinctly Appalachian concerns as you have done.

As you know, one of our members, Michael Iafrate, put forth independent criticisms of your media comments in an article published in the July 1stt online edition of National Catholic Reporter. We want to express our concerns over those same comments which suggested that part of the encyclical is not applicable in our state right now. We feel quite the opposite is true. CCA has long held that Appalachia is “ground zero,” unique as a region where social, environmental and economic issues all coalesce to form a microcosm of the wider world. As the heart of Appalachia, West Virginia is actually the perfect place to start responding to each and every urgent challenge set forth by Laudato Si’, especially that of stepping away from fossil fuels. West Virginia has an incomparable ability to offer countless ways in which our national and international communities can address the concerns we face as a planet.

In light of this, following the release of Mr. Iafrate’s article, we were pleased your spokesman, Bryan Minor, initiated an informal, unofficial conversation with several of us in an online forum on CCA’s Facebook group page. This gave us hope that CCA might be able to dialogue with you directly and work together to respond to the pope’s message, a message that echoes many of the concerns of the first two Appalachian pastoral letters which animate our work as CCA. This correspondence, then, is also to extend that invitation, and call on you and your Appalachian brother bishops to speak boldly and act publically with us in response to the key imperatives of the encyclical that correlate most closely with our work for justice in the mountains as outlined on the following pages.

We are experiencing a beautiful, hopeful moment in the church. Catholics all over the region are thinking about Laudato Si’ which presents a wonderful opportunity for CCA and the bishops within Appalachia to reconnect and work together again. There is so much potential for different sectors of the church to do what they do best and to learn from each other in dialogue without fear.

Catholic Committee of Appalachia (CCA) writes to you as an ally in the struggle for justice in our region. We are experiencing a beautiful, hopeful moment in the church. Catholics from all over are thinking about the Holy Father’s encyclical, Laudato Si’, which presents a wonderful opportunity for CCA and bishops of the region to reconnect and work together again.

CCA has long held that Appalachia is “ground zero,” unique as a region where social, environmental and economic issues all coalesce to form a microcosm of the wider world. Our region has an incomparable ability to offer countless ways in which our national and international communities can address the concerns we face as a planet. Therefore, we feel Appalachia is the perfect place to start responding to the challenges set forth by Laudato Si’.

This correspondence, then, is to extend an invitation to dialogue and to call on you and your Appalachian brother bishops to speak boldly and act publically with us in response to the key imperatives of the encyclical that correlate most closely with our work for justice in the mountains as outlined on the following pages.