Br. Jacek Orzechowski, a Franciscan priest, has been a leading local voice on topics like climate change and care for creation. But, present circumstances in the Middle East have compelled the associate director of the Laudato Si' Center for Integral Ecology at Siena University to take on an entirely new subject.
He recently visited the New York State Capitol in Albany to share his concerns with lawmakers about developments in the Middle East. But he is also engaging with Siena students to encourage them to stay informed about conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and elsewhere — and speak up if they feel the need to do so.
“Pope Leo called on believers to contact their elected officials, to exercise, to act with love, and part of acting with love is to exercise our responsibility as responsible stewards, responsible citizens, and to contact our elected officials and say that this is not acceptable,” Orzechowski said. “We need to be peacemakers, and part of the call to be peacemakers is also to denounce things that are detrimental to peace or dialogue.”
Orzechowski said he is drawing inspiration from the pontiff, who has continued to speak on the wars in the Middle East, even as his statements have put him in direct conflict with President Donald Trump’s administration. The Franciscan sees the actions of Leo, as well as those of other church leaders around the world, as a sign of learning from past mistakes.
“One of those lessons is that, when you see someone being abused, being taken advantage of, you don't stand by, you don't protect kind of institutions, but rather focus on preventing it,” Orzechowski said. “So when we see the whole world, in a way, being kind of terrorized, being held hostage to a certain worldview and belligerent policies, we need to stand up again. This is not a question of getting politicized, but it's a question of fidelity to the gospel.”
St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Order of Friars Minor, famously journeyed to Egypt during the Crusades — the Catholic Church’s military campaigns against Muslim rulers over the Holy Land — to meet with Sultan Malik al-Kamil. Francis’ actions have also inspired Orzechowski.
“And in a similar way, when I see what is taking place in the Middle East — first and foremost, the ongoing genocide taking place in Gaza, the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and the carpet bombing of parts of Lebanon and now the the immoral, illegal war that Israel is waging with the United States against the people of Iran — this is something that as disciple of Jesus, as a follower of Francis, I feel that I need to to stand up to it and to act with courage, to speak for peace,” Orzechowski said.
The wars in the Middle East also concern Orzechowski, regarding their impact on the environment. He sees the conflicts as taking away from collaboration to fight climate change, both in terms of sowing discord between nations when he thinks they should unite, as well as in terms of pulling financial resources into wars rather than “tackling the climate crisis.” But, he also simply says war “destroys God’s creation.”
“What we have seen in for example, in places like Gaza, not only the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian population, but also ecocide and similar things are taking place in Lebanon, and as, I mean, within our tradition, living the gospel and being the follower of Jesus, one has to be involved in wrestle with those issues and do not remain on the sidelines in the struggle for more just a peaceful world,” he said.