The newly-formed Integral Ecology Group of the Diocese of Malaybalay in Bukidnon, Philippines joined a two-day workshop with the RAOEN team on 27 and 28 January 2025 where participants engaged in deep listening and reflection, exploring how to discern God’s will within their current roles in the church and society.
Father Reynaldo Raluto, parish priest of Jesus Nazareno Parish in Libona, Bukidnon, led the group who journeyed to Balay Laudato Si’ in Bendum, in the ancestral domain of the Pulangiyēn community.
Listening was encouraged to develop the group’s team building, define their purpose, and understand shared concerns and opportunities. The core team members identified themselves as “seeds needing nurturing,” “initiators,” “catalysts,” and “nature lovers,” driven by a desire to live by example and witness to their communities.
The group conceptualized integral ecology using the human person as a symbol: the head representing inner formation, the heart symbolizing faith, the middle reflecting culture, and the feet/legs grounding them in family and basic ecclesial communities, with a pathway through forest and water leading to integral ecology.
For the RAOEN team, the activity is a learning occasion on how to listen better and engage with communities through storytelling, an important reminder in the forthcoming visits to communities and bishops to move RAOEN’s mission.