'Laudato Si' Media Conference Live Stream

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, welcome Pope Francis' new encyclical "Laudato Si," Thursday, June 18, 8:30 a.m., at the National Press Club in Washington.

The event will also be streamed over Twitter via Periscope. Those on Twitter can watch by following the USCCB’s Twitter account. Shortly before the event begins, the Twitter.com/usccb will share a link via Periscope. Downloading the Periscope app via Apple and Android app stores will allow you to watch the app by following @USCCB there as well.

USCCB resources on the encyclical and environmental justice can be found at: www.usccb.org/environment

Philippine Notes: Our Time With Tagle

One early highlight of the USCCB/CRS delegation's time in the Philippines this week was the Monday morning meeting with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila. Cardinal Tagle, 56, is one of the youngest cardinals in the world, and certainly one of the most aggressive adopters of social media from among the men who elected Pope Francis last year.

"We're used to having typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. They're part of our daily fare," Cardinal Tagle quipped in his welcome, adding that the two islands hit by Haiyan/Yolanda have been particularly "hospitable to typhoons," but "we have not seen anything like this in terms of devastation." Even the people used to living through over 20 storms a year "were just stunned," he said.

The session with Cardinal Tagle preceded any tours of the areas affected by the typhoon, so it set the framework in many ways for what was to follow.

Cardinal Tagle said one consolation in the midst of the tragedy has been the support of Filipinos abroad and the support of the international community. The visibly moved Cardinal Tagle observed, "For a few days, we knew it was possible for the human family to be together, to be one, to feel for one another..." He expressed the hope that such good will and cooperation be sustained and not sporadic in the future.

He said he warned visitors to the storm-affected areas from viewing themselves as the strong visiting the weak, or helping "victims." His own experience was one of being inspired and filled with hope by the survivors of the storm, he said, and that he was forced to change his perceptions and priorities based on what he learned from the people.

It's a message Archbishop Kurtz has taken to heart and repeated over the last couple days of visiting the people in and around Tacloban. Pope Francis encourages all Christians to go to the margins and find Jesus there, and so, following Cardinal Tagle's logic, it would only make sense that we approach the people we meet as learners.

Philippine Notes: Statistical Shock

It was weird to wake up Monday morning to learn that the Super Bowl hadn't even started. But that's what crossing the International Date Line will do this time of year.

As if the muddled math of 13 time zones weren't enough to overwhelm one's jet-lagged brain, the delegation's first morning in Manila started with a orientation from Catholic Relief Services (CRS) staff on the response to Typhoon Haiyan. This involved even more numbers, many of them shocking.

Joe Curry of CRS explained to us that, among other things:

• The Philippines is the third most disaster-prone country on Earth. It's not unusual for them to get over 20 tropical storms a year. However, there have been 26 in the past year, which Curry said, is "really off the charts."
• The Philippines competes with China in terms of economic growth, but that isn't reaching the poorest people. Fourteen percent of people in the Philippines live on $2 a day.
• Typhoon Haiyan (or Yolanda, as it's called in the Philippines) was the strongest storm ever to make landfall. It produced a storm surge of 8-15 feet and crossed the entire country as a category 5 storm (most storms weaken after they make landfall).
• Some 12 million people were affected by the storm, with 550,928 houses damaged or destroyed, five times that of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Four million people were displaced.
• Haiyan left over 20 miles of coastal devastation, as well as 6,183 people dead and some 1,500 missing.
• Somewhere between 40-50 thousand people left the city of Tacloban, with an earlier population of 250,000. Of the 70,000 residents of Palo, 1,000 are gone.
• In response, CRS brought in 112 metric tons of air freight within four weeks.
• CRS has helped build 20,000 new and repaired shelters, approximately 15,000 is rural areas and 5,000 in urban areas.

These numbers served as a partial preparation for what the delegation would be seeing in the days ahead. That part of the trip will show, in human terms, what these numbers really mean.