I first met Wangari Maathai in Assisi, at perhaps the very first Religion and Ecology event to engage the world’s major religions.  It was a special pilgrimage to honor St. Francis’ openness to creation, bringing together scientists, politicians, business leaders and world famous personalities (I walked part of the pilgrimage with Sir Edmund Hillary), as well as leaders of the world religions.  The latter engaged in a retreat of several days and issued statements on ecology derived from their respective traditions, the former held a very serious series of conferences exploring the gravity of the world’s ecological condition, chaired by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.  At one of those conferences, Wangari Maathai stood out as a panel member, not only because she was a woman, and dressed colorfully in her native Kenyan dress, but because she was so very articulate, and perhaps especially because she did not mince words.  She was quite fearless about authority in her whole life, even to the point of being persecuted and incarcerated on that account.  Forcefully, she urged the politicians and business people to act decisively. That was in 1986.

Her ability to empower women, starting with the Green Belt Movement in her native Kenya, was legendary. Through her personal friendship, originating much earlier in Africa, with Daniel Martin, a leader in multi-faith engagement at the United Nations, I occasionally met her at other gatherings, doing the work that eventually won her a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.  For the first time ever, it recognized the link between environment and peace.

My last encounter with Wangari was to personally congratulate her for her heart-felt remarks of appreciation for Fr. Thomas Berry at the Memorial for him at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in September of 2009.  She not only appreciated him for his ecological vision, but also for his spiritual leadership and striking ability to listen to and appreciate the voices of women. With Wangari’s recent death from cancer, so many people have lost an inspiring leader.  Among them are the thousands of people who, like her, have been inspired by Thomas Berry, and perhaps unknowingly, benefited from her outstanding ability to practically realize the “Dream of the Earth”.

- Fr. Stephen Dunn, C.P.