Catholic Climate Covenant Updates

ACTION OF THE MONTH

Celebrate Earth Day!   

We are pleased to share Catholic Climate Covenant’s 2023 Earth Day program, "Simple Living: God's Vision of Abundant Life." This program offers a respite from our busy lives and inspires us all to live with less. It addresses the Adoption of Sustainable Lifestyles goal of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.   

The hour-long interactive program (with prayers, readings, discussion questions, and activities) may be used to celebrate the 53rd anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, or the 8th anniversary of Laudato Si' (May 21-28) or any time that fits your community's schedule. Download it today!  

Save the Date! “Together for Our Common Home” Spring fundraising campaign kicks off on Earth Day 

Stay tuned for the Together for Our Common Home fundraising campaign that kicks off this Spring (April 22-May 31st). Help us do our work by donating toward key creation care priorities – including critical new programs we are growing together!   

Earth Day is every day as we marvel at God’s good gift of creation. Our faith helps us recall teaching from Genesis where God asks us to be caretakers of this sanctuary.   

With your donation, Catholic Climate Covenant will shepherd and grow key creation care programs to lift the U.S. Catholic ecological voice, champion Church leadership, advocate for climate solutions, and educate and organize intergenerational faith-driven audiences.  

See what we accomplished last year in our 2022 Annual Report.

More advocacy options for April:   

• Take Action and urge Congress to pass the 2023 Farm Bill with increased provisions to prevent world hunger and promote family farms.  
• Learn how the Inflation Reduction Act will allow non-profit organizations to benefit from direct federal payments for clean energy investment and production from the Catholic Health Association. Watch the webinar here. 
• In April, be on the lookout for FOREST Act advocacy visits, Farm Bill actions, and preparations for implementing the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy solutions in our dioceses and parishes. 

SEE you at the movies - April 25th and 26th!   

Have you been thinking of hosting a screening of “The Letter: A message for Our Earth“ for your diocese, parish, school, or religious community, but have a few questions?  Read our latest blog here on why you should!

Then join us April 25th or 26th for an online screening of “The Letter,” followed by a discussion session with staff from Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement-US. 

Each screening will include an opportunity to watch the film, a general discussion, and breakout sessions to choose from:  

• Further discussion on themes from the film  

• A screening Q&A to get you ready to host your own event  

• A youth focused discussion  

• A young adult focused discussion  

Daytime Screening: Tuesday, April 25th – 1-3 pm Eastern (10 am -12pm Pacific) Register here  

Evening Screening: Wednesday, April 26th – 7-9 pm Eastern (4-6 pm Pacific) Register here 

Join our “Encounter Our Common Home” community   

More than 60 members of our growing Encounter for Our Common Home community gathered for an enlightening and lively March event. You can find the notes and Zoom recording by following this link.  

We invite you to consider joining an Encounter advisory group, which gathers each month to strategize around community and advocacy actions. Please fill out this survey if interested.   

Our executive director and other Catholic leaders back UN resolution  

Catholic groups, including Catholic Climate Covenant Executive Director Jose Aguto, backed a United Nations' resolution that urges the International Court of Justice to outline countries' legal obligations to protect the Earth. 

The U.N. General Assembly resolution is nonbinding but holds moral and legal weight. As Jose Aguto told OSV News, "We encourage further U.S. and global strengthening of diplomatic climate policy solutions that answer the urgent cries of our common home and the people most affected by climate change."  

Catholic Climate Covenant seeks an Operations & Development Manager  

Come work with us! The Operations & Development Manager will maintain the Salsa CRM and Salsa Engage Database for CCC. Working closely with CCC’s Office Manager and Program Manager, the incumbent will perform various administrative, financial, and programmatic duties. The position will be supervised by the Office Manager. View job description here. To apply, send resume and cover letter to info@CatholicClimateCovenant.org 

Catholic Climate Covenant’s special updates: youth and young adults   

As our Youth and Young Adult programs grow, we want to deliver updates that matter to you. Let us know what youth or young adult news you want to receive:  

• Youth: If you want to hear more news, updates, and resources for and from our Youth program (high school ages), be sure to let us know by checking the box for Youth news here! 

• Young adults: If you want to hear more news for and by Young Adults (ages 18-39), check the Young Adult box here, too! (or uncheck this box if you want to hear only Youth news). 

Coming Soon! Laudato Si' and the U.S. Catholic Church: A Conference Series on Our Common Home

Save the Date for June and July! And be the first to know when registration opens for our summer 2023 conference!

“Laudato Si’ and the U.S. Catholic Church: A Conference Series on Our Common Home” is a biennial series to equip and inspire Catholics to more deeply integrate Laudato Si’ and its climate change teaching into the U.S. Church.

The 2023 convening will be virtual and opens on June 14 with a keynote address from Ms. Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) who brokered the Paris Agreement.

The purpose of this year's conference will be to encourage a greater understanding of the Laudato Si Action Platform goals and encourage Catholic individuals and groups to enroll in the Platform and provide them with a clearer path for accomplishing each of the goals.

Throughout June and July, the series will host virtual 90-minute sessions on the goals of the Vatican's Laudato Si' Action Platform. Each session will feature a scholar who describes the goal, practitioners who outline their work to achieve the goal, and a moderated Q&A. Let us know you are interested!

Catholic Climate Covenant is coordinating the Laudato Si' Action Platform in the U.S. Catholic Church through its God's Plan(et) initiative and Creighton University is a Platform signatory.

The first "Laudato Si' and the U.S. Catholic Church" convening was held at Creighton in June 2019 and the presentations were published in the Journal of Moral Theology. The second was held virtually in June 2021 and the presentation recordings are available here.

Events

(Tomorrow!) “Called to Community: Youth Protagonists Healing Our Planet”, related to the Laudato Si’ goal of Response to the Cry of the Earth. “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” Pope Francis asks this question in Laudato Si’ (160), and today’s youth are boldly using their voices to call for new responses to our planet’s suffering. They are taking the lead with ecological and social action and are courageously paving new paths for all generations to get involved. Join us on April 13 at 8am EST to hear youth movement leaders talk about their commitment to our common home, what keeps them hopeful, and the role of community in strengthening the global call for eco-action.

Zoom registration here: http://bit.ly/40Trfje
Livestream on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwkiQYkVw_M

Seattle’s Creation Care Network is holding its annual environmental justice summit at Seattle University on April 22. The summit will include keynotes on integral ecology and salmon restoration, a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Paul D. Etienne, a panel on climate action, discernment on how the Spirit is calling us to care for our common home and group reflections on environmental justice. Register by April 17. https://ipjc.org/turning-the-tide-for-ecology-registration/. 

Creighton University Professor Richard W. Miller will present a retreat titled, “Authentic Hope in an Age of Crisis: Exploration in Pope Francis’s Encyclical Laudato Si’” at the Saint Benedict Center in Schuyler, Nebraska, on April 15 – 16.  There will be time for individual prayer and reflection, small group dialogue, and Mass on Sunday with the monks.  Register at www.StBenedictCenter.com or call (402) 352-8819.  

Please check out the Events page of our God’s Planet website for more community actions, and continue to encourage your Creation Care Teams, Laudato Si’ Circles, parishes, and others to let us know what you’re doing in your hometown.  

More Creation Care News

Join the 8000+ Laudato Si' Animators who bring Laudato Si' to life! Animators are part of a global movement of Catholics sharing prayer and action to protect God’s creation. The next free, online training begins April 19. The training intends to help you see what is happening to Our Common Home, learn what our faith says about it, commit to personal ecological conversion and act in the light of our faith. You may even inspire others to take action in their communities. See here for more information: https://laudatosianimators.thinkific.com/courses/lsa2023 For U.S. based animators, the Covenant and Laudato Si' Movement are teaming up to provide participants with U.S.-specific reflections and resources. 

The Laudato Si’ Movement Board of Directors is seeking a new executive director. In the synodal spirit that is marking the evolution and transitions taking place at LSM, the Board welcomes nominations of candidates to lead LSM into its next phase. Individuals from the Laudato Si’ Movement and faith-based partners are invited to nominate suitable candidates with prior permission and support of the nominee. The nomination process is open until April 15 at 6pm CET. Guidance on nominations and more information are available here: https://laudatosimovement.org/news/search-process-for-new-executive-director/  

TheWeek@Faith is seeking a Program Director.  TheWeek@Faith is a program for worshippers of any denomination or creed seeking to spread climate awareness and action into their community. It has been built with religious audiences in mind, and hopes to engage with people from a wide variety of belief systems. See job description.

The Laudato Si’ Movement released new guides to help dioceses that wish to align their financial activities with their faith values. The guides include recommendations for sustainable banking, investing, divesting and insurance. A special webinar hosted with Faith Invest with a Q&A session will take place on May 25th at 3 PM Rome Time. Register Here 

Maryknoll Affiliates has created and compiled resources to help you and family make progress in meeting the seven action goals of Laudato Si'. This month’s goal, Ecological Spirituality, has just been posted with prayer books, an Ignatian ecological examen and images to help visualize your goals. Check it out here!  By completing all 7 worksheets, you’ll create an Action Plan for implementation over seven years. Journey with us!

Operation Noah, a London-based Christian climate group, held a "40 Days, 40 Dioceses" campaign to convince Catholic and Anglican dioceses to divest from fossil fuels. Each day during Lent, campaigners directed prayers and social media pleas. In all, 23 Anglican dioceses and 10 Catholic dioceses in the U.K. have fully divested from fossil fuels, many before the campaign. The Scottish bishops announced in 2021 that their bishops' conference and all eight dioceses and archdioceses would divest. 

As reported in EarthBeat, Catholic leaders, environmental justice advocates and U.S. Congressman Shri Thanedar (D-Michigan) met to discuss national soot pollution standards. The conversation, held at Gesu Catholic Church, highlighted the impact of pollution and the need for Catholic leaders to publicly address this as a faith and moral issue. Approximately 50 Catholics, including members of religious orders and Detroit Cristo Rey High School students, attended the event, titled "Detroit's Dirty Air: A Moral Response." The event was organized by In Solidarity, a national organization that communicates Catholic social teaching in the public sphere. 

Catholic Relief Services’ Youth and Young Adult Ministry Toolkit will help you join the movement to end global poverty through CRS’ campaigns. Use the resources in this toolkit to inspire your community to pray, learn and take action to build a more just and peaceful world. 

• Visit crs.org/act (or crs.org/actuar for Spanish) to learn more. Navigate to the current campaigns section and click on each issue to find toolkits, stories, prayers, videos, and the latest action alerts.  
• Watch CRS’ campaign video: We are One Planet, One Family (English/Spanish)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfY8clNg-m4 
• Use CRS’ Communications and Social Media toolkit to inspire and educate your community on important issues while amplifying the voices of people in need around the world. https://www.crs.org/get-involved/campaigns/action-center/communications-and-social-media-kit  

Interdiocesan Creation Care Network  

The Holy Name of Jesus, Redlands, California, has been offering a 7-session Laudato Si’ read-through to parishioners via Zoom this year. Since January, the parish has been partnering with the Redlands Conservancy on habitat restoration and offering opportunities for prayer, reflection, and service.  

All Saints Catholic Church Creation Care Team, Knoxville, Tennessee, conducted energy audits for their church and Knoxville Catholic High School, which shares its campus. The parish also participated in an Ecological Way of the Cross in March and is working to become designated as a Kateri Habitat. 

Immaculate Conception Parish in Hampton, Virginia, says their Catholic Energies solar array has prevented more than 450 tons of greenhouse gasses in the past three years. The parish has also donated 20,000 trees and partnered with several communities in Kenya as well as provided more than 200 households with clean water in the Navajo Nation. 

Well done, all!