Action of the month:

Register for our Teilhard webinar

The Covenant will be hosting a film discussion on August 13 from 7-8 P.M. ET to discuss Teilhard: Visionary Scientist. We strongly recommend you watch it ahead of the discussion here. Distinguished Teilhard de Chardin expert, Sr. Kathleen Duffy SSJ, will lead us in an online conversation exploring the life and theological and scientific contributions of the famous Jesuit. You can register for the webinar here.

Catholic Climate Covenant updates

Participate in our Feast of St. Francis program

This year’s program is designed to assist you, your family, parish, school, diocese, religious community, or other Catholic institution in celebrating the Feast of St. Francis (October 4th or another date that works for you and your community). This program will help you and your community become instruments of God’s peace and commit to climate actions as a way to avoid climate despair and sow climate hope. You can download the program here. If you have any questions, comments, need clarification on any aspect of the 2024 Feast of St. Francis program, or encounter issues with any of the program’s links, please contact Paz Artaza-Regan (paz@catholiclimatecovenant.org).

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Prepare for this year’s Season of Creation 

The theme for this year’s Season of Creation is “To Hope and Act with Creation.” Please visit the ecumenical Season of Creation website for resources and information on how you and your community can participate in the Season of Creation. A liturgical banner (available in English, Spanish, and bilingual versions) is available for ordering through the Ignatian Solidarity Network’s online store. You can also visit our resource page to begin preparing now.

Watch the recording of the July webinar

To close out Plastic Free July, Covenant volunteers and readers had a chance to attend our free, July online webinar that highlighted the activities of this year’s Earth Day program, “Beyond a Throwaway Culture: Focus on Plastics.” This webinar provided an overview of the plastics crisis, included a review of the Global Plastics Treaty that will be finalized this fall, and offered practical tips on how you and your community can reduce the use of plastics. Watch the recording of this webinar here. 
 

Homily Helps: Resources for sharing the rich insights of creation care at Mass 

Catholic Climate Covenant and the Integral Faith team of the Association of United States Catholic Priests provide resources for homilists that will help you integrate the rich insights of Laudato Si’ and Christian care for creation into Sunday Mass. These include highlights from the scriptures, readings of the day, relevant quotations from Laudato Si’, brief commentary, illustrations and anecdotes, sample applications, and sample petitions. You can subscribe to receive the Homily Helps every month here. 

Join our election season webinar!

Voting is an important way for Catholics to live their faith, which “always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it” (Evangelii Gaudium, no. 183). That’s why we’re hosting an election season webinar, titled, “Voting for Our Common Home: Reflections from the Catholic Tradition,” on Sept. 4 at 1 P.M. ET to help Catholics navigate this civic duty!

Join Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Washington and Episcopal Moderator for Catholic Climate Covenant, and Dr. Daniel DiLeo, associate professor and director of the Justice and Peace Studies Program at Creighton University, to better understand and engage the fullness of Church teaching to address these topics (and more!) and help equip Catholics for conscientious, values-based voting discernment.

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Catholic Youth Climate Leadership program is expanding 

During the 2024-2025 school year, the Covenant is launching our Catholic Youth Climate Leadership program in Denver, Milwaukee, Yakima/Spokane and continuing to expand the program in Boston and Chicago. The regional teams consist of teenagers from various schools and parishes. If you know a high school student in those dioceses who wants to take leadership in the Church's response to Laudato Si' and take climate action, please encourage them to apply. More information and application here. For questions, contact Kayla Jacobs, Program Manager of Youth Mobilization, at kayla@catholicclimatecovenant.org. 

LSAP enrolled dioceses 

So far, 27 U.S. dioceses have enrolled in the Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP) and committed to a seven-year sustainability journey. You can check and see which dioceses have enrolled here.

July's blog highlights

• Where are they now?: The Covenant recently reached out to small grant recipients from years past to learn more about the progress made on their creation care projects. Several of these grant recipients shared their stories with us. Read part 1 and part 2 of this series now. 
• Catholic experts talk U.S. polarization and environment at 2024 “The Way Forward” conference: In February 2024, bishops, theologians, and lay leaders convened at the University of San Diego for the third ecclesial event, “The Way Forward.” This gathering aimed to encourage open dialogue within the Catholic Church and support the direction established by the Second Vatican Council and Pope Francis. Read more now.
• Plastic Free July: As stewards of God’s creation, we are called to protect and preserve the beauty and integrity of our environment. This July, we invited our readers and supporters to join us in a special initiative: Plastic Free July. Read more now.
• North/South school retreats in the era of climate change: Does climate change require us to reexamine this international travel and the CO2 emissions they create? And, are they more impactful than an eco-retreat or a well-done local immersion retreat? Kevin Miller explores this idea in his blog. 

Don’t forget to read more stories and submit stories of your own on our God’s Planet website, which is an initiative of the Covenant.

Join our new Substack for notifications and alerts every time a new blog, statement, or press release comes out.

Climate news and media hits

• Electric vehicle for Tuscon bishop stirs reactions: National Catholic Reporter’s “Earthbeat” recently published a story about Diocese of Tucson Bishop Edward Weisenburger and his new Chevrolet Equinox EV — and the reactions have been mixed. 
• $4.3 billion in climate solutions grants: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed the state, local, and tribal entities chosen to receive Implementation Grants from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program, which was created under the Inflation Reduction Act. Read more here. 
• Archdiocese of San Antonio commits to joining LSAP: Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, MSpS signed documents committing the Archdiocese of San Antonio to join the Laudato Si’ Action Platform July 28 at the Spanish and English Masses at San Fernando Cathedral. You can read the announcement on the Archdiocese of San Antonio’s website here. 
• Voting pro-life means voting pro-creation: Michael Wright makes a strong case in an article on Earthbeat, a project of the National Catholic Reporter. “So for me, choosing candidates, regardless of party affiliation, who support climate action is a pro-life vote.”
• Extreme temps here to stay? Dan Misleh, founder and executive director of Catholic Climate Covenant, told National Catholic Reporter’s “Earthbeat” about the intensity of summer heat in recent years and the history of climate science.

Interdiocesan Network Updates

The following are just a few of the highlights from June 2024 reports submitted by the Interdiocesan Creation Care Network. They will meet again with more updates in August. 

• The Diocese of Phoenix is planning a Creation Summit on January 25, 2025. This Summit will be a series of listening sessions and active dialogue regarding the Catholic Social Teaching theme of Care for God’s Creation.
• The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has an active Care for Creation Task Force that meets every other month made up of individuals in parishes, schools, religious congregations, and others who are passionate about the environment. A sub-committee of this task force is planning a Laudato Si Conference in the fall of 2025.
• On Pentecost (May 19), Bishop John Stowe in the Diocese of Lexington announced that every parish in the diocese will be making a Laudato Si' Action Plan and that the diocese as a whole would be making commitments to care for creation (Net-Zero by 2030 and others). Along with this announcement, their Laudato Si' Action Plan Guide was sent out to all parishes/entities in the diocese. It lays out the simple steps each parish will take to make a plan. 
• The Archdiocese of Atlanta is integrating the Laudato Si’ Initiative into all Chancery operations and ministries to take advantage of the considerable talent available and to create a culture of caring for our common home among all employees.

Upcoming events

• Aug. 5 – Sept. 6: Catholic Relief Services is advocating with members of Congress during the August Recess. You can read more about the Congressional visits planned here. 
• Aug. 11: Feast of St. Clare of Assisi
• Aug. 13: The Covenant will be hosting a film discussion August 13 about the 2-hour biography of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, titled Teilhard: Visionary Scientist. Register here. 
• Aug. 15: Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Aug. 28: Feast of St. Augustine
• Sept. 1 – Oct. 4: 2024 Season of Creation
• Sept. 4: Voting for Our Common Home: Reflections from the Catholic Tradition election season webinar. Register now.
• Sept. 11/ Sept. 18: Catholic Climate Covenant and the Association of U. S. Catholic Priests invite you to a free, virtual 2-part workshop series on how to launch the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform in your diocese, parish, school, ministry, or organization. Click here for more information. 

Are you planning an event themed around spirituality and creation care? If so, please share the news with others by adding it to our online calendar. It’s free and easy to use. Submit your event here, and see what other events are coming up.