Action of the month

Consider a donation to Catholic Climate Covenant

Since our founding in 2006, Catholic Climate Covenant has realized that it is in caring for creation that we magnify God — it is how we proclaim God's greatness with rejoicing.

This year, Catholic Climate Covenant’s fundraising campaign centers around the Virgin Mary as a woman of action. Mary is the perfect role model for environmentalists. She supported those around her with love and compassion and was attentive to the needs of others. Today, Catholics around the world appeal to Mary as they face hardships personally and in their communities. She answered God’s call with a resounding “yes.”

God calls all of us to be stewards of the Earth. But so much of humanity has focused more on dominating the Earth and bleeding it of its resources instead. We need your help to change that.

Your financial support helps us to share God’s greatness through creation in our programs, initiatives, and projects. With your support, Catholic Climate Covenant is able to educate, engage, and mobilize Catholics across the U.S. to make a difference in their communities, revere God’s creation, and care for the most vulnerable in our society.

Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for helping us get closer to our fundraising goals. Thank you for saying “yes!”

Catholic Climate Covenant updates

Register for this online webinar

To commemorate World Environment Day, and to be part of #Generation Restoration, please join Catholic Climate Covenant in a conversation with Gopal Patel and Amy Echeverria on June 6 at 1 p.m. (ET). 

Our panelists will explore the theme of “Restoration” in the context of UN processes on land restoration, biodiversity, and climate change.

This promises to be a unique opportunity to learn about eco-spirituality, interfaith efforts in restoring our common home, key opportunities for engagement, and empowering local communities for action and advocacy on critical global ecological issues. The webinar will be recorded and the recording sent to all who register. Save your seat for this important conversation! 

REGISTER FOR THE JUNE 6 ONLINE WEBINAR
June 6^th at 1 p.m. (ET)

Vatican issues new protocol for navigating the climate crisis 

In May 2024, Pope Francis presided over a gathering of international researchers, faith leaders, policymakers, and heads of cities, towns and provinces, gathered for a high-level summit hosted by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Pontifical Academy of Social Science. Titled “Planetary Protocol for Climate Change Resilience,” the document calls for, among other things, “phasing out fossil fuels and rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions to enable sustainable living.” Read the full document.

More opportunities to watch documentary on Teilhard de Chardin 

Thank you to all who tuned in to Teilhard: Visionary Scientist last month. Brief gaps appeared twice during the film and that the last five minutes were totally missing. Maryland Public Television regrets the technical difficulty and immediately scheduled an encore broadcast for July 21, at 4:00 pm. To see the film in its entirety. You can now stream it at any time anywhere in the country on the free PBS app. The app can be downloaded here.

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 of how you and your community can participate in the Season of Creation. A liturgical banner (available in English, Spanish, and bilingual versions) is now available for ordering through the Ignatian Solidarity Network’s online store.

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

Catholic Climate Covenant and the Integral Faith team 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, sample petitions, and bulletin notes. Integral Faith is a working group of the Association of United States Catholic Priests. If you have questions or comments, please email info@catholicclimatecovenant.org. To subscribe to receive Homily Helps, click here.

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 the program in Boston and Chicago. The regional teams consist of high school students from various schools and parishes. If you know a high school student 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. 

Catholic Youth Mobilization Forums

Join us as we plan our action focus for the 2024-2025 school year. As we work together to make our schools, churches, and communities more sustainable and climate-oriented give your input on what will be the most effective changes we can advocate for. Here are the dates and times for each forum:

• June 26, 6 p.m. (EST), for high school students and recent H.S. grads
• July 10, 1 p.m. (EST), for high school students and recent H.S. grads
• July 16, 12 p.m. noon (EST), for adult allies (teachers, ministers, parents, and others who work directly with high school students)

You can register for these forums here. 

Get schooled in organizing for climate action! 

Interested in organizing for Catholic climate action, especially in your diocese? You’re invited to take this 1-week, 1-credit course through Creighton University! The professor is Covenant consultant and moral theologian Daniel DiLeo. The course will occur asynchronously from July 8-13 to accommodate student flexibility but will offer synchronous lectures and discussions each day from 3:30-5:20 p.m. CT. To register, contact Dr. DiLeo at danieldileo@creighton.edu.

May's blog highlights

• CARA report: You might have recently heard about a study on environmental attitudes of Catholic Americans, conducted by a research center at Georgetown University. We at the Covenant are deeply invested in the results of this 130-page report, and what this report means for the work that we do. In this blog post, we share specifics about the study, what Catholic Americans believe about environmental justice, and why the report makes the Covenant more hopeful about the future. Read more about the study.
• Over 100 high school-aged Catholics in the Chicago area packed into the Church of the Holy Family on the morning of Feb. 25 to hear a homily delivered by Cardinal Blase J. Cupich during the third annual Catholic Youth Climate Summit hosted by Catholic Climate Covenant and the Archdiocese of Chicago. Read more about the summit.

Climate news and media hits

(Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona, from left, Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sister Carol Zinn, Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Washington, and Lonnie Ellis at the White House, Nov. 17, 2023, for a meeting about climate change. Photo © In Solidarity)

• Lonnie Ellis of In Solidarity and a partner with the Covenant as well as the Covenant's Episcopal Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Washington, alongside Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona, from left, Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sister Carol Zinn, recently attended a climate policy meeting at the White House. The Catholic leaders lobbied the Biden administration to “champion four policies supported by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to reduce four specific kinds of pollutants: soot pollution, methane, carbon pollution from power plants and emissions from heavy-duty vehicles.” Read more about their efforts here. 
• Latinos are uniquely positioned to take action on environmental causes due to the hazards they face and their commitment to the issue, said experts at a May 22 panel hosted by Georgetown University. Read more about the event.
• Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, says that its 130-acre campus had gained independence from the California energy grid after collaborating with Catholic businesspeople and a local energy corporation to develop an alternative energy source for the college. Read more.
• As lawmakers on the House and Senate agriculture committees offer different frameworks for the 2024 farm bill, Catholic Relief Services says the Senate’s version “continues the international food assistance programs that help save lives in emergencies. Read more.
• A coalition of Catholic sisters continue to push publicly-traded companies to address social concerns. A shareholder's resolution led by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace calls for Citigroup, one of the largest investment banks in the world, to examine its efforts to respect the human rights of Indigenous people in the projects it finances and invests in. Read more.
• Gabrielle Cardenas, a young Catholic and fifth-generation Mexican-American Catholic in Tucson, Arizona, wrote an impassioned column on the severe health consequences her family has suffered from exposure to toxins dumped into their community. Cardenas said she shares Pope Francis’ conviction that it is against God’s plan to poison ourselves with pollution. “I am convinced that God did not intend for us to lose thousands of lives to soot pollution and cancer due to our reliance on dirty fuels and toxic substances.” Read more about Gabrielle.

• The Green Team of Holy Trinity Parish in Washington, D.C., hosted a conversation with John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation, on May 19. The event coincided with the 9th anniversary of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’. Listen to an audio recording of the presentation.
• St. Anthony of Padua’s environmental awareness and action group (S.A.V.E.) hosted several events this spring, including the blessing of their Resurrection Vineyard Garden, ensuring a bounty of fresh produce to donate to the Thomas Merton Center in Bridgeport, CT.

Upcoming events

• June 5: World Environment Day. Download our prayer graphic here.
• June 6: To commemorate World Environment Day, and to be part of #Generation Restoration, please join Catholic Climate Covenant in a conversation with Gopal Patel and Amy Echeverria on June 6 at 1 p.m. (ET). Register now.
• June 8: World Oceans Day. Download our prayer graphic here.
• June 26: Catholic Youth Mobilization forum for high school students and recent high school graduates at 6 p.m. (EST)
• July 8-13: Eco Spirituality course with Covenant consultant and moral theologian Daniel DiLeo. To register, contact Dr. DiLeo at danieldileo@creighton.edu.
• July 10: Catholic Youth Mobilization forum for high school students and recent high school graduates at 1 p.m. (EST)
• July 16: Catholic Youth Mobilization forum for adult allies (teachers, ministers, parents, and others who work directly with high school students) at 12 p.m. noon (EST). 
• This July: Be on the lookout for a new creation care resource for kids in the July Newsletter!
• August 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. This documentary tells the story of a 20th-century French Jesuit priest and scientist. You can find more information on Teilhard, the documentary, and how to download the PBS app here. 
• Sept. 1 – Oct. 4: 2024 Season of Creation

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