Check out a short video from the recent launching of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform at the Immaculate Conception Church and its parochial school! The video incudes a clip from Durham Walks for Climate event organized by the parish on the last day of the Climate Summit in Glasgow.
As part of their LS’ Action Platform commitment, the parish and school are developing a working relationship with the Half-Earth Project. With its headquarters in Durham, less than a mile from our campus, the Half-Earth projects focuses on protecting the hotspots of biodiversity on our planet.
The organization also has a robust educational program geared towards middle-school and high-school students. We’ve already had three meetings with between the key school and parish personnel and the Half-Earth Project executive team.
This year, the church will be scheduling a special training that will be offered to schoolteachers. They are already very excited about this collaboration. In the spring, they are planning to engage the Spanish-speaking community in the topic of preservation of biodiversity as an expression of our Catholic faith and commitment to safeguarding life.
Furthermore, over the last several months, they have had several events in which the parish and school have already acted on their commitment to the Laudato Si’ Action Platform. They had a great event at the end of one of their Spanish Masses with the participation of the Latino teenage group. Within the context of worship, they did a dramatization that has incorporated the prophetic challenge of Laudato Si’.
At their Advent Alternative Gift Fair, the parish has raised over $10,000 for the benefit of various organizations that among other things help to resettle refugees in NC, and provide food to the desperately poor families in the northern part of Honduras, in collaboration with the local diocese. Many of those families have been impacted by the climate change-induced mega-hurricanes.
The parish has many more events planned this year!
