News and Stories

We are living in a pivotal moment. This new decade has been characterized by tragedy and tension, from the global pandemic to nationwide social upheaval.

Representatives of two of the country’s largest Catholic health systems that have pledged to reduce their environmental impacts say tying the efforts to their systems’ mission, making a long-term commitment, having the support of leadership and collecting data to verify that the efforts are on track are key aspects of the work.

“Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home” is Pope Francis’ first encyclical, which is a papal letter sent to all Catholic bishops.

Earlier this year, Pope Francis called all Catholics to join a new global grassroots movement committed to caring for creation and creating a more sustainable world.

When Hollywood actor and stuntman Hilton Kelley visited his hometown of Port Arthur, Texas, in 2000 after 20 years away, he was taken aback by how much the Gulf Coast community had deteriorated since his youth.

As scientists point to wildfires and severe drought across much of the American West, flooding in the Midwest, hurricanes in the South and other extreme weather as evidence of global warming’s impact, CHA, its members and other Catholic organizations are ramping up their efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

LAURA ANDERKO, PhD, RN
Co-director at Villanova University’s Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment

On the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4, 2021, the Wheaton Franciscans have taken action to meet the urgent challenge of Pope Francis to the universal Church to protect our common home and to address the effects of climate change, global warming, and concern for the poor.

The first rule of medicine is “do no harm.” Yet the health care industry itself is a major source of pollution, accounting for about 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and a similar share of major air pollutants.

SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga University has become the first university in the United States to commit to the Laudato Si Action Platform inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 ecological encyclical, “Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home.”

A group of 10 parishioners from All Saints Church in Syracuse, NY recently joined their pastor, Fr. Fred Daley, to both celebrate and bless two hedge maple trees on Lancaster and Euclid Avenues in Syracuse.

ND Works wrote: An interdisciplinary group of 20 faculty gathered at Fernwood Botanical Garden in Niles, Michigan, for three days of conversation and action-planning oriented around Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ encyclical on climate change and inequality.