Read the stories of faithful Catholics in the seven sectors across the U.S. that embody the spirit of Laudato Si’ to make a difference as a part of God’s plan(et).
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For the second straight year, Saint Viator High School served as the host site for mobilizing teens around an issue they feel strongly about: climate change. Young people came out of a concern for the environment, but as Catholic high school students they felt a call to respond to Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home, the encyclical published in 2015 by Pope Francis.
Students worked in breakout sessions.
The Catholic Youth Climate Summit took place Feb. 26 and was organized by by Kayla Jacobs from the Catholic Climate Covenant, with Associate Jason Wilhite and leaders from the Archdiocese of Chicago.
“As a Campus Minister, climate change was the number one issue I heard about from students over these last three years,” says Wilhite, who graduated from Saint Viator in 2015 and worked in Campus Ministry from 2019-2022. “It’s awesome to be building this platform with youth, for youth, so we as a community can learn about the biggest climate problems and take concrete action to address them.”
Today Marie Constantin is a founding member of the Louisiana Stormwater Coalition (www.louisianastormwater.com) along with Dr. Jeff Kuehney, Renee Verma and Kelly Hurtado. The four of them run a grassroots effort to increase awareness about the benefits of permanently funding stormwater management programs as a way of combating flooding and litter issues.
BY LLOYD H. DEAN
CEO of CommonSpirit Health
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. At the same time, our collective experience has taught us lessons sure to spark critically needed change for years to come. Among the issues justly elevated in our political and public health discourse is health equity, or the inherent right we all have to reach our full health potential, regardless of our social status or circumstances.
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.
Schenk
By: Madeline Alvarez, Managing Editor
“Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home” is Pope Francis’ first encyclical, which is a papal letter sent to all Catholic bishops. It was published in 2015, and Francis wrote it to remind the faithful of their duty to care for the earth.
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.
The Laudato Si’ Action Platform — based on the pope’s 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’ On Care For Our Common Home” — was unveiled May 25 by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. During the seven-year plan, the pope envisions communities working together to achieve a more sustainable world, according to a report from Catholic News Service.
The platform opened for enrollment on Nov. 14. Registration will continue through April 22, 2022.
In the Archdiocese of Louisville, four religious congregations have joined the global movement.
By JULIE MINDA
Hilton Kelley seeks environmental justice for sick, vulnerable people
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. In the city's socioeconomically depressed west side especially, businesses and services had closed, kids were playing in parks near gang strongholds, and an alarming number of people were ill with chronic disease.
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.
Sr. Mary
Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, CHA's president and chief executive officer, said health care has a strong role to play in helping to halt climate change and in leading the way toward sustainability.
LAURA ANDERKO, PhD, RN
Co-director at Villanova University's Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment
"Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor."
— Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
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. “An exciting global movement is underway to create and implement action plans to move us to a flourishing future for all humanity,” stated Sister Beatrice Hernandez, who is leading this effort of the Wheaton Franciscan Community.
BY SARA SHIPLEY HILES
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. If the American health care industry were a country, it would rank ahead of the entire United Kingdom in emissions — and the numbers keep rising.
Dr. Jodi Sherman, an anesthesiologist at Yale University and a leader in researching the environmental footprint of the health care sector, co-authored a study in 20162 finding pollution from health care causes as much death and disability as preventable medical errors, first documented in a landmark Institute of Medicine report two decades ago.3
This Laudato Si’ awareness and engagement campaign for U.S. Catholics is brought to you by Catholic Climate Covenant and its partners.
