Laudato Si’ at Five: Dioceses Embrace Pope’s Call for Care of the Earth

Crux ^ | 5/20/20 | Dennis Sadowski

[marshmallow]

CLEVELAND - The Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis is “greening.”

So are the dioceses of Stockton, California; Joliet, Illinois; and others across the United States.

Participants in diocesan environmental ministries credit Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home, for raising awareness and motivating Catholics and others to act in countless ways to protect creation.

“The pope’s encyclical lays out the scene very well and is something we can have an impact with,” said John Mundell, an environmental consultant and a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis, who is a leader in the archdiocese’s creation care ministry.

“Besides the environment being part of our faith, there’s a resurrection (in the encyclical) of some of the core values we should have. It is living the Gospel, living simply, loving your neighbor. It’s all part of Catholic social teaching. That’s the core,” he told Catholic News Service as the encyclical’s fifth anniversary neared.

A weeklong church-wide observance is planned to mark Pope Francis’s signing of the encyclical May 24, 2015. Laudato Si’ Week, set for May 16-24, will include a number of online workshops. The week, sponsored by the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development, ends with a day of prayer May 24, a Sunday, at noon local time.

“It’s a time for Catholics around the world to pray, reflect and prepare to build a better world together,” said Anna Wagner, director of network engagement for the Global Catholic Climate Movement, which is working with RENOVA+, an Argentine Catholic organization promoting the encyclical, to facilitate the week with the dicastery.

[ebb tide]

Ping