April 26, 2019 — Today, we are renewed in our call to care for creation and to remember Pope Francis’ words from his papal inauguration Mass: “Let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.”
Pope Francis continued to call on all people to turn away from a throwaway culture and to act on climate change as a moral responsibility in his groundbreaking encyclical Laudato Si in June 2015. The encyclical invites us as individuals, as institutions and as a church to care for creation and to reconcile our relationship with God, creation and one another.
This Earth Week, we invite you to embrace this challenge Pope Francis laid out in Laudato Si, using Ignatian, Catholic and faith resources to guide you.
The Office of Justice and Ecology (OJE) at the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, and the Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) created an Ecological Examen to help individuals and institutions pray, reflect and discern action steps that respond to Pope Francis’ invitation to care for our common home.
Reconciling God, Creation, and Humanity is a resource available in both digital and print formats that can help you to answer this call to ecological conversion.
To put the Ecological Examen into practice, OJE and ISN have created a guide to living out the Eco-Examen, with a list of concrete steps you can take to promote ecological justice.
Along with the faith community, you can learn more about A Just Response to Extractivism and how you can turn away from a throwaway culture. Simply click here.
In adittion, the Catholic Climate Covenant offers a one-hour educational program that includes prayers, readings, a short video and suggested activities on the theme of “All Creation Gives God Praise: Protecting Biodiversity in a Time of Climate Crisis.”