Old St. Pat's Green Team

Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home
“We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.” --Pope Francis, Laudato Si

Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home.
​Pope Francis issued this letter, addressed not only to Catholics, but to every person living on the planet, in May of 2015. Its ideas are even more relevant today than they were 8 years ago, after 2023’s unprecedented wildfires and catastrophic floods. Here are some of the critical themes of this work, expressing a Catholic stance toward our current environmental and social justice challenges.

• Human beings have a responsibility to care for the earth, just as they do to care for each other. The natural world is not something apart from ourselves, or simply the place where we live. We are part of nature, and nature is part of us. We are not the lords of nature, but its protectors.
• A solid scientific consensus exists that we are experiencing a warming of the climate. This warming climate has resulted in sea level rise, and an increase in the power of extreme climate events such as hurricanes and flooding. Scientific studies show that much of the recent warming is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide and other gases) in the atmosphere. As these gases build up, they hamper the escape of heat produced by sunlight. The use of fossil fuels (oil, gas, and coal) as our main source of energy contributes significantly to higher levels of greenhouse gases, and thus to the warming of the climate.
• Many countries in the global south contribute little to the release of greenhouse gases, yet they suffer the most from the warming of the climate. Many of the poor in these areas struggle with flooding due to sea level rise, difficulties with subsistence farming due to droughts, and degradation of the environment due to pollution. More and more people are migrating to escape growing poverty in their homelands caused by the effects of climate change. Yet many in the world seem indifferent to the suffering of our fellow inhabitants of our common home.
• There is a need for changes in our lifestyles, our means of productions, and our ongoing development to correct the actions that have led to climate change. Wealthy nations have a particular responsibility to stop their overuse of the world’s resources, and to support sustainable development in poorer countries.
• Technology should not be used to create an economy of exclusion, but to serve human needs, enhance human dignity, and ensure all have access to clean water, clean air, and rich soil.
• Above all, we need what Pope Francis calls an “ecological conversion.” Our human hearts need to change. We need to recognize our common origin and our mutual belonging, and to consider the future we are leaving to the children who are growing up now. A great cultural, spiritual, and educational challenge is before us, but we should never lose the joy of our hope.

 
​What steps will you take to participate in the ecological conversion that Pope Francis calls for?

Are you inspired by the message of Laudato Si? Want to be a faithful steward of our common home and encourage others to practice sustainability? OSP Green Team shares your passion. 
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To learn more, contact info@oldstpats.org

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Creation Care Resources:

CREATION CARE GROUPS                                           

• OSP Green Team
• Faith in Place   
• Your local community Green teams such as GO GREEN [name of community]   

​CREATION CARE WEBSITES   

• Catholic Climate Covenant 
• Catholic Climate Movement   
• Chicago Archdiocese  
• NCR Earth Beat    
• USCCB  ​

CREATION CARE BOOKS

• Carson, Rachel Silent Spring   
• Delio, Ilia,  Keith Douglass Warner, Pamela Wood Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth   
• Ghosh, Amitav The Great Derangement: Climate Change and The Unthinkable   
• Grafton, Philippa, Ed. Save the World: What can YOU do to fight the Climate Crisis? An interactive Journal   
• Klein, Naomi This Changes Everything   
• Kureethadam, Joshtrom The Ten Green Commandments   
• McKibben, Bill  Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?  
• Pope Francis Laudato Si   
• Salamon, Margaret Klein Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth   
• Surette, SJ, John The Divine Dynamic: Exploring the Relationships between Humans, Earth and the Creative Power of the Universe   
• Warners, David and Matthew Heun  Beyond Stewardship: New Approaches to Creation Care ​