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Laudato Si' Week 12-19 June 2016


The first anniversary of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' is being marked by Laudato Si' Week, organised by the Global Catholic Climate Movement. One year ago, on 18 June 2015, Pope Francis released his historic encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home. Laudato Si' Week is an international celebration to reflect upon the Laudato Si' message and highlight global action bringing it to life.

On the day of the encyclical launch last year, I was interviewed live on the BBC's Today Programme and Premier Radio - all before 9am. Later that morning Cardinal Vincent Nichols held a launch at Our Lady and St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Poplar, East London, which attracted considerable attention. The school was an appropriate choice because it lies in the shadow of Canary Wharf, with its many banks and corporations, and it was specifically designed in an environmentally friendly way by Catholic green architect Anne Dixon. That first day, it was clear that the excitement about the encyclical went well beyond the Catholic community. Laudato Si' was a holistic call to promote the common good, incorporating not only the environmental crises in such areas as climate change, fresh water and biodiversity, but linking to sustainable livelihoods for poor communities and countries.

Pope Francis called for "ecological conversion" and an understanding of "integral ecology" - that everything is connected - and hence the protection of the environment is "an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it". Secular environment and justice groups were very affirming about people of faith playing a more public role on environmental protection and sustainable development, alongside addressing structural injustice that was harming the poor and the Earth.

During Laudato Si' Week, prominent international speakers will dialogue in five daily on-line conferences about the crisis affecting our common home and will reflect on the Pope's Laudato Si' message on occasion of its first anniversary. The five webinars - starting today and open to everyone - will cover five key sections of the encyclical document, following the Pope's "urgent appeal for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet". Speakers include Cardinal Peter Turkson of the Pontifical Council Justice & Peace, Bishop Sanchez Sorondo of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Jeffrey Sachs (bestselling author & UN Senior Advisor), and theologians Mary Evelyn Tucker (Yale University) and Fr Sean McDonagh (Columban eco-theologian).
See: http://laudatosiweek.org/index.php/onlineconference/

The Global Catholic Climate Movement has also released an Eco-Parish Guide for Catholic Parishes. This free downloadable guide will be a great resource for parishes to take a first step during Laudato Si' Week to celebrate the encyclical's anniversary with concrete action. Developed in cooperation with the Movement's partners around the globe, the guide will help parishes globally to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by addressing actions in relation to parish operations, the congregation, and the broader community. Inspired by Catholic Social Teaching, the Eco-Parish guide explains how parishes can make a difference by forming green teams, reducing parish carbon emissions, engaging parishioners on low carbon lifestyle choices, advocating for climate justice and caring for those harmed by climate change.

The Global Catholic Climate Movement tracks initiatives internationally which shows the incredible scale of the impact of the encyclical. One English parish is mentioned in the guide - St John Bosco's at Woodley in Portsmouth Diocese, which was the first parish to achieve the LiveSimply parish Award in 2012. Parishes have an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions because the Catholic Church operates more than 220,000 parishes globally. See: http://catholicclimatemovement.global/eco-parish/

The Global Catholic Climate Movement - which in Britain includes CAFOD, Columban JPIC, and Westminster Justice and Peace - has been active in other areas too, such as securing Cardinal champions for a Synod on Creation, continuing to raise signatures on the Catholic Climate Petition, producing material for the special annual day for Catholics to focus on safeguarding Creation on 1 September. A common call, taken from Laudato Si', is to 'Hear the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor'.

Over the past year it has been increasingly clear that our common home is in grave danger from climate change and the wider environmental crisis. Every month this year has been the hottest one on record. Yet, the year has also seen record worldwide investment and implementation of clean energy such as wind, solar and hydropower, and increasing Catholic action in our parishes, schools and organisations.

The faith community was vital in lifting up the moral call for action on climate at the Paris climate talks in December 2015, where more than 840,000 Catholics had signed the faiths petition presented to the United Nations and to French President Francois Hollande. "We cannot let this energy die away" says the Global Catholic Climate Movement; "This is a moment for us to remind ourselves why we are acting, to re-engage our communities, and to show our governments that we are still here, willing to dialogue and hungry for action".

For more Laudato Si resources and links, see: www.columbans.co.uk/news/laudato-si-resources-and-links-for-parishes-and-schools/
and www.catholicclimatemovement.global/

Ellen Teague will be reporting daily on Laudato Si' Week for Independent Catholic News.

Her daily blogs from the Paris Climate Change talks can be found at: www.columban.org.au/archives/features/2015/cop-21-daily-reports-from-columbans

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