Laudato Si Resources

This section of the website contains reference materials prepared by the STM Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP) Steering Committee. The documents and references are intended to provide access to parishioners and others to what has gone into the development of current plans.

LSAP Steering Committee Reflections Half-Sheet
LSAP Steering Committee Reflections Whole Sheet
LSAP Steering Committee Plan: Year 2

The spirit of Laudato Si' is one of holism and integral ecology: that the manner in which we treat God’s created world influences our treatment of the marginalized, and vice versa. Pope Francis builds upon the writings of his predecessors, Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, to call upon all people to recognize the sanctity of created matter and its Eucharistic potentiality to be consecrated to God. In making His sacrifice on the cross, Christ dignified and redeemed physical matter and the corporeal world – we are called to likewise offer our world for God’s redemption. 

To this end, the ministries of Saint Thomas More Parish have made some significant achievements. The launch of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP) has provided an invitation to go further: to foster a distinctly Catholic ethic of integral ecology at STM.

In the coming months we will be developing a 7-year plan for STM. Below are some of the resources developed by LSAP members during the first half of 2022. Please email us at [email protected] if you would like to be involved with the LSAP ministry, or with comments or suggestions on the planning process. Please watch the bulletin and this webpage for updates from us! We gratefully invite you to reflect with your household on God’s love for his created world using the resources linked below, and ask that you pray for us as we initiate the Laudato Si’ Action Platform here at St. Thomas More parish.

Caring for God’s Creation: Pope Francis’ New Encyclical, On Care for Our Common Home

As we seek to better understand this new encyclical, here are some resources from the USCCB Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, the Diocese of Raleigh, and others that can help you:

• Read the new Encyclical
• Diocese of Raleigh Article on New Encyclical
• Bulletin Insert: "Praise Be to You, My Lord" (PDF) - Overviews important themes in the encyclical and includes suggestions for prayer and action
• Discussion Guide on Laudato Si' (PDF) - For use in a small group setting, delves more deeply into main themes of Laudato Si'
• Caring for God's Creation: Resources for Liturgy, Preaching, and Taking Action (PDF) - Includes resources for preaching and teaching about care for God's creation
• Press Release - Includes USCCB President Archbishop Kurtz's "Statement on the Occasion of the Promulgation of Laudato Si'"
• USCCB Environment page - Contains additional resources, including backgrounders and links to the U.S. Catholic bishops' statements on environmental concerns
• Catholic Climate Covenant - Has resources, stories, opportunities for action, the St. Francis Pledge, and a sign-on thank you message to Pope Francis in English and Spanish
• Catholic Relief Services Pope Francis Page - Includes stories of how climate change is impacting vulnerable communities around the world with whom CRS works

• https://laudatosiactionplatform.org
  • Source for all things LSAP: links to encyclical, description of LSAP 7 Goals, videos, resources, opportunities to get involved, and for you and your family to enroll for information and updates

• https://godsplanet.us/about
  • We’re All Part of God’s Plan(et) is a national Laudato Si’ awareness and engagement campaign to educate and inspire U.S. Catholics to more fully embrace and act upon the teachings of Laudato Si’. This campaign especially encourages Catholics--from families to parishes and from universities to religious communities and businesses--to participate in the Vatican’s global Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
  • In the U.S., this effort is organized by Catholic Climate Covenant, which has been asked by the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development to be the U.S. coordinator. The campaign also includes the support and engagement of many other Catholic partners who together are working on engagement, outreach, programming, education, and other activities. 
• https://catholicclimatecovenant.org
  • Inspired by the USCCB's 2001 statement on climate change, and supported by 19 national partners (which include the USCCB, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Health Association, congregations of religious men and women, and other national organizations), Catholic Climate Covenant helps US Catholics respond to the Church's call to care for creation and care for the poor.
  • "We are grounded in the Church's deep history of teaching on creation, ecology, and the poor. Caring for creation and caring for the poor have been a part of the Catholic story since the beginning, but in recent years St. John Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and especially Pope Francis have added a sense of urgency to their call for Catholics to act on climate change. The US Bishops themselves having been calling for action since 1981."
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA5bEXkxQJY
  • Brief video from Ignatian Solidarity Network that clarifies and reviews the different LSAP websites and resources.

Overview

Pope Francis published his encyclical Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home, in May 2015. Laudato Si’ is frequently described as an “environmental” encyclical, and it is, but it contains so much more. Pope Francis builds upon work done by Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI to develop an ecological, incarnational spirituality, and joins that with the science available to him in 2015. You are strongly encouraged to read and pray over the encyclical as it is worth much reflection.

Early in the encyclical he establishes a definition of “climate” and our current environmental problem. “The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all. At the global level, it is a complex system linked to many of the essential conditions for human life. A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system.” (P.23)

Some of the dominant themes in the encyclical are:

• The intimate relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet
• The conviction that everything in the world is connected…”It’s all connected”
• The need to change ourselves, to go deeper than environmental “good deeds”

Here’s just a brief development of these themes, taken from the encyclical:  

First, the relationship between the poor and the planet. “The human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together; we cannot adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related to human and social degradation. In fact, the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet: ‘Both everyday experience and scientific research show that the gravest effects of all attacks on the environment are suffered by the poorest’.” (P.48)  

Second, Pope Francis frequently returns to the theme that “It’s all connected”. He wants us to see that we need to understand these Connections if we are to have a real substantial impact. “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.” (P.49) “We are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.” (P.139)  
                      
The third theme, the need for a deeper “conversion” in order to fully participate is illustrated in this quotation: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? This question not only concerns the environment in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal. When we ask ourselves what kind of world we want to leave behind, we think in the first place of its general direction, its meaning and its values. Unless we struggle with these deeper issues, I do not believe that our concern for ecology will produce significant results.” (P.160)

About LSAP Global

The Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP) was announced by the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development six years after Laudato Si’s publication on May 21, 2021. This ambitious seven-year program is designed to “’bring the whole human family together…for we know that things can change’ (LS 13). Laudato Si’ calls us toward sustainability in the spirit of integral ecology. With profound care for each other, for our Creator, and all creation, we are building a better future together.” 

Why is this program proposed to us and why now? The most fundamental reason for Care for Creation is the Incarnation. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us”, John 1, 14. All creation was made holy by Jesus entering the world as one of us. And all creation thereby must be cared for. Our recent popes… Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis have all called us to Care for Our Common Home. Their writings on this topic are clear and poetic.  

Certainly, we are aware of the warnings that scientists have been giving with ever increasing urgency. The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) recently repeated its alert that, “It’s unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.” We can’t see the changes their instruments are observing, but we can see the storms, fires, floods that are resulting. We can, like Noah’s neighbors, pass by and mock, or we can recognize and act. The Laudato Si’ Action Platform is asking us to join in taking action, urgently, as the cumulative effects of a disregard for the environment are daily causing greater harm and putting us in greater danger.

LSAP addresses seven sectors of the Church: families, parishes and dioceses, schools and universities, businesses and farms, religious orders, hospitals and other health care facilities, organizations and groups. From this very inclusive list, St. Thomas More will work on programs at the scale of the Parish, at the scale of the School, and at the scale of Individuals and Families.  

Seven goals are presented with each of the above communities called to address these goals as they are able:

1. Response to the cry of the earth
2. Response to the cry of the poor
3. Ecological economics
4. Adoption of sustainable lifestyles
5. Ecological education
6. Ecological spirituality
7. Community engagement and participatory action

LAUDATO SI' ACTION PLAN - ON Care for our Common Home

NOTE: The Environmental Stewardship Ministry is transitioning to "Laudato Si' Action Plan - On Care for Our Common Home."  Please look for updates to this ministry coming soon.

Contact:  Bob Weickert
Click here for more information about the Laudato Si' Action Plan at STM

• PRAY and reflect on the duty to care for God’s Creation and protect the poor and vulnerable.
• LEARN about and educate others on the causes and moral dimensions of climate change.
• ASSESS how we as individuals and in our families, parishes, and other affiliations contribute to climate change by our energy use, consumptions, waste, etc.
• ACT to change our choices and behaviors to reduce the ways we contribute to climate change.
• ADVOCATE for Catholic principles and priorities in climate change discussions and decisions, especially as they impact the poor and vulnerable.

• Waste reduction/recycling – Initial efforts were on helping the school establish a recycling program that was then implemented on the entire campus. For more than five years, we have recycled more than 30 tons of material annually. In addition, we have added a monthly “re-use” table at the weekend Masses to collect small items; this has permitted us to have a visual reminder to the parish while collecting corks, eye-glasses, batteries… As part of our waste reduction efforts at school lunches and parish and school social events, in 2017 the parish invested in a composting service that picks up our compostable waste weekly and brings a clean bin. With these multiple approaches to reducing waste, we are now removing more than 35% of total waste from the landfill. 
• Reduction of energy use – We continue to work on energy use reduction via HVAC adjustments and extensive lighting upgrades (primarily to LED technology) that have resulted in substantial additional savings. Indeed, St. Thomas More was recognized for these energy reduction efforts with an award in 2012 from NC Interfaith Power & Light (NCIPL).  We are now exploring the possibility of a solar energy project. 
• Reduction of water use – This was our 2013, “Year C” emphasis. Since the parish has installed low-flush toilets and a high-efficiency dishwasher, we have found fewer opportunities for further reduction on the parish and school campus. We continue bringing parishioner attention to ways to reduce water consumption in the home.   We have also reached out to our sister parish in Tanzania (Fr. Pontiano Chomba) and helped orchestrate the STM sponsorship of two new, more sanitary wells which have provided reliable clean water for the local communities. 
• San Isidro Labrador Community Garden – Started in 2013 as an off-shoot of the ESC, the garden is a productive demo of what can be grown in a small area by using sustainable organic practices.  Produce is distributed to STM parishioners and gardeners. 

• Feast of St. Francis and Earth Day – Working with Father Scott to incorporate strong “care for creation” themes into homilies and parish wide activities centered around two relevant time periods each year: the feast of St. Francis of Assisi (October 4), the Church’s historical “champion” of environmental concerns; and Earth Day (April 22), a widely recognized secular celebration for reminding all people of the critical nature of taking care of our planet). This is particularly relevant given Pope Francis’s strong emphasis on environmental themes as all of our responsibility. 
• New member recruitment – Continue recruitment of new members to the ESC to enable expansion of new activities and programs that will further spread the word of Care for Creation. 
• Public Policy Advocacy – To help fulfill the “advocacy” component of the St. Francis Pledge that guides our efforts, we have initiated responsible participation in public events that insist on responsible environmental behaviors by our public officials (e.g., protesting delay of regulations that minimize pollution insults to our lakes and streams).In May of 2019 St Thomas More joined 2 other congregations to found “Orange-Chatham Interfaith Care for Creation”, an umbrella group to encourage more concerned community action.  Prior to the COVID pandemic we had 3 productive live group meetings; since the pandemic, we’ve had 2 very active virtual presentations and panels via Zoom conferencing.