Laudato Si Week: Themes and a Call to Action

Pope Francis has invited all Catholics and people of goodwill to celebrate the fifth anniversary of his encyclical letter Laudato Si’ by protecting families and future
generations through action to care for our common home.

Themes Which Require Our Urgent Response Today
A Moral and Spiritual Challenge.
The ecological crisis, Pope Francis writes, is a summons to profound interior conversion –
to renew our relationships with God, one another, and the created world.

Care for God’s Creation. God created the world and entrusted it
to us as a gift. Now we have the responsibility to care for and
protect it and all people, who are part of creation. Protecting
human dignity is strongly linked to care for creation.

We are All Connected.
We are connected to the rest of the
human family, to the created world, and to those who will
come after us in future generations.

Impact on the Poor.
People in poverty have contributed least to
climate change, yet they are disproportionately impacted by it.
As a result of excessive use of natural resource by wealthy
nations, those who are poor experience pollution, lack of
access to clean water, hunger, and more.

Called to Solidarity.
We are one human family and have a
shared responsibility for others and for creation. Wealthy
countries have a responsibility to reduce consumption of nonrenewal resources and should help poorer nations develop in sustainable ways.

Technological and economic development
must serve humanbeings and enhance human dignity, instead of creating an
economy of exclusion, so that all people have access to what is
needed for authentic human development.

Supporting Life, Protecting Creation. 
Concern for nature isincompatible with failure to protect vulnerable human beings,
such as unborn children, people with disabilities, or victims of
human trafficking.

A Time to Act.
Pope Francis calls for a change in lifestyle and
consumption. We can make important changes as individuals,
families, and communities, and as civil and political leaders.

Hope and Joy.
“Injustice is not invincible” and we act knowing
that we seek to live out God’s vision of renewed relationships
with God, ourselves, one another, and creation.

How You Can Respond
Each of us are called to take concrete steps – from reducing
consumption to working for political change – to better care
for creation. Here are some ideas.

Become more aware of our connectedness. Care for one
another and creation includes understanding that “everything
is connected” and that the economy, politics, community
involvement, and technology all affect the future of the planet
and humankind. How can we become more aware of our
connectedness?

Changes to lifestyle and consumption habits can make a big
difference. For example, get a re-usable water bottle, take
shorter showers, walk, bike or take public transportation
instead of driving, recycle, compost food waste, and buy energy
efficient appliances.

Make changes institutionally at your parish, school, or
workplace. For example, start recycling and composting, use
washable dinnerware in cafeterias, share electronically instead
of printing, do an energy audit, and install solar panels.

Support local efforts to solve environmental problems.
Community groups around the country are working to make
city, county, and state-wide changes that can make a big
difference. Find out what is going on locally and get involved.

Contact your members of Congress to share Pope Francis’
message and urge action to address climate change.

For More Information
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops webpage on Environment
and Environmental Justice (www.usccb.org/environment)
Catholic Climate Covenant (www.catholicclimatecovenant.org)
WeAreSaltAndLight.org