By Barb Arland-Fye
Editorial
Ten years ago, the late Pope Francis issued his now widely referenced encyclical, Laudato Si’ which emphasizes our responsibility as stewards of creation and connects our relationships with God, each other and the earth. That same year, the pope officially entered the Roman Catholic Church in the global Season of Creation, an ecumenical commemoration of prayer and action for our common home that begins Sept. 1 and concludes Oct. 4 on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.
Last week, Iowa Faith & Climate Network held a networking event at Groundswell Cafe in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, seeking to build on an ecumenical network across Iowa to empower Iowans to take bold action for a just, healthy and sustainable future for all. Individually and collectively within our faith communities and parishes, we can strengthen our commitment to stewardship of God’s creation through participation in this network that unites us in prayer, advocacy and sharing stories about our efforts.
We also honor the memories of Pope Francis and his predecessors, St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, both of whom urged us to practice good stewardship of God’s Creation. St. John Paul II emphasized “our relationship, as God’s creatures, with the universe around us.” Pope Benedict titled his World Day of Peace message 2010, “If you want to cultivate peace, protect Creation.”
Deaconess Irene DeMaris, executive director of Iowa Faith & Climate Network (IFCN), has spoken with Tom Chapman, executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference (ICC) about ways both organizations can build on efforts to care for God’s Creation. Chapman is particularly enthusiastic about IFCN’s development of a mapping initiative for sharing sustainability success stories and ideas from congregations, faith-based retreat centers, camps and more throughout Iowa.
ICFN’s Associate Director Tim Gossett says of the mapping initiative, “Specifically, we’re looking for projects that are structural (e.g. solar panels), landscape-related or in other ways more permanent in nature. This database will be helpful to other congregations or organizations who seek to do similar projects …”
Deacon Kent Ferris, who spearheads our diocesan Laudato Si’ Action Plan, says the ICFN is “a means of drawing and encouraging people of faith and individuals to do the right thing by the created world and to gain inspiration from congregations and houses of worship that have already done so.”
Parishes within our diocese are engaging in creative, faith-inspired ways to foster sustainability and resilience, such as St. Thomas More Parish in Coralville, St. John Vianney Parish in Bettendorf, Jesus Christ Prince of Peace Parish in Clinton and St. Ann Parish in Long Grove, among others. Their specific projects need to be on that map!
Deacon Ferris asks us to take action in the following ways to deepen our commitment to our relationship with God, each other and all of creation:
- Ask your parish’s Social Action Commission to visit the IFCN website (iowafaithandclimate.org) to learn more about the mapping project and to share the projects that your parishes have undertaken. It is a way to celebrate, educate and to inspire conservation efforts.
- Visit the website of the Catholic Climate Covenant (https://tinyurl.com/3br8ut46) to learn about and participate in Pilgrims of Hope for Creation. This nationwide initiative, according to the organization’s website, invites Catholics “to embark on pilgrimages focused on healing and renewal: deepening their relationship with God, one another, and the Earth.” Pilgrimages can range from short walks on parish grounds to longer journeys through nature or places of ecological significance. The initiative aims to “inspire a renewed commitment to caring for creation and restoring humanity’s sacred relationship with the environment.”
- Participate in advocacy efforts. The Catholic Climate Covenant (CCC) asks us to send a message, via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ action alert website (votervoice.net/USCCB/home) to tell Congress to protect God’s creation in the federal budget reconciliation bill. Congress seeks to eliminate provisions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) related to the environment and climate change. The USCCB supported this law “to make historic, society-wide investments to decarbonize our economy, prepare communities to cope with extreme weather, and to bring justice to communities long overburdened by pollution and most vulnerable to climate impacts.”
“In the meantime,” as Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Si’, “we come together to take charge of this home which has been entrusted to us, knowing that all the good that exists here will be taken up into the heavenly feast” (no. 244).
Barb Arland-Fye, Editor
arland-fye@davenportdiocese.org
