Members of St. Thomas More Parish-Coralville participate in a peace pole blessing in this file photo.
By Jay Gilchrist
For The Catholic Messenger
St. Thomas More Parish in Coralville is rolling out a new parish Laudato Si’ Plan during the Season of Creation this year. The parish Green Team has been working the past few months to create an interactive online plan with simple goals that make it easy for parishioners and parish groups to participate (https://tinyurl.com/3rf6nmhd).
The plan’s goals are adapted from “Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home,” the 2015 encyclical of Pope Francis. The four goals call the community to Learn from the Earth, Hear the Poor, Live Simply, and Help to Heal the Planet.
This 10th year of the Church’s Laudato Si’ mission is a wonderful time to renew our practices of care for creation, and what better time than right after we dedicated a new worship space?
The Green Team wanted to have a plan that “pops out” and is easy to read and to get on board with. Each of the goals adopts one of the colorful anime “mascots” of Jubilee Year 2025 in the Catholic Church. These “Pilgrims of Hope” are Luce, the encouraging light; Fe, the faithful one; Xin, the explorer; and Sky, the musician. We want everyone to be pilgrims of hope, from the youngest to the oldest, from every group that is part of our parish ministry.
The plan outlines the many things the parish already does to care for creation, plus additional ideas. A quick survey is available for individuals, families and parish commissions and organizations to share what they will do to advance one or more of the goals. The survey also has an idea space for people to share creative suggestions and activity sheets for children to provide input.
“I am grateful to our parish Green Team for their prayerful work in developing our Laudato Si’ Plan,” said Father Chuck Adam, St. Thomas More’s pastor. “Their efforts remind us that caring for creation is not just a project, but a way of living our faith — protecting the gift of God’s earth for future generations and growing as a community of stewardship and hope.”
The Green Team has been active in the 10 years since publication of Laudato Si’ with educational and worship events, eliminating Styrofoam to use “real” tableware, recycling, composting, bulletin articles, and interfaith partnerships.
Strong environmental stewardship has been a core focus since St. Thomas More relocated to Coralville from the University of Iowa campus in 2009. Future parish plans include recycle-friendly bins in the parish hall, a creation-care library section, water bottle hydration stations, additional natural landscaping and trees, and converting to solar energy.
The parish Laudato Si’ Plan has had lots of input from Father Adam, the parish council and parish staff. Council member Adam Summers designed the online format and Youth Minister/Communications coordinator Angie Goodwin helped to get things up and going online.
The plan and the survey are accessible on the St. Thomas More Parish website: (https://tinyurl.com/3rf6nmhd). Anyone can complete the survey, with a button to designate your faith community. The Green Team will do its best to convey your input to that community. This will broaden Earth-care partnerships.
The Parish Laudato Si’ Plan and survey are just some of the things happening at St. Thomas More this Season of Creation (Sept. 1-Oct. 4). Other events include Stations of the Cross with All Creation, Prayer for Peace around the parish peace pole, a special pilgrimage retreat, and the annual Blessing of the Pets. See Page 4 for details.
“I appreciate everything our church does to celebrate God’s green Earth!” said Cece Roudabush, the Green Team’s co-chair. “This plan will strengthen our ministry and our joy in doing it.”
(Jay Gilchrist is co-chair of the St. Thomas More Parish Green Team.)
