Today our congregation publicly commits to join with Pope Francis and the universal Catholic Church on a seven-year journey to ecological conversion through the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
This is not a new venture for us; it is a journey we formally began in 1997. We have a long-standing commitment of deep communion and right relationships with the Earth. Over the last three decades, we have made many changes that moved us closer to ecological sustainability. These past choices give us the courage to boldly and creatively commit to new actions that will lead us to greater ecological conversion and to living more environmentally sustainable lives.
Now, we begin our seven-year journey by publicly committing ourselves to our Laudato Si’ Action Plan. We commit to both personal and organization-wide change. Together we will learn about the impact our current practices are having on our planet, and we will make meaningful changes both as individuals and as a congregation. We will hold ourselves accountable for the way we live our lives.
The crisis of our planet is too big for our personal and congregational changes alone to have the needed impact. Therefore, we also commit to advocating and educating for the systemic change needed to address this global crisis.
We invite our associates, agrégée companions, partners in mission and friends to join us in our commitment to ecological conversion. With a global vision that hears the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, we can make the needed changes to sustain our earth.