Laudato Si’ Week, May 21-28, 2023
Celebrating Laudato Si’ Week: A Movie, Prayer Walk, and Call to Action
Laudato Si’ Week is May 21-28, 2023, and the theme, “Hope for the Earth, Hope for Humanity,” provides inspiration for healing our planet. This is the eighth anniversary of the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical (“letter”), Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. This letter is a moral document addressed to everyone on the planet, and is an emphatic call to put our faith into action for the elimination of global indifference to climate injustices. We invite you to join us for two special events commemorating Laudato Si’ Week. Download the informational flyer here
May 7, 2023, 3:00 P.M., the Old Madeleine Church–Screening of the movie, “The Letter: A Message for Our Earth.” Both entertaining and provocative, the movie highlights people from around the world whom Pope Francis invites to the Vatican to share their fears, hopes, and dreams for the future of our planet. They represent the Indigenous, Wildlife, Youth, and Climate Refugee communities. The stories and cinematography will captivate and cause you to think more broadly—locally and globally—about how to tread lightly on our ailing planet. The movie is appropriate for all ages and will be followed by a brief facilitated discussion.
May 20, 2023, 10:00 A.M., Prayer Walk for Climate Justice—The walk begins and ends at Khunamokwst Park, 5200 NE Alberta Street. Consciously selected, the name Khunamokwst is a Chinook wa wa name meaning “together,” and is Portland Parks and Recreation’s first site to enjoy a name indigenous to the land it sits on.
The one mile walk is on flat surfaces, sidewalks, and less-traveled side streets. Based on the movie, “The Letter,” we will walk to specific “stations” representing the four communities highlighted in the movie and for whom climate change is both a threat and a reality. Each station will begin with a prayer, followed by a brief description of how the featured community has been affected by climate change. A speaker representing that community will then share a short “parable” or story of their experience with climate change, and will end with a closing prayer. Each station will bring to life the stories of our times as we literally “walk in their shoes” and imagine a world devoid of a promising future. Clergy from The Madeleine, St. Andrew, and Holy Redeemer will be walking with us. The walk is not exclusive to Catholics; like the encyclical and movie, it is inclusive and welcoming of all faiths and spiritual beliefs. The walk will conclude at Khunamokwst Park with refreshments. You are invited to bring a picnic lunch to enjoy afterwards while exploring the park. Sponsored by the parishes of The Madeleine, St. Charles, St. Andrew, and Holy Redeemer, we will walk rain or shine. Just in case, we have reserved a small covered area of the park for our gathering.
Download a copy here of the script from the Prayer Walk
Through these events may we be ever vigilant in our work to actively care for all of God’s creation.
New Publication — Our Common Home: A Guide to Caring for Our Living Planet
A new collaboration of faith and science looks to equip Catholics with the knowledge and means to turn prayers into actions on the multitude of environmental challenges around the globe, from climate change and pollution, to the rapid loss of species and ecosystems.
“Our Common Home: A Guide to Caring for Our Living Planet,” is a just-released digital and print resource to help Catholic communities respond to Pope Francis’ calls to protect the created world and develop a more sustainable future. It was the result of a joint initiative between the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Stockholm Environment Institute, a scientific research and policy organization headquartered in the Swedish capital.
The new guidebook provides a straightforward scientific overview of seven environmental topics:
- Climate;
- Biodiversity;
- Water;
- Air pollution;
- Food production;
- Sustainable consumption;
- Environmental and social justice.
For each, it offers a summary of the topic paired with a passage from “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home” — Francis’ 2015 encyclical on ecology — along with brief descriptions of what is required to address the problem and suggested reflections and action steps for people to take.
Cardinal Michael Czerny, head of the integral human development office, said the “Our Common Home” booklet merges faith and science to “empower” people to take values-driven actions in their local communities to combat climate change and environmental destruction and protect vulnerable people and the ecosystems to which they belong. “We are at a critical historical moment where actions today will determine the fate of generations to come.”
Designed to reach not just people’s minds about climate change and other environmental challenges but also their hearts and souls, this publication provides clear explanations of environmental issues with practical ways to respond in easily understandable language.
“The time to respond is not tomorrow, it is today. The time for polite conversations and speeches is past.” Only dramatic changes beginning today, right now, in both our personal lifestyles and choices as well as our communal policies and governance will head off the rising temperatures and their devastating consequences.” John Mundell, Director of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
Laudato Si’ Movement Core Values
- Grounded in Faith
- Committed to Spiritual Transformation
- Caring for One Another
- Being Prophetic
- Taking an Integral Approach
- Cultivating Unity Within Diversity
- Being in the Church and in the World
- Building Bridges
- Embracing Contemplation and Action
- Living in Hope.
Building on a long history of Catholic social teaching, The Madeleine Parish through prayer and action, is heeding and embracing Pope Francis’ call to take urgent action in caring for our seriously ailing planet and all of its inhabitants. In 2015, Pope Francis issued his second encyclical (a type of letter containing papal teaching), Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. In this social encyclical, Pope Francis uniquely addresses all faith traditions, cultures, and socio-economic groups, imploring Christians (including 1.2 billion Catholics) around the world to enter into a serious dialogue with every person on the planet about our common home. Disappointingly, many have not yet read Laudato Si’, and maybe you are one of them. Download a copy here.
Perhaps we can inspire you to dig deeper into this beautiful encyclical by offering you the Cliff Notes version (the top 10 key points) compiled by Jesuit Fr. James Martin, editor at large of the Jesuit magazine, America.
- The spiritual perspective is now part of the discussion on the environment.
- The poor are disproportionately affected by climate change.
- Less is more.
- Catholic social teaching now includes teaching on the environment.
- Discussions about ecology can be grounded in the Bible and church tradition.
- Everything is connected — including the economy.
- Scientific research on the environment is to be praised and used.
- Widespread indifference and selfishness worsen environmental problems.
- Global dialogue and solidarity are needed.
- A change of heart is required.
Since Laudato Si’, much has been accomplished in influencing behaviors and policies for moving our world toward a more just and sustainable way of life. Regardless of what beliefs we hold about the causes of global warming (or some call it “global collapse”), its effects are evident in an increase in both quantity and intensity of natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, flooding, and droughts. Increasingly, scientists and religious leaders are referring to the situation as a human-produced climate crisis that is destroying vast numbers of species and threatening the planet’s Web of Life.
As followers of Christ around the globe, we share a common role as caretakers of God’s creation. Our well-being is interwoven with the well-being of our common home. We rejoice in this opportunity to care for our common home and the sisters and brothers who share it now and for subsequent generations.
The year 2020 marked the 5th anniversary of Laudato Si’. With great energy and commitment, the Catholic Church used (and continues to use) this occasion to join ecumenical ecological efforts to save the planet. May 16-24, 2020 was celebrated around the world as Laudato Si’ Week which, in turn, launched the Laudato Si’ Special Anniversary Year.