FROM THE DIRECTOR

More and more Catholics are emphasizing a faith-based approach to Earth Day

Around the world, people of faith delve deeper into their traditions’ understanding of Creation during the global celebration of Earth Day.  Below you will find several examples of this beginning with a very powerful statement by the Catholic-Methodist Dialogue connecting the Eucharist with Creation. 

We also are encouraged by the number of Catholic individuals, families, parishes, schools and other organizations who find the St. Francis Pledge a useful framework to assist them in living their faith in this important area.  In the three years since the launch of the Catholic Climate Covenant: St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor (April 21, 2009), nearly 7,000 have registered their Pledge on our website.  We are grateful for your support and continue to rely on your help in spreading this good news!

For my part, I spent most of Earth Day polishing a keynote address to the Conference for Catholic Facilities Management given this past Monday in Covington, Kentucky.  CCFM members were very receptive to the message and the Coalition will continue to work with facilities managers to find ways to link reducing the carbon footprint of the tens of thousands of Church-owned buildings with the St. Francis Pledge. 

FROM The USCCB

POWERFUL U.S. BISHOPS/UNITED METHODIST CHURCH STATEMENT MARKS EARTH DAY

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the United Methodist Church (UMC) marked Earth Day 2012 with the release a joint statement on the Eucharist and the environment.  The statement, Heaven and Earth are Full of Your Glory, affirms that both Methodists and Catholics believe their celebration of the Eucharist helps them to see God’s glory in all of creation and therefore leads to greater care for the environment.

The document says: Jesus chastises the Pharisees for being able to interpret the appearance of the skies while being unable to interpret the signs of the times (cf. Mt 16:3).  In our time the appearance of the skies has become a sign of the times.  The threat of climate destabilization, the destruction of the ozone layer, and the loss of bio-diversity point to a disordered relation between humankind, other living beings and the rest of the earth (emphasis added).

The elements of nature—grain for bread and grapes for wine—become part of salvation through the Eucharist and that salvation itself is an act of God at work in all of creation and all creation encountering God.  Additionally, the document call[s] both Methodists and Catholics to participate more deeply in the Eucharist by recognizing its intrinsic connection with the renewal of creation.

Bishop William Skylstad, retired bishop of Spokane (and honorary chairman of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change) and Methodist Bishop Timothy Whitaker of the UMC Florida Conference co-chaired the dialogue. 
Read the entire statement here.

FROM The CAtholic Community

EARTH DAY CELEBRATIONS

On Sunday, April 22, the world celebrated the 42nd Earth Day and a number of Catholic communities joined in the celebrations:

+Cecilia Calvo, coordinator of the USCCB Environmental Justice Program, participated in the Episcopal Church’s The Intersection of Poverty and the Environment program on April 21 in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Conference participants agreed that people of faith can and should play an important role in organizing communities to be both good neighbors and stewards of creation.  Said Calvo, this isn’t radical; this isn’t new for us … For us as people of faith this is an essential part of who we are. It’s kind of simple.  It’s not something new; it’s not a fad.

+The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart marked Earth Day by publishing the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor as a Featured Resource on its website.

+The Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania celebrated the Earth on Sunday with prayer, plastic-bottle recycling and paper programs that can be planted to grow wildflowers.

+Saint Mary’s Parish of Colts Neck, New Jersey, in conjunction with Solis Partners . . . host[ed] a ribbon-cutting event on Saturday, 21 April to celebrate the commissioning of its solar power system.  Read another story here.

+St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School (North Oakdale, Ontario, Canada) held an Earth Hour Eco Celebration last Friday to commemorate the school’s continuous efforts tackling issues affecting the environment.

To share your Earth Day story with the Coalition, email us at info@catholicsandclimatechange.org

From NEW PartnerS

MARKING EARTH DAY BY ENDORSING ST. FRANCIS PLEDGE

To celebrate Earth Day, a number of Catholic institutions became Catholic Climate Covenant Partners by endorsing the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor:

-The Archdiocese of Ottawa became the seventh arch/diocese to endorse the Pledge, joining Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Hartford, Green Bay, Stockton (CA) and Houma-Thibodaux (LA).

-On Saturday, April 21, President Marie Angelella George, Ph.D., helped Cabrini College (Radnor, PA) celebrate Earth Week by endorsing the Pledge on behalf of the College.  Cabrini College is a Catholic, liberal arts college dedicated to academic excellence, leadership development, and a commitment to social justice.

-On Monday, April 23, Stonehill College marked Earth Day with a Sustainability Fair at which President Mark Cregan, C.S.C., signed the St. Francis Pledge on behalf of the school.  Stonehill is a selective Catholic college located near Boston on a beautiful 375-acre campus in Easton, Massachusetts.

-In the April 11 Newsletter Update, we announced that Saint Joseph’s College of Indiana had become a Catholic Climate Covenant Partner by endorsing the St. Francis Pledge.  This week, we are excited to share the school’s official press release announcing the news.

-Saint Anselm College (Manchester, NH) has also become a Partner by endorsing the Pledge.  In the school’s press release, Brian Penney, a biology professor who heads the college's Environmental Stewardship Committee, said, Because environmental issues disproportionately affect people in developing nations and on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic scale, we have to start looking at our environmental practices differently," he says. "Many students here serve the community and try to help the needy, and they want to do more. This pledge casts attention on the small actions that we make on a day-to-day basis that build up to affect the health of the planet.  Founded in 1889 by the Benedictines, Saint Anselm College has been named one of the country's "Colleges with a Conscience" by The Princeton Review.

-Holy Cross Abbey (Berryville, VA) has also become a Partner by endorsing the St. Francis Pledge. Holy Cross Abbey is a monastery of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists) sheltered by the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Cistercians dedicate their lives to seeking God according to the sixth-century Rule of Saint Benedict, living the vows of obedience, stability, and conversion of life in the monastic School for the Lord’s Service.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

MEXICAN SENATE UNANIMOUSLY PASSES CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION

The Associated Press reports that Mexico's Senate has unanimously [78-0] passed a climate change bill aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050, following Britain in creating legally binding emissions goals. The law -- approved late Thursday and which still needs to be signed by President Felipe Calderon -- seeks to promote policies and incentives to reduce carbon emissions, decrease the use of fossil fuels and make renewable power more competitive.

In their deliberations, the senators underlined how the country of 112 million was already experiencing the effects of climate change, including a record drought in many areas this year and heavier and more frequent rains in other regions. 

The story also points out that in 2009, the United States attempted, unsuccessfully, to pass a similar climate change bill.  In their reflections on U.S. climate change legislation, the USCCB and Catholic Relief Services invite Catholics to advocate for policies that reduce the impact of climate change on people living in poverty. Well-designed climate change policies can help both reduce the severity of climate change and protect the most vulnerable by:
--Creating new and necessary resources to assist poor and adversely affected communities in adapting to and easing the effects of global climate change in the U.S. and in the most vulnerable developing countries;
--Ensuring that the most useful technology is promptly made available to people in the most vulnerable developing countries to help them adapt to the effects of climate change (adaptation) and reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation); and
--Promoting the participation of local communities in programs for adapting to climate change and easing its effects.

FROM A PARTNER

CATHOLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION RESOURCE GARNERS MORE ATTENTION

In our April 11 Newsletter Update we shared that the Catholic Health Association of the United States recently published resource that considers the causes and consequences of climate change in light of the Catholic health care ministry.  The official CHA press release is available here, and several news outlets have featured this story:

--Catholic News Service featured the resource in a blog entry titled Seeing the bigger picture on health care.

--Georgetown University  highlighted the story and the fact that one of its authors is the Robert and Kathleen Scanlon Chair in Values Based Health Care at the School of Nursing & Health Studies at Georgetown University Medical Center.

--News-Medical.Net shared the resource with the wider health care community in an article titled Earth Day prompts examination of health-care providers' roles in climate change.