By Sr. Carol De Angelo, Director of SCNY Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation

The Songs of Creation. The Cries of the Earth and Her Peoples. Respond in Hope. These three movements in Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home are movements that need to become part of our life if we are to live into the new way of thinking, acting, being that Pope Francis has called us to. It is a spirituality that recognizes that the effects of our encounter with Jesus Christ must become evident in our relationship with the world around us. (LS#217).

The Sisters of Charity have taken seriously Pope Francis’ call to an ecological spirituality where an “integral ecology” perspective becomes so much a part of us that we desire and seek the personal and communal ecological conversion needed to counteract the devastating effects of human consumption and greed that are afflicting Earth and those most vulnerable. Laudato Si’ #202 reminds us that many things have to change course and that it is we human beings above all who need to change if we are to be protectors of God’s handiwork. Listening to the songs of Creation and its cries help us to see how the external deserts in the world are growing because the internal deserts have become so vast (LS#217). Laudato Si’s invitation to open ourselves to the experience of awe, wonder and beauty, to see with the gaze of Jesus, to take time, sabbath time, to live in gratitude…all these are part of growing into a spirituality that reminds us “that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion. As believers we do not look at the world from without but from within, conscious of the bonds with which the Father has linked us to all beings.” (LS#220).

Online webinars on eco-sprituality from the perspective of the Charism of Charity were offered these past months to “break open” what integral ecology and ecological conversion look like. These are difficult terms to grasp, much less to put into practice. Sisters of Charity, their Associates and Colleagues who participated in the online presentations and conversations found inspiration, hope and a deep appreciation of Laudato Si’s wisdom. To see oneself intimately connected to all of life and the implications of how our actions and decisions impact others, humans, and more-than-humans, is an ongoing process. We need each other to unpack the meaning that we are part of nature and not apart from it. “For the ecological conversion needed to bring about lasting change is also a community conversion.” (LS#219)

Pope Francis has invited all Catholics to journey together towards ecological conversion and integral ecology. Locally and globally, segments of the Catholic Church have committed to the Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP) initiated by the Vatican Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development and in collaboration with groups such as The Laudato Si’ Movement, Catholic Climate Covenant, Leadership of Women Religious, etc.

The webinars listed below are examples of how the SCNY Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation and the SCNJ Office of Peace, Justice and Ecological Integrity are partnering in the journey towards ecological conversion and integral ecology.

I           Communion With Creation: The Grace of This Moment in English or Spanish.

II          The Company of Charity in the Community of Earth a three-part series exploring how our new consciousness of the story of the universe and the urgency of care for creation, our common home, can evoke new insights and new energies from the charism of the Company of Charity.

Session I: To Make the Symbol Sing Again Looking at the central teachings of our faith – Trinity, Incarnation, Sacramental Imagination, through the lens of the new cosmology and our Charity charism can make them “sing again” with new beauty. Watch in English or Spanish

Session II: Coming Home to Our Bodies, Coming Home to the Land Learning to honor our bodies and live in conscious relationship to the Land can open new paths of relationship with the Divine. Watch in either English or Spanish

Session III: Gifts from the Heart of Vincent: The Vincentian Virtues for an Ecozoic Age Looking at the five traditional Vincentian virtues through an ecological lens can release new energy for living the charism of Charity. Watch in either English or Spanish.

We conclude with three sentences from Laudato Si’. May they bring hope and strength for the journey:

“An integral ecology includes taking time to recover a serene harmony with creation, reflecting on our lifestyle and our ideals, and contemplating the Creator who lives among us and surrounds us, whose presence “must not be contrived but found, uncovered.” (LS #225)

“Inner peace is closely related to care for ecology and for the common good because, lived out authentically it is reflected in a balanced lifestyle together with a capacity for wonder which takes us to a deeper understanding of life.”  (LS #225)

“The Lord was able to invite others to be attentive to the beauty that there is in the world because he himself was in constant touch with nature, lending it an attention full of fondness and wonder.” (LS #97)