Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Join the Young in Fighting for the Planet and the Poor

May 18, 2023

While older people love to complain about “young people today,” they must admit that the younger generations are leading the way in opposing “an economic system that is unfair to the poor and an enemy of the environment,” Pope Francis wrote.

[The youth] are not only asking us; they are doing it,” he said, pointing to a trend in choosing to consume less, to buy products “produced following strict rules of environmental and social respect” and to lower their carbon footprints with the means of transportation they use.

The young, Pope Francis said, are asking older people “to change. Change our lifestyle, so predatory toward the environment. Change our relationship with the Earth’s resources, which are not infinite. Change our attitude toward them, the new generations, from whom we are stealing the future.”

Christians cannot remain indifferent when they see people suffering because of drought and other environmental disasters and or who are forced to migrate because of climate change,” he wrote.

Those who stand by and watch or turn the other way, he said, are “accomplices in the destruction of the beauty that God wanted to give us in the creation that surrounds us.”

It is not just about the land, the Pope said. With the destruction of the earth, “that ‘very good’ gift that the Creator forged from water and dust – man and woman – will perish.”

April 22nd is Earth Day!

April 19, 2023

Laudato Si’ is Pope Francis’s encyclical “On Care for Our Common Home.” The Holy Father’s message is loud and clear: caring for our environment is a fundamental tenet of our Catholic faith. As such, Earth Day presents a golden opportunity for teaching about Laudato Si’ as well as the Catholic principle of Care for God’s Creation, one of the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

1. Give praise to our Creator. In the Nicene Creed, we say, “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” How appropriate that the first sentence of our Creed mentions the fact that all of creation comes from God! Pray the Creed. Sing songs of praise such as “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” “How Great Thou Art,” and “Holy God We Praise Thy Name.”

2. Contemplate the wonders of God’s creation. Contemplation, (i.e. resting in God’s presence) is an authentically Catholic practice and a way of coming to a deeper appreciation of finding God in all of creation. Take some time to contemplate outdoors. Pope John Paul II said, “Faced with the glory of the Trinity in creation, we must contemplate, sing, and rediscover awe.”

3. Pray, pray, pray. Pray for those who are at risk from exposure to environmental hazards. Pray for social justice for those who are poor and who suffer disproportionately from environmental destruction. Pray for those with an excess of wealth that they (we) may come to share with others more generously. Pray for future generations that they may benefit from a healthy environment.

4. Create a garden. Participate in God’s ongoing creation by planting a garden. Consider planting a vegetable garden and sharing your harvest with those less fortunate. Create a “Mary Garden,” a tradition going back to medieval times that dedicates the garden to the Blessed Virgin Mary and is populated with plants that bear her name.

5. Read and study Church documents on caring for God’s creation. Considering creation as sacred is not new to Catholics. The Church has a long tradition of respecting God’s creation. Read up on what both Scripture and Tradition have to say about ecology and the environment.

6. Learn about and teach others about the lives of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Kateri Tekakwitha. These two saints are the patron and patroness of ecology. Children especially love to learn the stories of these two saints.

7. Learn six ways to help your parish or community “go green.” Here are some wonderful ideas from Darcy Osby about helping children learn about care for God’s creation.

8. Take the St. Francis Pledge to care for creation and the poor. The St. Francis Pledge, initiated by the Catholic Climate Covenant, is a solemn commitment made by Catholic individuals, groups, and institutions to honor God’s creation and to serve those who are poor.

9. Make a donation to Catholic Relief Services. CRS, the official international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic community, promotes caring for the environment in the U.S. and abroad. Visit their website to learn more about their work and how you can help.

10. Read Laudato Si’. Pope Francis’s encyclical on how we need to care for our common home takes the notion of care for the environment out of the political arena and links it to our Catholic faith.

To learn more click here ~ Catechist’s Journey website

Oceans Are a Gift from God

March 9, 2023

Oceans are a gift from God and they must be used fairly and sustainably, Pope Francis said in message written for him by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, for the Our Ocean Conference.

“All of us depend on oceans,” which all of humanity has “received as a gift from the creator,” the papal message said. Because they belong to all of humanity, “we must use oceans in a just and sustainable way” so they will be “in good shape” when passed on to future generations, the message said.

Some “alarming” problems affecting oceans, the message said, include pollution, acidification, illegal fishing and overfishing. It also expressed concern over deep-sea mining. Other tragedies include the plight of immigrants who travel by sea, human trafficking that takes place at sea, and the very difficult conditions or illegal work people may be subjected to. The Pope proposes three ways humanity could improve its relationship with oceans.
Read the Pope’s proposals here

Catholic Leaders Say Legislation on Climate is ‘Critical’

July 7, 2022

~ by Brian Roewe, EarthBeat, National Catholic Reporter

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to curtail the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants was met with disbelief and disappointment by Catholic and other faith groups, calling it “a moral travesty” with serious repercussions for both people and the climate.

The consequential ruling, issued June 30 in one of the final cases of a monumental term for the court, dealt a major blow to one of the federal government’s tools to reduce the heat-trapping gases, which are driving climate change, from one of the nation’s largest emitting sources: coal and gas-fired power plants. It also raised questions about what leeway other federal agencies will have to interpret laws and directives they’ve been tasked to enforce.

In a statement, the Catholic Climate Covenant said it was “deeply disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision.

“We know the emission of carbon dioxide through the burning of fossil fuels is one of the largest causes of the climate crisis,” said Catholic Climate Covenant’s executive director, Jose Aguto, pointing to rising global temperatures that are driving more dangerous and frequent droughts, heat waves and extreme weather events.

“We must bring these emissions down. Yet, the Supreme Court chose to limit EPA’s authority to regulate these emissions, rendering less resourced our collective imperative to care for creation and address the climate crisis. We ask: how is this decision upholding the life and dignity of every person?” he said.

To read the complete article, please click here

For Catholic Sisters, Eco-missionary Activity is Integral to their Work

April 21, 2022

~ Sr. Susan Smith for EarthBeat

NEW ZEALAND – When most 19th century apostolic congregations of Catholic sisters were founded, responding to and being directed by bishops was the name of the game. But after the Second Vatican Council that mindset began to change as other criteria such as “reading the signs of the times” became important in discerning new missionary imperatives. Today, Catholic sisters all over the world are prioritizing care for creation as integral to their work.

In the years immediately following Vatican II, conciliar documents, Pope Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio and the bishops’ 1971 synod on justice in the world generated an enthusiastic response from many sisters to step up and respond to the cry of the poor, and not long afterward to the cry of the earth, too.

From the 1970s onward, Catholic sisters were influenced not only by bishops’ environmental statements and scientific publications about environmental degradation, but also by the works of theologians such as Jesuit Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Columban Fr. Sean McDonagh and more recent eco-feminist publications such as St. Joseph Sr. Elizabeth Johnson’s Women, Earth and Creator Spirit and Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love and the publications of Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio and more.

Such eco-feminist publications encourage movement beyond earlier hierarchical, dualistic theologies that position humans at the apex of creation with all other creatures deemed subordinate. A pyramidal understanding of creation has meant a real pecking order in the life of planet Earth – the higher up the pyramid one is positioned, the more they can dominate and exploit those relegated to lower positions.

Long aware of the damage patriarchal and hierarchical ideologies cause, Catholic sisters understand that theologies grounded in those ideologies should be replaced by theologies that encourage mutuality, inclusivity and interdependence. We know that we need Mother Earth more than she needs us.

Growing numbers of sisters, along with millions of others, are aware of what is happening in our world today. Sisters who are directly involved in ministries with the economically and politically disenfranchised poor can easily see how environmental degradation more severely impacts oppressed communities. Climate change means more droughts, more cyclones, more forest fires, more exploitation of natural resources leading to deforestation, more invasions of land of indigenous people. Not only are Catholic sisters focusing on people living in poverty: they also are focusing on an impoverished Earth.

Earth Day is April 22 – “Invest in Our Planet”

April 21, 2022

~ by Julia Gerwe, Global Sisters Report

This year’s Earth Day theme is “Invest in Our Planet.” EarthDay.org which sets the annual theme and serves as the “world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement,” elaborates:

Earth day is the day to take action not just because you care about the
natural world, but because we all live on it.
Every one of us needs a healthy Earth to support our jobs, livelihoods,
health and survival, and happiness. A healthy planet is not an option –
it is a necessity.

I firmly believe that we all carry a responsibility to live more sustainably on this Earth.

“Sustainability” has its origins as an ecological concept referring to how biological systems endure, remaining divers. Now, however, sustainability is commonly used “to describe the viability of interdependent human and natural systems over time,” as the North American Association for Environmental Education writes in its “Guidelines for Excellence: Community Engagement

Further, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [9] asserts, “Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.” Sustainability is, in short, living responsibly and living well.

Unfortunately, the science has been telling us for decades that our pace of life and rate of growth are not sustainable. This is the world we inherit. Besides metaphorically hard to swallow, our contributions to the current climate crisis as a species (however unintentional they may be) can also be difficult to comprehend amid the haze of a hundred-billion-dollar fossil fuel industry and sympathetic structures and systems that bolster extractive ways of life.

However, the story of the day and the narrative promoted by this year’s Earth Day theme is simple: Individuals have power.

fact, a September 2020 report [10] from the Stockholm Environment Institute and Oxfam cited that the world’s wealthiest 10% were responsible for almost half of global emissions in 2015. Who are the world’s wealthiest 10%?

Anyone with an annual income of at least $38,000

What can the world’s wealthiest do with their power?

On a macro level, companies, governments, policies and practices need to change. We know that as individuals, we voted not lonely with our ballots, but with our wallets. This is what investing in our planet looks like.

Investing in our planet can also look like simplicity, connection and hope. By living more simply – namely, consuming and traveling less – we directly and indirectly emit less greenhouse gases.

But what about connection? What about hope?

Because I am connected to my local community, I prioritize buying locally grown and made products. Because I love my global community, I try to do conscious research before buying new clothing to ensure that those making the clothing are treated justly and the materials are sourced sustainably,

In this way connection lends itself to hope, which inspires action.

This Earth Day, I challenge everyone to follow this trajectory from connection to hope and to action. Just start by getting some dirt under your fingernails!

To read the entire article, please click here

For Catholic Sisters, Eco-missionary Activity is Integral to their Work

April 13, 2022

~ Sr. Susan Smith for EarthBeat

NEW ZEALAND – When most 19th century apostolic congregations of Catholic sisters were founded, responding to and being directed by bishops was the name of the game. But after the Second Vatican Council that mindset began to change as other criteria such as “reading the signs of the times” became important in discerning new missionary imperatives.Today, Catholic sisters all over the world are prioritizing care for creation as integral to their work.

Such eco-feminist publications encourage movement beyond earlier hierarchical, dualistic theologies that position hu-man at the apex of creation with all other creatures deemed subordinate. A pyramidal understanding of creation has meant a real pecking order in the life of planet Earth – the higher up the pyramid one is positioned, the more they can dominate and exploit those relegated to lower positions.

Catholic Groups Call for Rapid Climate Action re: U.N. Report

April 7, 2022

~ by Brian Roewe, EarthBeat for National Catholic Reporter

Many of the technologies and tactics to avert the worst impacts of climate change exist today. While still a major challenge, what’s missing mostly is the political and financial will to wield them at full force. So says the latest major report from the world’s foremost scientific body on climate change. The report, focusing on mitigation efforts to limit rising temperatures, and with it the fallout from increasing heat was issued on Monday, April 4, by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The report reiterated that immediate, rapid and massive societal shifts this decade are required to meet the world’s goal under the Paris Agreement to limit average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius – a threshold that climate scientists say will expose millions of people to increasing droughts, heatwaves and extreme storms, and with it, result in greater rates of poverty, migration and health issues, all consequences expected to harm vulnerable communities the most.

The nearly 3,000-page IPCC report [5], compiled by 278 authors from 65 countries, is the third issued by the international scientific group in the past nine months as part of the sixth assessment.

“Its message is crystal clear: we need climate action now in the form of deep and urgent emissions reductions and well before 2030, to stay below 1.5 C, said CIDSE, a network of Catholic international justice organizations, in a statement. “As Catholic Development agencies we are inspired by Pope Francis to call for urgent action on the climate emergency.”

In a joint statement, U.N. climate chief Patricia Espinosa, Alok Sharma and Sameh Shoukry, the heads of the COP 26 and upcoming COP 27 UN climate conferences respectively, said the latest IPCC report “makes it clearer than ever that the window of opportunity to achieve the [1.5 C goal] is rapidly closing.”

“Despite the urgency of our task, there is hope. The window for action has not yet closed…. There is also clear evidence that – with timely and at scale cuts to emissions – countries can pursue a mitigation pathway consistent with limiting global warming” to 1.5 C they said.
To read the full account please click here

7th Annual Catholic Sisters Week Celebrates the Contemporary Work of Women Religious

March 10, 2022

The theme for this year’s Catholic Sisters Week is “Caring for Earth, Caring for You.” Many events are incorporating an environmental focus or aspects of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Sí’ on Care for Our Common Home.”

Catholic Sisters Week also brings the final episode of “Exploring Intersections: Catholic Sisters on Racism, Migration and Climate” a project of LCWR’s Region 10. For a year, the monthly program has explored the issues of racism, migration and climate and how they are intertwined. The March 9 episode, “Navigating the Road Ahead,” will focus on takeaways from the series and suggestions for continuing the conversation.

“One of the things Catholic Sisters Week embraces this year is the concept of being engaged in the work,” said Ginny Hizer, Executive Director of Communicators for Women Religious. “It’s taking the flavor and the mission of the sisters and actually living it out.”

While lay people are increasingly involved in the work of sisters through sponsored ministries and associate programs, Catholic Sisters Week opens those opportunities to a much broader audience, Hizer said.

“Sisters are better than anybody at finding the hope and holding the hope and recognizing the abundance that surrounds our lives. If you want to experience a bit of that abundance, look to Catholic Sisters Week,” said Stacy Spitler, Chair of the Communicators for Women Religious.
To learn more, please click here

Pope Francis tells COP26 to show ‘Political Will’ Not to Defer

November 3, 2021

Pope Francis tells COP26 to show ‘Political Will’ Not to Defer
~ by Brian Roewe, Earth Beat, National Catholic Reporter

Glasgow, Scotland – Addressing the U.N. climate summit with his pen rather than in person, Pope Francis called on world leaders assembled here to demonstrate “political will” and stop deferring the action required to avert the worst catastrophes of climate change.

“As the Glasgow Conference begins, all of us are aware that is has the vital task of demonstrating to the entire international community whether there really exists a political will to devote – with honesty, responsibility and courage – and greater human, financial and technological resources to mitigating the negative effects of climate change and assisting the poorer and more vulnerable nations most affecting by it,” Pope Francis wrote in a message addressed to Alok Sharma, President of the U.N. climate conference known as COP26 which began on October 31.

“Sadly, we must acknowledge how far we remain from achieving the goals set for tackling climate change,” the Pope said. “We need to be honest: this cannot continue!”

“We need both hope and courage,” said Pope Francis. “Humanity possesses the wherewithal to effect this change, which calls for a genuine conversion, individual as well as communitarian, and a decisive will to set out on this path.” The Pope added, “there is no time to waste.”

The Pope in his message challenged diplomats at COP26 to construct a future where daily actions and economic decisions “genuinely protect” the conditions necessary for dignified human life and the health of the planet now and into the future.” To read the complete article please click here