In preparation for my participation in a USCCB sponsored symposium for the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’, I reread the famous and controversial document with some care.
Tag: Laudato
Earth Day and Laudato Si’
A parishioner asked his pastor, “Father, it seems that every time I read a Catholic newspaper, I read about taking care of the environment. Shouldn’t we Catholics be more concerned about taking care of the world’s bigger problems such as war, hunger, and sickness?”
The priest responded, “Haven’t you heard about Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical on ecology? It is the first encyclical in Catholic Church history to focus on ecology and care for creation. In this encyclical, Pope Francis makes a connection between care for the environment and war, hunger, and sickness.”
Support efforts to protect creation at conference
“A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system,” warns Pope Francis.
In his environmental encyclical Laudato Si’ (“On Care for Our Common Home”), the Holy Father further warns, “In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events.
“Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production, and consumption, in order to combat this warming.”
Presentation on Laudato Si’ in Madison
MADISON — Care of Creation has scheduled a presentation on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home on Thursday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m. at the St. Dennis Parish Center, 505 Dempsey Rd.
John Huebscher, executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference will be the presenter. Fr. Randy Timmerman, pastor, and Steve Coleman, resident expert on climate change, will also attend.
Discussion series on encyclical at Sinsinawa Mound
SINSINAWA — A discussion of Pope Francis‘ encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, will be held at Sinsinawa Mound from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Oct. 6 through Nov. 10.
Over the course of six weeks, participants will read each of the six chapters of the encyclical, which calls us to re-examine our lives in light of the ecological crisis, and discuss what this means for us as a people of faith.
Conversation planned on encyclical
MADISON — A conversation on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care of Our Common Home and sustainable agriculture in Wisconsin will be held Sunday, Sept. 27, from 1:30 to 6 p.m. in Anderson Auditorium in Predolin Hall at Edgewood College.
Panelists will include environmentalist Calvin DeWitt , Sr. Miriam Brown, Eric Anglada of the New Hope Catholic Worker Farm, and Edgewood economics professor Kevin Biller. The speakers will lead break-out sessions after the panel concludes.
‘Laudato Si” and Romano Guardini
In 1986, after serving in a variety of capacities in the Jesuit province of Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio commenced doctoral studies in Germany.
The focus of his research was the great 20th century theologian and cultural critic Romano Guardini, who had been a key influence on, among many others, Karl Rahner, Henri de Lubac, and Joseph Ratzinger.
Encyclical is prophetic, challenging, wonderful
It’s courageous, it’s prophetic, it’s challenging, it’’ holistic, it’s wonderful: That’s what I think of Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.
Quoting his patron saint, Francis of Assisi — who is also the patron saint of ecology — Pope Francis begins his papal letter with a beautiful verse from the saint’s Canticle of the Creatures: “‘Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs.'”
Our common home
“St. Francis of Assisi reminds us,” writes the pope, “that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. . . .
Encyclical: respect for human and environmental ecology
Dear Friends,
Around this time of year, things typically slow down in this space. Our Catholic Herald usually has a reduced schedule during the summer, and I always take a bit of a “summer recess” from writing these columns.
That being said, there’s been enough happening in the last two weeks to fill numerous columns, and so I feel compelled to write.
Two very major things happened this past Friday — the ordination of six men to the priesthood for the diocese, and the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision redefining marriage.