Protecting and Preserving Creation
In 2016, Pope Francis published Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home, in which he asked all of us to work together to care for our brothers and sisters and to care for the Earth, the home we share. This responsibility, he wrote, is “essential to a life of value.”
In conjunction with the fifth anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis issued a worldwide collaborative “call to action” for Catholic organizations and “all men and women of good” to make a public seven-year commitment to sustainability.
Laudato Si’ Commitment Statement
As Sisters of St. Joseph, we move always toward deepening our call to “be attuned to how all of creation lives and moves and has its being in God.” We believe in a “sacramental universe” of wondrous diversity, a gift of God that requires our care and respect. We believe that God entrusts these resources to us so that we may nurture and sustain them for our dear neighbors now and into the future.
Compelled by the Gospel and our Congregation’s love for unity and reconciliation, we respond to “the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor” with a renewed commitment to address the whole of creation, including concern for nature and justice for the poor. As Sisters of St. Joseph, we align ourselves with the spirit of Laudato Si’ and pledge to collaborate with our partners-in-mission on a seven-year journey of education, advocacy and action for the sake of Earth and all who live on it.
Join Us in Living Sustainably
Our Sustainability Committee, comprised of Sisters, staff and Associates, encourages our Sisters and dear neighbors to adopt practices that reduce waste and energy consumption, reuse and repurpose goods to limit greenhouse gas production, conserve water and other natural resources, and advocate for broader action to protect and preserve our land, air, and life in all its (human and non-human) diversity.