July Zoom Conferences on Our Common Home and ‘Laudato Si’

Bee on firebush bloom in courtyard of the Sisters of St. Joseph Renewal Center in St. Augustine, Florida. 

In a month in which environmentalists try to raise consciousness of single-use plastics, #plasticfreejuly, Creighton University and Catholic Climate Covenant co-sponsored a July 13-15 on-line conference, “Laudato Si and the U.S. Catholic Church: A Conference Series in Our Common Home.” His Eminence, Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, was one of the keynote speakers on the evening of July 13. He spoke on the opportunities and challenges of integrating “Laudato Si,” the 2015 encyclical of Pope Francis on the environment, more deeply into the U.S. Catholic Church.

“Laudato Si' needs to be understood as a renewed call to conversion, to respond to Jesus' invitation to think differently about human beings, life, society and our relationship with nature (LS 215),” said Cardinal Cupich.

He said, “Somewhere along the way, we have forgotten the sacred relationship that binds us with nature. We falsely have come to believe that we have absolute dominion over the Earth and can exploit it at will. This "is not a correct interpretation of the Bible as understood by the Church" (LS 67), the pope observes.”

“We have come to adopt the false idol of economic growth as the sole purpose and overarching desire of society. The desire for money has fomented division between winners and losers, where "the winners take it all." Having experienced the benefits of economic progress, so many of us turn a blind eye to the consequences this way of living has on people, our planet and our own spirituality,” said Cardinal Cupich.

Coastal birds in retention pond near Flagler Hospital, St. Augustine.

“Pope Francis devotes tremendous attention in Laudato Si' to the ethic of intergenerational responsibility, which is ultimately rooted in the spirituality of sacrifice for those who will inherit the planet. We must be willing to publicly advance such an ethic, not as a position we grudgingly acknowledge the need for, but as the great moral call of our age, ‘ said Cardinal Cupich.

Hydrangeas in Motherhouse gardens. 

There were many other excellent presentations during this July conference. They all provided much food for thought and reflection. I am grateful to Creighton University and Catholic Climate Covenant for providing this. During the first keynote addresses there were audio problems, but the talks can be found on-line. The cardinal brought out that there needs to be much more done to integrate the teachings of Laudato Si into the Church, and all of them require some sort of conversion to enable the changes and the sacrifices needed to protect our garden planet and all life that depends on its continued existence.