Monday 4th October was the Feast of St Francis of Assisi. This wonderful saint and role model was renowned for his beautiful Simplicity and love of Nature, seeing all as Gift from God.

Our current pope, Pope Francis, took his name in honour of this great saint, and has dedicated his papacy to encouraging a new environmental spirituality that promotes a commitment to the care of our fragile, yet beautiful planet – the earth.

For us, this spirituality is formed by:

• the Christian scriptures that remind us of the Creator God who formed this world as a place of beauty, life and abundance (Matthew 6.25-34); and gave it as a gift and entrusted us to care for the planet (Genesis 1-3).
• the wealth of our Catholic tradition, especially the Principles of Catholic Social Justice that include working always for the Common Good; promoting Respect, Solidarity, Subsidiarity and Participation; having a Preferential Option for the Poor and Economic Justice; always guided by the commission for us to be Stewards of Creation
• Pope Francis’ encyclical ‘Laudato Si’, which presents the contemporary imperative to respond to the ecological crisis as a spiritual, moral, economic, social and justice necessity.

Pope Francis calls us to develop a “loving awareness” of this home we share and to act on the values we hold dear. (LS 220)

Standing on the firm ground of “three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships: with God, with our neighbour, and with the Earth itself,” we commit to setting out “on the long path of renewal.” (LS 66, 202) We embrace our rightful place in the “order and dynamism” that our Creator ordained, and we urgently embark on new ways of living with “creativity and enthusiasm” (LS 221, 220).

“There is reason to hope that humanity at the dawn of the twenty-first century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities.” (LS 165)

Laudato Si gives us 7 goals on which to focus our actions:

• Response to the Cry of the Earth
• Response to the Cry of the Poor
• Ecological Economics
• Adoptions of Sustainable Lifestyles
• Ecological Education
• Ecological Spirituality
• Community and Participatory Engagement