We have just taken on stewardship of a helpful resource that helps parishes engage whole families in service immersion experiences in their local community. It comes in two themes, with one focused specifically on creation care action.

With Families on a Mission, parish families gather in the morning, serve in the community during the day, and reconvene at the parish for prayer, processing, fun, and dinner. The resources provides talking points, presentation slides, prayer services, games, craft instructions, marketing tips, participant journals, and much more.

Learn more about this unique resource at https://pastoral.center/families-on-a-mission.

The St. Kateri Conservation Center has a wonderful ministry to inspire Catholics and others to restore yards, gardens, schools, farms, parks, forests, rivers, and wetlands into healthy habitats for people and wildlife. It encourages individuals, parishes, schools, religious orders, and working landowners to restore their land, homes, parishes, and communities in ways that praise God and foster a greater connection between God, people, and nature.

Consider especially how your parish, youth group, or family ministry could transform a nearby area through this program.

We are please to announce the following online video courses by Green Churches Network founder Norman Lévesque, which will help you build a flourishing creation care ministry in your parish.

• FREE Greening Your Church Video Mini-Course: Ten Proven Steps to Inspire Your Faith Community Towards Sustainability. 30 minutes of short online videos and practical tools • Learn how your church or school can work together to better care for creation!
• Developing Creation Care Ministry: Online Video Course. Go deeper with 4-6 hours of online video and content • Learn about both the spirituality of creation and practical tips for moving to action in a parish setting. All from an expert who has helped hundreds of churches. • Only $44/parish

We have recently published the following three resources for parish ministry:

• FOR YOUTH MINISTRY: Keeping the Garden: A Faith Response to God's Creation (In Real Life series) • 6+ youth ministry sessions • This all-in-one, interactive, Scripture-based curriculum will engage youth in this topic. • Reproducible • eResource $17 • eResource: $21.50
• FOR ADULT FORMATION: Care for Creation Session (The Catholic Way series) • by Ann Naffziger • Host an interactive adult formation session that offers a prayer experience and overview of Catholic teaching on creation care. Includes talking points and a reproducible handout. Only $5!
• FOR CHILD & FAMILY FORMATION: Let There Be Light: Creative Activities for Cultivating Gratitude and Care for Creation (LearningCycles series) • Teach creation care through different learning styles. Whole family-friendly. Only $9!

For more information or to purchase, follow this link.

Vatican Radio is reporting that the Holy See is calling for stronger education about climate change, especially for the young.  This should come as no surprise, since Chapter 6 of Laudato Si' focuses on "Ecological Education and Spirituality."

How is your parish or school helping educate people about these issues?

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder reference Laudato Si'​ and shares some practical ideas for how faith communities can help all of us connect back to"Vitamin N," in a time when technology and busyness keep many away.

Catholic News Service reports that, in response to Pope Francis encyclical, the Archdiocese of Chicago is benchmarking all 2,700 buildings of its buildings for sustainability goals.  They will seek to evaluate and optimize for their water usage, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions.  Chicago parishes who already performed this work have found that financial savings come along with this work.

But you don't have to be in the Chicago Archdiocese to make your parish or school buildings more environmentally friendly.  The book 77 Ways to Save Money and Energy at Your School or Parish steps you through the process.  

We have just announced our first set of eResources supporting Laudato Si' and creation care:

• Laudato Si' Powerpoint & Talking Points (50-slide Powerpoint, 16-page PDF/Word)

• Open Hearts - Open Minds: Working together on Creation Care even when some disagree (3 PDF documents)

• Laudato Si' Glossary: Definitions of key terms in the document (only available in our bundles)
  
• Catechetical Resources: Handouts for busy parents, "Help My Child to Know the Saints - Creation 3-Pack," and Becoming Faithful Citizens for Kids.

Learn more about them on our Resources page.

Many parishes are not familiar with how eResources work, but they have many advantages.  They are electronic files (Word, Powerpoint, or PDF documents) that we email to you.  They come with permission to make as many copies as you would like or otherwise share within your parish or school.  They're flexible, inexpensive, convenient, and environmentally friendly (as we don't have to ship them across the country).

In Laudato Si', Pope Francis calls the climate a common good shared by and meant for all, and says, "A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system." (LS #23)

Some people disagree about the extent of that consensus, which many cite as at 97%.  But an analysis by James L. Powell, director of the National Physical Sciences Consortium and a member of the National Science Board under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, shows that the climate consensus is actually 99.99%.  That would seem to fit Pope Francis' assessment of "very solid."