Franciscan Earth Corps/Franciscan Earth Club

St. Thomas More Campus Ministry, Syracuse, NY

In October 2003, St. Thomas More Campus Ministry implemented a program developed by the Franciscan Ecology Center called the “Franciscan Earth Corps,” which reaches out to Catholic college students at Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry to engage them in a Care for Creation and ecospirituality ministry. The program serves both a ministry to Catholic students and an outreach to college students getting degrees in environmental science, and promoting an important religious-secular environmental dialogue.

The program is grounded in the Franciscan ecospirituality tradition, which calls all members of the Franciscan family to engage in caring for creation. The program has also been created in response to a growing awareness of the Catholic responsibility to address ecological issues and environmental justice issues, based on the message of Pope John Paul II, “The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility” and the environmental pastoral letter by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Renewing the Earth.” Out of all of the student and adult participants, only two people had heard that the Catholic Church has anything to say about nature or environmental issues.