The Season of Creation, which begins on September 1st (the Day of Prayer for Creation) and ends on October 4th (the feast day of St. Francis) is the perfect moment for us to live, pray, and act on Laudato Si’. The suggested theme for this year is “the web of life” (biodiversity). See below for a list of resources and ideas to help your community celebrate this special time. To bring youth into the celebration, be sure to check out the piece about the Laudato Si’ Generation in the "Ongoing" section.
In 2015, Pope Francis joined Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to establish September 1st as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, encouraging the Catholic and Orthodox communities around the world to pray for our common home. Many other denominations have now joined this ecumenical day of prayer. See below for prayer resources.
Following this year’s Season of Creation , a Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (Oct. 6th-27th) will take place, focusing on the Amazon region and integral ecology. This is an opportunity for us to listen to the people of the Amazon and respond with them to the ecological and spiritual challenges they face. The 2019 Feast of St. Francis program, “We Are All Connected: Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor”, will complement and accompany the Vatican's Amazonian Synod and focus on integral ecology, environmental and climate justice, and lifting the voice of indigenous communities. I hope your community will host a Feast of St. Francis event in the coming months!
Blessings,
Paz
How will you take action?
Reflect
Prayer for Our World
Creator God, who made our beautiful world,
appointed us as its guardians
and gifted us with everything we need,
forgive us
for the times we cause it harm;
for the times our way of life
affects our neighbors.
Inspire us
to care for the environment;
to help rebuild lives and communities;
to share in the griefs and anxieties,
joys and hopes of all your people,
so that all your creation may flourish.
Amen.
Stephen Davies/CAFOD
Act Together
Ten Minutes
Check the Season of Creation Global Calendar for events happening in September that might be of interest to your community.
If you plan a Season of Creation event, be sure to register the event here. You can also find other local events by clicking this link.
Half Day
Organize an event to celebrate the Season of Creation in your parish, school, or religious community. The Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has highlighted the importance of the Season of Creation in a letter which includes some useful ideas for celebrations, such as incorporating creation care into liturgy, forming committees to promote integral ecology, and participating in advocacy.
The USCCB has sent out Liturgical Suggestions for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and the Vatican issued a letter encouraging pastors and communities to celebrate the Season of Creation (which runs from Sept. 1st through the Feast of St. Francis on Oct. 4th). Feel free to share this with your pastor and ask them to celebrate a Mass focused on the Season of Creation.
Here are some ideas and resources to help you plan:
1) Host a 90-minute Feast of St. Francis educational program. This year’s program focuses on integral ecology, interconnectedness, and lifting the voice of indigenous communities. It is designed to be used as a celebration of the Feast Day of St. Francis on Oct. 4th, but may be used at any time convenient to your community. The program will be emailed to all who pre-register around mid-August.
Pre-Register to Receive Feast of St. Francis Program
2) This year’s (2019) Earth Day educational program, “All Creation Gives God Praise: Protecting Biodiversity in a Time of Climate Crisis” would be suitable for this year’s Season of Creation since it focuses on biodiversity issues.
3) Download a prayer vigil for the care of creation from CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Economic Development in the United Kingdom).
4) SeasonofCreation.org has prayers, a celebration guide, promotional resources, denominational, youth, clergy, and shared resources from communities around the world.
5) Guided Rosary on Caring for Creation from Franciscan Action Network is a wonderful prayer resource for the Season of Creation.
6) Check out the Covenant’s prayer and worship resources, homily helps, and the new Creation Care Corner (bulletin tips) resource.
Ongoing
Spotlight on the Laudato Si’ Generation- A Call from Youth For Ecological Conversion
Our partner, the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM), has a youth program called “Laudato Si’ Generation”. Luke Henkel (Outreach Coordinator of the Laudato Si’ Generation, Seattle, Washington) describes the LS Generation below.
Are there youth in your community who would like to be a part of this Catholic youth movement? Share this with them!
“Laudato Si’ Generation is a network of young people motivated by the call to climate justice in Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’. LS Generation is the youth branch of the Global Catholic Climate Movement, and represents groups, networks, and organizations from all around the world, across all continents and in just about every region of the globe. Founded at World Youth Day in Panama in January 2019, our work is to: concretize and deepen our own ecological spirituality (LS 216) and to truly live out ecological conversion; to more thoroughly educate ourselves on the climate crisis so as to prepare ourselves to advance the transformation needed at all levels of society; to make ‘lio’ or noise through participation in strikes, demonstrations, and conversations with appropriate leadership to move the Church out of her comfort zones and stagnant indifference; and to collaborate with local Church communities and raise our collective voice of prophecy for urgent, strong action from political leaders that prioritizes care for our common home.
If you would like to be involved with the Laudato Si’ Generation or to help promote its cause, visit https://laudatosigeneration.org/our-call/ to understand our manifesto and what we’re all about.” ~Luke Henkel
