The Caring for Our Common Home Committee at All Saints Church in Syracuse, NY recently completed three creation care events at their parish with a $1,000 Catholic Climate Project grant, which included:
Planting community trees: The parish partnered with Onondaga Earth Corps (OEC) to plant trees in a community close to the church. They partnered with OEC as they embody the same values regarding the environment and social justice. “The mission of the OEC is to empower youth to be active participants in creating positive change for their communities and the environment.”
Installing a bike rack: “As a Climate Change Action Committee, we felt it was important to “walk the talk”, and a great example to show this was to purchase a bike rack to encourage more of our parishioners to bike to church events instead of driving. Our church is located within the Syracuse city limits and many of our parishioners live within a 2-mile radius of the church. Our bike rack is installed right outside the front entrance to the church. We have received a lot of positive feedback from our parishioners on this new bike rack.
Hosted a guest speaker on climate change issues: Sr. Linda Neal, CSJ, was the guest speaker (virtually via ZOOM) on October 21, 2020. She is an educator, hiker and naturalist. Her talk focused on curing consumerism by embracing nature, often quoting Laudato Si’. The Catholic Sun wrote an article on her and her presentation.
“We are eternally grateful to the Catholic Climate Covenant for their support of our environmental programs at All Saints Church. You should be pleased to know that our parish is a leader in the Syracuse diocese with action for Caring for Our Common Home initiatives,” said William Murray, of the Caring for Our Common Home Committeeat All Saints Church.
