Together for Hopeful Action: A recap of the Covenant’s Youth and Young Adult summer achievements

By Kayla Jacobs and Diana Marin

The Covenant’s Youth and Young Adult programs have been going full speed ahead these past few months with in-person trainings, conference attendance, listening sessions, community conversations, and more. Read on for the highlights of our summer!

“Being in community [with other program participants] was so important to me. If we want the Church to take on climate action as a response to the love of God, it seems to me that among ourselves we should also demonstrate this Church of the future that we want to be a part of.”

— Common Home Corps leader

In early June more than a dozen young adults from across the U.S. convened at Loyola University Chicago’s campus for a four-day training on faith-based activism, eco-theology, and environmental justice through the Common Home Corps (CHC) program. Joshua van Cleef of the Diocese of Lexington spoke with CHC leaders about the process of becoming the first US diocese to commit to net-zero carbon. Environmental justice organizers from Hazel Johnson’s People for Community Recovery told the group the history of racial injustice and environmental harm in the southside of Chicago. It was a powerful few days. These CHC leaders remarked upon the power of being in community and creating the Church they long for among themselves.

It is this stance of taking hopeful action together — in community — that kept emerging over the course of the summer.

The Covenant’s Young Adult Advisory Board, when asked about the unique contribution they would like to make, quickly convened on civic engagement. This group, which only launched this summer, is looking to offer prayerful community and resources for courageous conversation ahead of the presidential election.  

This summer we also held Catholic youth climate forums with high school leaders from across the country. Based on our conversations and discernment in those forums, the youth decided to focus on broadening their outreach with students through advocacy for sustainable and ethical purchasing and through an interdisciplinary climate curriculum in their schools for the 2024-2025 school year. 

During our annual community conversation on climate action after high school, facilitated by recent high school graduates, we heard from four inspiring young adults who are working to care for creation and lift up the message of Laudato Si’ through teaching, doctoral research, organic farming, and interning on Capitol Hill. When asked what gives them hope one panelist said, 

“When I first started learning about climate change…I felt so small, like there was nothing I could do that would make a difference. People around me weren’t acting on it or talking about it. It was super isolating. I felt super hopeless. But once I started getting involved and building relationships with other people who saw this as pressing and a problem worth acting on, that’s where I got more energy. That’s where I got more hope. That’s where I got more motivation to keep going.”

Hope and action go together. And they are made exponentially more powerful when done with a group of friends. The youth and young adults we encounter in our programs have hope and take action, and remind us that we’re all in this work of caring for our common home together.

Kayla Jacobs is the Program Manager of Youth Mobilization at Catholic Climate Covenant. Diana Marin is the Program Manager of Young Adult Mobilization at Catholic Climate Covenant.