Dec. 6, 2021 – In response to the cry of the earth, the urging of Pope Francis, the invitation of Father General Arturo Sosa, and the recommendations of our Care for Our Common Home Commission, the Jesuits of the USA Central and Southern Province are joining with other religious communities around the world in making a public commitment to the Laudato Si’ Action Platform:
The Jesuits of the USA Central and Southern (UCS) Province have committed to discerning a Laudato Si’ Plan. In collaboration with Jesuit communities, apostolic works, and the people with whom we minister—especially those most vulnerable—the UCS Province will develop a multifaceted response to “the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.”
Part of the wider Laudato Si’ Action Platform, Laudato Si’ Plans are seven-year plans created by Catholic communities and institutions to guide and track their progress toward environmental stewardship and ecological conversion.
As a first step in our Laudato Si’ Plan, in 2021-22 each UCS Jesuit community is taking the following actions:
- Identifying an environmental steward responsible for animating environmental action in his community.
- Conducting a carbon footprint audit.
- Engaging in a spiritual conversation process to determine how they are being called to care for our common home with greater personal, communal and institutional responsibility.
- Developing an action plan based on their communal discernment and prayer.
This commitment reflects the mission of the global Society of Jesus to promote reconciliation with God, humanity and creation. Guided by the Universal Apostolic Preferences, we are called to “collaborate with Gospel depth, for the protection and renewal of God’s creation.”
Through the governance of our General Congregation 36, the Society and those committed to its mission strive to “heal a broken world, promoting a new way of producing and consuming, which puts God’s creation at the center. The multifaceted challenge of caring for our common home calls for a multifaceted response from the Society” (Decree 1, 29-30).
Rooted in the tradition of Ignatian discernment and spiritual conversation, we pray that our Laudato Si’ Action Plan leads to ecological conversion and draws us deeper into relationship with Creation and our Creator.
