Saint Francis of Assisi Ministry

Laudato Si In Action

  • Earth Day

    Happy Earth Day! Back in 1969, peace activist John McConnell proposed the idea to celebrate a day each year to honor the earth. The first Earth Day was celebrated on March 21, 1970 and later moved to April 22. Today… Continue reading

  • Finding Forward

    At the conclusion of Laudato Si, Pope Francis offers hope with these words. Though originally intended to address the struggle for climate justice, the passage could also have been about the pandemic that is ravaging our world: God, who calls… Continue reading

  • A Message from our Holy Father

    Pope Francis was recently interviewed by British journalist and writer Austen Ivereigh. In this interview, our Holy Father speaks about our responsibility to the poor and our need for a conversion, two themes of the Laudato Si encyclical. Pope Francis… Continue reading

  • Lockdown, A Poem for the Pandemic

    Brother Richard Hendrick, a Capuchin Franciscan monk living in Ireland, wrote a poem entitled “lockdown” and posted it to Facebook on March 13th. I was so touched by it, I wanted to share it here:  Yes there is fear.Yes there… Continue reading

  • Taking Care of the Planet during the Pandemic

    The website earthday.org recently published an article on actions you can take for the planet even while practicing good social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Here is a slightly-edited version of the list. I hope this list inspires… Continue reading

  • Opening Up to What is Possible in a Crisis

    As I mentioned last week, the coronavirus pandemic is challenging all of us. And many in the world are suffering and even dying because of Covid-19. In addition, many more people throughout the world are suffering because of the efforts… Continue reading

  • On adjusting but not abandoning your goals

    These are trying times. And in these trying times we may need to adjust our goals, alter our approach, and exercise more caution and patience than we normally would.  For example, Suzanna and I had to cancel our Eat for… Continue reading

  • The Poor Carry the Greatest Burden

    In Laudato Si, Pope Francis talks about how climate change will disproportionately affect the poor: Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena related to warming, and their means of subsistence are largely dependent on natural reserves… Continue reading

  • Giving Up Carbon for Lent

    This week’s title is a little silly: you can’t completely give up emitting carbon. Even if you did nothing else, the simple act of breathing releases carbon into the atmosphere.  Pope Francis implores us each to make changes to reduce… Continue reading

  • Eating More Plants

    We make many decisions in our lives each day that impact our carbon footprints. Surprisingly, one of the most significant decisions to affect climate change is the food on our plates.  The food on our plates you say? Yes, and… Continue reading