action – Saint Francis of Assisi at St John the Evangelist

No guilt, no action

I think it’s an understatement to say that modern society is constantly telling us to stop feeling guilty. It’s not your fault. Turn off the outside world. Take care of yourself. But perhaps this advice is not always right. A team at the University of Washington recently published an article about guilt in the JournalContinue reading “No guilt, no action”

Light in the darkness

On Easter Sunday, I was touched by my pastor’s (Father Crispin Okoth) homily about light and darkness: Jesus is the light. Sometimes, one act can overshadow the light. This brings lots of darkness, dark clouds and pain and anger in our lives to an extent that we sometimes do not see and celebrate the joyContinue reading “Light in the darkness”

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 you with at least one great idea: Go plant-based. More than likely you have extraContinue reading “Taking Care of the Planet during the Pandemic”

The Virtue and Responsibility of Hope

In the final chapter of Laudato Si, the Holy Father speaks of hope: Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope. It’s easy to feel despondent by the denial of undeniable facts by some in power, by the empty promisesContinue reading “The Virtue and Responsibility of Hope”

U.S. Bishops Action Alert on the Paris Agreement

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has put out an “action alert” that is asking for all Catholics in the United States to contact their government leaders to try and reverse the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. The alert from the bishops says: In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis wrote that “a global consensusContinue reading “U.S. Bishops Action Alert on the Paris Agreement”

Measuring progress

Laudato Si was released in May 2015. Since that time, progress on reducing our global climate footprint and our trajectory towards an irreversible climate catastrophe has been mixed at best. Shortly after Laudato Si’s release, the Paris Agreement committed most of the world’s countries to real progress on climate action. In 2017, New Zealand committedContinue reading “Measuring progress”