Drawing on St. Paul’s letter found in Romans 8:19-25, the theme of 2024’s Season of Creation launched earlier this month is "Hope and Act with Creation," an ongoing call to Catholics across the globe to be stewards of creation and the environment.
Lasting through to the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on Oct. 4, the Season of Creation has long been a time of reverence for Catholics to reconnect with God as the creator and show appreciation for the gift of the world and all those who inhabit it.
“Salvation embraces creation as an ‘earthly paradise,’ Mother Earth, which is meant to be a place of joy and a promise of happiness for all. Our Christian optimism is founded on a living hope: it realizes that everything is ordered to the glory of God, to final consummation in His peace and to bodily resurrection in righteousness, as we pass from glory to glory,” Pope Francis’ message on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation reads.
“To hope and act with creation, then, means above all to join forces and to walk together with all men and women of good will. The protection of creation, then, is not only an ethical issue, but one that is eminently theological, for it is the point where the mystery of man and the mystery of God intersect. We are free precisely because we were created in the image of God who is Jesus Christ, and, as a result, are 'representatives' of creation in Christ Himself.”
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) fully endorsed Pope Francis’ message, encouraging dioceses, parishes and Catholic organizations to organize special liturgies, prayer services and educational initiatives for the Sept. 1 observance.
“This is a time to reflect on our role in God’s creation, to seek forgiveness for the ways we have harmed the Earth and to commit ourselves to actions that promote ecological justice,” the CCCB’s statement read.
The Season of Creation began in 1989 with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, before being reignited through the efforts of Pope Francis in 2015 and his encyclical letter Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. The encyclical namesake was eventually used in place of the organization’s initial name, "Global Catholic Climate Movement," in 2021.
While emphasis was put on the responsibilities of local parishes and organizations, ordinary laypeople are also called to use the Season of Creation as a time for active involvement in caring for their surroundings.
Mouvement Laudato Si' Movement Canada has been acting as the national chapter for the international Laudato Si' Movement since 2019, giving Canadians an avenue to unite in efforts that care for both the environment and the vulnerable.
“Our initial intent was to create a network, a way to bring together Canadians who had completed their Laudato Si’ animator training and create a platform where those people could connect with each other and connect with different faith-based climate action groups across Canada that are doing regional work that aligns with Laudato Si' and care for creation,” said Agnes Richard, national coordinator of Mouvement Laudato Si' Movement Canada.
The organization has succeeded in creating a network that shares information, provides education and supports everyday Catholics in doing local environmental work. Laudato Si’ Canada has partnered with over 50 Catholic organizations in Canada where information can be shared back and forth while various webinars and educational programs are supported by each association.
Aside from the 50+ organizations, hundreds of individual Catholics across the country also attend online educational webinars and receive the organization’s newsletters.
“We get people working with local partners and so they are able to embark on all kinds of programming. Whether it is garden and tree planting initiatives, a Sue Big Oil campaign as seen in Port Moody, British Columbia, or anything that helps to mitigate climate change in Canadian cities, there have been many successes across the country,” Richard said.
The Laudato Si' Movement, in Canada and on the international scale, is on the rise, said Richard, She said growth could solely be timing-based, with Catholics beginning to take notice of global instances of climate change.
“Six years down the line, Laudato Si’s momentum has grown to the point where there are lots and lots of activities happening in many countries of the world which is really a good thing. People are understanding now the depth of the (climate) crisis better than they did before and because they understand that, it creates a willingness to act and get involved in other ways.”
While Richard said a better understanding of our environment often leads to more active involvement, some experts are shifting their attention to focus on other practical considerations when it comes to how the climate crisis is being addressed.
In an op-ed written for The Boston Globe in May, Danish political scientist Bjørn Lomborg spoke to the harsh realities that current global policies put forward to combat climate change are simply not working the way many politicians and climate activists had been expecting.
“The idea that there is only one correct policy — cutting carbon emissions to zero in a short time frame — is absurd, and especially so when this sole policy is failing globally,” Lomborg writes. “Just like with any other research, humanity needs to know what works and what problems might arise in the future. The politicization of climate research out of fear it might lead to politically unfavoured outcomes is bad for the world.”
Lomborg maintains the belief that climate change is real, man-made and devastating, but argues against the politicization of research due to its harmful ability to limit investigations into other, perhaps more effective, policies and methods.
The idea of more effective methods is highlighted in a World Bank report from 2023 showing countries spend roughly six times more than what they pledged to mobilize annually under the Paris Agreement for renewable energies and low-carbon development to subsidize fossil fuels.
“People say that there isn’t money for climate but there is — it’s just in the wrong places,” said Axel van Trotsenburg, the senior managing director of the World Bank. “If we could repurpose the trillions of dollars being spent on wasteful subsidies and put these to better, greener uses, we could together address many of the planet's most pressing challenges.”
As discussions about more practical considerations on climate change continue on a global scale, the Mouvement Laudato Si’ Movement in Canada will meet virtually for its second annual National Gathering later this month, where hundreds of certified animators across the country hope to continue highlighting the organization’s sacred interconnection between faith and environmentalism through the Season of Creation.
“Foremost in Pope Francis’ message of Ladauto Si’ is that all of our major social concerns are connected, and so understanding integral ecology, connected ecology, our personal human ecologies along with the ecology of everything living around us, allows us to better address many other conversations about care for creation,” Richard said.