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Environmental Justice and the Catholic Climate Covenant
Our office has resources for parishes that want to learn about church teaching and the environment, and opportunities for practical action.
The Catholic Climate Covenant seeks to show respect for God’s creation by focusing on the link between creation and poverty embodied in the life and ministry of St. Francis and the words of the Psalmist: “The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds.” (Ps 24:1)
The St. Francis Pledge
All across our country, Catholics are taking the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor and joining the Catholic Climate Covenant. The St. Francis Pledge is a promise and a commitment by Catholic individuals, families, parishes, organizations and institutions to live our faith by protecting God’s Creation and advocating on behalf of people in poverty who face the harshest impacts of global climate change. To join the Covenant, you commit to act on each of the five elements of the St. Francis Pledge: to Pray, Learn, Assess, Act, and Advocate. The Archdiocese of Hartford took the pledge. You can too!
Get Involved!
Besides taking the St. Francis Pledge, your parish, your school, or your organization can work toward Environmental Justice by contacting the Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry for programs and resources, including:
- “St. Francis/Caring for Creation” packet: prayer services, activity suggestions, educational materials, and resource information.
- Speaker (with video or over heads) on connections between Respecting Life, children’s environmental health problems, and stewardship of the environment in Connecticut.
- Catholic Youth environmental program information and resources, in collaboration with the Office of Religious Education.
- Workshops exploring human and environmental contributions to Eucharist as “fruit of the earth and work of human hands” using earth history, ecology, and biblical images.
- 5 Videos for adults, youth, or children on the connections between scripture, Catholic social teaching, care of creation, respecting life, and environmental justice; each with a self-facilitating prayer and discussion program, plus follow-up activity information (borrow videos from OUA).
- A statewide educational effort to help citizens understand the social, economic, and environmental effects, costs, and causes of “urban sprawl”.
- Prayer/celebrations/service ideas for Feast of St. Francis; Earth Day; Thanksgiving; a local park, beach, or other cleanup day; and a watershed or river event.
- Advocacy information for supporting legislation on issues such as: lead paint poisoning prevention and other children’s health issues, brownfields remediation and reuse, and clean air. Provided through the Action for Justice Network, in collaboration with regional and statewide coalitions.
- Stewardship of Creation: “Practical Steps for Parishes” on energy conservation, pesticide reduction, pollution prevention, waste reduction.
Contact Us
The lead staff member for Environmental Justice is Jeanie Graustein.
Catholic focus on Environmental Justice grows from concern for God’s gift of creation and from realization of the threats to human life, health and dignity from environmental degradation, especially among children, the poor, and the marginalized. Following a 1990 address by Pope John Paul II, The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility, the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops issued a pastoral letter, Renewing the Earth, calling all Catholics to reflection and action on environmental justice, and became a founding member, with Protestant and Jewish national organizations, of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.