LAUDATO SI’ WEEK 2022 CELEBRATION GUIDE
There are many simple and creative ways “to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations” (Laudato Si’ 67). Laudato Si’ Week gives us an opportunity to pause, celebrate, and kick-start new habits to help preserve and care for our common home. We offer a few practical ideas you can do at home or in your community.
Eco-spirituality
1. Plant a contemplation garden
May is the perfect time to plant a garden to honor Mother Mary while caring for Mother Earth and pro-motingbiodiversity. Cultivating a garden with flowers, fruits, and vegetables provides you and your loved ones with healthy food and supports the world’s foodsources while enriching the soil, cleaning the air, andmaking use of rainwater runoff. Plus, it helps beautifythe world and offers a place of contemplation. Peoplecan spend time in the garden listening to what God issaying through nature.
2. Nature walk
Contemplate God’s creation while cultivating physi-cal and spiritual health by incorporating nature walks into your routine, be it by yourself or with friends andfamily.
3. Procession
Invite your parish community to a procession or walk through the center of your town. You can walk whilepraying, singing, making noise, and/or carrying signswith slogans about bringing Laudato Si’ to life and theneed to care for our common home.
4. Say Grace
Thank God for the gifts of creation by saying Grace before and after meals, making this gratitude a daily and consistent part of life. It orients us in relation to the Creator as recipients of God’s blessings. Consider celebrating the annual World Day of Prayer for theCare of Creation on September 1 and marking your calendar for the SeasonofCreation, the annual celebra-tion of prayer and action that’s celebrated by Chris-tians worldwide from September 1 to October 4.
5. Prayer gathering
Organize a Rosary for Creation or a prayer gathering. You can also simply get together and sing some songs.
6. Public meditation
Unite with three or more people in a public place in your city. Carry a sign that says “Live Laudato Si”,
“Laudato Si’ Week”, or other creation care messages you think your community should see.
7. Laudato Si’ Reading
Have you read the encyclical? Has it been read in your community? Organize an online or in-person event to read, meditate and act on some passages of Laudato Si’.
8. Get your copy of the official Laudato Si’ Movement Prayer Book
The book has prayers for every moment of our li-ves, including prayers for mornings and evenings,
as well as prayers for special moments, such as pra-yers for justice and prayers for hope and encourage-ment. Download a free copy & more information: laudatosimovement.org/prayerbook.
9. Start your own Laudato Si’ Circle
Laudato Si’ Circles are small groups that meet re-gularly to deepen their relationship with God as Creator and all members of creation. Together, they pray with and for creation, reflect on their ongoing ecological conversion, and take action.
10. Enroll in our five-week contemplation training Laudato Si’ Movement’s Contemplation Training
aims to help individuals and communities to beco-me familiar with contemplation and deepen their practice. “This contemplation of creation allows us to discover in each thing a teaching which God wishes to hand on to us, since “for the believer, to contemplate creation is to hear a message, to listen to a paradoxical and silent voice” (LS 85).
Lifestyle
1. Join the Laudato Si’ Action Platform
Caring for creation means caring for the home we sha-re. This responsibility is “essential to a life of virtue” (LS 217). The Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform is a space for institutions, communities, and families to learn and grow together in the holistic spirit of integral ecolo-gy. All are invited to join this community, as “everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the dama-ge caused by human abuse of God’s creation” (LS 14).
2. Make “seed bombs”
Whether it’s a plant pot, flowerbed, wild patch in your lawn, or an entire meadow, sowing wildflowers provides vital resources to support a wide range of insects that wouldn’t otherwise survive in urban areas. Going for a walk and throwing them, or digging “seed bombs” into your garden is a great way to spend an afternoon! How to make a seed bomb.
3. Organize or participate in a clean-up
Whether it’s a big group event or a solo clean-up, you can get involved anywhere. Plan your own, or find/register one at The Great Global Cleanup® , which is a worldwide campaign to remove billions of pieces of trash from neighborhoods, beaches, rivers, lakes, trails, and parks. It’s vital that we reduce waste and plastic pollution, improve habitats, and prevent harm to all members of God’s creation.
4. Opt for reusable shopping bags
According to EarthDay.org, an estimated four trillion plastic bags are used each year worldwide. Keeping a few reusable bags handy to take to the grocery store helps cut back on plastic use and keeps bags out of landfills.
5. Meatless Mondays
Join the Meatless Monday campaign. This helpful website, among others, offers plant-based recipes and guides to help you implement Meatless Mon-day in your school, hospital, workplace, and com-munity. Try going one step further and make meat-less Fridays a part of the whole year, as opposed to something you do just during Lent. Fasting from meat benefits your health and helps the environ-ment by cutting back on greenhouse gasses.
6. Enjoy your leftovers
About 17 percent of global food production may go wasted, according to the United Nations Environ-ment Programme’s (UNEP) Food Waste Index Re-port 2021, and estimates suggest that 8-10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with unconsumed food. To cut back on food was-te, learn to love leftovers and creatively give them a new life! More: 15 quick tips on how to reduce food waste.
7. Compost
Start composting to use those leftovers you can’t consume. While diverting food from landfills, composting helps enrich soil, promotes plant growth, filters and uses rainwater, and decreases greenhouse gasses. You can compost anywhere! Proof:Everything you need to know about composting in an apartment.
8. Frequent your local farmers market
Supporting a local farmers market is a delicious way to support and preserve God’s creation, especially farmers and artisans in your community. It also reduces transportation pollution and cuts back on trash and plastic bag usage, since produce is minimally packaged.
9. The dishwasher is your friend
Hand-washing dishes uses over two gallons of water per minute. If possible, use a dishwasher, which only uses 2-8 gallons per entire cycle. You’ll also save time and have one less chore to do!
*Use natural cleaning products Substitute chemical household cleaning products for natural ones. Chemical cleaning products pose health risks and impact the environment as they are released into air and water sources. Switch to natural products, or learn to make your own by using household ingredients like baking soda, essential oils, lemon juice, and vinegar. *Make your own cleaning products.
10. Shop second-hand
Shopping second-hand helps keep items out of landfills and conserves water. It’s also a creative way to care for the environment. Plus, it is easier to find classic, sustainable, and unique thrifted pieces rather than relying on the fashion industry that pushes cheap and ever-changing fads. You could also start a swap-circle with your closest friends!
* Do-It-Yourself (DIY) gifts Be a hit at any birthday party by making your own unique gifts. Be sure to include your family in the gift-making fun! These wallets are a personal favorite–you only need a pair of scissors and a drink carton. *Other gift ideas.
Advocacy
1. Bell ringing for climate justice
Ask your pastor to ring the church bells for three minutes for the victims of the climate crisis and as a wake-up call for your entire community to advocate for the most vulnerable members of God’s creation.
2. Blackout for creation
On a certain day and time in the evening, have everyone on your street turn off the lights in their homes to work together to help save God’s creation and unite in solidarity for a cleaner and more resilient future for all.
3. Mass for Creation
Talk to your pastor about having one of the week’s Masses dedicated to praying for the victims of the climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity, giving thanks to the Creator for the gifts we have been given, or for all of these.
4. Sign & promote the Healthy
Planet, Healthy People Petition The Healthy Planet, Healthy People Petition is one of the many ways to work against the biodiversity crisis and the climate emergency.
This year, at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference later, world leaders can set meaningful targets to protect creation. Ahead of that vital meeting, it is our responsibility as Catholics to lift up the voices of the most vulnerable and advocate on their behalf. We must act now. Sign the petition.
5. Contact local/international figures that can make an exponential impact on the future of our common home.
See suggested templates in the resources section of the Healthy Planet, Healthy People petition website and below:
Send an email to the the head of COP15 to set more ambitious goals in the next biodiversity
framework
- Send a letter to your local priest to share a message on care for creation
- Send a letter to your department of environment to commit to more ambitious actions at COP15
6. Divest from fossil fuels
- Commit to divesting from fossil fuels.
- Endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty: A global initiative to phase out fossil fuels and support a just transition.
- Send a letter to your pastor, bishop, diocese, archidiocese, Catholic University, Catholic.
- healthcare institution about divestment.
- Ask your country’s leaders and Bishops to say “no” to gas and nuclear energy in the EU Taxonomy: Fill in the form in Laudato Si’ Movement’s EU Taxonomy Delegated Act Statement
7. Learn more about biodiversity in your area
Everything is connected. Find out about how you can do your small part and help bring back
biodiversity: Why everyone should care about biodiversity loss.
8. Get involved in our regional advocacy campaigns
Find out how you can help us gain momentum with our regional work. Whether it’s our work with the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), the Amazon or the Philippines, there is always plenty to be done!
9. Commit to leading your community to care for creation by signing up to become a Laudato Si’
Animator.
This free leadership development course will empower you to bring Laudato Si’ to life. Join a community of like-minded leaders around the world, all of whom are committed to leading their communities in transformation action for our common home.
10. Webinars
Webinars are a great way to connect people from all corners of the globe and discuss important issues like the climate and biodiversity crises and fossil fuels. Here are a few other examples:
- Recycling: How to recycle the waste we produce? If there is someone in your community with experience in waste recycling, invite him or her to give a talk or workshop and invite your community to participate.
- Community or urban garden festival: Connect online to showcase community and personal gardens, share tips and techniques, encourage teamwork and inspire others to grow their own food.