Pew to Pilgrim - Care for our Common Home

"As a spiritual work of mercy, care for our common home calls for a “grateful contemplation of God’s world” (Laudato Si’, 214) which “allows us to discover in each thing a teaching which God wishes to hand on to us” (ibid., 85). As a corporal work of mercy, care for our common home requires “simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness” and “makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world” (ibid., 230-31)."

One remarkable aspect of Care for Our Common Home is Pope Francis's intensity on the gravity and urgency of this new work of mercy combined with inspiration and encouragement that each one of us can make a difference.

There are many ways to perform this new work of mercy through daily gestures and new ways of living that will help create a better world, now and for the future.

Embracing Pope Francis's guidance on how to practice this new work of mercy calls for to practice both a Spiritual (contemplate) and Corporal (perform) approach. Keep in mind that these are acts of mercy, a way to express your love and caring for all around you.


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                                   Spiritual Pew to Pilgrim: This is about Giving, not just Giving Up

The spiritual approach is characterized by an open and inquiring mind, seeking better understanding and prayerful discernment of how you can adopt a new way of caring for our natural resources. What do you know about what is happening to our air & land, to animals & plants, to our water supply? Why is it important - to your own community? to our world? What are ways you can shift from a lifestyle of consumption to a stronger focus of giving and returning? 

• Get familiar with Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato si' 
• Read Laudato si’ in full on the Vatican site 
• How much do you know about what Pope Francis is asking?Take a course on Laudato si’  
• Listen to an Audio narration of Encyclical Letter Laudato Si' of the Holy Father Francis: narrated by: Sean Patrick Lovett, Philippa Hitchen
• Learn about this new act of mercy 
• Articles
• Vatican Radio 
• Read NY Times article Patriarch Bartholomew (The Green Patriarch)
• Reflect on what you know and what you don't know about our fragile ecosystem
• Water - read this PBS article about why we should care
• Air - learn from EPA about clean air and why we should all care 
• Land - what happens when we don't practice sustainable farming
• Think about how this impacts the most vulnerable in our society
• In our community here in Chicago
• In our country
• Worldwide, especially in third-world countries 

Corporal Pew to Pilgrim ideas: This is about Change and Action:

The corporal approach means moving into action. Think about being a critical component in the ecosystem God has give us. What are immediate steps you could take in your daily habits? What ways can you help repair and rejuvenate our natural resources? Think of your responsibility to care every day for the air, water, as a "public trust" and not an entitlement.

This is a daily step-by-step and lifetime journey, starting with an understanding of the harm we have already done to our planet and why it really matters. But individual efforts can and will make a difference, especially when the efforts of one become the cumulative effects of many, all based on a new spiritual focus,

Find ways to change your lifestyle for the future of our planet

• Water - See Pew to Pilgrim "Give Drink to the Thirsty"
• Air - Learn about the EPA and the Clean Air Act and Air Pollution 
• Animals and Plants - Scientists estimate that 150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours. Normally, a process of speciation provides a natural renewal vy introducing new species but air pollution and disappearing natural lands are prohibiting this from happening
• See how you can make a difference with ten different endangered species

                                                 
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Another way to think about this is as a series of levels: Novice, Intermediate and Experienced. This reflects our readiness to act, our initial efforts in changing our habits and shifting destructions and move into a mode of renewal.

Novice - How to Start

“The first step in this process is to humbly acknowledge the harm we are doing to the earth through pollution, the scandalous destruction of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity, and the destruction of climate change—which seems nearer and more dangerous with each passing year. And to realize that when we hurt the earth, we also hurt the poor, whom God loves without limit” Pope Francis

Intermediate - Move into Action

• Pope Francis calls for people to press their governments to hold to the commitments they made in Paris at the end of last year. Read about the UN Conference on Climate Change
• Here is a quick overview of key agreements
• What can you do to to raise awareness about critical ecological concerns? Read the UN's Lazy Person's Guide to Saving the World
• What do you know about your personal carbon footprint? Get started on learning more about it and what you can do - Read Reduce Your Carbon Footprint - A Beginner's Guide

Experienced - Expand your Impact

• Take a eco-friendly vacation - here are some helpful tips for an environmentally friendly vacation 
• Organize a prayer service for the Season of Creation - here is a guide to help you

Lori Doyle and Gabi Schultz have served as members of the Parish Pastoral Council, active with a variety of Liturgical Ministries as Lectors, Extraordinary Ministers, Cathedral Altar Servers and Ministers of Care at Prentice Hospital/NW Hospital. Both parishioners for about 6 years, Lori loves to travel and cook and is a proud mother of her son John, a UM Wolverine. Gabi enjoys trying new restaurants, running, cooking lessons and spending time with friends and family.