Catholic Climate Covenant Updates

Action Item: Be a Light for Creation!

This Season of Giving, we come together to Be a Light for Creation!

Thank you for choosing to support Catholic Climate Covenant this Giving Season! Our End-of-Year Giving Campaign runs through Dec. 31, and we thank you for every gift, small or large.

Your gift of any size will help show your support for Catholic actions for our planet, guided by our faith and love for creation, those most affected by climate change, and our future generations.

With your donation, in 2023 Catholic Climate Covenant will:

• Build a new dedicated leadership corps of young adults who will seek to engage and work with more dioceses, urging them to commit to the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
• Launch our new Youth Mobilization Program, to provide opportunities specifically for Catholic parochial and high school students who wish to address climate change through the lens of our Catholic faith.
• Continue to inspire and expand vital care for creation work with our parishes, dioceses, and other groups to grow engagement in the Laudato Si’ Action Platform in the U.S. … and much, much more!

We reach tens of thousands of Catholics each month throughout the U.S., all served by our free resources, webinars, programs, teachings, prayers, advocacy work, community, and hope!

Catholic Climate Covenant is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowable under the law. In addition to a monetary donation, Catholic Climate Covenant also accepts gifts from your IRA, donor advised fund (DAF), stocks and more.

Thank you for your generous support for our common home!

If you prefer to donate by mail, please send your check or money order to:

Franciscan Monastery
Attention:  Catholic Climate Covenant
1400 Quincy St. NE
Washington, DC  20017
Questions, please call: 202-987-7581

Advent Resources Available!

As we mark this season of hopeful waiting and preparation, please check out the latest Advent 2022 resources connected to creation care from our amazing partners and dioceses, including prayers, a simplicity challenge, a reflection guide for your congregation, meditations, novenas and much, much more! Advent resources here.

The Catholic response to COP27

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of the Holy See, addressed roundtables on food and water security at COP27, the UN-organized climate conference. He stressed the close relationship between food and water security and issues such as war, the climate, and economic inequality on the other, before going on to provide a number of proposals for addressing these problems, Vatican News reported.

Though many were disappointed by the outcome of COP27, our executive director Jose Aguto focused on three “rays of light for creation” in his column for National Catholic Reporter. Jose found hope in the expanding number of world leaders calling for reforms at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank that could open much-needed financing for poor nations on the frontlines of climate change; the commitment between the U.S. and China -- the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters -- to directly cooperate on climate change; and finally, the Vatican’s participation as a formal party in COP negotiations. Read the entire op-ed.

The Laudato Si’ Movement  had an active presence at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, including multiple efforts to share the film The Letter, a new feature documentary film produced by Oscar-winning Off the Fence Productions in collaboration with Laudato Si’ Movement and the Vatican.

But what really happened in Egypt, and have expectations been met? Read here what is LSM's position on the final conclusions of the COP. Read more from the Laudato Si’ movement leaders about the stagnation and progress that has been achieved.

Thank you for support for Clean Cars

Thank you for joining the U.S. Catholic community in urging the EPA and Administration to act now by advancing clean car standards and moving our nation to our 100% zero-emission vehicles goal by 2035. Signatures closed on 12/1.

Thank you for signing the Clean Cars Letter! (NOTE: We will be delivering the letter this week.) Read the Signed Letter

Inflation Reduction Act clause makes it easier for churches to go green       

Our founder Dan Misleh spoke to Catholic News Service about how the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law this summer by President Joe Biden, increases the size of the tax credit for conversions to renewable energy and allows parishes to directly receive the tax benefits.

The new program starts Jan. 1. Rules have yet to be published denoting how it will work.

Even without the rules yet in place, Dan Misleh said, “our Catholic Energies team is pushing it. It's going to make a lot more projects viable."

More Creation Care News

Register Now for the 2023 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering! 

“Blessed are the Peacemakers”: January 28 – 31, 2023, Washington, D.C. Don’t miss this transformative annual gathering for leaders in Catholic social ministry and advocacy! This year, we will gather in person to pray, learn, and advocate together on our Catholic call to help heal a world broken by conflict, division, and inequality. Dynamic presentations and workshops will invite us to work together as a Church to think creatively and boldly about how we can create opportunities for healing and renewed encounters. Then, we’ll raise our voices in solidarity by advocating with our members of Congress. 

This year’s in-person gathering will include: 

Inspiring leading voices in Church and society.

• Workshops with policy experts and community leaders  

• Intentional opportunities for best practice-sharing including one on the Covenant’s Wholemakers program for young adults 

• Resources from dozens of Catholic social ministry organizations. 

• Advocacy visits with elected officials. 

Financial assistance is available for leaders from under-represented ethnic, cultural, or disability communities. The program at CSMG 2023 will include offerings for Hispanic/Latino leaders who play an important role in forming disciples on mission in their communities. Act now to be part of our special initiative for young leaders in Catholic social ministry and learn more about our Diversity Outreach Initiative. Join the discussion and be part of the solution! Don’t wait, register before November 15, 2022, to take advantage of special early bird registration. 

EVENT

Catholic Relief Service’s People of Hope Speaker Series

The last session of Catholic Relief Service’s People of Hope Speaker Series, with CRS President and CEO Sean Callahan, is scheduled to take place on December 21 at 12 pm et. A brief and inspiring 15 minutes! CRS will also have simultaneous interpretation in Spanish.

 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting, you will need this to join the meeting! Register:

https://crs-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsduGuqjktE9ARNrVl1DMRiagA5oOJD3Yu 

Faith groups call for Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

The international campaign for a legally binding Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty took a step forward when Cardinal Michael Czerny, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, gave it his support this summer. In November, people of faith and leaders of religious institutions representing more than 1.5 billion persons added their voices to the chorus, according to GreenFaith. They released a multifaith letter, joining 70 cities, 101 Nobel Laureates, 3,000 scientists and 1,750 civil society organizations  in calling for an end to new fossil fuel projects, an equitable phase-out of existing coal, oil and gas production, and a generous commitment to a just transition for climate-impacted countries, communities and workers.

Poll: Nearly 3 in 4 American Catholics believe God wants us to care for Creation

Most U.S. adults consider the Earth sacred and believe God gave humans a duty to care for it, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The survey found that nearly 8 in 10 Catholics say the Earth is sacred; three in four believe God instructed humans to care for the earth; 58% said Scripture has lessons about nature; and 38% said they had prayed about the environment in the past year. But the main driver of U.S. public opinion about the climate is political party, not religion, according to the survey. The report states Republicans tend to be much less likely than Democrats to believe that human activity (such as burning fossil fuels) is warming the Earth or to consider climate change a serious problem.  

Scientists say Meatless Fridays could have a big impact

When the bishops of England and Wales called on Catholics to forgo meat on Fridays in 2011, it saved more than 55,000 tons of carbon, the equivalent of 82,000 people taking a trip from London to New York, according to a new study led by the University of Cambridge,

The researchers argue that if the Pope reinstated meatless Fridays across the global church, it could mitigate millions of tons of greenhouse gasses annually. “Meat agriculture is one of the major drivers of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Professor Shaun Larcom from Cambridge’s Department of Land Economy. “If the Pope was to reinstate the obligation for meatless Fridays to all Catholics globally, it could be a major source of low-cost emissions reductions.” 

Activists save ancient tree destined for Vatican Christmas display

A centuries' old silver fir tree that had been destined to become the centerpiece Christmas decoration in St. Peter's Square will live for perhaps another century, CNS reports.  Local activists in the village of Rosello in Italy's central Abruzzo region flagged problems, such as the lack of transparency and the failure to carry out an environmental impact study. Another tree was chosen instead. The tree lighting ceremony and unveiling of the Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square took place Dec. 3. The cedar for the Nativity figures came from trees cut to improve the health of other trees. None were cut specifically for the sculptures, according to the Vatican.

The spiritual case against leaf blowers

On fall mornings, the gas-powered leaf blower drone starts early and continues all day, writes Mike Jordan Laskey in an NCR online column. Noise is not the only problem. Gas-powered blowers spew as much pollution into the air in a single hour of operation as a Toyota Camry emits over an 1,100-mile drive.

The movement to get rid of gas-powered leaf blowers has accordingly taken off. More than 100 U.S. towns and cities have banned them outright. If the data and success stories aren’t enough to inspire action Laskey writes, Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' lends some moral authority to the "ban the blowers" movement. The Holy Father specifically mentions the problem of noise pollution several times.