Make your commitment to care for creation

Join our Diocesan family in caring for our common home by submitting a commitment. Click the button below to send us your pledge by committing to one of our ideas or crafting one of your own. 

Review this page to find ideas and explore ways to be a part of this holy work, then complete the pledge form.

Why pledge to act? 

We are called to help heal and protect God's gift of the earth, on which we depend for life. 

The Holy Father is calling on the universal church, and all people of good will, to unite in a seven-year commitment to learn and practice the teachings of Laudato Si' - his 2015 encyclical about the environment - and to stop the deterioration of our earthly home. Bishop Burbidge has committed our diocese to join in this worldwide effort. Let's each do our part to glorify God in His creation. 

I'll pledge to pray and convert my heart 

• Say a weekly Rosary with meditations on God's creation.
• Examine my conscience weekly regarding how I care for God's gift of creation. 
• Talk to my pastor, offering to organize a parish Holy Hour or prayer service to pray for greater reverence and care for the earth.
• Give thanks for the gift of food.

( how-to's and examples )

I'll pledge to learn more...

About what the Church teaches, and about the effects of environmental deterioration on the earth, on the poor, and on all human life.

• Use a study guide to learn Church teaching - especially that of our Popes St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis - about how we should live in relationship with creation.
• Study provided resources to learn how pollution and changes in climate affect humans, especially the most vulnerable, as well as animals and plants.
• Learn about ways to live in better harmony with the environment - by reducing plastic use at home, making better food choices, or by landscaping and gardening in harmony with nature.

( how-to's and examples )

I'll pledge to act...

Individually or with others, to live more sustainably and to seek policies that protect the environment.

• Eat less meat - have one or two meatless meals a week.
• Create a Mary garden to honor the Blessed Mother, using native plantings that thrive in Northern Virginia and help the environment.
• Attend a quarterly meeting of the diocesan Creation Care Network to learn how to build a team to help my parish or school take better care of the environment. 

( how-to's and examples )

Prayer and Conversion of Heart: How-to's and examples

Video resource: Contemplate Mary as Queen of Creation with this meditation from Laudato Si' (CAFOD)

• Pray St. Francis' Canticle of the Sun which inspired the title of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si'  (The Franciscan Friars)
• Pray A Prayer for Our Earth (from Pope Francis)
• Rosary for Care for Creation (PDF-The Global Catholic Climate Movement)
• Rosary for Feast of Mary, Help of Christians (PDF)
• Guided Rosary (PDF-Franciscan Action Network)
• Joyful Mysteries for the Care of Creation (PDF)
• Reflect with the Examination of Conscience for sins against God the Creator
• Pray the Ecological Stations of the Cross with St. John Paul II (PDF-Catholic Climate Movement)
• Walk the Way of Beauty, a reflection on Earth's beauty, in the style of Stations of the Cross (PDF-Fr. Gilbert Choondal)
• Pray a Novena to ask for grace to protect Creation and live in Harmony in the natural world:
  Novena to St. Francis (PDF)
  Pentecost Novena on Care of Creation from the Bishops of England and Wales (PDF)
• Give thanks for the gift of food (PDF-World Vision)
• Recite a prayer for environmental migrants from the Catholic Health Association

Prayer services especially for parishes and schools:

• Evening Prayer and Reflection on Creation (PDF-Season of Creation)
• Prayer Service for Refugees and Migrants (PDF-Catholic Charities USA)

For Clergy: 

• Find resources for preaching (PDF-USCCB)
• Homily Helps from the Catholic Climate Covenant 

Learn: How-to's and examples

• Learn what the Catechism, the saints and our Popes and Bishops teach us about our relationship with the created world (PDF)
• Meditate on the words of St. John Paul II, who positioned our stewardship of the natural world squarely within the commands of the Gospel of Life (PDF-Evangelium Vitae)
• Pope Benedict XVI's discussion of the “ecology of man” and our relationship with nature (PDF)
• Begin to receive the message of Laudato Si' by reading and studying it. Consider starting a group in your parish to study the encyclical together. Two study guides:
  Summary and study guide from the Franciscan order (PDF-Catholic Climate Movement)
  Dialogue guide (PDF-Jesuit Forum)
• Read the full text of Laudato Si'
• Read Pope Francis' message on 2020 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 
• Video resource: Listen to Bishop Burbidge's homily at the May 2021 Mass celebrating the closing of the Church's Laudato Si' Anniversary Year

Learn about the effects of climate change and pollution on all of us - farmers, vulnerable people in affected lands, animals, and the earth itself.

Dangers to pregnant women, young children, and the unborn

• Climate change and children's health (PDF-EPA)
• Mercury poisoning (PDF-Evangelical Environmental Network)
• Climate change the health of pregnant women (PDF-EPA)
• Global warming and extreme heat harming pregnant women (Stanford University)
• Discussion and Study Guide of the Conference Protecting Human Life and Caring for Creation: Why Protecting Unborn Children in Their First Environment Matters (PDF) (PDF-USCCB)
• Learn about the effect of plastics on fetal development (America-the Jesuit Review)

The impact on farmers, and the connections between environmental degradation, violent conflict, and migration

• Learn about the vulnerable people served by Catholic Relief Services: 
• Coffee farmers of Guatemala
• Climate migrants of Bangladesh and Chad
• Interview with Joan Rosenhauer of Jesuit Refugee Service: how climate change is a threat multiplier for refugees (EarthBeat)

The effect on our daily lives

• State of the planet: 10 climate change impacts that will affect us all (Columbia Climate School)
• Seven ways climate change is affecting daily life (Environmental Defense Fund)

Act: How-to's and examples

Get involved individually and with your family

• Subscribe to the Catholic Climate Covenant's newsletter to stay abreast of what's happening nationally as the Laudato Si' Action Platform progresses. 
• Visit God's Plan(et) for more ideas on being involved in this great mission.
• Sign up for emails from the Peace and Justice Commission to stay in touch with our diocese's participation in the Vatican seven-year journey, and for news on other peace and justice topics
• Website resource: Strong Family Catholic Faith Project
• Care for creation home activities (Sadlier Religion Blog) 
• 15 Ways Your Family Can Care for Creation (PDF-Diocese of Columbus)
• Reduce plastic use (PDF-Ignatian Solidarity Network Archives)
• Use less water (GRACE Communications Foundation)
• Create a Mary garden (PDF download): plant a native or pollinator garden in honor of the Blessed Mother
• Eat to protect the planet. Have meatless Fridays to do penance and to reduce the environmental impact of commercially produced meat, which contributes to global warming. (PDF-Natural Resources Defense Council)
• Take the St. Francis Pledge (Catholic Climate Covenant)
• Discover 10 things in your home linked to climate change (Catholic Relief Services)
• Discover ways to reduce your carbon footprint (Carbon Offsets to Alleviate Poverty)
• Resources for taking action (PDF-USCCB)

Get your parish involved

• If your parish has a creation care team or ministry, join them
• Contact the growing Arlington Diocese Creation Care Network to learn how your parish can live the teaching of Laudato Si', including how to start a parish creation care team.
• Group study guides:
  Summary and study guide (PDF-Franciscan order) 
  Dialogue guide (PDF-Jesuit Forum)
• Work with your parish or school to plant a native or pollinator Mary garden in honor of the Blessed Mother
• 100 ways for parishes to implement Laudato Si' (PDF-Trocaire)
• Take steps to reduce your parish's plastic waste (EarthBeat)

Join with other people of faith

• Visit a website: Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions. Keep posted on local advocacy activities in your area and get involved.
  Arlington County
  Fairfax County
  Prince William County
  City of Alexandria
• Find out what your local community and communities of faith are doing to reduce environmental impacts and advocate for just environmental policies. Get involved.
  2021 Fairfax to Zero (PDF)
  Litter Free Virginia