Laudato Si’ Year Resources

As the Year of Laudato Si’ draws to a conclusion on May 24, 2021, a series of resources can be used to continue our ongoing care for creation.

The Institute for Catholic Education (ICE) has published a monograph by Michael Nasello Awakening an Integral Ecology.

This monograph explores catechesis, liturgy, and ministry in our Catholic schools – through the lens of Laudato Sí, and proposes a call to an ecological understanding awakening. May it be a small contribution to the “new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet.” (Laudato Si’ 14)
Michael Nasello

ICE has also recently published eco-placemats

These nine eco placemats represent a collaborative project with the Ontario College of Teachers. Taking this excellent standards-based educational resource, Catholic Educators across Ontario reflected on how our faith – including insights from Laudato Si – impacts our ecological awareness. These eco placemats may be used as tools for deepening understanding and exploration of environmental stewardship and ecological literacy within teacher education and professional practice.
ICE

The Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association published, Together in Faith – Care for Our Common Home: A collection of school board practices

Stewardship of Creation is fundamental to each of our 29 Catholic school boards in Ontario, and it is clear that each board is steadfast in their commitment to teaching about Creation and the Creator. The submissions provided to this document demonstrate significant fidelity to social justice, environmental awareness and long-term sustainability of the Earth. However, we know we have so much more to do. I would like to personally thank each of our school boards for sharing their exemplary practice to create this Together in Faith: Care for Our Common Home document. This celebration of great environmental practices in our boards will aid in our mutual learning and support of each other to generate new ideas. As Pope Francis said, “Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a culture of care and an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.”
Nick Milanetti, OCSTA

As previously described on CARFLEO, Development and Peace is piloting its Laudato Si’ Schools project.

Laudato Si certification is an annual certification program created by Development and Peace – Caritas Canada (DPCC) to help schools reflect the vision of Pope Francis to Care for our Common Home. This vision is given to us in the teaching of his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si. The program is inspired by the vision of Pope Francis who announced a special Laudato Si year in May 2020. Pope Francis says that to care for our common home, we need to nurture three fundamental and interconnected relationships: our relationship to God, to each other, and to the earth. When we nurture these relationships, we promote an integral ecology that “takes us to the heart of what it is to be human.” The certification program therefore focuses on all three of these interconnected relationships. (In other words, it is not simply a Catholic version of the eco-schools program!)
Luke Stocking DPCC

Catholic action on environment set for massive multiplication this Laudato Si’ Week Earthbeat National Catholic Reporter

The Vatican’s celebratory year for Pope Francis’ encyclical on ecology is coming to a close, but organizers hope its end will mark the beginning of a major movement within the global Catholic Church to turn its message about preserving creation into actions to create a more sustainable world for all.

In May 2020, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development declared a Special Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year to mark the fifth anniversary of Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.” Bookending the year have been two Laudato Si’ Weeks, sponsored by the dicastery and other Catholic organizations.

Laudato Si’ Week 2021 begins May 16 and runs until May 25. The time frame coincides with the date, May 24, 2015, when Francis signed his first solo encyclical and the first-ever papal document centered on the environment.

CARFLEO compiled a series of resources for its retreat Praying In, With and For Creation: A Spiritual Integration of Laudato Si. It was facilitated by Sr. Mary Rowell and Les Miller on April 6, 7 and 8. Videos from the Retreat are also available.

Novalis has published a series of books with an ecological theme over the last year including:

The Green Bible by Stephen Scharper and Simon Appoloni.

Northern Light: A Canadian Prayer Book by Les Miller.

Amazing Friendships Between Animals and Saints by Greg Kennedy SJ and Kerry Lyn Wilson