Bellarmine University’s Sustainability Committee — a group of students, faculty and staff who endeavor to care for creation across the Highlands campus — has adopted the Laudato Si’ Action Platform to support its efforts.
“At Bellarmine, our mission to educate students in mind, body, and spirit, calls us to care not only for one another, but for the Earth we share,” said Bellarmine’s president, Dr. Susan M. Donovan, in a press release about the initiative.
Bellarmine already has made tangible strides toward sustainability. “The university’s other environmental accolades include: recognition as a Tree Campus USA since 2014, recognition as a Bee Campus USA since 2023, membership in the Catholic Garden Network,” noted the press release.
“A large part of sustainable work is to change hearts, and to change minds, and to change culture towards being more responsible about the environment.”
— Dr. Kate Bulinski, Bellarmine’s fellow for Catholic identity
The action platform will give the committee a framework to further its activity, said Dr. Kate Bulinski, Bellarmine’s liaison for the initiative and fellow for Catholic identity.
The Vatican-led platform provides a framework to help organizations, including schools, churches and families, work toward caring for creation. It is an initiative of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. It springs from the 2015 encyclical by Pope Francis, “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.”
Bulinski noted there are seven goals of “Laudato Si,’ ” and the platform. They are:
- Response to the cry of the earth
- Ecological economics
- Addition of sustainable lifestyles
- Ecological education
- Ecological spirituality
- Community resilience and empowerment
- Response to the cry of the poor
Bellarmine’s Sustainability Committee has begun its efforts by spreading the word and educating others about caring for creation.
“A large effort of the Sustainability Committee this school year has been educating about the work happening on Bellarmine’s campus, and why it matters,” said Bulinski. “A large part of sustainable work is to change hearts, and to change minds, and to change culture towards being more responsible about the environment.”
The framework will help students “to see how they’re connected to their spiritual lives and their spiritual self, to the health and wellbeing of themselves and the environment, and then to be able to carry it out through service,” said Bulinski. “It helps us to really articulate this important work and how it does connect to mission, and how it does connect to our Catholic faith.”
For more information about the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, visit laudatosiactionplatform.org/.
