On a frigid Saturday morning, around 125 people gathered at Epiphany Church to learn about taking action in the name of caring for creation.
John Mundell, director of the Vatican’s global Laudato Si’ Action Platform, led a workshop Jan. 20 on “Acting Locally to Sustain Our Earthly Home.” His presentation explained the online platform and aimed to help participants “turn your reflection and thoughts into action,” he told them.
The Laudato Si’ Action Platform was launched online two years ago and challenges individuals, parishes, schools, religious groups and other organizations to set concrete goals and create detailed plans to achieve them.
It’s based on the papal encyclical, “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.” The 2015 document was written “in this classic Catholic way,” Mundell told participants: “See the way things are, then you act.”
The action platform is set up similarly. After signing up, folks are prompted to complete a lifestyle assessment, write a reflection and come up with a plan of action.
The platform itself has seven goals: respond to the cry of the earth, respond to the cry of the poor, ecological economics, adoption of sustainable lifestyles, ecological education, ecological spirituality and community resilience and empowerment.
Sarah Mundell, John Mundell’s daughter, who also educates groups about the platform, explained that lifestyle assessments and plans will differ based on the size of the group and the location.
“A plan here in the Archdiocese of Louisville will be different than a plan made for people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” she said. “Take into consideration how big your house is, how many rooms it has, how many fans are in it.
“What type of community do you live in? How many school kids get free lunch in your neighborhood?” she said.
She challenged listeners to consider what expertise they already have and what small changes they can make to get started.
“You don’t need to start big to start something,” she said. “Have you put in LED lightbulbs yet?”
John Mundell suggested prioritizing changes that can be “longstanding, small and repeatable.”
“ ‘We do not think ourselves into a new way of living, we live ourselves into a new way of thinking,’ ” he said, attributing the quote to Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr. “You become more credible when you live what you believe.”
“And guess what — it’s good business,” John Mundell said with a laugh. Making changes that positively impact the environment “also saves money.”
Mundell introduced an interactive way to involve the whole family in making small changes that help care for creation: the Earth Cube.
Each side of the four-inch card-stock cube names a way people can “show their love for the earth” and encourages the user to share how they can complete the task.
For example, a child rolls the over-sized die and it lands on “everything is a gift.” He or she can share how they find beauty in the little things in nature and that the earth is a gift from God worth preserving.
On Earth Day 2016, Pope Francis rolled the Earth Cube, said John Mundell. To roll the cube virtually, visit theearthcube.org.
After most participants confirmed that they had read Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on creation, he noted, “We have a lot of kindred spirits here. But out in the cruel, cold world, not everyone thinks like us.”
For that reason, part of the morning workshop was spent discussing how to engage others in conversation about caring for the planet.
He challenged attendees to use their experiences and personal identity to craft their “why” and to share with others the importance of preserving the earth and its resources.
Mike Diebold, an Epiphany parishioner, noted during the workshop that Laudato Si’ was written “for the whole world,” not just Catholics.
“We all must undergo an ecological conversion every day, every moment,” Mundell said. “We’re tasked with bringing people on the journey” of ecological economics and education — two of the platform’s seven goals.
One ecological change Mundell made for himself that morning was opting to drink juice out of a coffee mug instead of a single-use plastic cup.
“Don’t wait until tomorrow,” he challenged. “What will you do today?”
