Laudato Si’ - Care of our Common Home

On March 22, 2025, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur of the East-West Province approved their Land Ethic, thus expressing the collective response to the call of Laudato Si’ to care for all creation and specifically to care for the lands entrusted to our care.

All of Creation is a manifestation of God’s goodness. By honoring and protecting the land and its inhabitants entrusted to our care, we, as Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, remain faithful to our charism of proclaiming the goodness of God. (Introduction-Land Ethic)

Inspiration for this declaration comes from Laudato Si’ and specifically, from the lands entrusted to our care. The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence, there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face. The ideal is not only to pass from the exterior to the interior to discover the action of God in the soul, but also to discover God in all things. (LS 233)

And the same inspiration comes from our own Notre Dame vision and heritage:

““You will often be able to read in this great book of nature what grandeur there is to be found there! But only those souls can find it who have the happiness of seeing God everywhere!” (Letter 1, July 15, 1795)”

St. Julie Billiart wrote in 1795

““All of us are part of a great Oneness. Let us pray for all of us and for a world where we can all live—plants, animals, and human life—in peace and harmony.””

Sister Dorothy Stang wrote in 2003

““Attentive to the Spirit, we hear the cries of those living in poverty as well as the cries of Earth. We see God’s Creation scarred by systemic destruction, motivated by greed and hate, thus threatening the planet and life itself... We are called to deepen our commitment and to act with reverence for God’s Creation.””

Our General Chapter Acts of 2021 declare