East-West Laudato Si’ Action Plan Team
BY SISTERS JOAN F. BURKE AND MARY ALICE MCCABE, SNDdeN COURTESY OF NOTRE DAME INTERNATIONAL, MAY 2022
This article initially appeared in the inaugural issue of our magazine, 'Sowing Goodness.' The full issue is available here.
Pope Francis published his letter “On Care for our Common Home” (referred to by its opening words in Latin Laudato Si’) in 2015 in which he addressed the existential threat of climate change. A few years later a group distilled from this work what has become known as the Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP) based on its seven goals. This resulted in a global appeal to all Catholics and persons of goodwill to join together to form a movement based on the Laudato Si’ agenda.
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur took up the challenge. The Sisters in the U.S. East-West Province spent last year reviewing the range of ways they already were responding to the “Cries of the Earth” and the “Cries of the Poor” to care for our planet and all of Creation. As daughters of St. Julie, the Sisters recognized immediately that this was in their DNA. St. Julie never stopped delighting in God’s goodness shining through all of creation. This dominant theme in her life was evident in the outcome of the international meeting of SNDdeN for their once every six years Chapter held in 2021. The delegates were led to name as Sisters Mary Alice McCabe and Joan Burke share the Laudato Si’ Action Platform with students and administrators in Ipswich, Massachusetts. a specific sign of our times to live the call launched by Pope Francis. They stated, “We are called to respond within our local and global realities to those who suffer, and to pray and work for the transformation of the attitudes, structures, and systems that cause profound suffering.” (Chapter document)
The Sisters across the U.S. saw that they were ready to make public their commitment to the LSAP, and formalized this resolution on Earth Day, April 22, 2022, by enrolling in the LSAP. During the coming year, they will work together to identify specific goals and objectives to guide them as they reach out and join with others in this urgent work.
All of us have been inspired by the youth of the world and their pleading that we recognize the urgency of this moment. Let us support them, our children, and our children’s children.
To learn more and reflect on how you might join the Sisters and all who are committed to build a global movement to create a critical mass for effective action and systemic change, consult the website: laudatosiactionplatform.org.
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