Each year, beginning on the World Day of Prayer for Creation, September 1, and continuing through the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4, we join with our brothers and sisters in Christ through prayer and action to, as Pope Francis writes in his Encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’, “cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation.”

This work is more urgent than ever, as our planet reels from a pandemic-driven surge in waste and our local waterways, soil, and air quality suffer from the extraction of natural resources, pollution from industry, and a flood of single-use plastics.

“Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation,” Pope Francis says, which is why we’re asking you to join us in pledging to weave the principles and spirit of the Laudato Si Action Platform into your daily actions – both as an individual, and as an important part of your community (at work, in your spiritual home, and on your block).

As Sisters of St. Joseph, we are “attuned to how all of creation lives and moves and has its being in God.” We believe in a “sacramental universe” of wondrous diversity – a gift of God that requires our care and respect. We believe that God entrusts these resources to us so that we may nurture and sustain them for our dear neighbors now and into the future.

If you share these beliefs, and are ready to act with us to care for our common home, take the pledge!