As climate change resilience programs struggle for funding, Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Sr. Yvonne Nwila worries that the poor in Zambia will suffer more from climate-change-induced food insecurity.
We asked panelists: What can we learn through, from and for nature? What kind of threat does climate change pose to peace? What are you doing to change it? Responses reflect the living legacy of Pope Francis' love for creation.
Pope Francis was a prophet for the earth. It was through his teachings in "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home," that I came to see farming as a sacred calling. Laudato Si' also inspired collaboration here in Kenya.
The pope made ecological concern a cornerstone of his 12-year papacy and positioned care of creation as both a nonnegotiable pillar of the Christian faith and "essential to a life of virtue."
Catholic priests and nuns joined hundreds of activists demanding to stop a geothermal project on the predominantly Catholic Flores island in Indonesia, saying the project violates villagers' land rights and damages the environment.
Sisters are participating in the church's campaign: "Yes to life, no to mining," calling for the restoration of a law against metal mining in El Salvador.
In response to the effects of climate change, Sr. Juunza Mwangani, who is the project manager of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit, recognized opportunity among the people of southern Zambia, who are farmers by nature.
After devastating, deadly floods in Valencia, Spain, Catholic sisters have contributed to recovery with spiritual help and physical labor, hand in hand with volunteers who are cleaning up affected towns.
Sr. Maribeth Larkin, whose Sisters of Social Service evacuated to stay with the Sisters of Notre Dame, advised other congregations to talk to each other, and "have an up-to-date plan, not one you dust off from 20 years ago."
