This Justice Circle aims to:
- Support recycling efforts at the Motherhouse and Mother Margaret Hall
- Keep community members informed about environmental legislation at the local and national level.
- Provide educational sessions on various topics related to ecological degradation and earth justice.
- Continue to provide reflections and prayer services.
- Continue to dialogue with other justice circles to recognize the intersectionality among many of the issues and to find ways to collaborate.
- Explore new ways of integrating eco-spirituality into our activities and programs.
New Members are Always Welcome
- Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month.
- The time alternates between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to accommodate a variety of schedules.
- This Justice Circle is open to members of other religious congregations as well.
- Contact is S. Caroljean Willie at cjwilliengo@gmail.com for more information.
Pope Francis and the Diacastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has called all of us to enact a 7 year bold and active response to the ecoloin line with the vision of his encyclical Laudato Si’. Read more about the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati’s commitments to the Laudato Si’ Action Platform for 2023 Year 1 and 2024 Year 2. Find out more about the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
EarthConnection
EarthConnection, a ministry of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, is a center for learning and reflection about living lightly on Earth. Aware of the interconnectedness of all of Creation, we seek to integrate spirituality and sustainability through programs in sustainable agriculture, alternative energies, ecojustice and eco-spirituality. Learn More about EarthConnection by visiting their website here.
Additional Resources:
- Green Umbrella: Greater Cincinnati’s Regional Climate Collaborative
- Care for Creation Task Force: Archdiocese of Cincinnati
- Marianist Environmental Education Center (Dayton)
- Healthy Earth Team: Bellarmine Chapel
- Earth Shepherds: The Community of the Good Shepherd
- Hanley Sustainability Institute (University of Dayton)
- Catholic Climate Covenant (National)
- Earthbeat – A Project of National Catholic Reporter (News Source)
- UN Climate Change (Global)
- Kateri Conservation Center (National)
- Beyond Plastics (National)
- Climate Town – good video series to explore on various topics
- Interfaith Power & Light (National and Local)
Sisters and Associates visiting the Marianist Environmental Education Center in Dayton, Ohio.
“This sister [Mother Earth] now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.”
Pope Frances, Laudato Si: On Care of our Common Home
CLICK HERE for the entire Encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care of our Common Home.
Read Pope Francis’s new Apostolic Exhortation, a follow up to Laudate Deum: HERE.
Sisters of Charity Earth Statement – April 2009
We affirm our Sisters of Charity Vision Statement to choose to live simply in a complex world committed to the healing of our global home. We believe that God continues to create the universe in the present moment and calls us to be life-giving and creative participants in the ongoing life on Earth. We believe Earth is our teacher. We believe in safeguarding Earth’s regenerative capabilities. We are called in HUMILITY to reverence the beauty and gifts of Earth, in SIMPLICITY to recognize our kinship with Earth, and in CHARITY to sustainably protect and restore the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems. Allowing loving trust to shape all of our relationships, we dare to risk a caring response. Additional statements on Earth can be found here.
Some Actions You Can Do
This can be overwhelming so choose ONE thing at a time – also everything is better when done in community!
- Tips for Going Green at Home
- Adoption of Sustainable Lifestyles Green Pocket Guide – a fantastic resource with facts and practical actions!
- Archdiocese of Cincinnati Laudato Si’ Toolkit – work through the 7 Laudato Si’ Action Platform Goals as individuals and communities.
- Shop for Home and Beauty Products through local Refill Shops
- Cincinnati
- Dayton
- Switch Your Banks and Retirement Funds from those who invest in fossil fuel financing
- Make Compost with Food Waste
- Dayton: The Foodbank – $60 per year, bucket provided, industrial composter – can take meat and dairy
- Cincinnati: Queen City Commons – $5-15 per month, bucket not provided, cannot take meat and dairy
- Back2TheDirt (East Side) – no meat or dairy, $175 per year, bucket provided
- Compost Now Cincinnati – Pick up or drop off, range from $19-39 per month, bucket provided
- Make Your Own and use for your garden
- Use Public Transportation, Bike, Walk instead of driving if able
- Advocate for more of these forms of transportation if your city does not have them and/or not accessible
- Advocate for better zoning laws (not from the 1920s): Learn More
- Recognize and learn about the intersectionality between racism and climate change
- Check out Rise St. James for an example of environmental racism
- Reducing meat consumption – especially beef
- Avoiding single-use plastic
- Watch Climate Town video here
- Bring reusable shopping bags and even fruit/vegetable bags so you don’t need to use plastic
- Recycle – but do some research to see what your recycling company is actually able to take
- Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub – can take more than Rumpke does
- Also see where your recycling factories are located to make sure not harming communities of color
- Attend protests for climate justice, write/call legislators about climate legislation
- Support climate focused non-profits financially or with your time
- Buy groceries through local coops or Community-Supported Agriculture (CSAs)
- Cincinnati: Our Harvest
- Dayton: Mission of Mary Cooperative
- Find one near you: LocalHarvest
- Take less showers and track your water consumption
- Flush your toilet less (wastes water and uses natural gas)
- Use natural light vs light powered by natural gas
- Measure your carbon footprint
- Write / call companies that are harming the plant, animals, and/or humans