Laudato Si’ Week, May 19-26, 2024, encourages us to reassess our relationship to creation, our common home.  This annual celebration recalls the 2015 publication of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, which called on all people to take action to attend to the interconnected ecological and social crises. In October 2023, Pope Francis released Laudate Deum: On the Climate Crisis. This apostolic exhortation again calls on all people to attend to the climate crisis and its impacts on the most vulnerable of our world. As Francis asserts, “There are no lasting changes without cultural changes. . . and there are no cultural changes without personal changes” (Francis, Laudate Deum, 70). While our government must be actively committed to addressing climate change, each of us has a part to play in responding to the ecological and social crises.

As we observe Laudato Si’ Week, Jennifer Kryszak, the Director of Strategic Planning for the Franciscan Peace Center, has prepared a series of reflections as a source of hope for a future where all people recognize their interconnection with all of creation. Each day we will reflect on Laudate Deum and the ecological and social crises as we consider the reality and needs of our world. While acknowledging this complex reality, we will reflect on diverse organizations that are committed to attending to these interconnected crises and offer a variety of resources for those who want to continue to learn and take action.

Please join us in observing Laudato Si’ Week so that together we can continue to grow a movement founded on hope for a sustainable future.