Justicia, Paz y Tierra / Justice, Peace and Earth

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Praying, Reflecting and Taking Actions with God's Creation: a Timely Retreat

Have you been with powerhouse of Saints and Popes who care about the Creation?

Twenty-one Catholic faithful gathered to meet, experiencing something refreshing. They brought their friends, husband, wife, fiancé hoping to see what was prepared for them by the Laudato Si' Movement (LSM). People spent time together pondering, listening, learning, sharing and experiencing about the beauty, the gifts, and the challenges of being beloved by God and entrusted to be co-creator of this magnificent world.

We started with a prayer from Fr. Luke, the vicar of the parish hosting the event. We all prayed, and split the participants into six. The six groups were assigned to learn about their eco-saint of the day to ask for their intercession and be as inspired as their saint on loving Creation (including fellow human beings) and caring for all. Each participants were given the opportunity to share in their group using synodal approach, giving voice to everyone about what they like about nature and later on, how they are being invited to care for it or each other. They shared what they have learned from small group to the big group. We were joined by ecological Saints/Pope such as St. Francis, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Hildegard of Bingen, Servant of God Dorothy Day, St. Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis.

To show the love of nature in practical ways, the event mostly optimized the use of natural, reusable, compostable and biodegradable options. The ritual of the earth blessing and seeds helped us to be aware that we are being nourished by the earth.

To reflect on the signs of our time, we watched the movie called "The Letter" by Pope Francis and reflected on our call about its significance. Before ending the retreat, they experienced the beauty of the environment and the beauty of each other's presence. They spent time outside the room where there were trees and a green space reflecting God's Creation.

We had plenty of ways praying, reflecting and finally an invitation on a call to action.

After feeding our Spirit with the teachings from Scripture, Laudato Si', immersed with God's Creation in nature, and the wisdom of each other's presence, the facilitators visited some people on the streets near a local shelter. The people were grateful having benefited from the food provided to them especially that there is no food distribution from the shelter on weekends.

After the "sounds of rain" as a background being played during break time in the retreat, talking about the need for rain in Texas especially in Corpus Christi, and praying for God's Creation, we were blessed to have rain for the next two days. What a blessing to see our Creator's generosity.

Laudato Si' teaches us that addressing the cry of the earth is also addressing the cry of the poor. We are reminded that everything is connected. By being consciencious stewards of God's Creation, we bring love to all, we become the hands and feet of our Creator in the ways that God gives us this time, our borrowed resources and our talents as God's gift, to make it available to all the way the sun and the rain fall on the surfaces without discrimination..

Praised be the Incarnate Word.

Rainfall the next day

If you would ike to join the LSM Texas Chapter or if you would like to join upcoming retreats, activities, or workshops, email us at texas@lsmchapter.org.

Visit our websites:

https://chapter.laudatosimovement.org/north-america-texas/

https://www.facebook.com/laudatositexas/

https://www.instagram.com/laudatositexas/

https://laudatosimovement.org/

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Webinar in Solidarity with Our Immigrant Community: No Estan Solos by May 14 7pm CT on Zoom

One of the four categories of most vulnerable affected by Climate Crisis is the immigrant/the poor.  No people is protected from Climate Crisis.  It can happen to anyone but the most vulnerable people are really those in the Global South as they are the ones who will be most impacted by disasters, natural calamities exacerbated by the worsening Climate situation.  It is estimated that there will be about 25 million to 1 billion environmental migrants by 2050. United Nations reported that there are 250 million people internally displaced due to weather-induced disastrous conditions over the past decade.  

People in the Global South do not have the coverage or not able to create a disaster plan when they do not have any families, places to go to or not enough funds to support themselves.  You can watch "The Letter" by Pope Francis if you would like to learn about these four vulnerable entities of our planet impacted by the Climate Crisis (https://youtu.be/Rps9bs85BII?si=F_CntV17QbJdTpF_). About the film: https://TheLetterFilm.org

To learn about being in Solidarity with the Immigrant Community, please attend the upcoming Webinar below.  Some immigrants belong to the poor community especially those who are forced to move out due to disasters leaving without anything to restart their lives.  While some immigrants are also caused by political, civil, war and economic instability, it all leads to one common action of migrations for people to seek a safe place to live.

Laudato Si' message is to praise God by Caring for our Common Home.  Through this, we care for all in creation, and strive to be peace-makers.  By doing this, we are reconciled with God and our neighbor.  We praised God, the Creator of all things, visible and invisible.
"This sister 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." (LS 2)

Not knowing what to do with the immigrants who are trapped, lost, waiting, confused, etc?

Invitation to attend the webinar to know the resources and how to journey with the immigrants. Scan the QR code or link the link below:

https://archsa.org/event/no-estan-solos-a-webinar-to-stand-in-solidarity-with-our-immigrant-community/

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Saint Anthony Catholic High School Reports on Compost and Garden

Saint Anthony Catholic High School is the recipient of the Gardening class package from Gardopia as the school's award sponsored by Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) in collaboration with University of Incarnate Word's Brainpower Schools during the Season of Creation of 2025. SACHS won the raffle in the artworks that was displayed in Padre Margil World Heritage Center. JPIC through Sister Marylou invited Climate Reality Project of San Antonio through Ms. Darshana Gupte to get the composting project a reality for the Catholic school. In turn with the help of the Eco Centro Collaborative network of resources from Climate Reality, JPIC, and San Antonio Composting, the composting was offered and SACHS was glad to be the first to implement of the Catholic school for this endeavor. The Climate Reality Project opened the door for the San Antonio Composting to make resources available for the school with the support of the City of San Antonio and the training of the students provided by the San Antonio Composting and Gardopia. SACHS has the Earth Angels enthusiastic to get this system working especially supported by Mrs. Jacqulyne Esteves as the adviser/project leader. JPIC is grateful to all these non-profit organizations working together to make this project a community oriented and collaborative project for the care of our common home and particularly making our youth a big part of this project.

Now, that the Composting project and Gardening Classes have been completed, Earth Angels through SACHS Principal Ms. Patricia Ramirez is happy to share their report on composting. Through this report, we can also celebrate the biggest global program on the advocacy on composting, which is May 3 - 9 as the International Compost Awareness Week. This year's theme is "Compost: Feed the Soil that Feed Us."

Article by Earth Angels

Introduction

St. Anthony Catholic High School Earth Angels Environmental Club has partnered with Climate Reality Corps, San Antonio Composting Project, and Gardopia Gardens to create our high school's first compost beds and a school garden. The club is sponsored by Mrs. Jacqulyne Esteves (lead) and Ms. Ava Liebentritt who are both full time teachers at the St. Anthony High School Campus. We are proud to announce that as of March 2026, the garden and compost are fully functional and are integrated into our school lives. Service is a core mission here at St. Anthony, and students are encouraged to give back to their community every single day. The mission of service is at the center of our club and guides each project we decide to take part in.

According to the Environmental Protections Agency, it is estimated that of the U.S methane emissions, 17% of the emissions come directly from landfill waste.1 While our students cannot reform all carbon emissions from buildings nor automobiles, we felt that eliminating landfill waste could be a direct initiative for our community. Based on our projected data we can save almost 800lbs of waste each school year from the landfill. 1 ton of dry waste roughy produces 143 Lbs of methane. This initiative will not only halt methane emissions from our school but will educate students on how to compost. This The compost project was granted to us through Darshana Gupte, Chair of the San Antonio Climate Reality Chapter, and we were assisted by Christiana Rodgers from the San Antonio Composting Project. In December, students assembled four outdoor composting beds near the school garden. The leadership members of the club then performed a wasted audit to gauge the knowledge of composting among current students.

See results below:

Students are now composting after each lunch and composting the waste that the cafeteria staﬀ would normally throw away. On average, the cafeteria staﬀ is composting 20 lbs a week of unused products.

We hope to use the compost in our school garden for future crops. This closed loop cycle will ensure the future of our garden, the health of students, and a growing connection with nature.

Financial Gain

Composting at our school can provide us with many financial benefits, including providing source of fertile soil that leads to less trash being thrown out, reducing the number of dumpsters that we need and in turn the cost of STA’s facilities. To elaborate, having fertile soil is necessary for the overall health of our garden. This leads to healthier foods that we can use in school lunches, decreasing the costs of purchasing ingredients, which is the main goal of this garden. Additionally, composting allows us to dispose of food scraps other than in our dumpsters. Without the several pounds of food each day, we may be able to rent fewer dumpsters, which would save us a lot of money. Also, besides the many positive environmental aspects, having a garden is also something that would attract many people to our school, which would subsequently increase our enrollment and our financial gain.

The Garden

The growth of the garden will bring a green atmosphere to SACHS. We could have a cooler and more beautiful area instead of a blank space just with grass. By growing the garden, we brought an experience about a sustainable non-profit business from SACHS to everybody. We apply what we learn in real life. This project is a symbol of environmental sustainability in the STA community.

Having a garden adds to the St. Anthony Catholic High School experience, allowing us to be better stewards of the Earth. It ensures that we can give back to the environment in the way that it gives to us. By giving us easy ways to waste and reuse food scraps, we can be more eﬃcient with the resources that we use. This wouldn’t be possible without our generous donors, Climate Reality Project, and Gardopia Gardens. As a Catholic high school, we believe that God’s creation is to be protected. Therefore, it is our duty to do the most we can to ensure that our environment is being cared for. Our solution is to develop a bountiful garden that continues the longevity of our mission as a catholic community.

Educational advantages

One of the more common things that some schools lack is teaching valuable life skills. St. Anthony Catholic High School is able to provide at least three of these through our garden. The first educational value aligns with one of our core values. Service. The SACHS garden was brought into reality by our own students. We have put our time and eﬀort into this garden, just as our school teaches us to always do. Another educational advantage has to do with our students having an interest in the environment they live in. If our students are more educated about the environment, they will be able to inform their peers. An educated student body is a more active student body who will want to create change in their community. The final educational advantage that our garden supplies us with is the beauty of nature. As a Catholic school, we want our students to recognize the beauty of God’s creations and this garden is a prime example of that. Our SACHS garden provides us with so many benefits as shown in this report which is why it means so much to us, our students, and those we work with.

Saint Anthony Catholic High School has been featured in Telemundo: https://www.telemundosanantonio.com/video/noticias/local/pequenas-lombrices-una-gran-mision-jovenes-transforman-residuos-en-vida/2493433/

1 https://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-information-about-landfill-gas

“Make Mothers’ Day Great Again”

Sr. Martha Ann Kirk and Rev. Julie Brenton Rowe invite you sign and to spread the peace petition from their Palestinian and Israeli friends, “The Mother’s Call” https://www.womenwagepeace.org.il. Learn about Mother’s Day Home - juliebrentonrowe. In May 2025, they were on a peace-building trip in the Holy Land which you can read about “Hopeful Pilgrim” and see Sr. Martha Ann with Yael Deckelbaum who wrote the song.

Rev. Julie Rowe and Sr. Martha Ann Kirk with Women of the Sun in their Bethlehem Office.

“Make Mothers’ Day Great Again”
Rev. Dr. Julie Brenton Rowe

In 1870, decades before Woodrow Wilson instituted the current Mothers’ Day holiday in 1914, peace advocate Julie Ward Howe issued a proclamation calling for a day to be set aside for women to gather to strategize about seeking peace and ending war:

“Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears!..

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We, women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs…

As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel with one another whereby the great human family can live in peace….I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held ..to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.”

Paraphrased from Julia Ward Howe’s Mothers Peace Day Proclamation

Few women are at the table when men let slip the dogs of war. But they are often the ones to pick up the pieces of the lives shattered by it.

An Israeli woman peace advocate Gila Sviersky used to say:

“Why do they give the peace process to generals? All they know how to do is fight. They should give it to mothers. They know how to negotiate.”

What if we did? What if we placed more women at the seats of power in the peace processes instead of endlessly funding the generals who never miss an opportunity to turn plowshares into spears?

Studies show that women’s participation in peace processes increases the probability of peace agreements lasting 2 years by 20% and lasting 15 years by 35%. Just ask Leymah Gbowee of Liberia or the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition party in Northern Ireland. They were instrumental in stopping the worst of the violence in their countries.

In 2014, in response to yet another bloodbath in Gaza, Israeli women formed a group called Women Wage Peace, calling for an end to the violence and return to negotiations, this time with the novel idea of involving more women. They grew, and in 2022, partnered with the Palestinian peace group Women of the Sun to issue the Mothers’ Call, which basically said let’s stop killing one another’s children and work instead for peace and equality for both Israelis and Palestinians. In 2023, they celebrated their work in a festive day in Jerusalem and at the Dead Sea. Unfortunately, it was October 4, 2023.

Three days later, one of their founders, long-time Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver, was killed in her home near Gaza by Hamas. Over the next 2 years, almost thirty Women of the Sun peace activists were killed in Gaza. Despite the complexities, they remain committed to working together, but it is a tough go.

Leaders from the partnership have been honored for their work by the BBC and Time Magazine and have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The partnership was awarded a grant in 2023 before October 7 for its program Women Building Bridges. Unfortunately, it was partially funded by USAID. So much for US support for peace programs.

More than 50,000 people have signed the Mothers’ Call. Add your signature and join the movement at https://www.womenwagepeace.org.il.

Rev. Julie Rowe and Sr. Martha Ann Kirk with Peta Pellach, a leader in Women Wage Peace, who serves at the Elijah Institute Interreligious Center in Jerusalem.

It’s not that all women see peacemaking the same way or that they have magic answers. But their peace work has tended to emphasize non-violence, reaching across divides, and upholding equal human dignity. Much of their work improves conditions on the ground: healing trauma; building cooperative networks; and improving schools, social programs, and health care. These are not just feminine values. They are human values.

Some say non-violence is naïve. But how much more naïve is it to believe that bombing children and devastating cities – again - will do anything other than create traumatized children who will go on to perpetuate the cycle? How much more naïve to believe that people living under a brutal military occupation will somehow stop struggling for freedom with whatever they have? Freeing people from occupation and oppression and insisting on justice and equal human dignity are the only ways to long-term peace.

In the year 2000, the United Nations passed Resolution 1325, which called for, among other things, the inclusion of more women in formal peace processes. Twenty-five years later and still you won’t find many women in pictures of the executive Board of Peace or any of the leadership teams of the current warring nations.

Leaders like US Secretary of the “Department of War” Pete “raining down death and destruction” Hegseth have made sure of that. He “proudly” ended the US Women, Security, and Peace Initiative, saying that it “overburdens our commanders and troops – distracting from our core task – war-fighting.”

If “war-fighting” is our core task as humanity, it’s news to Hegseth’s hero Jesus.

It’s time for regime change at the peace tables.

Rev. Dr. Julie Brenton Rowe just finished her Doctor of Ministry degree in Public Theology at Austin Presbyterian Seminary with a focus on women and peacemaking in Israel and Palestine. She is the author of “Why Peace and Prayers are Not Enough: A Primer on Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel.”

See Rev. Rowe’s creative reflection on Mother’s Day with the music of Yael Deckelbaum www.juliebrentonrowe.com

Julie Ward Howe’s Mothers’ Peace Day Proclamation of 1870:

Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears! Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, “Disarm, disarm! The sword is not the balance of justice.” Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each learning after his own time, the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

Friday, May 1, 2026

To Divert from Fossil Fuel, an Urgent Message on Laudato Si' Anniversary and Jubilee Year of Saint Francis

Saint Bonaventure held that, through universal reconciliation with every creature, Saint Francis in some way returned to the state of original innocence. This is a far cry from our situation today, where sin is manifest in all its destructive power in wars, the various forms of violence and abuse, the abandonment of the most vulnerable, and attacks on nature. (Laudato Si' 66)

On May 24 2026, we will be celebrating the 11th Anniversary of Laudato Si' encyclical, written by Pope Francis as an invitation to all people of goodwill to ecological conversion. This year is also designated by Pope Leo XIV as the Jubilee Year of Saint Francis starting from January 10, 2026 - January 10, 2027. It is the 800th death anniversary of the Saint, a peace and dialogue advocate, who died in October 3, 1226.

Given the Laudato Si' Anniversary, it is important to highlight the works that the Laudato Si' Movement is doing which includes the formation of people around the world to care for Creation through Laudato Si' Animator program (www.laudatosianimators.org). Currently, there are 20,000 animators who are working tirelessly to incarnate the love of God through caring for our Common Home through individual, community and systemic actions.

The Laudato Si' Animator program started in April. It will end on June.17. Laudato Si' Movement continues to train 6,000 participants from all over the world across Spanish, English, French, Italian, and Portuguese language groups. There will be a new group of people who will rise to their society to speak up and take actions to care for creation.

It is time to be grateful to God for the basic necessities that we receive such water to drink and air to breathe. These are basic and yet so critically important. If we cease to receive any of these, we can die. A few minutes without air can cause death while a few days without water can also cause death. The purpose of Laudato Si' Movement is to raise awareness of our responsibility and invite the Catholic communities in particular (i.e. the movement is also open to people of goodwill) to take care of our resources and address the call for ecological conversion. It is a gift that God has given to us. It is best to put measures to protect, conserve, and provide provision to allow its growth and restoration.

How do we morally shift from fossil fuel to sustainable energy and alternatives? How do we slow down and not demand for more so that our earth is able to rest?

Refusing to be part of the Unhealthy System and Shifting to Healthy Habits

Climate advocacy is important in ensuring that more people can get involved in climate actions, and resting away from fossil-fuel-business as usual. The impact of climate crisis is enormous that everyone's part is necessary. If my neighbor and the communities are not changing their habits, even if I am changing, the practices of my neighbor and my communities remain part of my responsibility and can affect my habits (e.g. styrofoam for take out in restaurants can cause an impairment on ecological person's practices, if a community is using conventional energy power source than renewable, then it contributes to fossil fuel proliferation). If any of the society's way of business or operations are using unsustainable practices and remain fossil-fuel-run-business as usual, their practices are still part of one's practice. How does one refuse to be part of that system?

Can you start to patronize good practices, and be connected to a community that support such, or educate your community?

The Throw Away Mentality

We need to advocate for sustainable practices and keep on encouraging people to take actions or change habits. Unless people understand the reason why they have to do things, the people and communities will continue to participate in this throw away culture where we use plastics and disposable products easily. The United States or modern culture is used to not fixing things, given the quality of the products that do not last after certain number of years. People in this capitalist world throw things away when things look bad and look discolored or even slightly disfigured. Similar to people, when there is something disagreeable, people dismiss people without conversation or fixing the relationships. Countries go to war because human lives are no longer treated as valuable but disposable.

The Impact of the Unrested Land, Unconverted Habits and the Fossil-Fuel Business As Usual

The fossil fuel and the attitude of the people unwilling to change are largely harming the geological state of our planet. A lot of the products heavily rely on fossil fuel and also plastic-based. This creates the climate injustice which eventually affects all creatures including human beings most specifically the vulnerable. For the countries that produce so much carbon footprint like United States, it has more responsibility to mitigate its carbon footprint on the planet as it only impacts our Common Home that belongs to all. The Global North owes its action to the Global South who has the most vulnerable parts of the society.

The fracking used by oil and gas industries requires about 1.5 million gallons to 16 gallons depending on the land situation. While the oil and gas industries can also use about millions of gallons of water every day. An example of the impact of oil and gas industries in basic necessities of people is the water crisis in Corpus Christi where the refineries need about 20 billion gallons of fresh water to stay in operation where in analogy a data center uses about 100 million gallons of water per year. The city refines about 5% of the nation's oil. Corpus Christi also contributes to about 2.5 million barrels a day which is half of US crude oil exports. According to reports, March 2026 is the busiest and the "Crude oil exports exceeded 2.4 million barrels per day in March 2026, one of the highest monthly levels seen in this market." The Iran war is changing the oil and gas market conditions in Corpus Christi.

What does it mean for the natural resources of the city? The oil, gas and plastic industries are consuming more than 50% of the water in the area. The city is experiencing severe drought having only about 8.8% full of the water normal level for Lake Corpus Christi and 6.9% full in Choke Canyon Reservoir.

The Jubilee is the Year of God’s favor

How do we balance or be relieved from the operation of the industries with the need to maintain an healthy eco system supporting creation that includes lives of people, and the need of the vulnerable part of creation? The human lives depends on these basic natural resources. Not to mention the pollution that is also attached to these oil and gas industries, known to cause illnesses and diseases. The need of the nature to rest from labor is inevitable. This is the value of jubilee. It is a time to release the nature from enslavement and the people from endless work. This being a Jubilee year of Saint Francis, it is a call to contemplate on what are we willing to renounce pondering on Saint Francis who renounced wealth and embraced poverty to be able to fully live the Gospel. This simplicity of life renewed the church.

The Jubilee Year in Leviticus 25:8-55 teaches us that for us who have something, let it be our work to share and provide for those who have less or nothing and for those who have worked for you or has given you the fruits of your years. It is about God’s favor on His people. Jesus Christ himself declared God’s favor in Luke 4: 16-18 and Isaiah 16:1. He proclaimed that the Lord’s favor is here (Lk 4:19).

This is the call to all to be God’s favor for His people.

The Invitation to Divert from Fossil Fuel and to Challenge Our Habits

This is an invitation to do one action to Care for Creation, challenge yourself to do it for a week during the Laudato Si' Week May 17-24 and celebrate your work in caring for creation. It can be not driving your car for a usual activity but taking a walk or public transport. It can be staying away from food that is wrapped or packaged in plastics or writing the business establishment to change their practices and share your reason with the uninformed. Plastic is made of oil and thus lessening the demand for plastic packaging helps to also reduce the demand for fossil fuel. There are a lot of possibilities. The Laudato Si' Movement and the Care for Creation advocates also urge you to ask your parish priest to celebrate Mass for Creation during this week or have a prayer service.

Send photos of your acts of Care for Creation during the Laudato Si' Week through: jpic.office@amormeus.org.

Other Upcoming Dates by Laudato Si' Movement:

Circle Training:

May 13th 7pm EST- Zoom Registration
May 20th 12pm EST- Zoom Registration

Laudato Si Week: May 17-24
Creation Care Commissioning on May 23rd
Vancouver 5:00 AM | New York 8:00 AM | London 1:00 PM | Nairobi 4:00 PM | New Delhi 5:30 PM | Manila 8:00 PM | Sydney 10:00 PM
Join a global moment of prayer, blessing, and mission with hundreds around the world. Come with your efforts, your community, your initiatives—and receive a special blessing to carry them further.
Register here
September 1 - October 4: Season of Creation website is being updated here - the theme for this year is Living Water
Join the Laudato Si' Texas Chapter (anytime), send us an email texas@lsmchapter.org