Common Home

Welcome to this year’s Season of Creation! Each year from September 1 to October 4, the Christian family unites for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home.

💦💦 SEASON OF CREATION 2023 💦💦

The Theme of this Year's Season of Creation: Let Justice and Peace Flow

You are invited to the following:

1. Archdiocese of San Antonio Pilgrimage on Sept 10 🧢🥾🥾  

The Season of Creation (Sept. 1–Oct. 4) encourages us to celebrate the gift of creation and work together for our common home. Join us to celebrate the 8th anniversary of Laudato Si and the Season of Creation with an outdoor Mass with Mariachi at Mission Espada followed by a 1.5-mile (30-min) walk to Mission San Juan. Bring water bottles and wear comfortable shoes.

Care of Creation Mass and Pilgrimage - El Camino de San Antonio Missions (caminosanantonio.org)

2.  Ecological Pilgrimage Tour 🎒👟👟

Navigate through the Incarnate Word Campus and locate the "Season of Creation" signs to take a tour, to reflect our carbon footprint, and ponder on what you can do to be part of the solution for the Climage Crisis.

There will be five main sites that will be available to be located for reflection.  Four of these will be facilitated by experts during the allotted time agreed among the project collaborators and the school administrators.

a.   UIW Community Garden🌼🌻🍋🍉🍅🍆

b.   Pollinator Gardens🦋🐦🐝🌹🌷🍁🌺

c.   Solar House🌞🏡

d.   Art Exhibit on September 22🎨  

This will be a private event in Christus Heritage for the selected students participating in the facilitated eco-tour.

All UIW Brainpower Students are welcome to participate in Art Contest.  The deadline for submission of artworks is on September 18, 2023.  Please reach out to Ms. Patricia Ramirez (plramire@uiwtx.edu) of the UIW Brainpower Connection for more information on this project.  Exciting awards and prizes🏆 await the winners.  

Contest Rules here: art-contest-rules-entry.pdf (uiw.edu)

           e.  Others: Headwaters🌳and Blue Hole 

The Headwaters, which includes Blue Hole, will not be covered as part of the scheduled pilgrimage.  The public are welcome to visit and reflect these eco-sites.  These two sites are open to volunteers.  Check out the organization's website for more information: https://www.headwaters-iw.org 

 

3.  Animal Blessings 🦎🐢🐈🐕🐩🐓🐈‍⬛🐕‍🦺🦜

October 4 is the end of the Season of Creation marking the Feast of Saint Francis.  This Collaborative Season of Creation Project will end on October 3, 2023 at 5:30pm with the Animal Blessings in the Grotto of the University of the Incarnate Word.  The parishes are encouraged to have animal blessings in honor of Saint Francis and the animals that accompany us in our journey on earth.

4.  Survey  ✎📔✅

We would like to hear from how you are caring for the earth 🌏using the survey link below.  In this way, we will be able to better assist and serve your neighborhood, parish, or archdiocese. ⛪ We do not collect personal information.  

                Take our survey! (google.com)

We invite you to come and join us in reflecting this Season of Creation in many ways. 

For the past Summer, different ministries and organizations have been brainstorming and gathering to create this exciting program that will raise awareness about this Season of Creation.  We all have the energy and talents to join our hands to care for the creation by reducing our carbon footprint.  It will be a hope of the United Nations that by the end of 2050, we will achieve the carbon net zero.  This net zero target will not be possible without reaching the carbon near half-mark by 2030. The City of San Antonio also commmitted to this endeavor with a goal of reducing the carbon emission by 41 percent by 2030.

Come and join us to celebrate the Season of Creation! This is a colaborative effort of various organizations in raising awareness in how people of different ages from different organizations can come together to take a pilgrimage to reflect on how we can care for the earth.  By pondering during this season, we can start taking note and taking concrete actions that collectively can add up and make a difference in solving the Climate Crisis.

Short film series where you can learn from: Season of Creation - Minute Sparks

Refer to this link to know more about the Season of Creation: Season of Creation

If you are celebrating this in different way, please post a comment and let us know the creative way you are raising awareness.

See you there at the pilgrimage sites.  👌

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IMPORTANT SEASON OF CREATION GIVEPULSE LINKS:

•    Garden Days (Look for UIW Sustainability Chair Dr. Miele for Givepulse)
•    Eco Pilgrim· age Registration (a part of Meet the Mission Service Day (Sept. 22)  

o   UIW’s Environmental Science givepulse https://givepul.se/owi5ft

o   UIW’s Mission and Ministry’s Meet the Mission givepulse https://givepul.se/hrwvmo. 

• ·       Blessing of the Animals and Prayer for Creation, Oct. 3, 5:30 pm Our Lady’s Grotto (Look for Sr Martha Ann for Givepulse)

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The first public statement of the Incarnate Word Sisters at the time we were founded in1869 was one of inclusion.

 

 

Booklet QR  

Have you read these exciting news articles?

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word prominent leaders in education for Hispanics in West Side community (ksat.com) 

 

 

 

 

Overview of DEI programing for the semester as Dr. Arturo Chavez finalizes things. 

 

Service Learning Resources including the LibGuide started by our library “Service Learning and Engaged Scholarship” Home - Service Learning and Engaged Scholarship - LibGuides at University of the Incarnate Word (uiwtx.edu) and available assistance. GivePulse assistance links as Dr. Erlinda Lopez-Rodriguez finalizes this with Adela Gott who has been appointed by Kathy Bottaro to oversee.  

 

Earth Justice Activities unfolding in this draft of “Season of Creation Activities” cosponsored by UIW Sustain, Laudato Si groups, the Headwaters, IW Sisters, and Brainpower schools https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:7c94d434-a132-3d98-8b04-77b1d1760225   

 

Activities leading up to and following the presentations by the first indigenous person to get a Nobel Peace Prize Rigoberta Menchu  Nobel Laureate Visiting UIW Fall 2023 | July and https://www.uiw.edu/lewiscenter/   Faculty books and discussion funded by our THECB Somos Unidos - One Word Grant   https://uiw.givepulse.com/event/381632-I-Rigoberta-Faculty-Book-Discussion-to-Prepare-for-the-Nobel-Peace-Laureate-Oct.-4    

 

"United to End the Death Penalty" | University of the Incarnate Word (givepulse.com)  UIW DEI with assistance from the Catholic Mobilizing Network Against the Death Penalty programing for Oct. 10, International Day Against the Death Penalty  

 

“Service Learning in San Antonio, Bimonthly Panels with faculty from all San Antonio Universities and Colleges https://uiw.givepulse.com/event/376557-service-learning-in-san-antonio-bi-monthly-panels-on-best-experiences   (UIW Optometry, SOM, Nutrition, and Education start this)  

 

Availability of “Incarnate Word Sisters and Social Justice,” an exhibit, a booklet, and a possible program, sponsored by “Humanities Research for the Public Good, a part of the Council of Independent Colleges” supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation  

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:fd08de1c-1a15-3f18-9abf-4a3f8c44a531  

 

 

Friends on the Planning Committee, if there is an opportunity within the two hours on August 14 to speak about these things, please let us know and let us know if you have any questions. 

 

Thanks, 

 

Sr. Martha Ann kirk@uiwtx.edu  210-883-5934  
working with Dr. Erlinda Lopez-Rodriguez,  elopezro@uiwtx.edu   
Co-chair of the Service-Learning Committee, and Dr. Arturo Chávez, Ph.D. Associate VP of Mission, DEI 

  

QR code for compassionate USA

 

   

For KSAT