Sacred Land, Sacred Spaces - accompanying Native American peoples in the spirit of Laudato Si’

Watch Recording of Sacred Land, Sacred Spaces Webinar: If you missed this special webinar in the spirit of encounter and of Laudato Si’, the Catholic Climate Covenant invites you to watch a recording of the webinar Sacred Land, Sacred Spaces featuring Deborah Echo-Hawk, Ronnie O’Brien, and Nikki Cooley, and the dedication they share to the well-being of Native American tribal nations and peoples, and the lands, territories and cultures they hold sacred.

Nonviolence is key to a Laudato Si’ future

from the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative

Join the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative on Monday, May 17th for the webinar, “Nonviolence is key to a Laudato Si’ future”.
The Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform envisions seven goals for seven sectors of the Catholic community over the next seven years. This is an exciting moment for the Church, an opportunity to move forward in creative and effective ways to achieve a more just world for all creation.

In this one-hour webinar on Monday, 17 May, Marie Dennis (Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace and Pax Christi International senior adviser), Ken Butigan (DePaul University) and Sr. Sheila Kinsey, FCJM (Union of Superiors General/International Union of Superiors General) will discuss how Gospel nonviolence for a Laudato Si’ future might be concretely advanced.

French and Spanish translation will be provided.

REGISTER BY CLICKING HERE.

Time: 9:00 am (Central Time)

>Lima, Peru 9:00 am PET

> Rome, Italy 14.00 pm GMT/UTC 

>Washington DC, 10:00 am EDT
>Chicago, 9:00 am CDT
>Denver, 8:00 am MDT
>Los Angeles, 7:00 am PDT
>London, 3:00 pm BST
>Brussels, 4:00 pm CEST
>Nairobi, 5:00 pm EAT
>Manila, 10:00 pm PHST

Laudato Si’ Week 2021

Laudato Si’ Week 2021, to be held May 16-25, will be the crowning event of the Special Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year, and a celebration of the great progress the whole Church has made on its journey to ecological conversion.
Laudato Si’ Week 2021 will also be a time to reflect on what the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us and prepare for the future with hope. 
Join the movement of Catholic institutions living out our Catholic values. 

Join the next divestment announcement on May 19th, 2021 signing the commitment to divest from fossil fuels.
- Commitment: https://catholicclimatemovement.global/divest-and-reinvest/commitment/
- Learn how to divest: https://catholicclimatemovement.global/divest-and-reinvest/resources/

All global events will be streaming to the Laudato Si Week webpage, the IHD and GCCM’s Youtube Channel and other Facebook pages in different languages.

- Laudato Si General Program: https://laudatosiweek.org 

We invite you to re-read our Corporate Action for Creation during this Laudato Si' Week. If possible, please send us a photo that speaks to you of the beauty of God's creation. This is our e-mail contact: jpic.office@gmail.com

Laudato Si': a special anniversary year

The Vatican's JPIC office is inviting Catholic communities across the world to join a grassroots movement to gradually work toward "total sustainability" in the coming decade, a path that would include carbon neutrality, simpler lifestyles and divestment from fossil fuels.

The initiative was revealed May 16 by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development as part of a "special anniversary year" planned for Pope Francis' 2015 social encyclical, "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."

The news came on the first day of Laudato Si' Week, a Vatican-sponsored event running through May 24, the encyclical anniversary date. Now the week will kick off a full calendar of events through May 24, 2021.

Here a good resource to actively participate in Laudato Si´s Encyclical of Pope Francis. Listen, pray, reflect and share with family and community this material which is perfect to overcome this time of quarantine.

The series LAUDATO SI is a radio adaptation of the central idea that runs through Pope Francis' encyclical: climate change is ruining Mother Earth and its terrible consequences harm all living beings, especially men and women impoverished by a system that is no longer tolerable.



All the Chapters here:  LISTEN

More about Laudato Si, a special anniversary year:

Laudato si' Special Anniversary Year Plan 2020-2021 https://t.co/FljHBqIFU5

— CCVI Justice & Peace (@jpic_ccvi) May 22, 2020

Pope Francis' Message for Lent 2019

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rm 8: 19)

Dear Brothers and Sisters

Each year, through Mother Church, God “gives us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed… as we recall the great events that gave us new life in Christ” (Preface of Lent I). We can thus journey from Easter to Easter towards the fulfilment of the salvation we have already received as a result of Christ’s paschal mystery – “for in hope we were saved” (Rom 8:24). This mystery of salvation, already at work in us during our earthly lives, is a dynamic process that also embraces history and all of creation. As Saint Paul says, “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom 8:19). In this perspective, I would like to offer a few reflections to accompany our journey of conversion this coming Lent.

1. The redemption of creation

The celebration of the Paschal Triduum of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, the culmination of the liturgical year, calls us yearly to undertake a journey of preparation, in the knowledge that our being conformed to Christ (cf. Rom 8:29) is a priceless gift of God’s mercy.

When we live as children of God, redeemed, led by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 8:14) and capable of acknowledging and obeying God’s law, beginning with the law written on our hearts and in nature, we also benefit creation by cooperating in its redemption. That is why Saint Paul says that creation eagerly longs for the revelation of the children of God; in other words, that all those who enjoy the grace of Jesus’ paschal mystery may experience its fulfilment in the redemption of the human body itself. When the love of Christ transfigures the lives of the saints in spirit, body and soul, they give praise to God. Through prayer, contemplation and art, they also include other creatures in that praise, as we see admirably expressed in the “Canticle of the Creatures” by Saint Francis of Assisi (cf. Laudato Si’, 87). Yet in this world, the harmony generated by redemption is constantly threatened by the negative power of sin and death.

2. The destructive power of sin

Indeed, when we fail to live as children of God, we often behave in a destructive way towards our neighbours and other creatures – and ourselves as well – since we begin to think more or less consciously that we can use them as we will. Intemperance then takes the upper hand: we start to live a life that exceeds those limits imposed by our human condition and nature itself. We yield to those untrammelled desires that the Book of Wisdom sees as typical of the ungodly, those who act without thought for God or hope for the future (cf. 2:1-11). Unless we tend constantly towards Easter, towards the horizon of the Resurrection, the mentality expressed in the slogans “I want it all and I want it now!” and “Too much is never enough”, gains the upper hand.

The root of all evil, as we know, is sin, which from its first appearance has disrupted our communion with God, with others and with creation itself, to which we are linked in a particular way by our body. This rupture of communion with God likewise undermines our harmonious relationship with the environment in which we are called to live, so that the garden has become a wilderness (cf. Gen 3:17-18). Sin leads man to consider himself the god of creation, to see himself as its absolute master and to use it, not for the purpose willed by the Creator but for his own interests, to the detriment of other creatures.

Once God’s law, the law of love, is forsaken, then the law of the strong over the weak takes over. The sin that lurks in the human heart (cf. Mk 7:20-23) takes the shape of greed and unbridled pursuit of comfort, lack of concern for the good of others and even of oneself. It leads to the exploitation of creation, both persons and the environment, due to that insatiable covetousness which sees every desire as a right and sooner or later destroys all those in its grip.

3. The healing power of repentance and forgiveness

Creation urgently needs the revelation of the children of God, who have been made “a new creation”. For “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17). Indeed, by virtue of their being revealed, creation itself can celebrate a Pasch, opening itself to a new heaven and a new earth (cf. Rev 21:1). The path to Easter demands that we renew our faces and hearts as Christians through repentance, conversion and forgiveness, so as to live fully the abundant grace of the paschal mystery.

This “eager longing”, this expectation of all creation, will be fulfilled in the revelation of the children of God, that is, when Christians and all people enter decisively into the “travail” that conversion entails. All creation is called, with us, to go forth “from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). Lent is a sacramental sign of this conversion. It invites Christians to embody the paschal mystery more deeply and concretely in their personal, family and social lives, above all by fasting, prayer and almsgiving.

Fasting, that is, learning to change our attitude towards others and all of creation, turning away from the temptation to “devour” everything to satisfy our voracity and being ready to suffer for love, which can fill the emptiness of our hearts. Prayer, which teaches us to abandon idolatry and the self-sufficiency of our ego, and to acknowledge our need of the Lord and his mercy. Almsgiving, whereby we escape from the insanity of hoarding everything for ourselves in the illusory belief that we can secure a future that does not belong to us. And thus to rediscover the joy of God’s plan for creation and for each of us, which is to love him, our brothers and sisters, and the entire world, and to find in this love our true happiness.

Dear brothers and sisters, the “lenten” period of forty days spent by the Son of God in the desert of creation had the goal of making it once more that garden of communion with God that it was before original sin (cf. Mk 1:12-13; Is 51:3). May our Lent this year be a journey along that same path, bringing the hope of Christ also to creation, so that it may be “set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). Let us not allow this season of grace to pass in vain! Let us ask God to help us set out on a path of true conversion. Let us leave behind our selfishness and self-absorption, and turn to Jesus’ Pasch. Let us stand beside our brothers and sisters in need, sharing our spiritual and material goods with them. In this way, by concretely welcoming Christ’s victory over sin and death into our lives, we will also radiate its transforming power to all of creation.

From the Vatican, 4 October 2018

Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

Social Justice Lenten Resources

As we enter into the holy of season of Lent, we are offered an opportunity to journey with Jesus through our own deserts, face our own temptations, and recommit to God’s loving justice and peace for the whole of creation. 

The JPIC Office has compiled below various resources for your Lenten journey this year that connect to themes of racial justice, care of creation, peace and nonviolence, social justice, and human trafficking (Print Version). 

We also share with you Pope Francis’ message for Lent 2019 in which he reminds us that, “The path to Easter demands that we renew our faces and hearts as Christians through repentance, conversion and forgiveness, so as to live fully the abundant grace of the paschal mystery… Let us stand beside our brothers and sisters in need, sharing our spiritual and material goods with them.” 

We hope that you find these resources helpful and meaningful as together we work to build communities of justice and peace that honor all of God’s beautiful and diverse creation.  May you have a blessed Lenten journey! 

Pope’s Message for Lent

Dear brothers and sisters, the “lenten” period of forty days spent by the Son of God in the desert of creation had the goal of making it once more that garden of communion with God that it was before original sin. May our Lent this year be a journey along that same path, bringing the hope of Christ also to creation, so that it may be “set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God”. Let us not allow this season of grace to pass in vain! Let us ask God to help us set out on a path of true conversion. 

https://saccvi.blogspot.com/2019/03/pope-francis-message-for-lent-2019.html

Recommit to Racial Justice

This year for Lent, we invite all NETWORK members and supporters to recommit to Racial Justice. We live in a society built on hundreds of years of oppressing People of Color in the United States. We are at a critical time for white people to do the work of racial justice, educating themselves and finding ways to act in solidarity with People of Color.  It is crucial that we confront our history and the ways racism continues today, including in our federal policies.

https://networklobby.org/lent/

Transform Network “Resipiscence 2019:  A Lenten Devotional for Dismantling White Supremacy”

This Lent we have the opportunity to reflect deeply on the ways that white supremacy has infected our lives and our communities, and we have the opportunity to repent.  We invite you to be part of the RESIPISCENCE community. We have gathered here a widely ranging collection of daily reflections from a very diverse group of contributors—diverse in identities, theologies, and experiences—and every one of them has something to say about how we dismantle white supremacy.

https://www.transformnetwork.org/bookstore/lentdevotional2019-ebook

Franciscan Action Network: “40 Days 40 Ways – A Guide to a Green Lent”

This guide is designed to provide a green environmental context for you to consider this Lent. Despite its title, “40 Days; 40 Ways” is not fashioned as a daily devotional. Dianne describes it as "a range of suggestions for merging your Lenten disciplinary spirit with creation-centered activities." We hope you will consider challenging yourself with some creative action this Lent.

https://franciscanaction.org/article/40-days-40-ways-guide-green-lent

Interfaith Power and Light Calendar: “Lenten Creation Care”

May this calendar remind us to be more mindful of the ways that our daily habits impact both our common home and all those with whom we share it. On behalf of future generations and all living in poverty—those most harmed by our damaged climate—may we answer God’s call to be faithful stewards, speaking out for creation care.

http://ipldmv.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2019-DC-Creation-Care-Calendar.pdf

Lose Your Life to Save It

To be aligned with the way of nonviolence is our goal and our hope, and we pray we for it, study it, and act for it.  Nonviolence is a holistic endeavor that imbues, elevates, and changes our soul, mind, and body. If first we can align our hearts and our souls with a spirit of nonviolence through prayer, reflection, and meditation, then we can find the energy and guidance from God for how our minds and body are to follow.  Find the energy for your work for peace with justice by downloading Pax Christi USA's electronic Lent reflection booklet today.

http://paxchristiusa.3dcartstores.com/ELECTRONIC-2019-Lent-Reflection-Booklet_p_315.html

Broken Lent 2019

Broken is an interesting word to consider as we walk through the Lenten season. We can understand it from so many angles— as separation, destruction, damage, as injustice, as defeat, sorrow, despair. But when approached from another angle, broken takes on a new meaning. We remember, in our broken world, in these turbulent and heartbreaking times for our country and the Catholic Church— The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.  We can find strength. We can be released from captivity. We can destroy the chains of injustice. We can break the barriers that keep us from a world where dignity and compassion bring the justice we seek.

https://ignatiansolidarity.net/lent-2019/

Stations of the Cross

Human Trafficking focus: “Walking the Stations of the Cross with St. Josephine Bakhita” https://educationforjustice.org/wp-content/media/2018/02/Prayer-Service_Walking-the-Stations-of-the-Cross-with-St.-Josephine-Bakhita.pdf

Praying the Stations of the Cross for Victims of Human Trafficking (USCCB): http://www.usccb.org/about/anti-trafficking-program/upload/Human-Trafficking-Stations-of-the-Cross.pdf

Scriptural Way of the Cross: http://www.usccb.org/about/justice-peace-and-human-development/upload/cchd-scriptural-way-of-the-cross.pdf

Peace focus: “Stations of the Cross: Walking with Jesus for Peace” https://educationforjustice.org/wp-content/media/2018/02/Prayer-Service_Stations-of-the-Cross-Walking-with-Jesus-for-Peace-Henri-Nouwen.pdf

December 10: Day of Prayer and Fasting for Creation

Since 2015, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word have promoted a Day of Prayer and Fasting for Creation on December 10th - International Human Rights Day - because a healthy environment that can sustain life is a vital human right.  This is human right is increasingly threatened and denied as each year passes and the impacts of global climate change spread.  Our call to care for our common home is a loving response to our Creator who's love, power, beauty and majesty is woven into the fabric of all life. 

This year, our focus is on supporting the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative which is currently in its final development stages and about to be launched in select countries. Tropical rainforests in South America, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are falling rapidly due to a range of forces, including palm oil plantations, cattle, soy and crop production, and rapacious and often illegal mining and logging operations. The losses amount to an area the size of Austria each year.

“The story of creation in the book of Genesis tells us of trees that are beautiful to behold and a source of sustenance. Rainforests are pivotal for life on earth, provisioning people’s needs, promoting biodiversity and protecting the climate”, said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. “Today when the rainforests are threatened by deforestation driven by a shortsighted, profit-oriented economy, we must use the knowledge of what is good and our faith-driven action to protect and care for the rainforests and therefore the earth and all life."

You can read more about the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative here: https://www.interfaithrainforest.org/

Every person, community, family, organization, or institution can participate by joining in this day of prayer and fasting for creation wherever you are.  We have created a guide to aid you in your prayer this day.

You can DOWNLOAD THE PRAYER AND FASTING GUIDE HERE.

If you participate by fasting, we encourage you to save what you normally would have spent this day on food (or whatever else you choose to fast from) and send it in to the Congregational CCVI Office at 4503 Broadway St., San Antonio, TX 78209, with a note that this is for the Day of Prayer and Fasting.  We will collect all donations and use them to support the work to care for creation, particularly our rainforests. 

Let us continue to pray that our actions and decisions can truly respond to the cries of the earth and the cries of poor who are most immediately impacted by climate change.  Together let us work and pray for the integrity of all God's wonderful creation.

UISG Kicks Off Campaign: Sowing Seeds of Hope for the Planet

The International Union of Superiors General (UISG) has launched the Sowing Hope for the Planet, a project to encourage sisters and their colleagues and friends to live the message of Laudato Si’. A webinar, presented by Sheila Kinsey, FCJM coordinator of the project, featured a slideshow describing some of the opportunities being offered during 2018-2019. 

Pope Francis has underlined the fundamental connection between the current environmental crisis and the social crisis, and has called for a personal and communal ecological conversion. He often reminds us “everything is interconnected.”

The campaign is an effort to coordinate the response of women religious and to give witness to hope. It takes its guidance from Laudato Sí’: “Our goal is not to amass information or to satisfy curiosity, but rather to become painfully aware, to dare to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering and thus to discover what each of us can do about it.” (LS#19)

Organizers hope that the campaign will create a coordinated effort among the members of UISG; partner with organizations which are already working on care of the planet; develop an action statement for “Sowing Hope for the Planet,” to be adopted by the Board of UISG in May 2019 for action. Additional details of upcoming events are available here.

This project is a collaborative effort of the JPIC Commission under the principal sponsorship of USG and UISG and the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM).  For questions regarding the campaign, please contact hopeforplanet@gmail.com.

Season of Creation

The Season of Creation starts this Saturday, September 1.

You are invited to join the live stream of a prayer service in Assisi, the city of St. Francis. The prayer service will commemorate the Day of Prayer for Creation that opens the season. Leaders from across Christian traditions, including Fr. Bruno-Marie Duffé of the Vatican, will speak.

• The two-day prayer service will be available on the YouTube channel of the Diocese of Assisi.
• Please join us August 31, 5:30-9:00 PM Italy time, with a break 7:30-8:00. (That’s 11:30 New York, 10:30 Mexico City, 8:30 San Francisco–please see your local time here.)
• Please join us September 1, 8:45-11:00 AM Italy time. (That’s 2:45 AM New York, 1:45 AM Mexico City, 11:45 PM August 31 San Francisco–please see your local time here.)

Events are happening all over the world to celebrate the Season of Creation which runs from September 1st to October 4th.  To find an event near you click here: https://seasonofcreation.org/events/

There are also lots of ideas of ways to celebrate with your family, church, or religious community.  Check out some of those ideas on the Season of Creation website here:  https://seasonofcreation.org/guide/  

Sowing Hope for the Planet

Everything is Connected
A Campaign of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG)

You are invited to consider joining a collaborative campaign called Sowing Hope for the Planet.

We are urged to heed the call of Pope Francis for an ecological conversion “to become painfully aware, to dare to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering and to discover what each of us can do about it.” (LS #19)

For this reason, members of the UISG Board met on May 18 and decided to whole heartedly promote the UISG Campaign, Sowing Hope for the Planet.

They have asked Sheila Kinsey, FCJM, Executive Co-Secretary of the JPIC Commission of UISG-USG, to coordinate this campaign.

We are pleased to offer you the opportunity to become involved in Sowing Hope for the Planet (2018-2019). During this time we encourage you and the members of your congregation to reflect more deeply on Laudato Si and to consider ways to make Pope Francis’ message a reality, both personally and within your communities. During this time, we will notify you of various ways in which you can actively participate. 

For this campaign, please consider appointing someone to help engage the Sisters in this experience; a person responsible for notifying the Sisters of what is available and to organize prayers, observances and celebrations. Your community JPIC Promoter may be the person who can undertake this coordination or else a designated person with the responsibility for helping the congregation to participate in this campaign. We also encourage you to share what you are doing within your constellation.

Each of the following websites – UISG, JPIC Commission and Global Catholic Climate Movement will promote the campaign.

For any questions or information regarding this campaign please email Sr. Sheila Kinsey, FCJM, at hopeforplanet@gmail.com. 

Thank you very much for considering your congregation’s involvement in the important work of Sowing Hope for the Planet!

To learn more about the campaign visit their website: http://www.internationalunionsuperiorsgeneral.org/campaign-sowing-hope-planet/ 

Catholics are Still In

(From the National Catholic Reporter article April 30, 2018) 

The Catholic Climate Covenant officially launched on April 25 the "Catholics Are Still In" campaign to assemble church institutions behind a united Catholic Climate Declaration advocating for U.S. action on climate change and support for the Paris Agreement despite the Trump administration's plans to exit the deal.

"As Catholic communities, organizations, and institutions in the United States, we join with state, tribal, and local governments, as well as businesses, financial institutions, and other faith organizations, to declare that we are still in on actions that meet the climate goals outlined in the Paris Agreement," the declaration reads.

It continues: "Climate change is an urgent moral issue because it compromises the future of our common home, threatens human life and human dignity, and adds to the hardships already experienced by the poorest and most vulnerable people both at home and abroad. We teach that governments exist to protect and promote the common good, and that 'the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all,' " referencing a passage from Pope Francis' 2015 environmental encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."

Continue reading here

The General Leadership Team for the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word has agreed to sign on to this campaign.  We encourage other Catholic congregations and institutions, especially our sponsored ministries, to considering signing on as well to show your support for the Paris Agreement and commitment to caring for our common home.  

See more about the campaign launch through the webinar below:

Laudato Si' animation

Pope Francis has written a letter addressed to every person on the planet, asking us all to protect the earth. Will you play your part to protect our common home? 
Explore Pope Francis' encyclical in these animations for young people!

An activity based around Laudato Si' ideal for youth groups and off timetable days:
http://bit.do/laudatosi4youthgroups


CAFOD works in communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America, helping people to tackle the poverty and injustice they face. We work wherever the need is greatest, with people of all faiths and none. Learn about CAFOD: http://www.cafod.org.uk/

Headwaters Updates

Have you checked out some of the wonderful offerings at the Headwaters Sanctuary lately?  There is a lot going on, and they are sure to have something for everyone! 

Just in the past month Headwaters has hosted volunteer work days, yoga sessions, an educational presentation on the importance of native trees and how they are restoring them in the sanctuary, an interactive workshop for kids to explore wildlife, offered a free showing of an environmental film as part of their monthly film series, a workshop on invasive plants and the problems they pose, led a walk exploring the early archaeology of the area and how the first peoples in the San Antonio region interacted with the Headwaters, offered a birding walk and tour, and shared about the history of the medicine wheel and plans to incorporate this source of wisdom into the Headwaters Sanctuary.


Adding a medicine wheel to the Headwaters Sanctuary is an exciting development to honor the native wisdom and spirituality of the land, and share it with others.  Medicine Wheels are stone structures with cosmological and geographical significance, built by Native Americans across North America over the past 10,000 years. The Headwaters limestone wheel will correlate with the Blue Hole and related springs found depicted in the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands. Through analyses of geography, astronomy, archaeology, and oral history, it is believed the Rock Art is a 4,000 year old map of Texas and record of indigenous cosmology. The Headwaters Medicine Wheel will be a reflection of this Rock Art and serve as a guide towards stewardship of the Sanctuary.

For a full list of all the exciting upcoming events offered at the Headwaters, check out their Facebook Page and their Website. 

Headwaters recently posted a message of thanks on their Facebook page:  "Headwaters at Incarnate Word is grateful for the thousands of hours given by volunteers to better the Headwaters Sanctuary each year! It is only through volunteers that our small ministry can increase the biodiversity and beauty of the 53-acre nature sanctuary, which is the last undeveloped parcel of the CCVI heritage land in San Antonio. We are also eternally grateful to the Sisters, of course, for setting aside this piece of their history for us to preserve, protect, and celebrate!"

On behalf of the Congregational JPIC Office, we would also like to extend our thanks and gratitude to the staff and volunteers of Headwaters, especially Alex Antram and Pamela Ball, for their outstanding work and commitment to caring for our common home through the preservation of the Headwaters Sanctuary, educating the community on topics of environmental justice and sustainability, and offering a spiritual refuge and encounter with the divine for all who experience the Headwaters Sanctuary.  Thank you!!

Living Laudato Si: Green Week at Colegio Mexicano

As part of the closing ceremonies to celebrate 130 years of Colegio Mexicano, the educational community participated in the First CM Green Week in September, where various activities were carried out.

Families were able to participate in a Recycling Competition, where they made useful or decorative items for the house. The first place obtained a kit of 3 ecological bins for their house, second and third place obtained a CM thermos and a recycling transport bag.

The students of higher primary and secondary education were able to participate in two lectures on Sustainability given by Dr. Sandra Yanette Lozano Garza, MED, from the Sustainability area of the University of Monterrey (UdeM) and the second by Dr. Efrén Robledo Leal, from the Faculty of Biological Sciences of UANL.

Finally, all the students accompanied by their teachers and management and administrative staff participated in the sowing of ornament seeds to embellish the trees adopted from our beautiful Forest, which is located at the front of our facilities.

In the light of Laudato Si and our inspirational CM-phrase in this cycle - Nature, the Image of God, listen to her and respond - all of our ecological activities are oriented to take care of our common home and strengthen our image as a sustainable school.

College and University Recycling Collation Workshop at UIW

CURC, the College and University Recycling Collation, held their national workshop at the University of the Incarnate Word, October 15, 2017. Brian Roe, Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Ohio State University, spoke on “Food waste reduction / Collaborative planning for dining food waste.” A third of the food in the US is wasted. If students become aware, they waste less. Signs, apps, and teaching are among the successful reminders that can be used. 

UIW students helping with the workshop included Ashely Otley, Cheyenne Schultz, Kathleen Aeschlimann, Hector Vargas, Carolina Calvillo, Violet Balleza, Brajae Robinson, Dhanya Prasad, Jordan Collins. 

UIW students Violet Balleza, Brajae Robinson,
Daniel Potter (Sustainability Operations Manager),
Dhanya Prasad, Jordan Collins, and
Ruben Garcia (the UIW Grounds Manager)
assist in hosting the CURC National Workshop.

People shared many ideas from their schools. One said that when they have large events, they have “Trash Talkers” who stand near the bins and help people put things in the correct place for recycling. At the University of Oregon, during a past move out from the dorms, they have taken pictures of what has been thrown away. Now the school has a game where students are invited to identify what could be recycled. If they identify three things, they win a box to use for moving their things.

Sara Nichols, of the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling (STAR) gave information on Recycling in Texas and the Economic Impacts. STAR educates from “school children to senators” and she said with a laugh “Much of the content is the same!” She shared trends in recycling and packaging, why this is important, what is being done and what needs to be done. Lighter packaging is better. All need to work towards better ways of measuring progress in these areas. Corporations want to fund groups that are going in to make a change. Austin is the home of the universal recycling ordinances. Municipalities have much power to change things.

Nichols went on to explain that the US recycling rate has been stagnant at 34% for the last few years. Texas is recycling about 22%. Texas is huge. It is important. We have four of the ten fastest growing cities in the US. For every 10k going into landfill one job is created, while for every 10k recycled ten jobs are created. An average family of four spends $15,000 a year on food that is wasted.

Brian Halverson, of the City of San Antonio spoke on the City of San Antonio Commercial / Institutional Recycling Initiatives. City of San Antonio collects waste from all private homes and this means about 350,000 customers.  ReWorksSA is a separate program, an initiative of the Solid Waste Management Department working on recycling and resource recovery. It is working to motivate the non-private customers.

Some of the San Antonio city goals are to recycle of 60% of single-family residential waste by 2015 and to improve recycling opportunities for businesses. The focus is on small and medium size businesses because many large businesses have already started. For example, H.E.B. does much recycling, especially with cardboard. ReWorksSA provides incentives, information, and other resources.

Jennifer Hobson, University of Texas, Austin, shared on Engaging student volunteers and cultivating institutional support for zero waste efforts. Generally students expect recycling all over campus. Any campus group can apply for funding for a recycling project. At UT Austin, they have had paper recycling since the 1990’s. She works with internal stack holders and supports and encourages them. It is expensive to put trash in the landfill, so that encourages interest in recycling. It is important to keep educating people on how much is saved and how much benefit there is. People do not realize this. Students need to have experiences, not just classroom learning. They work with leadership classes, and a project management class that designs things in the fall and implements them in the spring. They had 26 students working on 9 projects. Many are doing waste audits. They are working with the food service.

UIW participates in “RecycleMania” a competition of colleges and universities throughout the US to grow in skills of sustainability. A ceremony to recognize campuses involved in “RecycleMania” was held. Campuses that have a total number of 4.1 billion students are participating in the “RecycleMania” competition. The competition is really to raise student awareness and get them involved. This is not just about tonnage, but about understanding and implementing many aspects of recycling. A new category this year is the “Race to Zero Waste,” which involves taking an individual building on campus and intensively measuring how things are recycled. Agnes Scott College was the winner. Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles got the grand champion awards for winning in a number of areas, including Diversion, Paper, and Corrugated Cardboard. All campuses were encouraged to start preparing for “Get the Game for 2018!” 

  

Alex Fried founder and director of PLAN, the Post-Landfill Action Network showed a picture of the relationships of issues. Recycling is important, but US society also needs to focus on patterns of consumption and consumerism. PLAN is a student-led zero waste movement. Students learn more and are equipped with the necessary skills and resources to implement solutions in their campus communities. This empowers students to be change makers.

Amy Preble, UNC Chapel Hill explained their Residence Hall Composting. In 2014 students in residence halls started this taking compost to the community gardens. Their dining rooms have compostable containers. As of 2017 fourteen residence halls have joined in participating. Have “Compost Kick-off” at the beginning of the year and students can check out a bin. Twice a week there is pick up. Many videos on campus composting are posted on YouTube. One of their many ways of communicating is “Green Games,” long standing student-led activities for other students to learn and participate.

The student on the left developed the “Composting Cow”
to remind people to participate. 

Alyssa Halle-Schramm, Austin Community College, described their Paper Towel Composting. They do not have large dinning halls, but many grab and go cafes so that complicated trying to do recycling in these. ACC does have a Culinary Arts program and also a child development program and both of these are active in recycling and composting. For the last four years ACC has focused on recycling paper towels in bathrooms. This program is easy to pilot and easy to sell. An industrial compost companies picks up.

Students are considering what might be the best recycling mascot, what will help people learn and think

Bill Rudy, Brigham Young University spoke on Container Sensors. This campus has 32,000 students. Gardeners spend much time servicing garbage cans. A student developed a sensor that can be put into any bin and they can read how full the bin is. The gardeners only have to go there when the bin is full.

Deb Kutska, Oakton Community College in the Chicago area gave information on Improving Diversion. She started in 2014 as the first Sustainability professor. When she started the college had 19% recycling and now they have 36%. They have a goal to recycle 50%. They have about six Zero Waste events a year.

They created the “Talkin’ Trash Taskforce” to identify problem areas. They made a “sculpture” to make people think. At the Child Development Center, they recycle everything and the children easily learn to sort and do this.

The “Students for Social Justice” led a “bottle ban” initiative, and the campus now has this. Students can get water at the water stations, and not plastic bottles of water are sold on campus. 

Lydia Vandenbergh, Penn State University, gave examples of their extensive studies on Bin Signage. They have an on-going effort to make things clear for all so that waste is not mixed or contaminated. 

Scott Pasternak of Burns & McDonnell spoke on “Impacts on Recycling Commodity Values, Focusing on Contamination. He considered economic and market drivers. Dallas has a new recycling system. They have what seems to be one of the best glass recycling systems, which leads to “Super-Clean” glass. He offered some “Keys to successful campus, multi-family and commercial recycling programs:” Public education, convenient access, performance measures (how do you check), management buy-in, conduct waste audits and workshops for businesses to focus recycling programs.

Alex Antram, the Director of the Headwaters at Incarnate Word led a tour. Participants had an opportunity to tour recycling and sustainability sites on the campus, or visit the 53-acre Headwaters nature sanctuary located adjacent to the UIW campus. About half of the people attending direct university recycling services. Most of the visitors were from out of state and they praised the beauty of the Incarnate Word campus. UIW faculty attending felt renewed and inspired and want to further develop recycling .

Article by Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, CCVI, Chair of the International JPIC Committee 

Teofilio Reyes (Community Outreach Coordinator, Ettling Center),
Dr. Kevin Salfen (Associate Professor of Music),
Sr. Martha Ann Kirk (Professor of Religious Studies and the Ettling Center),
Dr. Barbara Aranda-Naranjo (Associate Provost for
Civic Engagement and Sustainability),
Dr. Alison Whittemore (Professor of Engineering),
Dr. Helen E. Smith (Associate Professor of Pharmacy), and
Professor Heather Barton-Weston (Dimensions of Wellness Coordinator)
assisted in hosting the national CURC workshop.