The 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’ of Pope Francis was the first encyclical in the history of the Church to be devoted entirely to environmental issues.
In it, Pope Francis called Care of our Common Home a ‘moral issue.’
In 2018, during the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Francis addressed the following challenge to all people of faith: ‘our active commitment is needed to confront this (climate) emergency. We need to pray as if everything depended on God’s providence and work as if everything depended on us’.

The Sisters of Charity following the ideas of Mary Aikenhead ‘Let us value the great gift of creation and do our best to conserve it.’(Letter to Mother Mary Baptist Griffin, 25th May 1854) have endeavoured to be conscious and care for our Common Home.

After our 28th General Chapter, our Congregational Leader, saw it as imperative to appoint a congregational environmental committee.
Our Care of our Common Home Committee was appointed for a 3-year period from September 1st, 2021.The committee worked on the Laudato Si’ goals and presented the document The Congregation and Laudato Sí’ to sisters and colleagues at our Assembly in March 2023. This document is firmly placed with our revised Constitutions (2021) which now place an emphasis on the cry of earth as well as the cry of the poor.

As the tenure of the Care of the Common Home committee came to its end, we discerned the urgent need to continue with our environmental conversion, especially with Pope Francis saying in Laudato Deum ‘that our responses to Care of Common Home have been inadequate for our suffering planet.’ A new committee was formed and consists of two sisters and five inspiring colleagues.  

Presently we are exploring Goal 4 – Adoption of Simple Lifestyle from our document. We have placed particular emphasis on actioning of the five
Rs of Zero Waste – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose and Recycle.

Please join us by responding prayerfully and actively to Goal 4 and our document.