Healthy Earth Team
The Healthy Earth Team is our parish response to Pope Francis' clarion call to ecological conversion issued in his encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home. Formed in 2015, our mission is to inspire our parish through educational initiatives to connect the tenets of our Catholic faith and the need for action in protecting our common home from ecological exploitation and injustice.
Our Call
Our insistence that each human being is an image of God should not make us overlook the fact that each creature has its purpose. None is superfluous. The entire material universe speaks of God's love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God.
- Laudato Si', Para. 84
- Laudato Si', Para. 84
With each passing day, the need becomes ever more urgent to awaken to the climate and environmental crisis before us. Pope Francis calls us to "the moral imperative of assessing the impact of our every action and personal decision on the world around us," to become stewards of God's world, compelled to protect and live in just relationship with all people and with the planet itself.
Today's environmental crisis most especially affects the poor and vulnerable among us. The Jesuits have responded to this dual call–the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor–by affirming Care for our Common Home as one of the four Universal Apostolic Preferences for the next ten years (2019-2029).
Today's environmental crisis most especially affects the poor and vulnerable among us. The Jesuits have responded to this dual call–the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor–by affirming Care for our Common Home as one of the four Universal Apostolic Preferences for the next ten years (2019-2029).
Our Work: Laudato Si' Action Platform Plan 2022-2025
In 2022, the Vatican invited all Catholic institutions to submit Laudato Si’ Action Platform plans focused on healing our relationships with God, our neighbors, and the Earth. Supported by the Jesuit’s Universal Apostolic Preferences and grounded in our parish’s long standing commitment to social mission, we are excited to share our plan for renewal with you.
This living document introduces a new lens appropriate to this kairos moment, a new paradigm for our social mission and justice work: Care for our Common Home, a home that necessarily includes both our human families and all of creation. It is divided into four focus areas: Pray, Learn, Act, and Advocate. As you explore the plan, we invite you to discern where the Spirit might be calling you to engage with it in your life and the ministries where you serve. To review the plan, click here or the button below!
This living document introduces a new lens appropriate to this kairos moment, a new paradigm for our social mission and justice work: Care for our Common Home, a home that necessarily includes both our human families and all of creation. It is divided into four focus areas: Pray, Learn, Act, and Advocate. As you explore the plan, we invite you to discern where the Spirit might be calling you to engage with it in your life and the ministries where you serve. To review the plan, click here or the button below!
Recent Team Highlights
Pray
The team offers reflection opportunities, including the ecological examen, throughout the year, especially during Earth Month in April. You can watch a video of one team members' Earth month reflection here.
Learn
The team offers meaningful opportunities to learn about the issues facing our world, including Meatless Meet Ups and Earthscursions, immersions to different natural settings. Periodically, a JustFaith series on ecological justice is offered.
Act
On the relationship-building front, the team coordinates two major Service and Solidarity Teams connected to food security and urban sustainability: the Fresh is Better: Evanston Garden Project and the NEXUS Community Garden and Urban Farm. These projects provide opportunities to establish meaningful connections with the Bellarmine and Earth communities.
The team also focuses on building a greener Bellarmine by evaluating and supporting updates to our facility and operations, including recycling initiatives and energy efficiency upgrades. Check out our Recycling Do's and Don'ts Fact Sheet (Updated April 2022) and these Laudato Si' and You Eco-challenges.
Advocate
Finally, the Team advocates alongside partners, like Faith Communities Go Green, for environmentally just legislation locally and at a national level.
The team offers reflection opportunities, including the ecological examen, throughout the year, especially during Earth Month in April. You can watch a video of one team members' Earth month reflection here.
Learn
The team offers meaningful opportunities to learn about the issues facing our world, including Meatless Meet Ups and Earthscursions, immersions to different natural settings. Periodically, a JustFaith series on ecological justice is offered.
Act
On the relationship-building front, the team coordinates two major Service and Solidarity Teams connected to food security and urban sustainability: the Fresh is Better: Evanston Garden Project and the NEXUS Community Garden and Urban Farm. These projects provide opportunities to establish meaningful connections with the Bellarmine and Earth communities.
The team also focuses on building a greener Bellarmine by evaluating and supporting updates to our facility and operations, including recycling initiatives and energy efficiency upgrades. Check out our Recycling Do's and Don'ts Fact Sheet (Updated April 2022) and these Laudato Si' and You Eco-challenges.
Advocate
Finally, the Team advocates alongside partners, like Faith Communities Go Green, for environmentally just legislation locally and at a national level.
Join Us!
The Healthy Earth Team meets on the fourth Monday of the month at 6 p.m. We always welcome new members and new ideas for how to help our community become even more centered on the concerns of our excluded neighbor and the excluded Earth. Contact our Director of Social Mission for more information or to join. You can join the team's email list here.
Additional Resources
The Healthy Earth Team has constructed a complete Resource Page for anyone interested in exploring these issues, including various books, articles, organizations, and more.
Members of Bellarmine’s Healthy Earth Team have updated their resource list for helping you recycle all of those hard to recycle items - from batteries and styrofoam to e-waste and plastics. Check out the list here!
As the Bellarmine parish community commits to the Laudato Si' Action Plan on Earth Day 2022, the Healthy Earth Team compiled this list of seven “eco-challenges” to make the message of Laudato Si’ come alive in your life. This list has suggested actions for those starting out as well as for those who are already practiced and want to do more.
Members of Bellarmine’s Healthy Earth Team have updated their resource list for helping you recycle all of those hard to recycle items - from batteries and styrofoam to e-waste and plastics. Check out the list here!
As the Bellarmine parish community commits to the Laudato Si' Action Plan on Earth Day 2022, the Healthy Earth Team compiled this list of seven “eco-challenges” to make the message of Laudato Si’ come alive in your life. This list has suggested actions for those starting out as well as for those who are already practiced and want to do more.
Laudato Si' Week Parishioner Gallery - 2020
