In his landmark encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis called all of us to participate in strong and meaningful actions to address the pressing issue of climate change. He says explicitly that “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.”
Our Nerinx Hall philosophy calls each young woman to action within her community and “prepares her for action that results from deliberate choice, that responds to areas of deep human need, that challenges the dehumanizing aspects of her world, that increases awareness of environmental concerns, and that promotes a just peaceful society.” Based on this philosophy, how might we respond to the Pope’s call to action on climate?
In this spirit, seniors are invited to participate in a writing challenge sponsored by the
Loretto Earth Network.
Interested seniors will compose an essay addressing the basic message of Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si’ with special attention to paragraph 25 (below).
Essays should be no longer than 500 words and are due by April 15, 2016.
They should consider the following questions:
#1 What moves you most deeply in Pope Francis’ message in Laudato Si’?
#2 How has your education at Nerinx Hall prepared you to answer
the Pope’s call to action?
Students should email completed essays tomdoyleervin@nerinxhs.org.
Students may find this particular paragraph especially poignant…
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Paragraph 25. Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day. Its worst impact will probably be felt by developing countries in coming decades. Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena related to warming, and their means of subsistence are largely dependent on natural reserves and ecosystemic services such as agriculture, fishing and forestry. They have no other financial activities or resources which can enable them to adapt to climate change or to face natural disasters; their access to social services and protection is very limited. For example, changes in climate, to which animals and plants cannot adapt, lead them to migrate; this in turn affects the livelihood of the poor, who are then forced to leave their homes, with great uncertainty for their future and that of their children. There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation. They are not recognized by international conventions as refugees; they bear the loss of the lives they have left behind, without enjoying any legal protection whatsoever. Sadly, there is widespread indifference to such suffering, which is even now taking place throughout our world. Our lack of response to these tragedies involving our brothers and sisters points to the loss of that sense of responsibility for our fellow men and women upon which all civil society is founded.
Loretto Earth Network Writing Challenge
In his landmark encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis called all of us to participate in strong and meaningful actions to address the pressing issue of climate change. He says explicitly that “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.”
Our Nerinx Hall philosophy calls each young woman to action within her community and “prepares her for action that results from deliberate choice, that responds to areas of deep human need, that challenges the dehumanizing aspects of her world, that increases awareness of environmental concerns, and that promotes a just peaceful society.” Based on this philosophy, how might we respond to the Pope’s call to action on climate?
In this spirit, seniors are invited to participate in a writing challenge sponsored by the
Loretto Earth Network.
Interested seniors will compose an essay addressing the basic message of Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si’ with special attention to paragraph 25 (below).
Essays should be no longer than 500 words and are due by April 15, 2016.
They should consider the following questions:
#1 What moves you most deeply in Pope Francis’ message in Laudato Si’?
#2 How has your education at Nerinx Hall prepared you to answer
the Pope’s call to action?
Students should email completed essays to mdoyleervin@nerinxhs.org.
Students may find this particular paragraph especially poignant…
Paragraph 25. Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day. Its worst impact will probably be felt by developing countries in coming decades. Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena related to warming, and their means of subsistence are largely dependent on natural reserves and ecosystemic services such as agriculture, fishing and forestry. They have no other financial activities or resources which can enable them to adapt to climate change or to face natural disasters; their access to social services and protection is very limited. For example, changes in climate, to which animals and plants cannot adapt, lead them to migrate; this in turn affects the livelihood of the poor, who are then forced to leave their homes, with great uncertainty for their future and that of their children. There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation. They are not recognized by international conventions as refugees; they bear the loss of the lives they have left behind, without enjoying any legal protection whatsoever. Sadly, there is widespread indifference to such suffering, which is even now taking place throughout our world. Our lack of response to these tragedies involving our brothers and sisters points to the loss of that sense of responsibility for our fellow men and women upon which all civil society is founded.