October 8, 2023
Care for Creation
Green Space for All
 
Laudato Si urges us to follow Saint Francis of Assisi’s example learning to know creation and all creatures and seeing God’s reflection everywhere.  Pope Francis believes that spending time in green space is essential. 
 
“Neighbourhoods, even those recently built, are congested, chaotic and lacking in sufficient green space.  We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature” LS 44
 
The Holy Father points out that the human right to enjoy the gifts of creation is especially lacking among the poor.  He decries places where access to outdoor space is reserved for the rich and where investments in parks and nature preserves are missing from lower income neighborhoods. 
 
He says that “a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” LS 49
 
Bringing Pope Francis’ teaching to life, this summer, the REI corporation launched its Outside in 5 initiative at Anacostia Park in Washington DC.  REI announced the nationwide program with a $200,000 a-year grant to Friends of Anacostia Park for the next three years for environmental restoration programs and events at the park.  REI’s overall goal is for everyone in the country to have access to green space within five minutes of their front door.  
 
The focus of Outside in 5 is on inner cities and areas where people have the least access, the most need and where there are no resources for green space; exactly the places mentioned by the Holy Father in Laudato Si’.  In addition to supporting local community groups, such as Friends of Anacostia Park, to rehabilitate, maintain and create green space for all, REI is also urging Congress to pass the Outdoors for All Act to create more green spaces and get everyone closer to fresh air, trees and time outside.
 
As we treasure and enjoy our green McLean, let’s think about how we can support access to green space for those not so lucky.  There is a video about the Anacostia Park on YouTube; search video outside in 5.
 

October 1, 2023
Season of Creation – September 1 – October 4
“Let Justice and Peace Flow” -- Saint Francis of Assisi
 
Now that we’ve spent a month of awareness, how will we keep the “Justice and Peace Flowing”?  How will we maintain our focus on the connectedness of everything and our role through our daily lives?  We have a wonderful advocate in Saint Francis of Assisi.
Pope Francis mentions Saint Francis of Assisi many times throughout Laudato Si’. At the outset, he calls Saint Francis the “example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically.” (LS 1)The Holy Father points to Saint Francis’ understanding that “shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society and interior peace.” (LS 10)
Pope Francis declares that we should use God’s gifts that surround us as His invitation to know Him, as His way of revealing Himself.  We can “see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of His infinite beauty and goodness.” (LS 12)
The Holy Father points out that Saint Francis is much loved among the various Christian denominations as well as by non-Christians, which aligns with this year’s Season of Creation theme of joining our sisters and brothers in the ecumenical family in prayer and action for our common home.
As the Season of Creation culminates with the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, let us commit to the new actions we have started this month and pray for ongoing inspiration to carry forth with the conviction of Saint Francis of Assisi to see the world and its peoples differently and to live in a way that all may flourish.
Praise Be’!

September 24, 2023
Season of Creation – September 1 – October 4
“Let Justice and Peace Flow” -- Reaffirm our Vocation as Stewards of Creation – Responding to The ‘Throwaway Culture’

​When I cannot find cheese or yogurt without plastic packaging, I wonder -- how much am I contributing to the ‘throwaway culture’?  Am I powerless in a society focused on buying and tossing?
Early in Laudato Si’, the reality of the ‘throwaway culture’ is deplored, especially the outsized impact on the most vulnerable.  At the same time, Pope Francis points to the ‘throwaway culture’ as one of the “questions that will not be dealt with once and for all but reframed and enriched again and again.” LS 16  
We hear that we need to persevere while being open and learning to see things differently.  To remain encouraged as we strive toward the Holy Father’s long term goals, let’s find something good that is already happening and be thankful and energized to find what’s next.
This summer in Washington DC, a partnership with The Conservation Fund and DC Central Kitchen provided more than 50,000 high quality meals for hungry people. This is a success on several levels:  people ate nutritious food, cooks in training learned to prepare new dishes with fresh salmon, and the harvest proved the success of an aquaculture system that provides a sustainable and environmentally friendly way to produce local seafood.  
 
Read more about the Freshwater Institute in Shepherdstown, West Virginia where the closed loop system uses little water, re-uses waste, has a small carbon footprint, reduces transportation costs and avoids overfishing all while producing healthy native local seafood.  https://www.conservationfund.org/projects/get-to-know-the-freshwater-institutes-west-virginia-raised-salmon
DC Central Kitchen reports: “Thanks to this collaboration, we are transforming 20,000 pounds of sustainably grown salmon into 50,000 delicious, high-quality meals, like salmon spinach fettuccine, salmon BLTs, and barbecue salmon for our community while providing our culinary students with wonderful opportunities to learn fish fabrication.”
 
Be encouraged by Pope Francis’ words: “There is a nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions“ (LS 211).  Feeding the hungry while preserving creation’s resources feels very encouraging to me.  
 
 

September 17, 2023
Season of Creation – September 1 – October 4
“Let Justice and Peace Flow” -- Praise God in All Things

​As we have recently experienced during our parish 40 Hours devotion, Eucharistic Adoration is one of the most meaningful ways we give thanks as Christians.  Eucharist means “thanksgiving” and through the sacrament of the Eucharist “the whole cosmos gives thanks to God” (LS 236).
In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis draws the integral connection between the physical and spiritual aspects of being, he asserts that “The Lord, in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter….he comes that we might find him in this world of ours.” (LS 236)
Pope Francis goes on to say that by using the products of creation shaped by the hands of people, the “Eucharist joins heaven and earth, it embraces and penetrates all creation” and is “a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation.” (LS 236)
During the Season of Creation, as we continue our focus on Eucharist, let us observe the tradition of rest on Sunday, spending time in contemplation and opening ourselves to the enduring connections among all beings. Pope Francis reminds us that the purpose of observing the Sabbath is “so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your maidservant, and the stranger may be refreshed” (Ex 23:12). “Rest opens our eyes to the larger picture and gives us renewed sensitivity to the rights of others. And so, the day of rest, centered on the Eucharist, sheds its light on the whole week, and motivates us to greater concern for nature and the poor.” (LS 237)
​

September 10, 2023
Season of Creation – September 1 – October 4
“Let Justice and Peace Flow”
Thank God for His Wonderful Handiwork

​One suggestion from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to help us focus on thanking God for His wonderful Handiwork during the Season of Creation is to use mealtime prayer.  Before and after meals, say a short prayer of thanksgiving for the lifegiving food that sustains and nourishes us.  Briefly consider how all nourishment ultimately comes from the earth and give thanks for all the human hands that helped bring this food to our table.  
Pray will bring to mind those who do not have enough food, who live in circumstances where the changing climate is imperiling crops, diminishing sea life, or drying up water sources.  As individuals and families, what is one thing we could do to help make access to nutritious food possible for those who need it?  The Season of Creation is the perfect time to start.
Whether we commit to reducing waste, volunteer at a food pantry or support hunger relief missions, we focus our care through action for the benefit of all who share this creation.  Let us join at table each day and let this “moment of blessing, however brief, remind us of our dependence on God for life” (LS 227).
 

September 3, 2023
Season of Creation – September 1 – October 4
“Let Justice and Peace Flow”

​The Season of Creation is a month-long prayerful observance that calls upon Catholics to pray and care for God’s creation.  
 
Reflect
It’s a time to reflect on our relationship with the environment, how we live and how our lifestyles impact the natural world, humans and other creatures inhabiting it. This “time for creation” offers, in the words of Pope Francis, “individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which has been entrusted to our care and to implore God’s help for the protection of Creation…” 
 
Act
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops reminds us that “we show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of Creation.”  Pope Francis urges us to recognize our connectedness with the natural world, saying, “Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it.” (LS 139)  
 
Advocate
Advocating respect for creation helps safeguard the inheritance the Creator has given us, an inheritance essential to our well-being.  Pope Benedict XVI told us that protecting this inheritance is a way of fulfilling our role as stewards of creation. 
 
What are some positives and negatives I am aware of in my relationships with creation? What can I do to support well-being among my brothers and sisters, human and otherwise? How can I speak up for the protection of members of creation whose voices cannot be heard?

Care for Creation
August 27, 2023
What is my role in the Season of Creation? 
“Let Justice and Peace Flow” -- September 1 to October 4, 2023
 
“In this Season of Creation, as followers of Christ on our common synodal journey, may we live, work and pray so that our common home may once again teem with life,” urged Cardinal Michael Czerny at a Vatican press conference.
 
“How can we contribute to the mighty river of justice and peace during this Season of Creation? What can we, especially as Christian Churches, do to heal our common home so that it will teem with life once again?” the Pope asks in his message and gives a simple answer: “We must decide to transform our hearts, our lifestyles and the public policies that govern our society.”
Pope Francis urges everyone to act, showing “ecological respect” in four directions:  towards God, towards our fellow men and women of today and tomorrow, towards all of nature and towards ourselves.  
What is something I can focus on during the season of creation while considering these four points of view?  One idea is Pope Francis’ concern about drought – I can praise God for the gift of water and the concept of circularity that creation’s water cycle teaches us.  I can share today’s water supply and conserve for the future (e.g., use native plants that don’t need irrigation; take short showers).  I can support projects that provide access to clean water to those who lack that resource (e.g., Water with Blessings, charity: water).  I can avoid harming the waters where I live and play (e.g., use reef safe sunscreen; carry waste out; pitch in to clean up waterways).  I can stay well hydrated without collateral impact (e.g., use refillable water bottles; abandon single use plastic water bottles).
What interests you? What do you care about most? If each of us chooses one thing that we care about deeply this Season of Creation, we can make a difference, we can improve the flow of peace and justice and establish habits that strengthen our church and our community and the world.
Talk about it! Act on it! Be a difference!

Care for Creation
August 20, 2023
“Let Justice and Peace Flow” is this year’s theme for the Season of Creation, September 1 – October 4, 2023  

​The Holy Father calls for a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation to open the Season of Creation.  Here are some excerpts from the Pope’s message.
Dear brothers and sisters!
“Let Justice and Peace Flow” is the theme of this year’s ecumenical Season of Creation, inspired by the words of the prophet Amos: “Let justice flow on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” (5:24).
 
How can we contribute to the mighty river of justice and peace in this Season of Creation? What can we, particularly as Christian communities, do to heal our common home so that it can once again teem with life? We must do this by resolving to transform our hearts, our lifestyles, and the public policies ruling our societies.
 
First, let us join the mighty river by transforming our hearts.  Second, let us add to the flow of this mighty river by transforming our lifestyles.  Lastly, for the mighty river to continue flowing, we must transform the public policies that govern our societies and shape the lives of young people today and tomorrow.
 
Another parallel perspective has to do with the Catholic Church’s commitment to synodality. This year, the closing of the Season of Creation on 4 October, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, will coincide with the opening of the Synod on Synodality. Like rivers in nature, fed by myriad tiny brooks and larger streams and rivulets, the synodal process that began in October 2021 invites all those who take part on a personal or community level, to coalesce in a majestic river of reflection and renewal. The entire People of God is being invited to an immersive journey of synodal dialogue and conversion.
 
In this Season of Creation, as followers of Christ on our shared synodal journey, let us live, work and pray that our common home will teem with life once again. May the Holy Spirit once more hover over the waters and guide our efforts to “renew the face of the earth” (cf. Ps 104:30).
Rome, Saint John Lateran, 13 May 2023
FRANCIS
(to read the full document, go to www.vatican.va and search message for season of creation 2023.)

Care for Creation
August 13, 2023
ENCOUNTER: A National Catholic Campaign for Climate Solutions
 
The perennial question that surfaces as we talk about our responsibility to care for the people and creatures of Creation is “what can I do?”, “what will make the most difference?”  We learn from Pope Francis that our planet is a network of connections among all beings, that everything we do matters, that all of creation has value, that awareness is the first step, and action must follow from our understanding.  It is increasingly important to advocate for government action. Individual acts do matter, but government action creates widespread results. One way to participate in advocacy is by joining Catholic Climate Covenant’s Encounter for Our Common Home.
Encounter for Our Common Home is an ongoing national campaign that brings together Catholics across the country to encourage legislators to enact authentic solutions to the climate crisis.  Encounter also keeps us abreast of a variety of opportunities to speak on behalf of our common home when government regulations are offered for public comment.
Recently, Encounter sought input for two EPA proposed rules, one on emission guidelines for power plants and another on the EPA Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution.  Encounter provided an explanation of the proposed rules, and an easy way to submit your own comments.
The current campaign supports the Fostering Overseas Rule of law and Environmentally Sound Trade Act; the FOREST Act reduces greenhouse gas emissions and supports human dignity through fair trade. To read a two page document summarizing the FOREST Act and connecting its goals with our Catholic faith, go to catholicclimatecovenant.org and select Advocacy under the Programs tab. (https://godsplanet.us/files/attachments/FOREST_Act_Leave_Behind.pdf )
 
In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis says “We cannot fail to praise the commitment of international agencies and civil society organizations which draw public attention to these issues and offer critical cooperation, employing legitimate means of pressure, to ensure that each government carries out its proper and inalienable responsibility to preserve its country’s environment and natural resources…” LS 38

​Care for Creation
August 6, 2023
Virginia Charges Forward to Power EV’s

​If you already drive an electric vehicle (EV), you can look forward to enhanced convenience along the roadways, especially in southern and western Virginia.  If you anticipate becoming an EV driver, you may be encouraged to make the move as Virginia increases availability of electric vehicle charging.
 
Virginia’s plan for widespread access to public electric vehicle charging stations is funded by federal dollars and an investment of $100 million is planned over the next five years. The state released a Request for Applications to install charging stations in July.
Three goals have been set for this roll out of infrastructure.  The first is to close the charging gap by adding EV charging stations along major travel corridors (all of Virginia’s heavily used Interstates) within five years (you can find a map here https://publicinput.com/VirginiaNEVI#0 ).  Goal two ensures reliable connectivity at the charging stations so drivers’ expectations are met (the chargers must be maintained in working order).  The third goal is to ensure equitable access across urban, suburban, rural and disadvantaged communities. Search Virginia Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deploymentto see maps showing targeted gap areas. 
Are you interested in participating in future public outreach on the state’s ongoing EV infrastructure planning?  You can sign up to be contacted for your input at this site https://publicinput.com/VirginiaNEVI#0 , or search Virginia electric vehicle public input and scroll down.
 
In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis calls on the wealthy, developed nations who are most responsible for polluting the atmosphere to take more responsibility for acting to reduce harmful emissions.  “Reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility, above all on the part of those countries which are more powerful and pollute the most.” (LS 169)