At the 31st Congregational Chapter, the Congregation made a firm commitment in alignment with the Laudato Si’ Action Platform and the Position Papers to address the catastrophic consequences of the destruction of our planet caused not only by greed but also by apathy.
Our pledge to the Laudato Si’ Action Platform marked our willingness to integrate each of the seven goals of Laudato Si’ into the life and apostolate of the Congregation.
Today, as the world celebrates the first International Day of Clean Energy, we acknowledge some of the actions that we have taken as a Congregation in ‘Response to the Cry of the Earth’. This Laudato Si’ Goal proposes actions that include the adoption of renewable energies and energy-sufficiency measures.
Shortly following Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, a solar power plant was installed on the roof of the Generalate in Rome. Since it went into operation in 2019, annual power and energy consumption has been cut on average by half. In addition, the new system has avoided emissions of approximately 70 tons of CO2 into the Earth’s atmosphere each year.
In the Philippines, our sisters took their initial steps towards ecological conversion as early as 2009 when they began replacing the lighting in their community garden in Baguio with solar lamp posts. The following year, they replaced their electric water heaters in the convent with solar water tanks. In 2017, solar lamp posts were installed at their 2.8-hectare Laudato Si’ Farm, and solar roof panels at the Mountain Maid Training Center. On average, these actions have seen their electricity bills plummet by a third. “Our journey from fossil fuel to alternative clean energy is a work in progress and we have a long way still to go”, says Sr. Mary Guadalupe Bautista.
Steps to integrate clean energy solutions into our programs were taken in May last year in the Democratic Republic of Congo when Bon Pasteur Kolwezi and Good Shepherd International Foundation installed solar panels on the roof of the provincialate to provide essential electricity to the Bon Pasteur Centre. Further solar panels and solar lamps were installed at the 45-hectare Maisha Farm, to provide cost-effective energy to their ChaKuishi social enterprise project in agriculture and fish farming.
In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis has invited us to set out on the long path of renewal to care for the Earth. The Congregational Chapter’s Call to Action to a Universal Culture of Justice provides us with a flexible and action-oriented framework to empower and connect our communities globally to act in the spirit of Laudato Si’. This is an urgent call for each of us to act with courage and prophecy.
Take time to become familiar with the Congregation’s commitments and what they mean for you as a sister or partner-in-mission. What holistic action can you take on a personal and community level to embark on a path toward sustainable and integral ecology?
