Call to Faith Communities to Advocate for Climate Change Action Now

"The environmental challenge that we are experiencing, and its human causes, affects us all and demands our response."  

- Pope Francis, February 2016, Mexico

Dear Friends,

WATERSPIRIT is a center committed to informing, inspiring and enabling people to deepen their consciousness of the sacredness and interdependence of all creation. At this time of climate crisis on our common home, we are urging all communities of faith to act now and to advocate for the Care of Creation.

We are sure that it is no surprise to you that Pope Francis, in his encyclical “Laudato Si' - On Care For Our Common Home”, calls for a “bold cultural revolution” to confront the environmental crisis Earth is currently facing. We are inviting you to heed the Pope’s call by supporting, and, if possible, joining in the March for a Clean Energy Revolution (CER) this July in Philadelphia, PA.

Sunday, July 24, on the eve of the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, thousands will march and present climate action demands directly to our current and future national leaders. Integral to the CER and the global movement for climate action is the voice and advocacy from the faith community. 

 

“An authentic faith which is never comfortable or completely personal always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it. We love this magnificent planet on which God has put us, and we love the human family which dwells here, with all its tragedies and struggles, its hopes and aspirations, its strengths and weaknesses. The earth is our common home and all of us are brothers and sisters.” - Pope Francis

Leaders from different faith communities have collaborated and created a “A Call to Communities of Faith and Spirit” statement for the CER with an opportunity for faith communities to sign on to the statement online. We invite you to review the faith statement and to consider signing on for the community you are representing, or for yourself individually. Here is the link to the faith statement on the CER website: Link to Faith Statement (Please feel free to share and forward the CER Faith Statement and information).

“The future of humanity does not lie solely in the hands of great leaders, the great powers and the elites. It is fundamentally in the hands of people and in their ability to organize. It is in their hands, which can guide with humility and conviction this process of change.” - Pope Francis

Climate Change is a moral, ethical and justice issue. Climate change action is a matter of justice. Justice for poor people who will be most severely impacted by changing weather and rising seas and who have the least capacity to adapt. Justice for future generations who will inherit an unstable climate and potentially catastrophic rises in sea level, migration of tropical diseases, and disrupted agricultural production. Justice for all of creation that is threatened by climate change. 

 

Together we can magnify the moral and ethical call for climate action by advocating for the implementation of renewable energy solutions now. As said by Mark Jacobson of Stanford University, a leader in the transition to renewable energy, “The main barriers to getting to 100 percent clean energy are social and political, not technical or economic.” We urge you to support the CER and the Faith Contingent of the March for Clean Energy Revolution. 

 

Thank you for your consideration of this important action on behalf of all life and the safety of our planet, “Our Common Home”. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at WATERSPIRIT 732-923-9788 or water@waterspirit.org. For more information on the CER go to: http://www.cleanenergymarch.org/.

In Peace,

Sr. Suzanne Golas, csjp

Director

WATERSPIRIT

"We can no longer remain silent before one of the greatest environmental crisis in world history."
- Pope Francis, February 2016, Mexico