The Laudato Si’ Action Platform: Overview
The Laudato Si’ Action Platform is being ‘launched’ across the world on Tuesday, May 25th 2021.
All of us are invited to a public commitment to begin the journey.
Vision for Action – the purpose of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform is: To create communities around the world totally sustainable in the spirit of the integral ecology of Laudato Si’.
In the months which will follow, the Platform and its 7 year pathway will be explained and resourced from the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development in Rome, via Working Group participants and via direct communications to various institutions and organisations.
As an invited member of the Dicastery's Religious Sector Working Group, I am passing on this information to those who are interested and who might otherwise not have access.
Resources are available in multiple languages.
Participation will be based on engagement with the 7 Laudato Si’ Goals, drawn from the Encyclical document, Laudato Si’ by Pope Francis.
The call in the 7 Laudato Si' Goals is to:
- a response to the cry of the earth,
- a response to the cry of the poor,
- address ecological economics,
- adopt simple lifestyles,
- engage in ecological education,
- develop an ecological spirituality
- and to community engagement and participatory action.
Over the next 7 Years, the 7 Goals will provide focus for 7 Key Groups across the world-wide church community and named by the Dicastery as: Families, Dioceses/Parishes, Schools, Universities, Hospitals/Health and Care Centres, Businesses/Farms and Religious Orders/Provinces.
The Timeline for consideration by Religious Communities, parishes and ministries to engage with this process is as follows:
On May 25th 2021 there will be the ‘soft launch’ of the Laudato Si' Action Platform, followed by several months of learning and discernment about engaging with this platform in the spirit of the integral ecology of Laudato Si' in the years ahead.
On October 4th 2021, Feast of St Francis of Assisi, there will be a ‘formal launch’ of the program with organisations who are ready to make a commitment to the journey – that is, to the integral ecology of the seven Laudato Si’ Goals over the next seven years.
As we know, COP 15* on Biodiversity and COP 26** on Climate Change are key international conferences being held this year.
Pope Francis, with his Laudato Si' vision and his moral leadership will be key to the work of these conferences.
The years ahead of implementing the LSAP 7 Goals will coincide with the last years of working to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The agenda is universal – the goals are complementary, they concern us all.
All are called to work together - and we can respond by bringing our perspective and practice of faith, justice, mercy and compassion.
The LSAP gives us a supportive framework in which to achieve this and it follows on so clearly from our recent years of work across MIA in the Mercy International Reflection Process and in the themes of the rich and engaging resources of Mercy Global Presence.
*COP15 is the UN Biodiversity Conference which will be held in Kunming, China in October 2021.
(COP 15 as explained by the recent Dicastery-promoted Webinar: The Road To COP 15
'Today we face multiple crises. The COVID health crisis, the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis are three interconnected crises calling us to change direction towards a regenerative civilization with an integral ecological pattern of life. The 2020 United Nations Global Biodiversity Report notes the importance of biodiversity in addressing climate change, long-term food security and concludes that action to protect biodiversity is essential to prevent future pandemics. We, leaders of universities, scientific research and ecclesial bodies sense that we are at an inflection point, with life altering consequences and a responsibility to act. It is time to amplify Pope Francis’ teachings in Laudato Si’ to create life giving relationships with creation and inspire thousands of people to do the same with the output of our roundtable, public webinar, education and advocacy to regenerate healthy ecosystems on Earth. When biodiversity flourishes, human life flourishes. Using a 5P formula: Purpose(s), Principles, Provocations, Practices, Proposals, we will work collaboratively to transmit Laudato Si’ applied to biodiversity among church, scientific and decision-makers.').
**COP26 is the next annual Conference of the Parties climate change Conference, to be held in Glasgow in early November 2021.
Messages to: Adele Howard rsm - Mercy Global Presence Coordinator, Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea (ISMAPNG)