The third step in the model of Catholic Social Teaching is to take action!
We invite parishes, schools, and households to join our diocesan annual cycle of Laudato Si’ Action Planning. Using the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform, this process of examination, reflection, action, and celebration aligns our behavior with the liturgical calendar. The Creation Care Ministry offers multiple workshops a year in English and Spanish to guide you in this process and will come to any parish or school to provide tailored instruction.
Below is our diocesan Laudato Si’ Action Plan, listing our actions for the year. You will also see our diocesan Creation Care Action Plan—a valuable resource, describing ways to care for creation in our region and identifying actions you might choose in creating your own Laudato Si’ Action Plan.
Laudato Si’ Action Platform Planning
The Diocese of San Diego Laudato Si’ Action Platform Planning is largely drawn from our Creation Care Action Plan, which states:
It is our sacred duty to preserve the beauty and bounty of our local ecology for generations into the future. The Judeo-Christian tradition mandates care for God’s creation and begins with the Book of Genesis.
The Old Testament is filled with beautiful images of nature and the revelation of God in nature. God’s love is the fundamental moving force in all created things. Jesus used nature as a teaching tool many times. St. Augustine, writing in the early 400s, said “Creation is the primary and most perfect revelation of God.”
St. Bonaventure referred to nature as a vestige, or footprint, of God. Now Pope Francis, in the face of global environmental degradation, raises the care of creation to a central part of our Catholic faith, defining the Seven Goals of the Laudato Si Action Platform:
- Response to the Cry of the Earth
- Response to the Cry of the Poor
- Ecological Economics
- Adoption of Sustainable
- Lifestyles
- Ecological Education
- Ecological Spirituality
- Community Resilience and Empowerment
These seven goals guide our Laudato Si’ Action Platform Planning.
Creation Care Action Plan
In July 2021, the Diocese of San Diego finalized an aspirational Creation Care Action Plan (CCAP), guiding and educating our local Catholic Community on the causes and effects of environmental degradation and advising actionable steps to reduce harmful human behaviors in our homes, our parishes, our businesses, and our society–in response to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor and vulnerable. Cardinal Robert McElroy, Bishop of San Diego, welcomes us to this action, imploring us: “We as the Catholic community of San Diego and Imperial Counties must adopt a radical new commitment to such goals if we as a planet are to survive meaningfully and hand on a life-giving existence to the coming generations.”
This comprehensive source document offers aspirational guidance for all Laudato Si’ Action Planners in the Diocese of San Diego region.