Marge Bitetti, who heads the Social Concerns Committee at St. Matthew parish, Corona, also sees the human dimension of the encyclical. Quoting the document, Bitetti said caring for the planet must go hand-in-hand with working to eliminate poverty.
“The global impact of not caring for the environment will affect the poor,” she said.
Father Dennis Legaspi, VF, pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Desert Hot Springs, said he actually thinks the Pope’s teaching on the human ecology is overdue.
“We are saying that we need to have a holistic approach,” Fr. Legaspi says. “It’s not only the spirituality of the human person. We have to survive with the whole of creation.”
In a statement issued the day of the encyclical’s release, Bishop Gerald Barnes called on the faithful of the diocese to read the document and pray about how they are called to respond. “It is not a scientific document and it is not a political document; it is a moral document rooted in central Catholic teaching,” Bishop Barnes’ statement reads.
Many parishes have followed the Bishop’s lead. “I told them to start reading,” said Fr. Legaspi, who is also asking his parishioners to reflect on the coming Papal Year of Mercy. “It’s a lot to digest.”
In a June 28 parish bulletin message, Father David Foxen, MSC, Pastor of Our Lady of Solitude parish, Palm Springs, assured that the encyclical is not “deep or technical.” He suggests that Pope Francis’ direct style of speaking and writing, so popular among most Catholics, will make the 184-page document more palatable.
“He speaks with clarity and sincerity,” Fr. Foxen writes. “And he teaches that all of us have a responsibility, as people of faith, to put into action what we know is the truth.”
The challenges posed in Laudato Si to Western practices of consumption and waste, energy use and even in economics are formidable. Sister Hortensia Del Villar, Director of the Office of Social Concerns for the Diocese, said putting the Holy Father’s words into action first necessitates a personal reflection “on the depth of the calling.”
“He is asking for an integral conversion,” she says. “A change of heart, a change of lifestyle.”
Sr. Del Villar has convened an advisory group to provide recommendations about how the encyclical can be lived out in parish life. While nothing official has been offered, she said, parishes may be asked to look at their own role in what Pope Francis describes as the “throwaway culture.”
“How much do we know about the trash that we generate, and where it goes?” she says.
Sr. Del Villar will talk about how “Laudato Si” might be incorporated into local Catholic schools at a teacher in-service this fall. She said a conference on environmental issues raised in the encyclical could be held in the Diocese. Interested groups could also visit places that exhibit acute environmental damage to get in touch with the problems outlined by Pope Francis, Sr. Del Villar said. “We need to be exposed to reality—with all of our senses—in order to respond to this.”
Bitetti, whose parish hosted a seminar on climate change last year, said local drought and air quality conditions point to some concrete actions that should be taken in response to the Encyclical.
“It will call upon us to further reduce our carbon footprint and in California reduce our water usage,” she said. “As Catholic Christians we have to act responsibly so that the wonders of nature are available for future generations.”