Whenever I’m asked, “What is the best way to organize and mobilize the U.S. Catholic community on climate change and creation care issues?”, without hesitancy I tell people, “Start or join a Creation Care Team in your parish, school, diocese, workplace or religious community.”

Why am I so convinced that CCTs are the best path for ecological conversion? Because I’ve witnessed how small groups of Catholics committed to and motivated by Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ can be a powerful evangelizing movement toward lasting change, both within the community and in the world at large.

As Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Si’, “The ecological conversion needed to bring about lasting change is also a community conversion” (No. 219). I’ve seen how strongly ecological conversion leads to community conversion. Praying together, advocating as a group, and taking actions as a community rooted in our faith, our clearly articulated teachings, our spirituality and our community connections can literally be lifesaving and life-giving for individuals, for the community and for all of God’s creation.

Take a look at the efforts of three remarkable and successful parish-based Creation Care Teams. Their work exemplifies these parishes’ participation in faith-informed ecological, spiritual and community conversion and transformation. 

Reston, Virginia

For over 10 years, the Care for Our Common Home (CCH) Ministry at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Reston, Virginia, has followed its mission of “promoting the vision of Laudato Si’ in our parish and beyond.” Its projects have included:

1. Sponsoring numerous discussions and study sessions in English and Spanish to understand Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ and apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum.

2. Conducting demonstration projects on native plants, trees and bushes, and encouraging parishioners to reduce a portion of their own grassed lawn areas to improve biodiversity.

3. Running a dishwashing ministry with the aim to reduce waste at a hypothermia prevention shelter.

4. Hosting screenings of documentaries and films; presentations on food waste, plastics, eco-friendly natural burials and how care for the poor is connected to care for creation; and “family nights” with activities to teach families with elementary school students how to reduce their carbon footprint.

5. Celebrating the annual Season of Creation (Sept. 1-Oct. 4) with guided nature prayer walks through an extensive network of trails and highlighting the spiritual aspects of creation care for parishioners.

6. Organizing nature photo contests for middle school and high school students.

7. Holding several bird walks to appreciate God’s presence in nature.

8. Facilitating an Eagle Scout Project to build a pollinator garden on parish grounds.

9. Encouraging CCH ministry members to advocate for climate-friendly policies in the Virginia General Assembly.

10. Enrolling in the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform and submitting three years of Laudato Si’ Action Plans that are a model for many other CCTs. St. John Neumann is also a Laudato Si’ Action Platform champion. Their powerful Laudato Si’ Action Plan Reflection summarizes their efforts to fully function as a sustainable, spiritual and service-oriented parish aiming “to incorporate the concepts of integral ecology into all aspects of parish life.”

With every decision or proposed action, members of the CCH ask: Does this help us grow in our relationship with Christ? Does this help develop relationships with others, especially those in need? Does this positively impact the environment?

Redlands, California

The Creation Care Ministry at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Community in Redlands, California, centers its work on the belief that their “ministry is about taking care of the earth and all that inhabits it, God’s creation,” and that “caring for creation shows love and gratitude to our Creator, and love to our neighbor, especially the poor and vulnerable.” Some of their recent activities include:

1. Visiting local farmers markets to talk to the farmers and craftspeople, purchase local items, including organic produce and crafts, and encourage more parishioners to think of patronizing farmers markets as a way to care for creation.

2. Conducting habitat-restoration work in partnership with a local conservancy organization. The team gathers to pray, reflect and then perform light tasks to help restore local habitat so that all forms of life in the area can thrive. For at least three years, they have brought volunteers from three local Catholic parishes to a habitat-restoration site during the winter. As a result, in several degraded areas the native plants are starting to thrive.

3. Holding learning, reflection and discussion meetings to delve deeper into resources such as Project Drawdown and the “The Planetary Protocol for Climate Change Resilience,” published by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

4. Hosting an evening reflection for the parish in which parochial vicar Father Arịnze Ezeoke shared from an area of his expertise — African spirituality — what can be learned from its emphasis on the ties between generations.

5. Conducting a river clean-up during the Season of Creation.

6. Screening the film “The Letter: A Message for Our Home” with the help of parish staff and Accelerating Neighborhood Climate Action.

Wallingford, Pennsylvania

The Care of Creation Team at St. John Chrysostom Catholic Church in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, is a more recently formed group that “asks parishioners to re-engage with the environment, learn ways to live more sustainably and take measures to live in a way so that there are enough resources left for everyone.” These are highlights of what they accomplished in 2024:

1. Hosting a “simple supper” during Lent with the rest of the Justice and Peace Team, serving soup, bread and water after the Social Justice Stations of the Cross.

2. Holding a zero-waste Earth Day celebration for parishioners, with all waste composted or recycled, and cookies and snacks prepared at home to bypass commercial plastic containers. The team had activity centers addressing different Care for Creation areas, including fast fashion, conservation and protection of water, planting pollinator and native plants, and how to sign up for renewable energy. Children made toilet-paper-roll bird feeders.

3. Organizing a special Mass to begin the Season of Creation that included recitation of the Prayer for the Earth from Laudato Si’, creation-based petitions, music and altar decorations.

4. Sponsoring a presentation from an employee of the County Office of Sustainability about recycling and zero-waste principles.

5. Hosting a prayer service and guided Rosary.

6. Discussing the documentary “My Octopus Teacher” during a Justice and Peace Movie/Book Night.

A National Network

These three teams are part of a network of over 400 Creation Care Teams connected by the Catholic Climate Covenant. The main goal of the Covenant’s CCT program is to help bring care for creation, climate action and eco-spirituality into the center of a faith community’s life.

About one-fourth of the CCTs are public and can be found on the CCT map on the website. Most of these teams are parish-based, but a few are diocesan teams, school or university teams and religious orders/communities teams.

The Covenant provides the CCT network with resources such as:

• A CCT Library with toolkits for beginning CCTs and those that need to be re-energized.

• A monthly CCT email with a reflection/prayer, simple ideas for activities to increase the community’s sustainability, advocacy opportunities and sharing of the latest resources.

• Invitations to monthly webinars.

• A bimonthly online conversation to connect CCT leaders and provide an opportunity to learn from each other.

• A Facebook group for registered team members.

• Resources such as Homily Helps, bulletin blurbs, seasonal resources for Lent, Laudato Si’ Week, Season of Creation, Advent and the GodsPlanet website to assist CCTs in engaging with the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.

• Educational and prayer programs, including programs for Earth Day and the feast of St. Francis.

• One-on-one support for teams that may need information, coaching and discussions about how to get a CCT started or how to mobilize a team to be successful.

Keys to Success

What do most successful parish CCTs have in common? They have:

• A pastor who supports the CCT’s mission and goals.

• Parish leadership that understands how acting on creation care fulfills the Church’s mission and how each ministry area of the parish can engage parishioners and community members in the Church’s work on creation care and climate change.

• Engagement of young people, young adults, and Latino, Asian and African American community members, who tend to be especially excited about the Church’s teaching on creation care and climate change issues. Incorporating issues related to Laudato Si’ into multiple areas of ministry is a great way to engage them.

• A parish council and/or finance committee that appreciates the financial implications of creation care activities, both savings gained through energy efficiency projects and expenditures needed for any retrofits, landscaping or other sustainability measures.

• A worship or liturgy ministry willing to incorporate creation-care-centered prayers and music into the community’s worship experiences.

• A parish willing to act on our responsibility to care for our common home and become a parish that lives and proclaims the Gospel.

In “Communities of Salt and Light: Reflections on the Social Mission of the Parish,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states: “The parish is where the Church lives. Parishes are communities of faith, of action and of hope. They are where the Gospel is proclaimed and celebrated, where believers are formed and sent to renew the earth. Parishes are the home of the Christian community; they are the heart of our Church.”

A parish that acts on our responsibility to care for our common home is a parish that lives and proclaims the Gospel. A successful Creation Care Team will serve as a catalyst to “green” the parish as a whole and lead other ministry areas and community members to incorporate creation care into their lives.

Are you and your parish ready to join the CCT network and become what Pope Francis calls “protectors of God’s gift, our common home”? We can’t wait to journey together and live Laudato Si’!

PAZ ARTAZA-REGAN serves as program manager at Catholic Climate Covenant.