Caring for Our Common Home
“Praise be to You, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.” – St. Francis of Assisi, “The Canticle of the Sun”
Dear Friends
In this season of harvest, it is a time to thank God for the abundances in our lives and remember that our creation is intertwined with our Mother Earth. When God created us, he didn’t just give us the land for us to grow food for nourishment; he also instructed us to care for it.
Integral Ecology is a term I’ve been learning more about. St. Francis wrote “The Canticle of the Sun” as a song to praise God for all of creation. In Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home,” he uses St. Francis’ Canticle as inspiration to urge us to view both the ecological and the human crisis through an integral approach.
Integral Ecology is a deeper sense than talking about the environment; it’s about seeing ourselves as part of Creation. In their Chapter 2021 Directional Statement, our Sisters committed to educate themselves and others for better understanding of Integral Ecology and how it “relates to restorative justice, affects creation and impels us to act locally and globally for the healing/care of our Common Home.”
The Mission Society supported six projects last year that focused on caring for creation and our common home.
- Water Harvesting & Sewage Management – Immaculate Conception Convent (Kingston, Jamaica) Reduce the consumption of municipally-supplied water and sewer fees by harvesting over 40,000 gallons of water to provide for the Sisters’ main convent and their two schools on the property.
- Potable Water Supply & Distribution at Porziuncola Farm – Franciscan Ministries (Kingston, Jamaica) Restore connection to the public water supply & install plumbing for water distribution to the farm to assist with food production & sanitizing.
- Plant, Cultivate & Harvest Values for Fraternal Life – Convento Sagrada Familia (Macajuba, BA, Brazil) Finish building the cover for the community garden, purchase & donate food baskets among low-income families and restructure the water capturing system.
- Solidarity Garden, Helping Hands – Convento Mãe Admirável (Anápolis, GO, Brazil) Expand the farm on the Sisters’ main convent (plant more vegetables, fruit trees, purchase chickens) to provide donations to 50 families per month.
- Vegetable Wash Station – Canticle Farm (Allegany, NY) Upgrade the vegetable wash station to ensure better food safety, year-round use, and farm production increases.
- St. Anthony’s Garden – Harvesting Health & Hope – St. Anthony’s Hospital (St. Petersburg, FL) Build an irrigation system that works with the rain catchment system to continue developing a sustainable community garden.
If you feel that God has blessed your life, I humbly ask you to consider sharing this blessing with others so that they may find comfort . It is only through your generosity that our Franciscan Sisters of Allegany and their partners in ministry are able to offer their loving ministries.
Blessings on your family during this season,
Laura Whitford,
President, St. Elizabeth Mission Society
Click HERE for the 2022 All Souls’ Appeal
