Laudato Si Resources

Five years ago, on May 24, Pope Francis issued the groundbreaking encyclical letter Laudato Si' (“On Care for Our Common Home”). 

At nearly the same time, “The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories That Shape Us,” a people’s pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, was coming out as a follow up to the two previous pastoral letters, “This Land is Home to Me” (1975) and “At Home in the Web of Life” (1995). All three pastoral letters address issues particular to Appalachia about social justice including powerlessness, sustainability and storytelling to help bring moments of conversion that may usher in a new vision for Appalachia. These documents are a call, not just to the people in Appalachia, but more broadly across the United States and worldwide, to be one.  

So too Laudato Si’ is a broad call to all people of good will to take action concerning our common home. This fifth anniversary comes in the midst of a global pandemic, and the encyclical’s message is just as prophetic today as it was in 2015:

“Disregard for the duty to cultivate and maintain a proper relationship with my neighbor, for whose care and custody I am responsible, ruins my relationship with my own self, with others, with God and with the earth. … Everything is interconnected, and that genuine care for our own lives and our relationships with nature is inseparable from fraternity, justice and faithfulness to others.” (No. 70)


Truly, COVID-19 has made clear that that everything in our world is deeply interconnected, and as we begin to envision a post-COVID world, we have an opportunity to embrace the integral ecology that was addressed so compellingly in Laudato Si'.

The Ladudato Si Commission, created by Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., in 2018 began first under the leadership of the late Glenmary Father John Rausch and now falls under the direction of Sister Kathleen Weigand, of the Mount Tabor Benedictines. This commission calls all those in the diocese to work at care for our common home through prayer, study and action helping individuals, parishes and the whole of the diocese to find new ways to address the groans of our common home and bring hope for all to be kin to one another and creation. 

Blessings and peace, 

Lori Helfrich
Parish Life Director, Mother of Good Counsel Hazard 
Committee Member of Laudato Si Commission

Catholic Ecology Library - An extensive online collection of statements on ecology and the environment from faithful Catholic sources. 

Special “Laudato Si” Anniversary Year, from May 24, 2020 to May 24, 2021

Laudato Si Summary & Action Steps

Encyclical Discussion Guide 

Laudato Si Week

RESOURCES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

Laudato Si' _CRS Elementary Animated

Laudato Si' _ CRS High School Video

Catholic Committee of Appalachia Pastorals 

Common Prayer for Earth & Humanity — May 24
Bring solidarity to our world in a shared moment of prayer at noon local time on May 24. Catholics from all across the globe will be united in spirit because “everything is connected.”
Be sure to register your participation here, and feel free to share your own prayers on social media using the hashtag #LaudatoSi5.