Creation Care & WorkCamp Celebrate Earth Day
Creation Care and the Workcamp team celebrated Earth Day a week early!
Creation Care Ministry wishes to thank Youth Minister Rebecca Judge, Handy Knight Bob Colella, this year’s teen WorkCampers and their parent volunteers for the opportunity to work together on a service day in preparation for WorkCamp this summer! Seven Creation Care Ministry volunteers worked alongside the workcampers in Nativity’s St. Kateri Habitats to refurbish the existing spaces with additional plants and free leaf mulch from the county. The 112 new plants were from a local native plant nursery, Earth Sangha, and were purchased from grant money provided by the Endangered Species Coalition’s Pollinator Protectors program. The St. Kateri Habitat program is a certification process for Catholic lands, including homes, that are using sustainable gardening techniques. Their website states, “Anyone can begin to transform their home, school, workplace, or parish church into a healthy habitat for people and wildlife. It can be as simple as planting a tree, cultivating a vegetable garden, or growing wildflowers for bees and butterflies.” Our original St. Kateri Habitat space is in the front of the church in the parking lot and five parking lot islands in the back of the church are also now designated in this way. Collectively these spaces offer habitat to expand the biodiversity of Nativity’s campus in support of Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si. Perhaps the most entertaining moments of the work camp day were when students took on the role of God, St. Francis and Sister Catherine in a conversation about how “Suburbanites” have replaced his intended biodiversity with green triangles of lawn. While the native plants that students planted take time to become established, ultimately they will benefit native pollinators and add beauty to our campus. First they sleep (grow roots), next they creep (present as small plants), and then they leap (see our front garden!).
Students also used power tools and hard work to rebuild several of the vegetable gardens and refurbished the others under the careful eyes of Bob Colella, parent volunteers, and Creation Care vegetable garden leaders, Linda Nordstrom and Marilyn Dorner. Come to the base of the parking lot to take a look at their handiwork!
The theme for the day was a quote from Bill Patenaude, board member of the St. Kateri Conservation Center and author of the Catholic Ecology blog. He said, “Perhaps, before we can care for our global common home, we must first love and value and nurture our own corners of creation.” Our church campus, our homes and the homes that the workcampers will assist with are indeed “our own corners of creation.”
For more information: nativitycreationcare@gmail.com. Happy Earth Day!
